nadal: US Open: Rafael Nadal overcomes self-inflicted nose injury and Fognini to reach third round

Rafael Nadal defeated Fabio Fognini 2-6, 6-4, 6-2, 6-1 in the third round of the US Open on Thursday after beating a poor start and bloody nose.

The veteran Italian came out flying to take a set and a 4-2 lead as Nadal struggled to find a rhythm, making upsets like Fognini’s memorably pulled off against the Spaniard at Arthur Ashe Stadium seven years ago. Chances of it happening increased.

Momentum turned in Nadal’s favor in the third set when he went down an overhead and crushed a forehand to break Fognini and take a 4-2 lead.

He broke the fading Fognini again to capture the third set and appeared to march towards the finish line when, leading 3–0 in the fourth set, his racket jumped off the court and accelerated to the bridge of his nose. hit with

This led to a medical time-out where the 22-time Grand Slam champion lay on his back with his eyes closed as a pink bandage was applied to stop the bleeding.

Nadal regrouped and with the support of the partisan crowd sealed the victory on Fognini’s 60th unforced error, ending an ugly affair, with the players combined for 15 breaks of serve and 11 double faults.

“I haven’t been competing for over an hour and a half, it was my worst start ever,” Nadal said in an interview on the court. “When this happens, hopefully not very often, you have to stay positive and be patient. The match is long.”

Talking to reporters after the match, Nadal said that he was dizzy and pained by the blows of the racket. “There was just one strong hit,” he said. “Initially I thought I had broken my nose because it was a shock in the beginning. There was a lot of pain.

“Seems like ain’t broke. I’m not convinced yet. I don’t know. I feel like it’s getting bigger and bigger.”

With the win, Nadal avenged his loss to Fognini at the 2015 US Open, when the Italian returned from two sets. Nadal is now 14-4 against Fognini’s lifetime.

Nadal next faces Richard Gasquet, who beat Serbia’s Miomir Kekmanovic 6-2, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 on day one.

Originally published at Pen 18

Bopanna, Ramanathan crash out of US Open

Veteran Indian tennis players Rohan Bopanna and Ramkumar Ramanathan made early exits from their respective matches at the US Open here. While Bopanna lost both his opening round matches in both the men’s doubles and mixed doubles events on Thursday, Ramanathan was knocked out in the men’s doubles opening round.

42-year-old Bopanna and his Dutch partner Matvey Middelkup lost to the unseeded Italian pair of ninth seeds Andrea Vavassori and Lorenzo Sonego (2) 6-7 2-6.

It was a disappointing day for the sixth seeded pair of Bopanna and China’s Yang Zhaoshuan as they lost 5-7 5-7 to Australia’s Max Purcell and Gabriella Dabrowski in the mixed doubles opening round.

Earlier in the day, Ramanathan and Serbia’s Nicola Cacic lost 4-6, 4-6 in the men’s doubles to the Italian combination of Simone Bolelli and 15th seed Fabio Fognini.

Originally published at Pen 18

jadeja: Ravindra Jadeja ruled out of Asia Cup, Axar Patel to join team as replacement

Axar Patel will replace Ravindra Jadeja in the squad after the Indian all-rounder was ruled out of the rest of the Asia Cup on Friday due to a knee injury. In India’s first-round match against Pakistan, Jadeja was instrumental in the team’s performance.

“The All India Senior Selection Committee has named Axar Patel in place of Ravindra Jadeja for the ongoing Asia Cup,” a BCCI statement said.

“Ravindra Jadeja has suffered a right knee injury and has been ruled out of the tournament. He is currently being looked after by the BCCI medical staff. Axar Patel, who will take his position, is already one of the standbys of the team. Were listed as and will soon be joining the squad in Dubai.

On Sunday, India will meet in their first Super 4 match. Squad: Rohit Sharma (capt), KL Rahul (vice-captain), Virat Kohli, Suryakumar Yadav, Deepak Hooda, Rishabh Pant (wk), Dinesh Karthik (wk), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, R Ashwin, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravi Bishnoi, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Arshdeep Singh, Avesh Khan

Originally published at Pen 18

AIFF President Election: Kalyan Chaubey beats Bhaichung Bhutia by 33-1 – The Economic Times Video

The All India Football Federation (AIFF) on Friday elected a former player as the first president in its 85-year history, with Kalyan Choubey defeating the legendary Bhaichung Bhutia in the top post here. The 45-year-old Choubey, who played as a goalkeeper, registered a 33-1 win, the result expected as former captain Bhutia did not have many supporters in the 34-member voter list made up of state association representatives. The ‘Sikkimes sniper’, also 45, is one of the biggest stalwarts of Indian football and his candidacy has gained additional traction in the election.

