Sports

NEW YORK — Defending champion Rafa Nadal failed to win a single game in the opening set of his US Open quarter-final against Dominic Thiem on Tuesday, but fought back to beat the Austrian 0-6, 6-4, 7-5, 6-7(4), 7-6(5) in a match that ended after 2 am in New York.

Nadal won 40 per cent of his first serves in the opener as he struggled with the high humidity on Arthur Ashe Stadium court, with Thiem becoming the first player to “bagel” the Spaniard at Flushing Meadows since Andy Roddick 14 years ago.

“It’s been a great battle,” an exhausted Nadal said. “The conditions were tough, very humid for me.” 

Thiem, who lost to Nadal in the French Open final, but had beaten the Spaniard three times in 10 previous meetings, struck 74 winners, including 24 with his stylish single-handed backhand, to keep the champion under constant pressure.

“I’m very sorry for Dominic,” Nadal added. “He’s a close friend on tour, a great guy and I wish him the very best... He is young and has plenty of time to win tournaments.”

After Nadal roared back to take a 2-1 lead, the fourth set went to a tiebreak. Thiem raced to a 3-0 lead before Nadal fought back, but the Austrian held his nerve to level the match.

There were no breaks of serve in the deciding set and a second tiebreak ensued. The two were neck-in-neck at 5-5 when Nadal carved out a match point with his forehand.

Thiem’s wayward overhead smash handed the match to Nadal, who stood midcourt with his head thrown back and arms raised in the air in celebration.

“It’s going to be stuck in my mind forever,” Thiem said. 

“I’m going to remember this match, for sure. It’s cruel sometimes in tennis, because I think this match didn’t really deserve a loser. But there has to be one. 

“If we skip the first set, it was a really open match from beginning to the end. The way it ended up in the fifth set tiebreaker, from there it’s 50-50. He made one more point than me.”

Nadal paid tribute to the crowd for hanging on until the early hours of Wednesday morning.

“Thank you very much everybody for staying here tonight,” Nadal said after the four hour, 49 minute marathon. 

“It’s been an amazing feeling. I’m playing a lot of hours this year at this beautiful stadium.”

Next up for the top seed is a semifinal clash with big-serving Argentine and third seed Juan Martin del Potro.

Juan Martin Del Potro outslugged John Isner 6-7(5), 6-3, 7-6(4), 6-2 to reach the semifinals of the US Open on Tuesday after a towering battle in a sweltering Arthur Ashe Stadium.

The three hour, 31 minute quarter-final was played in suffocating humidity so extreme that officials called a halt to junior matches on the outside courts for more than two hours.

Play continued on Arthur Ashe but with temperatures nudging 37.7ºC the stadium was turned into a sauna, leaving the 2.08m American Isner and 1.98m Argentine Del Potro, suffering.

“I weigh 108 kilogrammes, so I have always said it’s pretty difficult to play in hot conditions,” said Isner, who had 11 shirt changes during match. “I weigh a lot and I sweat a lot.” 

“It takes its toll on bigger guys, in my opinion.

“I don’t know what I weighed before the match. I did not weigh myself, but I can tell you I lost a lot of weight out there.”

Anyone looking for serve and volley came to the wrong place as the pair traded bombs from the baseline with Isner, bidding to become the first American since Andy Roddick in 2006 to reach US Open semifinals, belting 26 aces and Del Potro 14.

Break chances were few and far between, Isner managed just three and was unable to convert any, while Del Potro had 11, cashing in on three, including one to close out the match.

It was enough to see Del Potro, the 2009 US Open champion, through to the last four at Flushing Meadows for a third time where he will face either top seed Rafa Nadal or Austrian ninth seed Dominic Thiem, who were playing later on Tuesday.

“I think I played very solid this game,” said Del Potro. “In particular I made good returns every service game.

“I saw John a little bit tired also. That’s give me a little bit more energy to keep trying.

“I don’t know if I’m playing my best tennis ever but I’m feeling good. I reach another semi finals in this Grand Slam, which means something big to me.”

AMMAN — Three of Jordan’s top drivers resume their battle for the right to be called the Kingdom’s fastest driver, when round four of the Jordan Speed Test Championship is held on Friday, according to the Jordan Motorsport Media Service.

