Davis Cup 2014: Roger Federer finishes the job to clinch Swiss triumph

Davis Cup: Federer masterclass sees Switzerland win the competition for the first time. 17-time grand slam winner beat Richard Gasquet to set up Swiss' 3-1 victory

It was the last major trophy missing from his collection, but after Roger Federer won the Davis Cup for Switzerland here on Sunday he insisted this was “one for the boys”. Having secured his country’s first victory in the 114-year history of the team competition by beating Richard Gasquet in straight sets, Federer hailed it as a triumph for his team rather than himself. “I’ve won enough in my career that I don’t need this to complete everything or to tick off a box,” he said.

Just a week after he pulled out of the final of the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London with a back injury, Federer came through his third match in as many days without a hint of any physical problems to win 6-4, 6-2, 6-2. Gasquet had replaced the French No 1, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who aggravated an arm injury while losing to Stan Wawrinka on day one.

Federer, having suffered a heavy defeat by Gaël Monfils as the first day finished all square, helped put his team in the driving seat on Saturday when he partnered Wawrinka to victory in the doubles over Gasquet and Julien Benneteau. With the Swiss needing to win only one of the final day’s reverse singles, there was little doubt about the outcome once Federer had broken Gasquet in only the third game of the fourth rubber with a sublime half-volley winner followed by a magnificent forehand pass down the line.

It was hard not to feel sorry for Gasquet, whose nerve has sometimes failed him in the past, especially in front of his home supporters. The crowd in the Stade Pierre-Mauroy, where the attendance of 27,448 broke the Davis Cup record for the second time in three days, did everything they could to lift their man, creating a wonderful atmosphere.

Everywhere you looked there were Tricolores and painted faces, while a group of enterprising supporters came dressed as the Four Musketeers, perhaps in the hope that the present team might be lifted by the spirit of René Lacoste, Henri Cochet, Jean Borotra and Jacques Brugnon, who won the Davis Cup six years in a row for France in the 1920s and 1930s.

Before the match there was an on-court parade of French Davis Cup champions of more recent vintage and once play started the crowd needed no invitation to whip themselves into a patriotic frenzy. In the early stages at least, regular chants of “Allez, Richard!” and occasional renditions of “La Marseillaise” even managed to drown out the noise of the hundreds of cowbells which the Swiss had brought into the stadium.

However, if Federer suffered occasional lapses, he was still far too good for Gasquet, who did not force a single break point. Federer struck 62 winners to Gasquet’s 39 and hit some stunning drop shots in particular. He saved the best of them for last, feathering the ball over the net and out of Gasquet’s reach on match point before falling to his knees and lying face down on the clay, his eyes filling with tears.

It was quite a turnaround after the week had begun with the Swiss in a mini-crisis as Federer, having fallen out with Wawrinka after heckling by the former’s wife during their match at the World Tour Finals nine days ago, faced a race against time to recover from his back injury. Federer had felt at the start of the week that there was “no way” he would be fit to play three matches in three days here.

Last weekend’s confrontation was put aside as Federer thanked Wawrinka “for the effort he’s put in this weekend to build me back up” and for “just keeping me alive”. Wawrinka, who admitted that he was already drunk by the time of the post-match press conference, said simply: “Roger, I still love you.”

Paul Newman / Independent.co.uk

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Paris Masters: New dad Novak Djokovic returns to action

Novak Djokovic says he is not concerned about his number one ranking as he returns to action after becoming a father for the first time.

BBC Sport -- The Serb, 27, plays his first match at the Paris Masters on Tuesday since wife Jelena Ristic gave birth to son Stefan.

Philipp Kohlschreiber is Djokovic's first opponent since he lost to world number two Roger Federer in Shanghai earlier this month.

"I feel like I'm already number one becoming a father last week," he said.

It is the first indoor tournament of the defending champion's season as the players prepare for the ATP World Tour Finals in London in November.

Federer is just 490 points behind Djokovic in the ATP world rankings, with the winner in Paris receiving 1,000 points.

"I never thought that he's not a competition for number one of the world," said Djokovic. "I always thought that he's one of the best players in the world, and he keeps on proving everybody that he deserves to be there.

World Rankings	Player	Nationality
1st - 9,010 points	Novak Djokovic	Ser
2nd - 8,520 points	Roger Federer	Swi
3rd - 6,835 points	Rafael Nadal	Spa
4th - 4,805 points	Stanislas Wawrinka	Swi
5th - 4,295 points	Andy Murray	GB
6th - 4,265 points	Kei Nishikori	Jpn

"I have lots of respect for what he does. I don't think that age is an issue for him. As a matter of fact, I think he's playing some of his best tennis this year.

"For me, it's important to participate in my child's life as much as I can, in his development, in his growing up, in his childhood.