Originally published at Pen 18

Bhaichung Bhutia: Kalyan Chaubey beats Bhaichung Bhutia, AIFF gets first player president

The All India Football Federation (AIFF) on Friday elected a former player as the first president in its 85-year history, with Kalyan Choubey defeating the legendary Bhaichung Bhutia in the top post here. The 45-year-old Choubey, a former Mohun Bagan and East Bengal goalkeeper, registered a 33-1 win, the result expected as former captain Bhutia did not have many supporters in the 34-member electoral roll drawn from the state association. Representative.

The ‘Sikkimis sniper’, who is also 45 years old, could not get his state union representative as a mover or seconder to file his nomination papers.

Choubey, a BJP leader who lost the last parliamentary election for West Bengal’s Krishnanagar seat, never played for India’s senior team, although he was in the team on a few occasions.

However, he played for India in age-group international tournaments. He was also a former goalkeeper in both Mohun Bagan and East Bengal.

In fact, Bhutia and Choubey were once teammates in East Bengal.

Karnataka Football Association president NA Haris, a sitting Congress MLA, won the election for the vice-president’s post by defeating Manvendra Singh of Rajasthan FA.

Kippa Ajay of Arunachal Pradesh defeated Gopalkrishna Kosaraju of Andhra Pradesh for the post of Treasurer.

Kosarju and Manvendra proposed and supported Bhutia.

All the 14 candidates who filed nominations for the posts of Executive Committee members were elected unopposed.

Originally published at Pen 18

Japan Open: Prannoy loses in quarterfinals after valiant effort

Osaka: HS Prannoy went down in the men’s singles quarterfinals against World Championships bronze medalist Chou Tien Chen at the Japan Open here on Friday, putting the curtains on India’s campaign. The 30-year-old Indian played out of his skin and saved three match points, only to bear the pain of losing it at the end, as Chow emerged victorious 21-17 15-21 22-20 in a pulsating contest. hour and 20 minutes.

One of the most consistent Indian players in the circuit this season, Prannoy recovered well from an early game upset, breathing down his opponent’s neck until the end point, but in the end, Chow’s perseverance won him the Super Saw this match. 750 tournaments.

Coming into the match after his twin victories against Chow in the previous two meetings, Prannoy continued to engage in a tussle with his opponent, leading 12-8 in the opening game.

However, Chow took a 15-14 lead when Prannoy went to the net. The Taiwanese had a two-point advantage after the Indian faltered with his net shot twice.

Prannoy sent one over the net with another hard return on his opponent’s backhand, and when he put his forehand over the net, there were three game point opportunities for Chow.

A precise cross court return gave Chow bragging rights.

After a change of sides, Chow again opened a thin 5-4 lead before a lucky net cord brought it to a similar tack. While Chow’s comeback intensified and his attack strengthened, Prannoy’s errors piled up as he trailed 6-10.

Prannoy tried to set the pace of the rallies, and a spectacular rally ended with a lucky net cord for the Indian, who drew parity at 10-10, when Chow stumbled on the front court.

However, Chow’s nose was pointed forward as Prannoy failed to defend a shot on his backhand.

After the restart, Prannoy showed better defense and made some accurate down-the-line smashes ahead of his opponent, who suddenly made several errors, especially in the front court.

As Prannoy took a 19-14 lead, Chow hit a cross-court smash on the Indian’s serve to break the run of the game. But Prannoy made sure there were no hiccups as he along with Chow took the match to the decider.

Prannoy made an erratic start to the decider as he widened the shuttle to trail 1-4. Chow went on three long runs before making a body smash to end a grueling rally and take a 6-4 lead.

Things didn’t go Prannoy’s way as he struggled to control the shuttle and several unforced errors saw Chow take a six-point cushion on the break.

Prannoy built the rallies well and precision in his returns, including two delightful cross-court returns, helped him reach 12-13. But once again, unforced errors surfaced in his game as he went long and over the net, giving Chow a 17-14 lead.

The Taiwanese produced a body smash to maintain the three-point lead and took three match points as the Indian went to the net.