After three rounds, 2016 champion, Mohammed Tayseer, holds a slender four-point lead from veteran campaigner, Husam Salem, with Ghaith Wreikat just a single point further back.

With this being the penultimate round and 25 points up for grabs to the winner, Friday’s event has attracted a bumper entry of 48 drivers with the likes of Mustafa Attari, Ihab Al Sharafa and Ameer Nassif all being capable of putting pressure on the podium placings.

There is a close battle taking shape in the Rear Wheel Drive category with just eight points separating the top six drivers, while the Front Wheel Drive battle is led by Mohammad Al-Azzeh by just four points from Assem Aref. The action will start from 9:30am at the Royal Automobile Club.

BARCELONA — Lionel Messi has admitted he was surprised by Cristiano Ronaldo’s decision to leave Real Madrid and join Juventus.

Messi also believes the transfer will leave Madrid worse off and says Juve are now among the clear favourites to win this season’s Champions League.

Ronaldo swapped Spain for Italy in a deal worth 100 million euro in July, after securing a third consecutive European crown, and his fourth in five years with Real.

But Messi, who missed out on a three-man shortlist for FIFA’s world player of the year award, feels the balance may have shifted following the 33-year-old’s exit.

“I was surprised, I didn’t imagine him leaving Madrid or that he would go to Juve because there was talk of many clubs [interested]. The truth is I was very surprised but Juve are also a very good team,” Messi told Catalunya Radio.

“Real Madrid are one of the best teams in the world and they have a great squad but it’s obvious the departure of Ronaldo makes them less strong while Juve have become a clear favourite for the Champions League.

“They already had a good team and now they also have Cristiano Ronaldo.”

Madrid’s dominance in Europe has made failure even harder to swallow for Barcelona, whose shock defeat by Roma in April meant crashing out in the quarter-finals for a third consecutive season.

Even winning both La Liga and the Copa del Rey last term for a domestic double was not enough to extinguish the disappointment.

“It’s time to win the Champions League,” Messi said. “We’ve been knocked out in the quarter-finals three seasons in a row and maybe the last one was the worst of all because of the result and how the match was played.

“I think we have to aim for that, as a club, as a team and as a collective. We have a spectacular squad and we can do it.”

Ronaldo’s move was the latest example of increasingly lavish spending by Europe’s biggest clubs, with Neymar, Kylian Mbappe, Philippe Coutinho and Paul Pogba all snapped up for more than 100 million euros over the past two years.

Messi believes the lure of Barcelona and Real Madrid is now being neutralised by the mouth-watering sums on offer.

“There are clubs now with a lot of money and players move for that reason,” he said.

“Wherever the most money is, that’s where they end up going. Things have changed and now the owners of clubs are multi-millionaires.

“Before, everyone wanted to play for Barca or Madrid, who were the best, but now everything’s tighter and there’s not much of a difference between the teams in Manchester, PSG, Madrid, us, Bayern [Munich] and the Italian [teams].”

Barcelona signed four players this summer, with Arthur Melo, Clement Lenglet, Arturo Vidal and Malcom all arriving at the Camp Nou.

Messi singled out Arthur, the 22-year-old Brazilian playmaker, for special praise.

“If I have to say one, I’ll go with Arthur, who surprised me because I did not know much about him,” Messi said.

“He has a style very similar to Xavi’s, he always wants the ball, does not lose it, plays short passes and is very reliable.

“He has the style we always look for here.”

AMMAN — Following their recent successes, Jordan’s taekwondo fighters are moving up on the world rankings, according to the Jordan Olympic Committee News Service.

After winning silver at the latest World Grand Prix round in Moscow, and securing bronze at the Asian Games, Saleh Al Sharabati moved up 10 spots to 25th on the -80kg standings released by the World Taekwondo Federation.

Juliana Al Sadeq climbed seven spots to 23rd after winning bronze in Moscow and a historic gold at the Asian Games. Hamzeh Qattan, a bronze medallist at the Asian Games, moves up to 31, while Olympic gold medallist Ahmad Abu Ghaush, another bronze medal winner in Jakarta, remains fourth missing the Grand Prix event through injury.

AMMAN — Shergo Al Kurdi beat a host of top young golfers to land the Faldo Series England Midlands Championship event at Trentham Golf Club at the weekend, according to the Jordan Olympic Committee News Service.

