Page 18 - ARUBA TODAY

A18 SPORTS
Saturday 7 September 2019
U.S. Open final

Continued from Page 17 when it comes to less-for-
giving hard courts, but right
“You don’t want to be in a now, he sure looks healthy,
tiebreak against a player hale and hungry as ever.
like Matteo. ... I was a little The 33-year-old Spaniard
bit lucky, no?” Nadal said. — Federer, it’s worth not-
“I survived at that moment ing just turned 38 — made
and ... after that, the match it to the semifinals at every
completely changed.” major this year. Nadal lost
Sure did. Nadal broke once in the Australian Open final
in the second set and three to Novak Djokovic in Janu-
times in the third, while ary, won a 12th French
never facing a single break Open title in June, and lost
point in the match. to Federer in the final four
He will face No. 5 seed at Wimbledon in July.
Daniil Medvedev of Russia Berrettini, 23, had never
on Sunday. been to a Grand Slam
It is Medvedev’s first major semifinal but didn’t look in-
final, Nadal’s 27th. They’ve timidated early on against
played each other once Nadal. Rafael Nadal, of Spain, reacts after winning the first set against Matteo Berrettini, of Italy, during
before, the final of the Mon- A decade apart, this was the men’s singles semifinals of the U.S. Open tennis championships Friday, Sept. 6, 2019, in New
treal Masters hard-court their first matchup, and so York.
tournament in August, and the early stages were as Associated Press
Nadal won 6-3, 6-0. much a chance for Nadal breaker. enough to make Berrettini’s Berrettini hardly packed
“He’s one of the more sol- to familiarize himself with Berrettini grabbed a 4-0 volley try rather tough, and it in from there, but Nadal
id players on tour,” Nadal the guy as it was for fans lead, then kept getting the ball found the net. One was simply better, grind-
said. “He is making steps who might not know much closer to the finish line. At set point erased. On the ing away until his foe finally
forward every single week.” about Berrettini. 6-4, there he stood, need- next, Berrettini tried a drop succumbed. After Berret-
Medvedev advanced ear- What’s obvious is that his ing one point to take the shot, but this one was only tini managed to save nine
lier Friday by beating Grig- strengths are a big serve set, as raucous supporters so-so and it, too, landed in break points in a row, Nad-
or Dimitrov 7-6 (5), 6-4, 6-3 that tops 130 mph and a stood and yelled — includ- the net. A second set point al converted his 10th of the
for his tour-leading 50th win forehand that can end ing the fellow Roman who was gone, and Berrettini match to lead 4-3 in the
of the season. points. Less apparent at first owns a restaurant on Man- covered his mouth. second set.
The 23-year-old Russian first glance is Berrettini’s touch, hattan’s Lower East Side The next two points — the Once that set was his, Nad-
made a name for himself which he showed off with where Berrettini has been last of the set — also went al broke to go up 1-0 in the
at the U.S. Open by earn- about a half-dozen drop going for pasta throughout to Nadal via errors by Ber- third. And that, folks, was
ing the wrath of specta- shots to claim points in the the tournament. rettini, a backhand into that.
tors. During his on-court first set, taking advantage That, then, is when Nadal the net on a 24-stroke ex- Soon enough, Nadal was
interview Friday, Medve- of just how faaaaar behind needed to dig in, and did. change, followed by a able to move on from
dev referenced his “tour- the baseline Nadal stood Berrettini? Unaccustomed forehand that sailed long. this test and start thinking
nament of controversies,” to return. to these stakes and these Nadal reacted by shout- about beating Medvedev
which included accumu- As the match progressed, moments, he wasn’t quite ing and pumping his fist — and gaining on Federer.
lating $19,000 in fines and Nadal started going more up to the task. repeatedly. Berrettini’s jaw “It means a lot,” Nadal
antagonizing booing fans to Berrettini’s backhand, Nadal flicked a forehand dropped. Fans rose and said, “to be back where I
last week, saying he knew it avoiding that furious fore- passing shot that dipped roared. am today.”q
was “not going to be easy hand. So Berrettini adjust-
with the public.” ed, too, running around Sparks rout Storm 102-68
Medvedev’s tennis was a his backhand as much as
bit scratchy Friday, and like possible to get in position to wrap up No. 3 seed
Nadal, he barely avoided to swing away from his pre-
dropping the opening set. ferred side.
But he did just enough with And swing away he did, By The Associated Press game opening round. ATLANTA (AP) — Elizabeth
his mostly defensive style throwing his barrel-chest- LOS ANGELES (AP) — Los Angeles took the lead Williams had 20 points,
to get past Dimitrov, who ed, 6-foot-5 (1.95-meter), Candace Parker scored for good when Sydney eight rebounds and a ca-
had eliminated Federer in 198-pound (90-kilogram) 20 points, Nneka Ogwu- Wiese’s 3-pointer made reer-high eight blocks in
a five-set quarterfinal. frame behind forehands mike added 14 points it 18-15 with 2:11 in the Atlanta’s victory over Las
“I do think he was better that repeatedly ap- and 10 rebounds and first quarter. The Sparks Vegas. The Dream (8-25)
player in first set. I do think proached 100 mph. Noth- the Los Angeles Sparks closed the first half on took their first lead at 63-
I was kind of lucky to win ing subtle about them. Ber- wrapped up the No. 3 a 10-0 run to lead 50-35 62 on Marie Gulich’s la-
it,” Medvedev said about rettini is built like a boxer seed with a 102-68 victory and led by double digits yup with 5:10 left. Renee
Dimitrov. “Then the mo- and he often borrows terms over the Seattle Storm on the rest of the way. Montgomery’s 3-point-
mentum changed com- from that sport when dis- Thursday night. The 34-point victory tied er made it 68-62 and
pletely. I think after, I was cussing his matches, such The defending champion for the second-largest capped a 9-0 run for At-
playing better than him in as when he spoke meta- Storm (17-16) dropped a margin in Sparks history. lanta. A’Ja Wilson made
the next two sets.” phorically about wear- half-game below Minne- Jewell Loyd and Alysha a pair of free throws to
A year ago at this time, ing down opponent Gael sota, but they hold the Clark both reached 200 pull the Aces (20-12) to
Nadal was retiring from his Monfils with body blows head-to-head tiebreaker career 3-pointers for Se- 76-74 with 23 seconds
semifinal against Juan Mar- in their exhausting five-set against their first-round attle, the only WNBA left, but Alex Bentley an-
tin del Potro because of quarterfinal. opponent. With some players to achieve the swered with a pair of free
knee pain. He’s famously The key to the opening help from the Lynx, Seat- milestone in the same throws four seconds later
had trouble with his body set and, indeed, the en- tle can still regain the No. game. and Las Vegas missed its
over the years, particularly tire semifinal, was that tie- 6 seed and host the one- DREAM 78, ACES 74 final three shots.q