Farah surges to United defender year’s fastest Ferdinand 10,000 metres retires

SUNDAY, MAY 31, 2015 16 19 Climb king Contador assured of Giro title Page 18

LONDON: Arsenal team pose with the trophy after winning the FA Cup final football match against Aston Villa at Wembley stadium esterday.y — AFP Gunners demolish Villa in FA Cup Slice of history for Arsenal and Wenger

LONDON: Arsenal retained the FA Cup in majestic style as he keeps his medals, but he now has a ninth major honour Villa, appearing in their first FA Cup final since 2000, Walcott’s seventh goal of an injury-ruined season was their 4-0 demolition of Aston Villa in yesterday’s final made of his 19-year reign at Arsenal to add to the collection. seemed completely bewildered by the speed and move- no more than Arsenal deserved and, with their confidence history for the Gunners and their manager Arsene Wenger. “I am very proud. Our club is doing well and if I can per- ment of Arsenal’s attacks. now sky-high, they took just five minutes after half-time to Wenger’s side swept Villa aside with a swashbuckling sonally do well then it’s even better,” Wenger said of his his- They were prised open when Mesut Ozil’s ball in the six- press home their advantage. display sparked by Theo Walcott’s first half opener and illu- toric landmark. yard box was met by Walcott with a lunging volley that While Walcott has been a bit-part player for most of the minated by a sublime strike from Alexis Sanchez to double “We have shown that we are a real team and can deal looked goalbound until Kieran Richardson threw himself campaign, Sanchez has established himself as Arsenal’s their lead after the interval. with pressure. I congratulate the players, the staff and the into a last-ditch block. creative fulcrum in the nine months since he arrived from Per Mertesacker and substitute Olivier Giroud also got fans. We are so happy.” Arsenal had conceded twice in a Walcott had been preferred to Giroud in the central Barcelona and he capped his debut season with a stun- on the scoresheet for the rampant north Londoners to seal disastrous opening eight minutes against Hull in last year’s striker’s role that he has spent years telling Wenger he ning effort in the 50th minute. Arsenal’s second trophy in 12 months with the biggest final. could thrive in, but the Arsenal boss responded to that Seizing possession in a wide position 25 yards from margin of victory in an FA Cup final since 1994. But there was no sign of such a fraught start this time as miss by shifting the winger to the left flank and moving goal, a typically deft drop of the shoulder send two Villa It was a suitably memorable performance on a historic Arsenal quickly established their smooth passing rhythm Sanchez into the middle. It proved an inspired switch as defenders the wrong way, buying time and space for day which saw Wenger become the first manager in the to pen Villa deep inside their own half. the pair combined to break the deadlock in the 40th Sanchez to unleash a superb, swerving shot that flashed post-War period to win the competition six times, a tally Sanchez was at the heart of all their best moments and minute. over the flat-footed Given into the roof of the net. matched by only George Ramsey, who won the last of his he worked space to clip a cross towards Laurent Koscielny, Once again, a blur of Arsenal passes went unchecked Villa, so vibrant since Tim Sherwood took over late in with Villa in 1920. whose header forced a fine one-handed save from Shay by the bedraggled Villa rearguard before Nacho Monreal the season, looked traumatised by Arsenal’s scintillating There was another significant slice of history for Arsenal Given. lofted a cross that was bravely headed back across goal by display. Mertesacker compounded their misery in the as they lifted the famous old trophy for the 12th time, Aaron Ramsey should have scored when a fortunate Sanchez. 62nd minute when the Gunners defender guided a corner moving them ahead of Manchester United as the most deflection presented him with a clear sight of goal just With Villa’s defenders too slow to react to the danger, into the net via his shoulder before Giroud’s clever flicked successful club in the competition. inside the penalty area, yet the Arsenal midfielder couldn’t Walcott pounced, arriving unmarked from the left to lash a finish in stoppage-time underlines the class divide Wenger insisted this week that he doesn’t know where hit the target with a rushed effort. ferocious left-foot shot past Given. between the teams. —AFP

