Sports
Novak Djokovic toils, will face Rafael Nadal in French semis
It took three and half hours, a cut on his hand and a delay to remove fans, but world No. 1 Novak Djokovic defeated Matteo Berrettini in the quarter-finals of the French Open on Wednesday to set up another date with Rafael Nadal.
The top-seeded Serbian defeated the ninth-seeded Italian 6-3, 6-2, 6-7 (5), 7-5 in three hours, 28 minutes in a match that was interrupted when the 5,000 fans at Roland Garros refused to leave Court Philippe Chatrier in adherence of a curfew that was put in place. Djokovic and Berrettini were asked to leave the court in the middle of the fourth set while the fans were cleared.
Djokovic lost his footing and cut his hand after play resumed.
“This match had it all: falls, crowd, break. It was a lot of intensity,” said Djokovic, who let out a roar when the match was completed. “I just felt under tension the entire time. It was just super, super stressful to constantly be under pressure on my service games, because his service games were quite smooth with the big serve.
Berrettini, 25, had 55 winners compared to 44 for Djokovic, but the Italian’s 51 unforced errors were the difference. Djokovic committed only 19.
“I’m really proud of myself, really proud of my team, what we achieved,” Berrettini said. “I’m really happy, but at the same time I don’t want to stop here. I’m still young. This is my second quarter-finals in a Slam. I don’t want to stop here.”
In the first quarter-final, third-seeded Nadal defeated 10th-seeded Diego Schwartzman of Argentina 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-0 in two hours, 45 minutes.
Nadal’s 36-set winning streak came to an end, but the Spaniard made it to his 14th semi-final at Roland Garros.
“I started badly in the second set, then I was able to come back,” Nadal said. “But at 4-4, returning with the wind, I played a bad game and hit a double fault in the next game. I needed to play more aggressively and I did so throughout the rest of the match. I won an important match today against a tough opponent. I was able to find a way to play my best tennis in the moments that I really needed to.”
Nadal won 108 total points compared to 77 for Schwartzman. Nadal converted on seven of 14 break points. Schwartzman was outdone by 39 unforced errors as Nadal committed 29.
Djokovic leads Nadal 29-28 overall, but Nadal is 10-6 vs. Djokovic in Grand Slam events, including a 7-1 mark at Roland Garros. The upcoming match will be their first semi-final meeting since Wimbledon 2018.
“Each time we face each other, there’s this extra tension, expectations and just vibes are different walking on the court with him,” Djokovic said after his match. “That’s why our rivalry has been historic for this sport and I’ve been privileged to play him so many times.
“Rivalries with him and Roger (Federer) have made me a stronger player and allowed me to understand how I need to improve my game to get to the level where they were when I actually started playing professional tennis. I’ll probably pick Raffa as the biggest rival that I’ve ever had in my career. The anticipation for the match against him, any match on any surface on any occasion is always different from any other.”
Kusal Mendis and Binura Fernando have been ruled out of Sri Lanka’s upcoming T20I series against England, with the SLC saying that the two were “still undergoing rehabilitation” after injuries picked up at the 2026 Lanka Premier League.
The update came just over a day after the two were named in the 16-member squad, with Kusal retained as captain of both the T20I and the ODI sides.Charith Asalanka, who had returned to the vice-captain’s position for the series, will now lead the side in the T20Is. Though Kusal hasn’t been ruled out of the ODIs just yet, were he to miss out, Asalanka, as the designated vice-captain, might step in there too.
Kusal has been out of action since July 19 with a right hamstring injury, while Binura hasn’t played since August 5, SLC putting his absence down to a back injury.
Pavan Rathnayake, the 24-year-old top-order batter, has replaced Kusal in the T20I touring party, while Dilshan Madushanka, the fast bowler who was in the squad for the Tests against India recently but didn’t get to play, has come in for Binura.
(Cricinfo)
Devapathiraja College, Rathgama came up with a strong all-round performance to defeat Royal College, Colombo by 33 runs and secure the Under-15 Division I cricket title at the Ananda College Grounds on Thursday.
Chasing 193 to win, Royal looked well placed thanks to a determined 78 off 105 balls from Ramiru Thiranagama who scored eight boundaries. Herschel Dan chipped in with 33 off 69 balls and Ravinu Ranathunga made a brisk 22 off 21, but the middle and lower order struggled as Devapathiraja’s bowlers took wickets at regular intervals. After being 126 for three wickets at one stage, Royal lost their last seven batsmen for 33 run to be bowled out in the 44th over.
