Djokovic settles down to win at US Open

NEW YORK, USA (AP) — Novak Djokovic faced two set points early in his second-round match at the US Open.

He saved them, won the set, then needed less than an hour to close out a victory. The 2011 champion beat 87th-ranked Benjamin Becker of Germany 7-6 (2), 6-2, 6-2 yesterday.Becker had a chance to serve for the first set at 5-4. But he wasted the first with a forehand into the net and the second when a backhand sailed wide.The wind was swirling at Arthur Ashe Stadium, as it often does during the day to players’ frustration.“You need to have this adjustment, footwork, steps, in order to get on the ball,” Djokovic said.Another Grand Slam winner, Li Na, also showed some championship form earlier on Ashe.This time, her opponent, Laura Robson, looked very much like a teenager.The fifth-seeded Li avenged her third-round upset loss to the young Brit at last year’s US Open, winning in straight sets at the same stage at Flushing Meadows.Li, the 2011 French Open champ, rallied from down a break in the second set for a 6-2, 7-5 victory.Li was nervous after she noticed that her draw was a repeat from last year. A pep talk from coach Carlos Rodriguez eased her anxiety.Agnieszka Radwanska needed nearly two hours to slip past number 32-seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-4, 7-6 (1). The third-seeded Pole faced 10 break points, but Pavlyuchenkova was able to convert only two, while Radwanska was three for five.Wimbledon runner-up Sabine Lisicki, seeded 16th, won’t be making a run at Flushing Meadows after she was eliminated in straight sets by Ekaterina Makarova. The 24th-seeded Russian won 6-4, 7-5.A year ago, Robson’s upset of Li was the biggest victory of her breakthrough run. Meanwhile, it was the third straight frustrating US Open loss for the Chinese star.Robson was ranked 89th coming into last year’s tournament. She had never advanced past the second round at a Grand Slam event or defeated a top-10 opponent.That all changed when she upset major champions Kim Clijsters and Li back-to-back to make the fourth round. Now 19, Robson was seeded 30th at Flushing Meadows and coming off a fourth-round run at Wimbledon.Li had 34 unforced errors in their match a year ago, and she lamented then that the free points lifted the teen’s confidence. This time, Robson never had much of an opening.Li surprised herself with 11 aces yesterday — including one on a second serve on match point — and won all nine points when she went to the net. She’s back in the fourth round at the US Open for the first time since 2009.Her run over, Robson now must face an unfortunate reality for many teenagers: getting her wisdom teeth out.“All the other girls in the locker room are telling me their horror stories: ‘Oh, yeah, I pulled my gauze out and it was just blood,”‘ Robson said. “So that’s not too nice.”Defending champs Serena Williams and Andy Murray were scheduled for matches late yesterday. Williams will be back on court a day after playing singles and doubles, facing Yaroslava Shvedova in the nightcap at Ashe.Two other US Open winners, Juan Martin del Potro and Lleyton Hewitt, were also due to face each other.

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Djokovic settles down to win at US Open

Murray wins Wimbledon, beats Djokovic in 3 sets

LONDON (AP) — From the lawns of Wimbledon to the lochs of Scotland, all of Britain can celebrate.

Andy Murray made it possible Sunday, winning his country’s hallowed tennis tournament to become the first British man in 77 years to raise the trophy at the All England Club.Yes, this was history, and Murray’s 6-4, 7-5, 6-4 victory over top-seeded Novak Djokovic was a fitting close to nearly eight decades of British frustration in its own backyard: A straight-setter, yes, but a hard-fought, 3-hour, 9-minute affair filled with long, punishing rallies and a final game that may have felt like another 77 years, with Murray squandering three match points before finally putting it away after four deuces.Certainly, the endgame must have felt like torture to the 15,000 watching on Centre Court, the thousands more watching on a big-screen TV on the grounds and, of course, the millions of British watching on TV.“Imagine playing it,” Murray said in his on-court interview.But he closed it out on this cloudless, 80-degree day on tennis’ most famous court. He put his name beside that of Fred Perry, the last British man to win Wimbledon, back in 1936.Those words don’t have to be written again.“He’s someone that I’ve obviously never met, but is quite relevant in my career really,” Murray said.The second-seeded Murray beat the best in Djokovic — top-ranked and a six-time Grand Slam tournament winner known for both a mental and physical fitness built to handle what he faced Sunday: A crowd full of overheated partisans rooting against him, to say nothing of Murray himself.“The atmosphere was incredible for him. For me, not so much, but this is what I expected,” Djokovic said.Since falling to Roger Federer in the final last year, Murray had shed some baggage by winning the Olympic gold medal on Centre Court, then following that with his first Grand Slam title at the US Open.The US Open win ended a 76-year drought for the British in the Grand Slams.This one? Even sweeter.“The pinnacle of tennis,” Murray called the Wimbledon win. “I worked so hard in that last game, the hardest few points I ever played in my life.”When he finally wrapped it up, he let his racket fall to the turf, took his hat off and pumped his fist toward the crowd. Later, he climbed to the guest box where his girlfriend, Kim Sears, and his coach, Ivan Lendl, were among those sweating this one out.Like our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/jamaicaobserverFollow us on Twitter https://twitter.com/JamaicaObserver

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Murray wins Wimbledon, beats Djokovic in 3 sets

Djokovic storms into Wimbledon final 16

LONDON, England (AFP) — World number one Novak Djokovic stormed into the Wimbledon last-16 yesterday, while Laura Robson became the first British woman for 15 years to make the fourth round.

