e_Paper, Wednesday, September 6, 2017

20
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 6, 2017
DT
Sports
Roger Federer of Switzerland returns during his US Open fourth round match against Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany at Flushing Meadows on Monday
Federer and Nadal move within sight of
landmark meeting
• Reuters, New York
Roger Federer crushed Germany’s
Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-4 6-2 7-5 to
ease into the quarter-finals of the
U.S. Open and remain on a collision
course for a semi-final showdown
with Rafa Nadal.
The elegant Swiss maestro and
the muscular Spaniard have played
for titles on French Open clay,
Wimbledon’s manicured lawns and
in Australian heat and while no trophy
would be on the line, a New
York meeting would still have the
Big Apple buzzing.
One of sport’s great rivalries,
Federer and Nadal have clashed
37 times over the years but never
stood across from each other on
Flushing Meadows’ hardcourts.
Standing between Federer and
a semi-final berth is towering Argentine
Juan Martin del Potro, who
beat the former world number one
in the 2009 final to lift his only
grand slam title.
Nadal kept up his end of the bargain
with a straight sets win over
Ukraine’s Alexandr Dolgopolov
Messi deal signed by agent,
claims Bartomeu
• AFP, Barcelona
Barcelona’s under-fire president
Josep Maria Bartomeu launched
a counter-attack on his critics
yesterday by insisting a four-year
contract extension for Lionel Messi
has been signed by the player’s
agent and father, Jorge Horacio
Messi.
Barca announced an agreement
with the five-time World Player of
the Year in July, but Messi himself
is yet to put pen to paper amid rumours
he is unhappy with the running
of the club.
Messi’s current deal expires in
2018 meaning he could leave Barca
for free next summer.
“It is all agreed and signed,” said
Bartomeu in an interview with Barca-based
daily Sport.
“There are three contracts:
one with Messi’s foundation, that
is signed by the president of the
foundation and the player’s brother;
a contract with Leo Messi’s
image rights, that his father and
administrator of his company have
signed; and the work contract that
Leo’s father has signed.”
When pressed on the delay in
Messi signing the deal, Bartomeu
claimed both the player and club’s
hectic start to the season was to
blame and that it would be resolved
within a month.
“There are no problems. All that
is left is the protocol of the signature.
We are calm,” he added.
earlier on Monday. He will need to
get past 19-year-old Russian Andrey
Rublev.
After two marathon five-setters
to open his U.S. Open account,
Federer sprinted past veteran
Spaniard Feliciano Lopez in just 77
minutes in the third round and dismissed
Kohlschreiber in one hour,
49 minutes without facing a break
point.
Unbeaten by the German in 11
matches prior to Monday’s clash,
Federer started quietly and was
content to feel out his opponent
Bartomeu and his board have
received fierce criticism for their
handling of the recently closed
transfer window as Paris Saint-Germain
enticed Neymar away from
the Catalan giants for a world record
222m euros ($263.7m).
A vote of no confidence motion
has been launched by former Barca
presidential candidate Agusti
Benedito that could oust Bartomeu
if it receives enough support from
the club’s members in the coming
weeks.
However, Bartomeu described
the loss of the Brazilian as an “opportunity”
for Barca to build their
team around the midfield rather
than a superstar front three of Neymar,
Messi and Luis Suarez. •
REUTERS
but it was not long until he turned
up the pressure and broke his opponent
with a thundering forehand
before wrapping up the first set.
With the match on serve at 2-1,
razor sharp Federer tore through
six successive games to take the
second set and go 1-0 up in the
third.
With Kohlschreiber on the
ropes, the 36-year-old Swiss
seemed to ease up but he took the
decisive break at 6-5 before closing
out the match with a classic forehand
winner. •
Del Potro
thanks crowd
for epic win
• Reuters, New York
Juan Martin Del Potro produced a
stunning comeback to reach the
U.S. Open quarter-finals on Monday,
a feat he believes was impossible
without the backing of a partisan
crowd.
The Argentine, who lifted the
trophy in New York in 2009, has
been a Flushing Meadows favourite
and needed all the support he
could get against Austrian sixth
seed Dominic Thiem.
“I’m getting good energy from
the crowd in every match,” he had
said before his 1-6 2-6 6-1 7-6 (1) 6-4
win on Grandstand court.
The 24th-seed, whose career
has been plagued by multiple injuries,
said he was about to retire
when he drew some energy from
the crowd as Thiem was cruising to
victory.
“I was thinking to retire in the
middle of the second set because
I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t move
well,” said Del Potro, who called
the doctor twice during the opening
set.
“Dominic was dominating the
match so easy.”
Del Potro started to play better,
and a break early in the third set
gave him the extra confidence he
needed to believe in his chances.
“Then when we started the third
set, I broke his serve very quickly,
and then I won the set in 20 minutes,”
he recalled.
“Then it was another story. I
started to see the crowd. I took all
the energy from the fans. That’s
what I did and in the end, I just
kept fighting. I didn’t give up any
point from the third until the fifth
set.” •
McLaren's driver Fernando Alonso of Spain and Real Madrid's president Florentino
Perez pose after Alonso was named Real Madrid honorary member in a ceremony
at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium in Madrid, Spain, on Monday
REUTERS