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Diahuebs 10 Juni 2021

Nadal drops set, beats Schwartzman to reach French Open SF

down the line. Playing more in a row from 2010-14 and ingly winning more of their
angles. Playing longer with another four in a row so far exchanges that lasted at least
my forehand cross. Return- since 2017 — the Spanish nine strokes.
ing a little bit better. I mean, left-hander won four titles at "I don't pretend to come here
my serve, I think, started to the U.S. Open, two at Wim- and not (lose) sets. Is not
work better." bledon and one at the Austra- my mindset to come here
lian Open. and just thinking (losing) a
The No. 3 seed Nadal will set is going to be a disaster
play in Friday's semifinals There are four first-time for me. I mean, that's part of
against either No. 1 Novak Grand Slam semifinalists the game," Nadal said. "The
Djokovic, in what would be a left in the women's bracket, thing that matters is how you
rematch of last year's final and something that last happened recover from a set lost."
their 58th meeting anywhere, at the 1978 Australian Open. So this is what came next:
or No. 9 Matteo Berrettini. Nadal held, then broke to go
The Djokovic-Berrettini In Wednesday's quarterfinals, up 5-4, before holding at love
quarterfinal was scheduled No. 17 seed Maria Sakkari to take the third set. He broke
for Wednesday night. ended Iga Swiatek's title de- again to open the fourth and
(AP) — Rafael Nadal's semifinals at the clay-court The other men's semifinal fense by beating her 6-4, remove any remaining sense
French Open set streak is major tournament. will be No. 5 Stefanos Ts- 6-4, and unseeded Barbora of suspense.
over. His pursuit of a re- itsipas vs. No. 6 Alexander Krejcikova stopped the run Schwartzman — now 1-11
cord-breaking 21st Grand After he ceded the second set Zverev. of 17-year-old Coco Gauff against Nadal, including a
Slam title — including 14 and trailed 4-3 in the third, Nadal, who turned 35 last 7-6 (6), 6-3. So Sakkari fac- loss in the 2020 French Open
at Roland Garros — re- Nadal said later matter-of- week, is now 105-2 for his es Krejcikova on Thursday, semifinals — started mutter-
mains very much intact. factly, "That was the moment career at Roland Garros. when the other semifinal will ing to himself and bounced
to make it happen." be No. 31 Anastasia Pavly- his racket off the clay a mo-
Nadal shrugged off drop- He is just two wins from uchenkova against unseeded ment before getting broken
ping a set in Paris for the As if wanting something eclipsing the men's mark for Tamara Zidansek. again to trail 3-0 in fourth.
first time in two years and were enough to will it into most total Grand Slam sin-
regained control Wednesday, existence, he won the next gles championships that he Nadal entered his quarterfi- "Well, for anybody it's very
whipping violent forehands nine games. How? Let him currently shares with Roger nal with a 35-set run at Ro- difficult to play against him.
punctuated with first pumps tell you. Federer. land Garros that began dur- He's feeling very comfortable
and yells of "Vamos!" en route ing the 2019 final. That grew on court," Schwartzman said.
to a 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-0 vic- "Not many mistakes," Nadal In addition to his 13 trophies to 36 on Wednesday, before "He's Rafa. and he's always
tory over 10th-seeded Diego said. "Hitting a lot of winners. at Roland Garros — four in Schwartzman outplayed finding the way."
Schwartzman to reach the Starting to hit the forehand a row from 2005-08, five him for a stretch, surpris-

UEFA pauses Super League rebels case; English clubs fined

(AP) — UEFA put a hold by Swiss authorities last week ernment. lion) also as a "gesture of tus and Madrid said in a joint
Wednesday on its disci- of the Madrid court order. goodwill" to benefit children, statement they would not ac-
plinary case against Su- "UEFA understands why The Premier League on youth and grassroots football. cept "any form of coercion or
per League rebel clubs the disciplinary proceedings Wednesday said its fines For top clubs, a success- intolerable pressure."
Barcelona, Juventus and needed to be suspended for amount to around 3.6 mil- ful season in the Champi-
Real Madrid, while the six the time being, but remains lion pounds ($5.1 million) ons League currently earns The statutes of UEFA and
Premier League clubs that confident in and will con- per club, with the cash be- around 100 million euros FIFA prohibit clubs taking
tried to join the break- tinue to defend its position in ing invested in support for ($122 million) in UEFA prize disputes to local courts out-
away accepted a collective all the relevant jurisdictions." fans, grassroots leagues and money. side soccer's judicial bodies
fine of 22 million pounds community programs. The whose decisions can be ap-
($31 million). It was unclear if next steps league called the clubs' accep- The agreement also saw the pealed to the Court of Arbi-
will see UEFA challenge the tance of the fines a "gesture of nine consent to be fined 100 tration for Sport in Switzer-
The three clubs who re- injunction in Madrid or seek goodwill." million euros ($122 million) land.
fused to renounce the Super to persuade judges in Lux- if they seek again to play in
League project are facing a embourg, where the timeline They have accepted being de- an unauthorized competition Barcelona, Juventus and
possible ban from the Cham- for rulings could take at least ducted 30 points and fined 25 or 50 million euros ($61 mil- Madrid have claimed they
pions League, although that several months unless fast- million pounds ($35 million) lion) if they breach any other are trying to change the tra-
now looks unlikely before tracked. if they try to join any similar commitments to UEFA as ditional structure of Euro-
next season. sort of largely closed compe- part of the settlement. pean soccer, after teams and
All three holdout clubs quali- tition in the future that isn't leagues were badly hit finan-
Barcelona, Juventus and Real fied for next season's Cham- part of the established struc- After UEFA formally opened cially by the COVID-19 pan-
Madrid won a ruling from a pions League though none tures. the disciplinary case two demic.
Spanish court in April that won their domestic league weeks ago, Barcelona, Juven-
they could not be punished title. Their national federa- It's a second round of sanc-
by Switzerland-based UEFA tions submitted entries for tions for the six English clubs.
and FIFA. Their case was all three with UEFA and the They agreed a settlement deal
also referred by the judge group-stage draw is sched- with UEFA last month joined
in Madrid to the European uled for Aug. 26. by the other Italian and Span-
Court of Justice in Luxem- ish teams among the Super
bourg which could weigh in The plan to split from the League founders: AC Milan,
if UEFA is breaching compe- existing Champions League Inter Milan and Atlético Ma-
tition laws. run by UEFA collapsed with- drid.
in 48 hours in April after the
"The UEFA Appeals Body English clubs — Arsenal, The nine agreed to UEFA's
has decided to stay the pro- Chelsea, Liverpool, Totten- terms to forfeit 5% of their
ceedings until further no- ham and Manchester clubs prize money from European
tice," the European soccer United and City — pulled competitions in the 2022-23
body said in a statement, ac- out amid a backlash from season and pay a combined
knowledging it was notified their own fans and the gov- 15 million euros ($18.3 mil-