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A18 SPORTS
Saturday 13 OctOber 2018
Federer, Djokovic, Zverev

advance at Shanghai Masters

By SANDRA HARWITT the court, goes for his shots Djokovic said of their previ-
Associated Press more than he used to,” ous match. “I wasn’t, I feel
SHANGHAI (AP) — Al- Federer said of Coric. “He like, playing as well as I’m
though Roger Federer final- good in defense now, he playing today.
ly won a match in straight has a transition game now, “But also, he has improved
sets at this year’s Shanghai and a solid serve. I’ve al- a lot, and he has estab-
Masters, it didn’t save him ways played him when he’s lished himself as a top play-
any energy. playing well, but I’ll hope I er. It’s going to be definitely
Alexander Zverev of Germany hits a return shot to Kyle Edmund
of Britain during their men’s singles quarterfinals match in the The defending champion can take it to him.” a close match.”
Shanghai Masters tennis tournament at Qizhong Forest Sports reached the semifinals Earlier, fourth-seeded Al- Anderson had a chance to
City Tennis Center in Shanghai, China, Friday, Oct. 12, 2018. Friday by beating eighth- exander Zverev secured a take an early lead against
Associated Pressa seeded Kei Nishikori 6-4, spot in next month’s ATP Fi- Djokovic but he overhit a
7-6 (4). His first two matches nals with a 6-4, 6-4 quarter- forehand on set point in the
both went three sets. final win over Kyle Edmund. 12th game of the match.
“It was the same length, Zverev is the fifth player Djokovic didn’t give the
actually, as all three of my to qualify for the season- South African another op-
matches went the same ending tournament in Lon- portunity.
length basically, an hour don, joining Federer, Rafael Zverev, who improved
and 52 (minutes),” Federer Nadal, Novak Djokovic and to 4-0 against Edmund,
said. “So you see, two sets Juan Martin del Potro in the saved the one break point
sometimes doesn’t tell the eight-player field. he faced and took ad-
truth.” “Obviously it’s great to fi- vantage of the two break
Federer finished the match nally officially make it and points he earned.
with 10 aces and landed obviously be part of the The victory gave the
an impressive 71 percent of eight best again, which is 21-year-old Zverev a tour-
his first serves. He went up an elite group, which is kind leading 49th match win of
a break at the start of the of the goal for everyone at the year. Dominic Thiem,
second set, but then trailed the beginning of the sea- who lost his opening match
4-1 in the tiebreaker. son,” Zverev said. this week, is in second
“I was happy to get out in Zverev will next play sec- place with 48 match wins
two,” Federer said. “I some- ond-seeded Djokovic in the this season.
how got it done. I think I semifinals. The Wimbledon “It means a lot because I
can be very happy with my and U.S. Open champion, have kind of played only
level of play this week.” who is looking to win a re- the biggest tournaments,”
Federer, a two-time cham- cord fourth Shanghai title, Zverev said. “Obviously I
pion in Shanghai, will next defeated seventh-seeded don’t want to stop here.
face 13th-seeded Borna Kevin Anderson 7-6 (1), 6-3. There is still a lot more tennis
Coric. The Croat defeated Zverev won his only en- going on till the end of the
Matthew Ebden 7-5, 6-4. counter against Djokovic in year. I’m in semifinals now,
“He’s really improved his the 2017 Rome final. and I obviously don’t want
game, stepping up into “It was a different surface,” to be satisfied just yet.”q

Olympic star Biles leads Team

USA at world championships

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) —
Olympic gymnastics cham-
pion Simone Biles is ready
to take on the world again.
The four-time Olympic gold
medalist and three-time
world all-around champion
headlines the six-woman
group Team USA will send
to the 2018 world champi-
onship in Doha, Qatar later
this month. In this Aug. 19, 2018, file photo, Simone Biles competes on the
The world championships floor exercise at the U.S. Gymnastics Championships in Boston.
are the first international Associated Pressa
meet for Biles since the 2016 vault, floor exercise and world all-around cham-
Summer Olympics in Rio team final — in Brazil. She pion Morgan Hurd, 2017 US
de Janeiro. The 21-yeara- returned to competition in champion and 2016 Olym-
old took time off after win- July and captured a fourth pic alternate Ragan Smith,
ning five medals — includ- US championship in August. Riley McCusker, Grace Mc-
ing gold in the all-around, Biles will be joined by 2017 Callum and Kara Eaker.q