Federer beats Nadal
Roger Federer defeated Rafael Nadal 6-2, 6-3 at the BNP Paribas Open on Wednesday in a fourth-round match at Indian Wells (Riverside County) that saw the longtime rivals meeting earlier in a tournament than usual.
Federer broke Nadal four times in advancing to the quarterfinals in just over an hour. Although Nadal owns a 23-13 lead in their series, Federer has won the past three, including an epic comeback in the Australian Open final two months ago.
The two superstars hadn’t played each other before the quarterfinals of an event since 2004, when they met in the third round at Miami.
Another one of tennis’ Big Four went down, too. Novak Djokovic’s 19-match winning streak at the tournament ended in a 6-4, 7-6 (3) loss to Nick Kyrgios. Djokovic joined Nadal and top-ranked Andy Murray, who was upset in the second round.
Also joining Kyrgios in the quarterfinals were No. 4 seed Kei Nishikori, who defeated Donald Young 6-2, 6-4; 17thseeded Jack Sock, a 4-6, 7-6 (1), 7-5 winner over Malek Jaziri; No. 21 Pablo Carreno Busta, who beat qualifier Dusan Lajovic; and No. 27 Pablo Cuevas, who outlasted 11th-seeded David Goffin 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.
On the women’s side, No. 3 Karolina Pliskova got by seventh-seeded Garbine Muguruza 7-6 (2), 7-6 (5) and next faces No. 8 Svetlana Kuznetsova , who beat 19th-seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-3, 6-2 to reach the semifinals. Football: The New England Patriots re-signed Pro Bowl linebacker Dont’a Hightower. The new contract is for four years and $43.5 million.
It brings back one of the Patriots’ biggest free agents, who has helped New England win two Super Bowls in his five NFL seasons. He has 372 tackles and 17 sacks since being a firstround pick out of Alabama in 2012. He also had one of the biggest plays in this year’s Super Bowl. He forced a fumble on a sack of Atlanta’s Matt Ryan in the fourth quarter in New England’s comeback 34-28 overtime victory.
Washington released former 49ers defensive end Ricky Jean Francois and re-signed defensive lineman Ziggy Hood.
The Minnesota Vikings and cornerback Terence Newman agreed to terms on a new deal.
The Pittsburgh Steelers signed free agent wide receiver Justin Hunter to a one-year deal.
The NFL suspended New York Jets tight end Austin Seferian-Jenkins without pay for the first two games of the season for violating the league’s substance abuse policy. Seferian-Jenkins was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence in Florida in September.
A judge dismissed robbery, assault and all other charges against former New York Jets cornerback Darrelle Revis stemming from a fight last month in Pittsburgh. Soccer: Midfielder Tiemoue Bakayoko’s thumping header sent host Monaco through to the Champions League quarterfinals in a 3-1 win over Manchester City to advance on away goals after a 6-6 aggregate result.
Atletico Madrid drew 0-0 with visiting Bayer Leverkusen to protect its 4-2 first-leg victory and reach the quarterfinals for the fourth straight season. Skiing: Peter Fill of Italy retained his overall downhill title by finishing second to teammate Dominik Paris at the World Cup finals in Aspen, Colo. Ilka Stuhec of Slovenia held off a hardcharging Lindsey Vonn to win and wrap up the overall women’s downhill title.