Williams rallies Djokovic, Nadal closer to oust Azarenka to quarter-final duel PARIS: Serena Williams battled back from a set down for the second straight match to defeat Victoria Azarenka 3-6, PARIS: Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal moved to within one win in 1993. “I am playing more solid and am more consistent with 6-4, 6-2 and reach the last 16 of the French Open yeterday. of a French Open quarter-final blockbuster yesterday as the each match,” said sixth-seeded Nadal, who took his Paris record to The 33-year-old American was staring defeat in the face sport’s next generation endured a Grand Slam reality check. World 69 wins against just one loss. at a set and 2-4 down in the second before finding her number one and top seed Djokovic reached the last-16 for the Kyrgios, the 29th seed and bidding to add a first French Open range in the nick of time. sixth straight year with a 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 win over 19-year-old last-16 place to his runs to the 2014 Wimbledon and 2015 She was also a break down early in the deciding set, but Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis. Australian Open quarter-finals, wasn’t helped by requiring a med- by that time she had found her range and she duly won six Defending champion Nadal, chasing a 10th title in Paris, ical timeout for an elbow injury late in the second set against games in a row to clinch the win. brushed aside Russian world number 120 Andrey Kuznetsov, 6-1, Murray. Williams will next play fellow American Sloane Stephens 6-3, 6-2. Murray, who fired 12 aces and 45 winners while Kyrgios was for a place in the quarter-finals as she continues in search Third-seeded Andy Murray, twice a semi-finalist, was also undone by 37 unforced errors, goes on to face unseeded of a 20th Grand Slam title. untroubled as he cruised to a 6-4, 6-2, 6-3 victory over Kokkinakis’s Frenchman Jeremy Chardy who surprised 17th seeded Belgian “Today it was not easy, Victoria played very well and I 20-year-old compatriot Nick Kyrgios. David Goffin 6-3, 6-4, 6-2. Chardy lost to Murray at the Rome was struggling,” said the two-time champion. “She won the It was a chastening day for the sport’s youngsters at Roland Masters before the Scot scratched from the event. “I was a little bit first set and I just said to myself ‘allez, allez Serena, come- Garros with Kokkinakis and Kyrgios joined at the exit door by 18- pissed when I see he retired because of tiredness,” said Chardy. “If on.’” year-old Croatian Borna Coric, defeated by Amercia’s Jack Sock, 6- he wins Roland Garros, everybody will say it was a good choice. If Azarenka was quickest out of the blocks in a late-start- 2, 6-1, 6-4. Djokovic, bidding for a first Roland Garros title to com- he loses, it will be wrong.” It was 28-year-old Murray’s third succes- ing match, taking the opening two games before Williams plete a career Grand Slam, will face French 20th seed Richard sive win over Kyrgios, all without dropping a set, as he took his levelled at 2-2. Azarenka then won four of the next five Gasquet for a quarter-final place. record on clay this year to 13-0. games to take the set 6-3. Gasquet, one of five Frenchman to make the last-16, saw off “I used variety and slice, tried to mix it up to break his rhythm Williams was struggling with her usually mighty serve 15th seed Kevin Anderson 4-6, 7-6 (7/4), 7-5, 6-4 despite the South and it seemed to work,” said Murray who said he knew Kyrgios and she was broken again in the third game of the second African hitting 22 aces and 62 winners. wasn’t serving at his full power as the match progressed. “At the set as Azarenka grew in confidence to take a 3-1 lead. Djokovic fired 34 winners and didn’t face a single break point beginning he was serving big, over 200 kilometres an hour, and in his one-hour, 49-minute win over highly-rated wildcard then started slowing down to 170, 180, and not really going for The American had a break point to get back level at 3-3 FRANCE: Serena Williams of the US reacts as she but three unforced errors in a row saw her 4-2 down Kokkinakis. aces.” After a tight first set, Murray carved out a double break in defeats Belarus’ Victoria Azarenka during their third “Thanasi has a lot of talent and strength. He is still a teenager the second to put himself firmly in the driving seat. Despite his instead. Two games later she had another shot at taking round match of the French Open tennis tournament the Azarenka serve and this time she made no mistake on and he has plenty of time to do great things,” said Djokovic after bandaged right forearm, Kyrgios broke for a 2-1 lead in the third at the Roland Garros stadium. — AP her second break point with the Belarusian hitting long winning his 25th successive match this season. before surrendering the advantage in the next game. under pressure. had the two players trading barbs and staring daggers at “I hope he does as he has a lot of qualities.” Nine-time champi- His frustration caused him to launch a ball out of Court That proved to be the turning point of the match with each other over the net. on Nadal reached the fourth round courtesy of eight breaks of the Suzanne Lenglen which led to a warning for a code violation. Williams clearly in the ascendancy suddenly opening up Williams fell behind 0-2 at the start of the deciding set, Kuznetsov serve. “Andy is one of the best defenders at the moment,” said Kyrgios, with all the power she has at her disposal. but turned on the power as Azarenka wilted to win the last Nadal will tackle unseeded Sock who, at 22, became the who knocked Nadal out of Wimbledon last year and beat Roger She levelled the set scores after a disputed line call that six games of the tie. — AFP youngest American man to make the last-16 since Pete Sampras Federer in Madrid this month. — AFP