Williams sisters renew sibling rivalry
TORONTO/Montreal: Roger Federer celebrated his 33rd birthday with a 6-3 4-6 6-3 win over Spaniard David Ferrer to move into the semi-finals of the Rogers Cup and a step closer to a landmark 80th career title.
Federer will next face another Spaniard, Feliciano Lopez, who ended the last hope for a homegrown winner in sixth seed Milos Raonic 6-4 6-7(5) 6-3.
The other semi-final will see rising star Grigor Dimitrov take on Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who has reached the last four by knocking off world number one Novak Djokovic and twice-champion and eighth seed Andy Murray in yesterday’s quarter-final.
With Ferrer 14-0 against the Swiss maestro there was little concern the fifth seed might spoil the party as the capacity crowd serenaded 17-time grand slam winner Federer with a chorus of “Happy Birthday” between games during the second set.
But there would be no gifts from Ferrer, who made Federer work a little longer and little harder than he wanted.
“It’s a dream come true to still be playing tennis at this age,” Federer told the cheering crowd. “I love tennis but it is a whole lot more fun when you do win and play against guys like David who leave it all out there.
“Stay injury free and go out on my terms, maybe try and win tournaments, I have two this year and hopefully we will have a few more.
“It starts here tomorrow (Sunday) again on the court.”
Meanwhile, World number one Serena Williams and sister Venus will renew one of sport’s great sibling rivalries after posting quarter-final wins at the Rogers Cup to set up a showdown on the Montreal hard courts.
Serena kept her title defence on track rallying for a 4-6 7-5 7-5 win over Caroline Wozniacki yesterday while Venus booked her place in the final four by beating 14th seeded Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro 4-6 6-2 6-3.
It will mark the 25th time the sisters have squared off and first since a 2013 semi-final clash in Charleston that Serena won.
While it is a matchup tennis fans always look forward to, for the sisters it is something they could live without.
“I definitely don’t like playing her,” explained Serena. “Definitely not a fun match. She’s tough. She has a great serve. She runs every ball down. She has a great backhand. She hits winners off the forehand.”
Despite the high praise, Serena holds a 14-10 advantage over her older sister in head-to-head meetings.
Sania, Cara reach semifinals at Montreal
Sania Mirza and Cara Black spanked Raquel Kops-Jones and Abigail Spears in just 52 minutes to seal a semifinal berth at the WTA Rogers Cup, here.
The fourth seeded Indo-Zimbabwean pair knocked out the sixth seeded American team 6-2 6-1 in the lop-sided quarterfinal contest. Sania and Cara converted six of the 10 break chances in the match in which they won 52 points to 27 of their rivals.