The youngster carded a final round 70 (two-under) to win his age category and provide a timely reminder that he is in top form going into the U-16 Italian Championship, where he will be the first ever Jordanian taking part.

“It was a tough three days of competition,” said Shergo. “I had a difficult start, but I bounced back on the final day to win. I couldn’t be happier.”

JAKARTA — With a glittering ceremony marking the end of the 2018 Asian Games, here are five top moments from the world’s second-largest multi-sports event:

Falling standards

A flag blunder punctured Sun Yang’s joy at winning the 200m freestyle — and prompted the Chinese swimming star to demand a re-run of his victory ceremony. The triple Olympic champion was overjoyed at winning his first gold of the games, and all was going swimmingly until the flags of China and Japan came loose and crashed to the ground as Sun was belting out the national anthem from the podium. After a delay, the ceremony began again, to titters from the audience as three officials held up the flags, one self-consciously bending his knees as he tried to adjust it to the correct height.

Stray cat strut

A humble cat stole the show on the opening day of the athletics competition when it made an unexpected appearance during the women’s 100m hurdles heats. The tortoise-and-white cat trotted nonchalantly down the track and onto the infield, as athletes and officials did a double take.

It was not the first animal intruder at a major sports event: a squirrel risked its life when it dashed in front of a snowboarder at this year’s Winter Olympics, and at Formula One’s 2011 Indian Grand Prix, a stray dog held up practice when it wandered onto the track.

Two Koreas

A joint team of athletes from North and South Korea reached an emotional women’s basketball final — before falling at the final hurdle in a tense match against China. Nevertheless, the Unified Korea team was a resounding success in Jakarta. The neighbours marched together at the opening ceremony and also formed joint teams in canoeing, in which they clinched a gold and two bronze medals. The athletes even learnt a thing or two about each other: one South Korean basketball player said she had realised that North Koreans are not “scary” after all.

Jokowi’s motorbike skit

The opening ceremony got off to a roaring start with a skit purportedly starring President Joko Widodo on a motorbike doing stunts in Jakarta’s streets. With the crowd whooping, he rode into Gelora Bung Karno Stadium. The scene appeared to take inspiration from the opening ceremony for the 2012 London Olympics when Queen Elizabeth II seemingly made a dramatic entrance to the stadium by parachute along with James Bond.

Son’s tears

After tears of anguish at the 2016 Rio Olympics when South Korea were defeated by Honduras in the quarter-final, Tottenham Hotspur’s Son Heung-min sobbed with joy as his team was crowned 2018 Asiad champions. It was an emotional rollercoaster ride for Son as he played to secure a gold that would spare him a career-threatening stint of military service. But it all went to plan in the end, with a 2-1 win against Japan leaving Son beaming from ear to ear and poised to return to Spurs to see out his new five-year deal.

AMMAN — Team Jordan have smashed their previous record for a medals haul at an Asian Games by completing their competition with an impressive 12, according to the Jordan Olympic Committee News Service.

As the closing ceremony brought the event to a rousing finale in Jakarta, Indonesia, on Sunday night, Jordan departed with an optimistic outlook after securing two gold, one silver and nine bronze medals to finish 23rd on the table. It beat the previous best of eight medals achieved 12 years ago in Doha, Qatar.

The gold medals were won by Juliana Al Sadeq (taekwondo, women’s -67kg) and Haidar Al Rasheed (ju-jitsu, -85kg), with Zaid Sami winning silver in the ju-jitsu -94kg event.

The bronze medals were won by Freeh Al Harahsheh (ju-jitsu, -62kg), AbdelKarim Al Rashid (ju-jitsu, -77kg), Yara Kakish (ju-jitsu, women’s -62kg), Abdel Rahman Al Masatfa (karate, -67kg), Bashar Al Najjar (karate, -75kg), Ziad Ishaish (boxing, -69kg), Ahmad Abu Ghaush (taekwondo, -69kg), Saleh Al Sharabaty (taekwondo, -80kg) and Hamzeh Qattan (taekwondo, +80kg).

NEW YORK — Fifth seed Petra Kvitova became the latest big name in the women’s draw to crash out of the US Open when she lost to Aryna Sabalenka 7-5, 6-1 at the Louis Armstrong Stadium on Saturday.