Top seed Djokovic, the 2011 champion, destroyed French 28th seed Jeremy Chardy, 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 in just 86 minutes.He fired 38 winners, eight aces and committed just three unforced errors.Djokovic will tackle veteran Tommy Haas for a place in the quarter-finals, just weeks after he beat the German in the French Open quarter-finals.But 13th-seeded Haas beat the Serb star in Miami this season and also got the better of him in the Wimbledon quarter-finals in 2009.Spanish fourth seed David Ferrer, a quarter-finalist last year, beat Ukraine’s Alexandr Dolgopolov 6-7 (6/8), 7-6 (7/2), 2-6, 6-1, 6-2.Ferrer will face Croatia’s Ivan Dodig, the world 49, for a place in the quarter-finals.In the women’s draw, Polish fourth seed Agnieszka Radwanska, the runner-up to Serena Williams last year, defeated Madison Keys of the United States, 7-5, 4-6, 6-3She will face 2010 semi-finalist Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria who defeated Petra Martic of Croatia, 6-1, 4-6, 6-2.Chinese sixth seed Li Na survived a roller-coaster of a battle to edge Czech veteran Klara Zakopalova, 4-6, 6-0, 8-6.Next up for Li is Italian 11th seed Roberta Vinci who saw off Slovakia’s Dominika Cibulkova, 6-1, 6-4.Women’s 2011 champion Petra Kvitova, the eighth seed and highest ranked player in her half after the exits of Maria Sharapova and Victoria Azarenka, reached the fourth round with a 6-3, 2-6, 6-3 defeat of Russian 25th seed Ekaterina Makarova.LONDON, England — Novak Djokovic of Serbia reacts after beating Jeremy Chardy of France in their Men’s singles match at the All England Lawn Tennis Championships in Wimbledon here, yesterday. (PHOTO: AP)

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Djokovic storms into Wimbledon final 16

Djokovic, Williams through at Wimbledon

LONDON, England (AFP) — World number one Novak Djokovic condemned the United States to their worst Wimbledon men’s performance in over a century yesterday as Serena Williams set up a clash of senior citizens against Kimiko Date-Krumm.

Top seed Djokovic breezed past world number 156 Bobby Reynolds, a 30-year-old qualifier, 7-6 (7/2), 6-3, 6-1 to reach the third round.Reynolds was the last American man standing and his defeat under the Centre Court roof means that the for the first time since 1912 there will not be a male player from his country in the third round.Djokovic, the 2011 champion, goes on to face either Jeremy Chardy, the French 28th seed, or German qualifier Jan-Lennard Struff.Their match was one of eight left uncompleted as heavy rain brought the first delays of the week.Djokovic admitted he had been wary of Reynolds after Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal had both been shocked by opponents outside the top 100.Reynolds, the last of 11 US men who started in the main draw on Monday, believes the American decline is only temporary.“There are young college players, but I think they have a lot of potential. Maybe, just a couple years hopefully a good one’s coming,” he said.Defending women’s champion Williams and Date-Krumm, two players with a combined age of 73, set up an intriguing clash for a last 16 place.Top seed Williams extended her winning streak to 33 matches, just two behind the record set by sister Venus in 2000, with a 6-3, 6-2 win over French 19-year-old Caroline Garcia, who she also beat at the French Open.Williams, 31, chasing a sixth Wimbledon title and 17th major, wrapped up victory, the 599th of her career, in 67 minutes with 30 winners and nine aces.Date-Krumm, 42, reached the third round, 17 years after she last did so at Wimbledon, with a 6-4, 7-5 win over Romania’s Alexandra Cadantu, 19 years the Japanese’s junior, to become the oldest woman to make the last 32 at the All England Club.The previous oldest player was Britain’s Virginia Wade, who was 39 years and 362 days old when she made the same stage in 1985.Despite their many years on tour, Williams and Date-Krumm have never played each other.Date-Krumm made the semi-finals in 1996 where she lost to Steffi Graf before taking what turned out to be a 12-year break from tennis.After the shock-waves of Wednesday, which saw Federer and Maria Sharapova knocked out, the number of second round injury pull-outs reached a tournament record nine.French players Michael Llodra (hamstring) and Paul-Henri Mathieu (neck) were the latest to give up although Llodra attracted criticism when he continued to play doubles.LONDON, England — Novak Djokovic of Serbia plays a return to Bobby Reynolds of the United States during their Men’s second round singles match at the All England Lawn Tennis Championships in Wimbledon here, yesterday. (PHOTO: AP )

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Djokovic, Williams through at Wimbledon