AP Photo

Zverev upsets Federer for Rogers Cup title

Associated PressAug 13, 2017, 8:41 PM EDT
Leave a comment

MONTREAL — Alexander Zverev kept his winning streak alive with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Swiss ace Roger Federer in the Rogers Cup final on Sunday.

The 20-year-old Zverev, the winner last week in Washington, D.C., posted a 10th straight match victory and ended the 36-year-old Federer’s winning streak at 16. The German also tied Federer with a fifth tournament victory this year.

He got even for a loss to Federer at Halle, Germany, on June 25 and evened their career head-to-head record at two wins each.

Zverev used some sharp groundstrokes to keep Federer from taking control early and get the only service break he needed to win the first set.

Zverev escaped a break point at 1-0 in the second set with consecutive aces, then broke a mistake-prone Federer for a 4-3 lead and served out the match.

Zverev, the youngest Rogers Cup finalist since Novak Djokovic in 2007, was coming off an emotional victory over Canadian teenager Denis Shapovalov in the semifinals.

Federer missed a chance to tie Ivan Lendl for second place all time with 94 tournament wins. Jimmy Connors leads with 109.

In the doubles final, fifth-seeded Frenchmen Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut defeated seventh-seeded Rohan Bopanna of India and Ivan Dodig of Croatia 6-4, 3-6, 10-6.

Svitolina defeats Wozniacki for Rogers Cup title

AP Photo
Associated PressAug 13, 2017, 8:38 PM EDT
Leave a comment

TORONTO — Elina Svitolina defeated Caroline Wozniacki 6-4, 6-0 to win the Rogers Cup women’s tennis tournament on Sunday.

It was Svitolina’s fifth WTA Tour title of the season.

The 22-year-old Ukrainian used powerful groundstrokes and a big serve to keep the sixth-ranked Wozniacki off balance.

A break at love at 4-4 gave the fifth-ranked Svitolina the edge in the first set. She wasn’t threatened again in the 77-minute match.

Svitolina had a clear edge from the baseline thanks to her impressive retrieving ability. Wozniacki was forced to go for more winners and started making more unforced errors as a result.

Wozniacki, a 27-year-old former world No. 1 from Denmark, varied her shots throughout the match, combining power with more looping topspin returns.

Svitolina wasn’t fazed as her consistency and power game proved to be too much.

It was Svitolina’s fourth victory over a top-10 opponent this week and third win in two days.

She beat ninth-ranked Venus Williams in the third round, topped No. 4 Garbine Muguruza in a rain-delayed quarterfinal Saturday morning and downed No. 2 Simona Halep on Saturday night.

It was Svitolina’s third Premier 5 title of the year.

Svitolina has reached five finals this year and won them all. Wozniacki fell to 0-6 in final appearances this season and is 0-3 in head-to-head matches against Svitolina.

Svitolina will move one spot to a career-high No. 4 when the new rankings are released Monday.

The women’s doubles final was scheduled for later Sunday.

Top-seeded Russians Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina were to meet eighth-seeded Anna-Lena Groenefeld of Germany and Kveta Peschke of the Czech Republic.

Nadal upset by Canadian teenager in Montreal

AP Images
Associated PressAug 11, 2017, 8:18 AM EDT
Leave a comment

MONTREAL– Canadian teenager Denis Shapovalov upset top-seeded Rafael Nadal 3-6, 6-4, 7-6 (4) in the third round of the Rogers Cup on Thursday night.

The 18-year-old Shapovalov, from Richmond Hill, Ontario, advanced to a quarterfinal meeting Friday night with France’s Adrian Mannarino, who defeated Hyeon Chung of South Korea 6-3, 6-3.

“It’s what I dreamed of all my life growing up, playing guys like Rafa (Nadal), Roger (Federer), Andy (Murray),” Shapovalov said. “You know, my dream came true today.”

Shapovalov has taken major strides this week to reach his goal of cracking the world’s top 100 with wins over Rogerio Dutra Silva and 2009 U.S. Open champion Juan Martin Del Potro. He also halted Nadal’s bid to regain the No. 1 ranking, which the Spaniard could have achieved by reaching the semifinals.

Shapovalov battled back after Nadal cruised through the first set, then erased a 3-0 deficit in the tiebreaker for the biggest victory of his career.

Shapovalov became the youngest player to reach the tournament’s quarterfinals since Bjorn Borg in 1974. With hockey great Wayne Gretzky and Olympic swimming star Penny Oleksiak cheering for him from the seats, he also became the youngest quarterfinalist at a Masters Series tournament ever and is the youngest to beat a player ranked in the top two in the world since Nadal beat Federer in 2004 in Miami.

“He played well,” Nadal said. “He has a great potential.”

“I wish him the best. He has everything to become a great player. He played with the right determination in the important moments.”

Roger Federer overcame a weak first set to post a 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 victory over Spaniard David Ferrer in an earlier third-round match.

In Friday’s quarterfinals, the second-seeded Federer will face 12th-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain, who outlasted Frenchman Gael Monfils 4-6, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (2) on center court at Uniprix Stadium.

Unseeded Argentine Diego Schwartzman posted a strange win over American Jared Donaldson 0-6, 7-5, 7-5 to advance to a quarterfinal meeting with Robin Haase, the 52nd-ranked Dutchman who upset seventh-seeded Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria 7-6 (3), 4-6, 6-1.

Kevin Anderson of South Africa downed American Sam Querrey 6-4, 6-1 and will next play fourth-seeded Alexander Zverev, who ousted 16th-seeded Nick Kyrgios 6-4, 6-3.

Federer, who breezed past Canadian Peter Polansky in the second round on Wednesday, struggled in the opening set, spraying balls long, wide or into the net, but gradually rediscovered at least some of the form that has seen the 36-year-old Swiss earn two grand slam wins this year.

Federer is 17-0 in his career against the 35-year-old Ferrer, who was ranked third in the world in 2013 but is now at No.33.

Bautista Agut fought off a match point to force a tiebreaker, which the tired-looking Monfils opened with a double fault and never challenged again.

The unseeded Monfils played his third straight three-set match, including an upset win over fifth-seeded Kei Nishikori in the second round.

Schwartzman saved four match points to upset third-seeded Dominic Thiem in the second round. The win over Donaldson put him in a quarterfinal for the sixth time this year. Schwartzman’s only ATP win was on clay in Istanbul last year.

Donaldson, 20, was seeking a first career quarterfinal in a Masters Series tournament, where he is 0-13 in round of 16 matches.