The exit of the Czech, who reached last year’s quarter-finals, leaves only three of the top 10 women’s players in the running, with defending champion and World No. 3 Sloane Stephens the highest ranked player left in the draw.

Kvitova beat Sabalenka in three sets at the Miami Open earlier this year, but the often error-prone 20-year-old Belarusian showed she had tightened up her game considerably since that encounter.

Sabalenka made 15 unforced errors to Kvitova’s 35 and won 80 per cent of her first serves as she wrapped up the victory in one hour and 25 minutes.

She overpowered the twice Wimbledon champion from the back of the court too, winning 49 points from the baseline compared to Kvitova’s 27.

“I really like to play on the big stages,” Sabalenka said courtside. 

“I really like to feel the support of the people. I didn’t expect anything, I just went on the court and tried for every point and now I’m so happy.

“I think I put more balls in [than I did in Miami]. It’s enough.”

Kvitova’s defeat capped a bad day for the top seeds at Flushing Meadows with fourth seed Angelique Kerber, sixth seed Caroline Garcia of France and 10th seeded Latvian Jelena Ostapenko all failing to progress.

The quartet’s exit follows that of top seed Simona Halep in the first round and second seed Caroline Wozniacki in round two.

Maria Sharapova continued to enjoy working the US Open night shift with a 6-3, 6-2 humbling of 10th seeded Latvian Jelena Ostapenko on Saturday, improving her record to 22-0 under the Arthur Ashe Stadium floodlights.

There is no denying Sharapova’s love for the big stage or the New York crowd’s love for her and the five-time Grand Slam champion admitted that she feeds off the buzz.

“It’s the energy you get, no doubt I feed off this energy,” said Sharapova, who used that inspiration to carry her to victory at the 2006 US Open. 

“I don’t remember how old I was when I played my first night match, but I’m sure I was young enough to still be intimidated by the city and the lights and the atmosphere, the noise.

“But I really turned that around. I think I thrive on that. 

“I love the atmosphere. I love that they know how to cheer hard. I thrive on playing under the lights for some reason. I love that.”

Even if the match was played at night there was no masking the poor quality of the opening set that featured four breaks of serve.

Ostapenko, who was the runaway leader in double faults at this year’s final Grand Slam, had three alone in her opening service game but was not punished for her sloppiness with Sharapova unable to convert any of five break chances.

Eventually Sharapova would cash in on Ostapenko’s generosity with the Latvian offering up 11 break opportunities and the Russian converting three — more than enough to take the first set.

“First game was a tricky game,” said Ostapenko, who had 41 unforced errors to go along with six double faults. “But then I served two good serves on deuce. I won that game. 

“Then everything went just not my way. I was making so many unforced errors. 

“With that level, it was tough to beat Maria.”

The nightmare serving continued into the second set with four consecutive breaks before Sharapova finally managed a hold for 3-2.

Ostapenko, however, would not manage to hold her serve at any point in the set and Sharapova broke the 2017 French Open champion twice more to clinch the victory.

The 31-year-old will meet Suarez Navarro in the last 16.

AMMAN — Abdullah Al Talha won a silver medal in the Asian Fencing League being held in Bangkok, Thailand, on Saturday, according to the Jordan Olympic Committee News Service.

The youngster lost in the final of the Sabre competition after securing five wins before succumbing to a fencer from Uzbekistan.

Meanwhile, his teammate, Roa Al Majali, reached as far as the quarter-final of foil weapon before being defeated.

AMMAN — Long distance runner Abdullah Al Mulaifi will compete at the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires, Argentina, from October 6-18, according to the Jordan Olympic Committee News Service.

The youngster clocked impressive times at the Asian qualifiers held in Bangkok, Thailand, in July and received his official notification this week from the International Association of Athletics Federations, the sport’s governing body.

He will be joined in South America by Samer Jawhar in the 800m. This is the first time athletes have qualified for the Olympics, whether youth or senior, and it takes the number of Jordanians confirmed to an impressive 11.

The others booking their tickets are Rama Abu Al Rub, Natalie Al Humaidi and Zaid Mustafa (taekwondo), karate’s Abdullah Hammad, equestrian’s Sara Al Armouti, as well as four players for the 3x3 basketball team.