14 Established 1961 Sunday, October 15, 2017 Sports Nadal and Federer to face off for Shanghai Masters title Celebrated duo have faced one another 37 times SHANGHAI: Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer will meet crowd to break for 4-2 in the first set. in today’s final of the Shanghai Masters, just the latest And Del Potro grasped set point following a thrilling chapter in their storied rivalry. The celebrated duo have rally that had the spectators whooping, only for 19-time faced one another 37 times, with the Spaniard and Grand Slam champion Federer to inexplicably shank his world number one Nadal winning 23 of their contests. volley out of the court. And the 31-year-old Nadal, who has never won the The second set went with serve until Federer, going Shanghai Masters, will be slight favourite this time after a 94th singles title, made the breakthrough on the because he goes into the showdown on a terrific run of Del Potro serve to inch ahead. Del Potro began show- form, and his opponent faces a quicker turn around. ing irritation, engaging in a series of discussions with Nadal, a 16-time Grand Slam champion, triumphed at the umpire, including demanding Federer be warned for the US Open and then last week at the China Open for triumphantly hitting the ball away after winning the his sixth title of another remarkable campaign. But he game. Federer sent the match into a deciding third set was forced to survive a rollercoaster with fourth seed and he got the break early to tee up another Nadal Marin Cilic in their semi- meeting. Federer, the older final, saving three set points man, could be at a slight dis- in the opener before pulling advantage because he has a through 7-5, 7-6 (7/3). shorter time to rest having The Swiss Federer, the played the second match of world number two chasing a the day. second Shanghai crown, World number 2 rolled back the years to ‘TOUGH MATCH’ fight back from a set down chasing a second Croatia’s Cilic had only and defeat Juan Martin del ever got the better of Nadal Potro 3-6, 6-3, 6-3. The 36- Shanghai crown once in five previous meet- year-old Federer had said ings, but he made him work that he wanted revenge hard for this latest win. over the 16th-seeded Nadal said he was just glad Argentine for defeat in the quarter-finals at the US to be in the final. “The way doesn’t matter,” he said with SHANGHAI: Rafael Nadal of Spain hits a return shot against Marin Cilic of Croatia during their men’s Open this summer. And he got it. a smile. singles semifinals match in the Shanghai Masters tennis tournament at Qizhong Forest Sports City Del Potro, the 2009 US Open champion whose “We are at the highest level of our sport so nobody Tennis Center in Shanghai, China, yesterday. — AP career has been blighted by wrist injuries, quickly wins easy. “And if you want to compete in the most allayed fears that his latest problem would be a major important events of the year and try to go for the victo- Cilic, the 2014 US Open champion, eventually settled, broke Cilic again in the third game of the second set, handicap. The 29-year-old fell and hurt his left wrist in ries, for sure you’re going to have tough matches, and only to squander three set points as Nadal hung on only for Cilic to break back for 3-3 when Nadal put his winning his quarter-final on Friday and there were sug- today was one of them.” grimly. In the next game Nadal capitalised, breaking simple volley into the net. They exchanged a further gestions he may not even make yesterday’s match. But Nadal put Cilic under immediate pressure in the Cilic on the way to claiming the first set. break apiece to race into the tie break, before a grate- he showed no ill effects in stunning the pro-Federer Croat’s first two service games. But the 29-year-old With the crowd firmly in his favour, the Spaniard ful Nadal pulled away at the last. — AFP against 102nd-ranked Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka, who beat qualifier Sara Errani 6-1, 6-3. Sharapova has had a Shakib and De stop-start and injury-hit season since her controversial return at Stuttgart in April, following her ban for using Sharapova reaches the banned substance meldonium. Villiers return for The statuesque former world number one reached first final since the Stuttgart semis but she retired in the Italian Open one-day series second round and also withdrew from her second- round match at Stanford. KIMBERLEY: The return of leading all-rounder Shakib Al 15-month drugs ban Sharapova missed Wimbledon