"You know, I hope that it's going to affect positively on my career. In terms of my approach to the tennis, nothing is really changing. I'm still out here, still fighting, competing, and then trying to be number one of the world, trying to win tournaments."

Britain's Andy Murray, now ranked eighth in the world, will open his Paris campaign with a match against the winner of Julien Benneteau and Yen-Hsun Lu on Wednesday, as he bids to secure a place in London.

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ATP Valencia Open: Andy Murray takes title after marathon final against Tommy Robredo

Andy Murray virtually assured himself of qualifying for the ATP World Tour Finals by battling to a 3-6 7-6 (9-7) 7-6 (10-8) win over Tommy Robredo in the Valencia Open final.

Andy Murray Saved five match points before edging out Tommy Robredo

Sky Sports -- Just like in the Shenzhen Open final between the two a month ago, the British No 1 saved five match points in a dramatic contest which lasted 3 hours 19 minutes.

The victory gives Murray 500 ranking points and moves him into the top non-qualified spot in the Race to London standings.

Although it is possible that Murray could drop out of the qualifying places after next week’s Paris Masters, such a scenario would need the tournament in the French capital to play out in a very elaborate and improbable way.

The win sealed the 31st ATP title of Murray’s career and was his third success in the space of a month. Before the current rich vein of form he had not won a tournament since last year’s Wimbledon.

Robredo showed he was up for a battle in the first set as he saved six break points while converting the only two chances he earned.

The Spaniard, playing in front of a home crowd, broke for the first time for a 4-3 lead and then wrapped up the set when Murray dropped serve again.

Murray responded by recording his first break of serve in the opening game of the second set, but the Spaniard stayed in it and eventually managed to level matters in the eighth game.

A tie-break was eventually needed to settle the set, with Murray coming back from the brink to save two match points before forcing a deciding set.

Both players looked to be in physical difficulty during the third set as the intense exertions seemed to be taking their toll.

But they still managed to produce a marathon deciding tie-break full of drama, Murray saving three more match points before finally wrapping up the win.

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Cilic serves his way to first Grand Slam title

By Clair Maciel - USOpen.org -- Marin Cilic played nearly flawless tennis to secure his first US Open title, defeating fellow upstart Kei Nishikori, 6-3, 6-3, 6-3, on Monday in Arthur Ashe Stadium.

WHAT HAPPENED: Not since the 2005 Australian Open had there been a major final contested without one of the ATP’s Big Four. But the 2014 US Open final broke that trend, as giant-slayers Kei Nishikori and Marin Cilic blitzed their way past top seeds and fan favorites to set up an unlikely final that not many could have predicted.

But when the smoke had cleared and the greats had long been gone, it was No. 14 seed Cilic who proved he was the best player at this event, cruising through a 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 win in just under two hours to capture his first Grand Slam title. Cilic is now the first Croat to win a major title since compatriot and coach Goran Ivanisevic won Wimbledon in 2001.

Cilic had earned his spot in the US Open final in convincing form, dismissing both No. 6 seed Tomas Berdych and No. 2 Roger Federer in straight sets prior to the final. He continued his dominance against 10th-seeded Nishikori, playing in the zone with a relaxed, loose and consistent game that Nishikori struggled to keep up with.

Cilic opened the match serving well, using his serve as a weapon to put the pressure on Nishikori and set the tone early. Unfortunately for Nishikori, the fearless play he employed in taking down No. 5 Milos Raonic, No. 3 Stan Wawrinka and No. 1 Novak Djokovic to reach the championship stage simply was not present against Cilic.

Though the Japanese star pushed Cilic in long baseline rallies, he was not as consistent with his shots, which allowed the Croat to take the first break of the match for a 4-2 lead. A strong hold at love three games later gave him the set.

As the match wore on, Cilic had the better movement and more aggressive play, covering the court with ease, while Nishikori was left scrambling, his unforced errors piling up. After four breaks of serve in the second set, three of which came on Nishikori’s serve, Cilic secured a solid grip on the match with a two-set lead just an hour and 10 minutes in.

Down a break midway through the third set, Nishikori nearly had a chance to get back in the match when he held two break points in the 4-2 game. But after Cilic erased both chances with two solid serves, he was able to hold on and come within one game of the championship.

In his final service game, Cilic fired two unreturnable serves and a backhand cross-court winner to claim the trophy.

WHAT IT MEANS: Cilic is the first No. 14 seed to win a major title in the Open era, and the first US Open champion outside the Top 10 since No. 17 Pete Sampras won in 2002. His previous best Grand Slam finish came at the semifinals of the 2010 Australian Open, as well as the quarterfinals of this year’s Wimbledon Championships.

One year ago, he was forced to sit out for the year-end Grand Slam while serving a four-month doping ban from the ITF after mistakenly taking a prohibited supplement. But during that time off, he focused his efforts on improving his game so that he could return to the tour a stronger player.

