Djokovic beats Nadal after marathon battle, advances to Wimbledon final
Wimbledon, July 14 : Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic on Saturday beat World No.1 Rafael Nadal of Spain 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (11-9), 3-6, 10-8, ending a marathon match that began a day earlier to advance to the final of Wimbledon.
In total, World No. 21 Djokovic needed five hours and 15 minutes to make reach his fifth career Wimbledon final, marking a stunning return to form after struggling with a right elbow injury earlier this season, reports Efe.
The match was suspended Friday evening after Djokovic sealed the lengthy third set tiebreak 11-9, following two hours and 53 minutes of play, and resumed again Saturday under a closed roof.
The two stars ended the match with exactly the same stats, each firing 73 winners and only 42 unforced errors.
The Duchess of Sussex, Meghan Markle, and the Duchess of Cambridge, Kate Middleton, attended the match in their first appearance together without their husbands, Princes Harry and William.
For the final, Djokovic is set to face Kevin Anderson of South Africa, World No. 8, who is making his first appearance in Wimbledon's last round after beating the John Isner of the United States 7-6 (8-6) 6-7 (5-7) 6-7 (9-11) 6-4 26-24 on Friday.
Despite Djokovic's two-day match, Anderson may be the one at a disadvantage in the final, as the South African's semifinal against Isner lasted a record-breaking six hours and 36 minutes.
Djokovic has also beaten Anderson in five of their six encounters.
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Rickelton's ton in vain as SRH beat MI by 6 wickets
Mumbai (PTI): Ryan Rickelton's whirlwind unbeaten ton was overshadowed by Heinrich Klaasen's unbeaten 65 as Sunrisers Hyderabad defeated Mumbai Indians by six wickets in an IPL match here on Wednesday.
Chasing an imposing 244-run target, Travis Head (76 off 30) and Abhishek Sharma (45 off 24) shared 129 runs for the opening wicket to set the platform for SRH.
Klaasen (65 not out off 30 balls) then displayed his all-round hitting abilities to guide SRH home with the help of Nitish Kumar Reddy (21) and Salil Arora (30 not out off 10) in 18.4 overs.
Earlier, Rickelton's knock powered MI to 243 for five.
MI rode on a 93-run stand between Rickelton (123 not out off 55 balls) and Will Jacks (46 off 22) in 7.1 overs for the opening stand to power the side.
MI skipper Hardik Pandya scored a valuable 31 off 15 balls before being dismissed.
Praful Hinge (2/54), Eshan Malinga (1/29), Sakib Hasan (1/39) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (1/31) were the wicket-takers for SRH.
Brief Scores:
Mumbai Indian: 243 for 5 in 20 overs (Ryan Rickelton 123 not out; Praful Hinge 2/54).
Sunrisers Hyderabad: 249 for 4 in 18.4 overs (Travis Head 76, Heinrich Klaasen 65 not out; AM Ghazanfar 2/51).