qualifying because of Hasan provides encouragement for Bangladesh ahead of a injury and she wasn’t offered a wildcard to the French three-match one-day international series against South Africa Open, but she reached the US Open last 16 on her starting at the Diamond Oval in Kimberley today. return to Grand Slam tennis. She has cut a swathe But Bangladesh, outplayed in two Tests against the hosts, TIANJIN: Five-time Grand Slam winner Maria through the limited draw in Tianjin, beating Irina- will have to contend with a South African team strengthened Sharapova crushed Peng Shuai 6-3, 6-1 at the Tianjin Camelia Begu, Magda Linette, Stefanie Voegele and by the inclusion of AB de Villiers, one of the world’s most daz- Open yesterday to reach her first final since serving a Peng without dropping a set. zling limited-overs batsmen. 15-month doping ban. The 30-year-old Russian, play- Sharapova, one of the world’s highest-earning Also back in international action for South Africa is JP ing on a wildcard in the seventh tournament of her female athletes, will now expect to win her 36th career Duminy, who retired from Test cricket after a run of low comeback, hit top gear as she swept aside the Chinese title and end a trophy drought of more than two years, scores, but who remains a highly effective one-day player. In third seed in one hour, 18 minutes. the longest since her debut win in 2003. the most recent one-day outings for both teams, Bangladesh In front of a large home crowd, a businesslike By contrast Sabalenka, 19, is gunning for her first reached the semi-finals of the ICC Champions League in Sharapova broke four times and conceded zero breaks WTA title after a run to the Tianjin final that included TIANJIN: Maria Sharapova of Russia hits England in June, while South Africa failed to advance beyond of her own before wrapping up the semi-final with a wins over China’s Duan Ying-Ying and Lin Zhu. a return against Peng Shuai of China dur- the group stage. Bangladesh were victorious in their two clinical crosscourt forehand. Sharapova, currently ranked 86th, has also been handed ing their women’s singles semi-final most recent one-day internationals against South Africa In Sunday’s final-her first since she won the Italian a wildcard for next week’s Kremlin Cup in Moscow, match at the WTA Tianjin Open tennis when they won a series at home in 2015. But the hosts will Open in May 2015 — she will be the red-hot favourite which she will play for the first time since 2007. — AFP tournament in Tianjin yesterday. — AFP start strong favourites. South Africa have won 14 of 17 one- day matches against Bangladesh and triumphed in all six pre- vious encounters in South Africa by convincing margins. Bangladesh will be under new leadership with veteran bowler Mashrafe Mortaza captaining the side instead of Mushfiqur Rahim, who remains in the squad. Although Shakib’s return from a brief sabbatical will strengthen the tourists, they still rely mainly on the players who suffered two Backstrom goal crushing Test defeats.—AFP lifts Capitals over Devils NEWARK: Nicklas Backstrom had a goal and three Karthik recalled assists as the Washington Capitals knocked the surpris- ing New Jersey Devils from the NHL’s unbeaten ranks with a 5-2 victory Friday night. T.J. Oshie had two goals for ODIs against and an assist, and Alex Ovechkin scored his ninth of the season and set up Backstrom’s power-play tally to help New Zealand Washington hand New Jersey its first loss in four games. Jacub Vrana also scored for the Capitals, and Braden Holtby had 21 saves. Washington is 8-1 in its last nine NEW DELHI: India yesterday recalled wicketkeeper- games against New Jersey. Taylor Hall and Kyle Palmieri batsman Dinesh Karthik to the one-day international scored for the Devils, who had surprised many with squad for three upcoming matches against New their quick start after finishing in the basement in the Zealand. Karthik, 32, was part of the squad for the Eastern Conference last season. Cory Schneider made recently concluded Twenty20 series against Australia 23 saves, getting beat three times on the power play. but did not get a place in the starting lineup in the two completed matches. RED WINGS 6, GOLDEN KNIGHTS 3 Rookie fast bowler Shardul Thakur was also includ- Gustav Nyquist scored twice and Detroit had four ed in the 15-man squad for the series starting October goals in the third period to beat Las Vegas, handing 22 in Mumbai. Veteran pacemen Mohammed Shami and the NHL’s newest franchise its first loss.