“It was a difficult period,” Cilic said, “but was also good period for me. I matured a bit more, and I was working day after day. I wasn't, you know, relaxing and doing nothing. So I think that helped me to improve physically. Also, it helped me to have, you know, enough time to put some new parts in my game, which are helping me to play this well now.”

His hard work certainly paid off, as Cilic holds the second best record in match wins this season at 47-16.

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Serena Williams wins US Open and 18th Grand Slam title

By Clair Maciel - Usopen.org -- At the beginning of the 2014 season, Serena Williams was poised for continued success at the majors, having won two Grand Slam titles and the year-end WTA Tour Championships the previous season. It seemed nothing could stand in her way of extending her legacy. But as the year wore on, Williams came up empty-handed in 2014’s first three majors. The US Open was her last shot at major glory.

Luckily for her, six months of hard work had finally started to pay off by summer, as she won two lead-up events in Stanford and Cincinnati. By Day 14 of the US Open, she was back in a major final for the first time in 12 months and in peak form against No. 10 seed Caroline Wozniacki.

An hour and 15 minutes in, Williams had reached her comfort zone, holding championship point. Seconds later, with a collapse to the court and a tearful celebration, her brief Grand Slam title drought ended, as the top-seeded Williams successfully defended her US Open title with a 6-3, 6-3 win, adding an 18th Grand Slam title to her storied career.

“It was such a wonderful feeling,” Williams said after the win. “It is a pleasure for me to win my first Grand Slam at the US Open and now win No. 18 here. It’s so emotional for me. I couldn’t ask to do it in a better place.”

When the 2014 US Open began, critics had begun to wonder if the season would end with a Slam-less Williams. The American made early exits in the fourth round of the Australian Open, the second round of Roland Garros and the third round of Wimbledon. It had gotten to the point where even Williams herself had begun to have doubts about her fate.

“In the beginning of the week, I definitely wasn't sure I would make it this long,” she said upon securing a spot in the final. “Definitely wasn't sure I'd be here. So I'm just elated, to be honest, to have made it this far.”

Thanks to a favorable draw at the US Open, Williams’ road to the title was wide open. Not once did she have to face a Top 10 seed until the championship match, and of the players in her half of the draw who could potentially test her, such as Victoria Azarenka, Genie Bouchard or Petra Kvitova, all were knocked out early, thanks to unexpected upsets.

As the tournament progressed, not a single opponent could touch Williams, and she tore through the draw in near flawless form, without conceding a set. She concluded the tournament in the same fashion. In fact, no opponent was able to take more than three games in a set off of her the entire event. She points to a recent boost in confidence this summer after a disappointing start to the year as the driving force behind her victory.

“I think playing all those matches this summer helped get my confidence up,” she said. “I needed those matches to help keep me calm, and I felt calm all tournament.”

With the win, Williams can now pen her name into a couple of different categories in the history books. For starters, her three-peat is the first to happen at the US Open since Chris Evert won four straight from 1975-78. And she’s the first to achieve the feat at any Grand Slam since Justine Henin won three Roland Garros titles from 2005-07.

Williams’ sixth US Open ties her with Evert’s six titles, while her 18th major singles crown puts her on par with Evert and Martina Navratilova, all tied for second on the all-time list behind Steffi Graf’s 22. While she already has No. 19 on her mind, Williams said she is still overwhelmed with the moment of finally winning a major in 2014.

“I definitely did not think I was going to win a Slam this year,” she said. “It's a little bit of a relief. I have been trying to reach it for so long, since the beginning of the year. I didn't really think would I get there. It was eluding me for three tournaments, I guess. But, still that's a lot for me. I was really excited to get it.”

At 32, Williams was every bit the dominating force in Sunday’s final showdown at the US Open, playing with just as much – if not more – power and gusto as she did when she won her first Grand Slam title here 15 years ago as a rising 17-year-old star. And it begs the question: Just how long can Williams continue adding Slams to her résumé? Based on Sunday’s performance, that could be a question we find ourselves asking for the next few years to come.

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Cilic upsets Federer in second U.S. Open shocker

Reuters -- NEW YORK, Sept 6 (Reuters) - Marin Cilic completed a set of sensationally shocking semi-finals by upsetting 17-times grand slam winner Roger Federer 6-3 6-4 6-4 on Saturday to reach the final of the U.S. Open.

Croatian 14th seed Cilic's opponent in Monday's final will be 10th seed Kei Nishikori of Japan, who sent world number one Novak Djokovic out of Flushing Meadows with a stunning 6-4 1-6 7-6(4) 6-3 victory.

The powerful 6-foot-6 (1.98 m) Cilic had lost all five previous meetings with the Swiss master but was in charge from the outset, with his booming service game and heavy groundstrokes and Federer failed to find an answer.