Chow went wide twice and Prannoy opened a down-the-line smash in the middle to save three match points, but he once again handed a match point to his opponent, and when Prannoy went wide he sealed it in his favor. done.

Originally published at Pen 18

Transfer window: English soccer flaunts financial power in USD 2.2 billion spree

A record spending spree by Premier League clubs in the summer transfer market passed the USD 2.2 billion mark before the window closed on Thursday with Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool and – of late – Chelsea all signing players to end the rescheduling of their squads. The headline transfer on a generally frantic final day of trading was the arrival of Brazilian winger Antony at United from Ajax for US$95 million, making him the fourth costliest player in Premier League history and football’s most expensive deadline-day. Signed.

This took United’s total spending to around $240 million – a figure topped only across Europe by Chelsea, who eventually signed an out-and-out striker from Barcelona in Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

In the club’s first transfer window in the post-Roman Abramovich era, Chelsea spent a staggering $280 million.

Man City’s signing of Switzerland centre-back Manuel Akanji for USD 17.5 million felt comparatively less important, while Liverpool’s only move – the loan signing of Brazil international Arthur Melo from Juventus – was still significant as it affected the team. -Strengthened midfield.

With proceeds from huge global broadcast deals worth nearly £10 billion (USD 11.8 billion) over three seasons, Premier League clubs have returned to pre-pandemic levels of spending – and then some – leaving the rest of Europe in its wake. For.

By calculations, England’s top-flight clubs have almost as much over players in the top leagues as Spain (USD 500 million), Italy (USD 750 million), Germany (USD 485 million) and France (USD 540 million). Only spent. By Transfermark website. The net spending of Premier League teams was USD 1.35 billion, compared to Italy (USD 8 million) and Spain (USD 64 million). In France and Germany, the league actually made a profit according to Transfermark.

The business run by Nottingham Forest was a summation of the humiliating sparring by English clubs since their return to the Premier League for the first time since 1999.

Forrest signed three players on the day of the deadline, bringing the total to 21, which cost USD 160 million.

ronaldo stay

Cristiano Ronaldo’s future has been a hot topic since the end of last season – the Portugal star has pushed to leave Man United because the team is not in the Champions League – but the five-time world player of the year will remain at Old Trafford. , at least until January anyway.

Ronaldo was a second-half substitute for United in Thursday’s 1-0 win over Leicester in the Premier League and manager Eric ten Haag reiterated after the match that he is relying on the 37-year-old striker this season.

However, Antony’s arrival has increased competition in the attacking spots, with Ronaldo making only one debut in United’s five Premier League games.

United’s rebuilding under Ten Haag was wrapped up with the signing of a season-long loan from Newcastle with Slovakian goalkeeper Martin Dubravka as David de Gea’s backup.

busy fulham

Fulham had a busy end of the window, bringing in three attackers and a defender on the day of the deadline.

Former Brazil winger Willian is back in the Premier League after previous spells at Arsenal and Chelsea, while former Man United winger Daniel James arrived on loan from Leeds.

Brazil striker Carlos Vinicius joined from Benfica, while Fulham brought back Levin Kurzawa on loan from Paris Saint-Germain.

PSG further reduced their squad by selling Senegalese midfielder Idrisa Guay to former club Everton, who also signed young Man United striker James Garner.

A deadline-day spree by Southampton also resulted in four transfers – including Croatia defender Duje Caleta-Carr, who left Champions League qualifier Marseilles for a team that finished in the top half of the Premier League. will perform well.

Aston Villa signed Belgian midfielder Leander Dendonker from Wolverhampton.

solitary signature

Leicester chose the final day of the window for the first and only outfield signing of the summer for French club Reims’ Vout Fes. Fess filled the vacancy left by Wesley Fofana, who joined Chelsea for £75 million (USD 87 million) on Wednesday.

Leicester’s pathetic outlook this summer has left the club too much of an outsider in the Premier League and manager Brendan Rodgers grumbled after a loss to United on Thursday – which left his team in last place and without a win – to strengthen the team. About the failure of the club in In summer transfer.

“With the greatest of respect,” Rodgers said, “we didn’t get the help in the market that this team needed.”

single-season record

The Premier League’s record for spending in one season – covering both summer and winter transfer windows – was previously £1.86 billion (USD 2.18 billion) in 2017-18.

This figure has been exceeded in this transfer window alone. (ap) AH AH

Originally published at Pen 18