Federer, Canadian teen Shapovalov reach semis in Montreal

Associated PressAug 12, 2017, 1:46 PM EDT

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MONTREAL (AP) Roger Federer advanced to the semifinals of the Rogers Cup and was joined later Friday by Canadian teenager Denis Shapovalov, who followed his upset of Rafael Nadal with another three-set victory.

The 18-year-old left-hander from Richmond Hill, Ontario beat France’s Adrian Mannarino 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 and awaits the winner of the late match between fourth-seeded Alexander Zverev of Germany and Kevin Anderson of South Africa.

Shapovalov beat 2009 U.S. Open champion Juan Martin Del Potro in the second round and then knocked off the top-seeded Nadal in a third-set tiebreaker on Thursday in the round of 16.

He broke service for a 2-1 lead in the third Friday only to hand it back in the next game, but a roar went up when Mannarino wasted a chance to put away a game point and Shapovalov jumped on the chance to break for a 5-4 lead. He leapt in the air as he closed out the match.

The second-seeded Federer continued his mastery over 12th-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain with a 6-4, 6-4 victory. The 36-year-old Swiss will next face unseeded Dutchman Robin Haase, a 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 winner over Diego Schwartzman of Argentina.

Federer has won all seven career matches and taken all 16 sets against the 29-year-old Bautista Agut.

He is 1-0 against Haase after a straight-sets win in Davis Cup play in 2012.

Federer said he knows Haase well from serving with him on the ATP player council and from practicing together.

“I’m looking forward to a tough match because he can serve very well and he mixes up his tactics a lot,” Federer said. “Sometimes he tends to just roll the ball in and use the big serve, or he uses a slice a lot and comes in.

“So I don’t quite know with Robin what I’m going to get. But, as I have practiced with him quite a bit, maybe I am better prepared than if I would have never hit with him before.”

Federer broke serve for a 5-4 lead in the first set and broke again for 2-1 in the second en route to the victory in a little more than an hour. Federer was coming off a three-set win over another Spaniard, David Ferrer, against whom he is 17-0.

“My game plan worked better against Bautista Agut than against Ferrer,” he said. “I believe it’s because I was more aggressive coming to the net.”

Haase, who upset seventh-seeded Grigor Dimitrov in the third round, reached his first career Masters Series semifinal. The 30-year-old Haase, back to 52nd in the world after battling injuries for much of his career, improved to 5-0 against 36th-ranked Schwartzman.

“I played a lot of good matches, especially against Dimitrov,” said Haase. “It’s tough to come back and play that same level.

“I didn’t, but I managed to win because I kept fighting.”

Gael Monfils withdraws from French Open with wrist injury

Associated PressJun 1, 2023, 11:34 AM EDT

Susan Mullane-USA TODAY Sports

PARIS — A thrilling five-set victory took a toll on Gael Monfils, whose withdrawal from the French Open handed No. 6 Holger Rune a walkover to the third round.

The 36-year-old Frenchman said he has a strained left wrist and can’t continue.

He battled Sebastian Baez for nearly four hours on Court Philippe Chatrier before beating the Argentine 3-6, 6-3, 7-5, 1-6, 7-5 in a first-round match that ended at 12:18 a.m. local time.

The victory was Monfils’ first at tour level this year, as the veteran was coming back from heel surgery.

“Actually, physically, I’m quite fine. But I had the problem with my wrist that I cannot solve,” he said. “The doctor say was not good to play with that type of injury. Yesterday was actually very risky, and then today definitely say I should stop.”

Monfils reached the semifinals at the French Open in 2008 and made it to the quarterfinals on three other occasions.

Mikael Ymer fined about $40K after default for hitting umpire stand with racket

Associated PressMay 31, 2023, 3:55 PM EDT

Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports

PARIS — Swedish tennis player Mikael Ymer was docked about $40,000 after being disqualified for smashing his racket against the umpire’s chair at a tournament the week before he competed at the French Open.

An ATP Tour spokesman said Ymer forfeited about $10,500 in prize money and 20 rankings he earned for reaching the second round of the Lyon Open. Ymer also was handed an on-site fine of about $29,000.

The spokesman said the ATP Fines Committee will conduct a review of what happened to determine whether any additional penalties are warranted.

The 56th-ranked Ymer, who is 24 and owns a victory over current No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz, was defaulted in Lyon for an outburst late in the first set against French teenager Arthur Fils last week.

Ymer was upset that the chair umpire would not check a ball mark after a shot by Fils landed near a line. As the players went to the sideline for the ensuing changeover, Ymer smacked the base of the umpire’s stand with his racket twice – destroying his equipment and damaging the chair.

That led to Ymer’s disqualification, making Fils the winner of the match.

After his 7-5, 6-2, 6-4 loss to 17th-seeded Lorenzo Musetti in the first round at Roland Garros, Ymer was asked whether he wanted to explain why he reacted the way he did in Lyon.

“With all due respect, I think it’s pretty clear from the video what caused it and why I reacted the way I reacted. Not justifying it at all, of course,” Ymer replied. “But for me to sit here and to explain? I think it’s pretty clear what led me to that place. I think that’s pretty clear in the video.”