The twin surprises created the first grand slam final in nine years that does not include at least one of the recent Big Three of tennis - Federer, Djokovic and Rafa Nadal - dating back to the 2005 Australian Open which pitted Marat Safin against Lleyton Hewitt. (Reporting by Larry Fine; Editing by Gene Cherry)
theguardian.com

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Nishikori upsets Djokovic at U.S. Open and makes tennis history

Bloomberg -- NEW YORK – Kei Nishikori of Japan became the first Asian man to reach a Grand Slam final in the 137-year history of tennis’s biggest tournaments, beating top-seeded Novak Djokovic 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 at the U.S. Open.

Nishikori broke Djokovic on five of his seven opportunities, including in the first and last games of the fourth set, to win his third consecutive match against a top-10 player. On match point, he dropped his racket and pumped both fists in the air.

“I feel the support from Japan, even from the TV,” the 24-year-old Nishikori said in a courtside interview after the match. “It’s 4 o’clock in the morning, but I hope everyone’s watching.”

Prior to this week Nishikori had advanced past the fourth round in just one of the 20 Grand Slams he’d played in his career. He came to New York having taken four weeks off to recover from a cyst on his right foot that was surgically removed in August.

In hot, humid and windy conditions at the National Tennis Center in New York — temperatures on the court reach at least 95 degrees Fahrenheit (35 degrees Celsius) in the third set — Nishikori played his third consecutive match of four or more sets. He advanced to the quarterfinals with a five-set win over fifth-seeded Milos Raonic (4:19) and two days later beat third- seeded Stan Wawrinka in five sets (4:15).

“I guess I love to play long matches,” Nishikori said.

Nishikori is the fifth highest-paid men’s tennis player in the world, according to Forbes magazine’s annual rankings, trailing just 17-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer, 14-time winner Rafael Nadal, Djokovic and 2012 U.S. Open champion Andy Murray. Of the $11 million he made from June 2013 through June 2014, $9 million was from endorsement deals with companies including Adidas AG, Delta Airlines and Tag Heuer, the magazine said.

Djokovic, of Serbia, was playing in his eighth consecutive U.S. Open semifinal, and the 17th Grand Slam semifinal in his last 18 attempts. He’s been the world’s No. 1 since July, after holding the ranking for almost a year from 2012-2013.

After breaking Djokovic in the first game of the fourth set, Nishikori fell behind 0-40 on his serve in the second game. Nishikori won the next five points to take a 2-0 lead. The crowd, which was mostly behind Djokovic earlier in the match, became more vocal for the Japanese player as the match progressed.

Prior to this year, Nishikori’s only Grand Slam quarterfinals appearances was at the Australian Open in 2012, losing in straight sets to Murray.

After beating Wawrinka, Nishikori became the first Japanese semifinalist at the U.S. Open since Ichiya Kumagae in 1918. The previous Japanese man to reach the final four at any Grand Slam was Jiro Satoh at Wimbledon in 1933.

japantimes.co.jp

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Serena Williams into US Open final with win over Makarova

Serena Williams thrashed Russia's Ekaterina Makarova to remain on course for a hat-trick of US Open titles.

The world number one powered to a 6-1 6-3 victory in exactly an hour as she closes in on a sixth victory in New York, and a third in succession.

Williams, seeking to win her 18th Grand Slam title, will play Danish 10th seed Caroline Wozniacki in Sunday's final.

"I'm so happy - you have no idea what it means to me," said the American. "I didn't know I would be here today."

Her victory was in marked contrast to that of Wozniacki, who was leading a much closer contest in the first semi-final when China's Peng Shuai retired in the heat.

Williams had no such problems and, after failing to make it past the fourth round of a Grand Slam this year before arriving in New York, she has looked a class apart at Flushing Meadows.

She spent just five and a half hours reaching the semi-finals without dropping a set and needed only 26 minutes to take the first against Makarova.

The Russian, 26, was playing in her first Grand Slam semi-final and carried the confidence boost of having knocked the Williams sisters out of the doubles, alongside Elena Vesnina, earlier this week.

But with Williams in rampant form, it counted for about as much as her 2012 Australian Open win over the American.

A brilliant forehand earned Williams the first break points in game four and after Makarova went long on the second, the match slipped away from the Russian very quickly.

Four errors handed over a break at the start of the second set, and when the American out-volleyed the doubles expert on her way to moving 4-0 in front, it was clear that nothing was going to derail Williams.

There were signs of tension when she failed to serve out the match from 30-0, and coach Patrick Mouratoglou appeared nervous in the stands, but Makarova could not keep the pressure on.

Facing her 10th break point of the match after 60 minutes she sent a backhand into the tramlines, and a thrilled Williams celebrated moving to within one win of an 18th Grand Slam title.

* By Piers Newbery BBC Sport

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