Rafael Nadal back in French Open final after injured Zverev stops
Paris, Jun 3: Rafael Nadal has become the second-oldest men's finalist in French Open history after his semifinal opponent, Alexander Zverev, stopped playing Friday because of an injured right leg. Now Nadal will try to become the oldest champion at a tournament he's already won a record 13 times.
Playing on his 36th birthday at an event he first won at 19, Nadal emerged to claim a tight-as-can-be, draining first set that lasted 1 1/2 hours by a 7-6 (8) score. The second set also was headed to a tiebreaker after another 1 1/2 hours when Zverev tumbled behind the baseline while chasing a ball to his right.
Zverev's black outfit was covered in rust-colored clay, as were his legs and arms, and he immediately grabbed his right ankle, screaming in pain.
A trainer came out to attend to him, and Nadal walked around the net to check on Zverev, too.
Zverev then was taken off the court in a wheelchair. Several minutes later, he came back out using crutches and said he needed to retire from the match. He shook the chair umpire's hand and then hugged Nadal.
Nadal has been dealing with chronic pain in his left foot and was coming off a pair of victories that each lasted more than 4 hours including against defending champion Novak Djokovic on Tuesday but showed no signs of age, injury or fatigue against the 25-year-old Zverev.
The match was played indoors at Court Philippe Chatrier, with the retractable roof installed in 2020 shut because of afternoon showers.
In addition to bidding for a 14th trophy from the French Open, Nadal can claim his 22nd Grand Slam title to add to the men's record he already holds after his triumph at the Australian Open in January.
Djokovic and Roger Federer are tied at 20.
There's also this on the line for Nadal in Sunday's final against No. 8 Casper Ruud of Norway or No. 20 Marin Cilic of Croatia: It would be the first time the Spaniard ever has won the first two legs of the calendar-year Grand Slam.
Cilic won the 2014 U.S. Open; Ruud has never been to a major final.
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Narine stars as KKR beat LSG by 98 runs, go to top of table
Lucknow, May 5: Sunil Narine's sparkling fifty and a collective effort by the bowlers fashioned Kolkata Knight Riders' 98-run win over Lucknow Super Giants in the IPL here on Sunday.
Deciding to bowl first didn't go as per plan for LSG as KKR became the first team to cross the 200-run mark at the Ekana stadium.
Proving his worth with the willow once again, Narine (81 off 38 balls) went on a six-hitting spree, blasting seven maximums and six fours to take the visitors to 235/6.
Chasing an imposing total, LSG batters had to go from the word go but the hosts found it hard to get the big shots and were eventually bundled out for 137 in 16.1 overs.
Within the first 10 overs, LSG had lost half the side including skipper KL Rahul (25), Arshin Kulkarni (9), Deepak Hooda (5) and big hitters Marcus Stoinis (36) and Nicholas Pooran (10).
Ashton Turner hit some lusty blows and looked in mood to showcase his batting prowess but the Australian was supremely unlucky as an inside edge deflected off his boot with Varun Chakravarthy completing a caught and bowled.
With the win KKR moved to the top of the table. They have 16 points, the same as Rajasthan Royals but have played one game more.
LSG, on the other hand, dropped out of the top four to the fifth spot with 12 points from 11 games. Their Net Run Rate also took a massive hit going down from 0.094 to -0.371.
Earlier, the in-form Narine, who was dropped twice in the space of two balls, smoked five boundaries in five balls, setting the tone for the KKR innings.
First, he hammered back-to-back fours off Naveen-ul-Haq in the last two balls of the third over. He then attacked the offside, hitting three boundaries on the trot off Mohsin Khan in the fourth over.
Narine and Phil Salt (32) gave the two-time champions the explosive start they have come to expect from the duo. Together they put up a quick 61-run stand before Naveen-ul Haq took the pace off the ball to send the Englishman packing.
Medium pacer Yash Thakur then stemmed the flow of runs in the final over of the powerplay, giving away only two runs as KKR reached 70/1.
However, the unperturbed Narine continued his onslaught and brought up his fifty off 27 deliveries with a cheeky late dab that sent the ball rolling past short third.
He took a particular liking to Marcus Stoinis, sending the ball over the fence three times in the 11th over.
But Ravi Bishnoi, on whose bowling Narine was dropped twice before, was third time lucky as he put an end to the all-rounder's spectacular innings.
The LSG bowlers were able to rein in the KKR batters as they kept taking wickets.
Naveen-ul Haq got rid of Andre Russell (12) before Yudhvir Singh, who came as a concussion sub for Mohsin Khan, picked up young Angkrish Raghuvanshi's (32) wicket in the next over.
The Afghan pacer swung back into action to account for the big-hitting Rinku Singh (16) while Thakur removed Shreyas Iyer (23).
But Ramandeep Singh's unbeaten 25 off 6 balls took KKR past the 230-run mark.