Diyath Sanjitha led the bowling attack with three for 47, ably supported by Deneth Dinuka’s three wickets, while Meneth Sankalana and Gauthem Surya picked up two apiece.
Batting first after winning the toss, Devapathiraja posted 192 for nine in their 49 overs. Shanidu Sineth Mikeshara anchored the innings with a patient 51 off 126 balls, while Gauthem Surya provided the acceleration with 45 from 56 deliveries, striking six fours and a six. Himansa Elithpriya (20), Denuwan Yositha (19) and an unbeaten 16 from Sineth Madhusanka helped push the total to a competitive mark.
Mahima Silva was Royal’s most economical bowler, returning figures of two for 22 from nine overs, while Wishmida Fernando also picked up two wickets.
The victory capped a successful campaign for Devapathiraja, who have now confirmed that they have formidable teams in each of the top three age categories. [RF]
Smriti Mandhana filled her batting coffers with her second T20I century, along the way surpassing Mithali Raj for the record for most runs in women’s internationals, to help India secure a second straight win on Thursday night in Dubai.
Hong Kong’s nerves showed on the field when they fell flat at the first sign of attack from India’s batters, and their timid approach in the chase further exposed the gulf in quality and experience. In the end, they lost by 137 runs – 13 more than what Mandhana managed on her own.
A second straight loss meant Hong Kong will only have some pride to play for, as a berth in the next round is now out of the equation.
India’s cautious start
At the end of five overs, India were 38 without loss – not concerning, but not dominating enough either. They took a while to suss up the lack of pace from the bowlers. Mandhana hogged much of the strike; Shafali Verma faced just six balls in the first five overs. Hong Kong couldn’t have been happier at having kept a lid on the scoring.
Shafali steps up
After a tight first over that went for just seven, offspinner Maria Lamplough was clobbered by Shafali for two fours and two sixes in a 22-run over that helped India take off.
Lamplough struggled for consistency and kept looping the ball up, with Shafali needing no second invitation. The first of the two sixes was a shovel over deep midwicket; the next even better – lofted inside-out over deep extra cover.
Shafali’s brief surge ended on 28 in the eighth over, when Marina took an excellent catch running in and diving full stretch from long-on off Ruchita Venkatesh’s bowling. By then, the openers had put on 74.
Mandhana prances towards record century
As new No. 3 Pratika Rawal took a while to gauge the pace of the surface, Mandhana reached her half-century – her 36th in T20Is – off 40 deliveries with a flat six over deep square. Mandhana’s default setting for much of this period was moving over to the off-side to set herself up for several variations of the slog in the arc between wide long-on and deep square.
Her next fifty came off just 18 deliveries. The century could’ve been nipped in the bud had she been taken at deep square leg in the 16th over off Siu Wai, but she accelerated even more soon after bringing up her century that helped her climb atop the list for most international hundreds in women’s cricket.
In the 18th over, she clobbered Venkatesh for three consecutive sixes, and in the same over also went past Mithali’s record for most international runs. This helped India finish strongly, the second half of their innings brought them 107 despite losing a clutch of wickets.
Nandani’s dream run continues
Coming off a three-for against Thailand, Nandani Sharma’s seam presentation and control was immaculate with the new ball as Hong Kong crawled to 4 for 1 in four overs. The wicket, off Mariko Hill, one of their most experienced batters, came off a superb in-ducker on the back of three successive away-swingers. Nandani added one more wicket to her kitty to finish with 2 for 6 off her three overs.
The collapse
The highest partnership of the innings was the 27 between Yasmin Daswani and Natasha Miles for the second wicket; a period where they hardly threw any caution to the wind, choosing instead to bat overs and gain some match time against an opponent they were playing for the first time in 14 years.
The partnership ended when Daswani’s attempt to heave into the leg side was intercepted by a leaping Bharti Fulmali at midwicket to give Deepti Sharma a wicket. Six balls later, Miles was out attempting to cut Prema Rawat’s sharp leg break, nicking behind to Richa Ghosh.
That was the start of the collapse, as India’s spinners closed in, each one getting onto the scorecard with a bagful. There were eight single-digit scores, with 15 the highest. They lost their last five wickets in 11 deliveries, collapsing from 54 for 5 to 56 all out.
India couldn’t have asked for an easier route into the semi-finals.
Scores:
India Women 193 for 5 in 20 overs (Smriti Mandhana 124, Shafali Verma 28, Pratika Rawal 10, Richa Gosh 11, Harmanpreet Kaur 10; Marina Lamplough 2-46, Ruchitha Venkatesh 1-30, Joyleen Kaur 1-12) beat Hong Kong Women 56 in 16.2 overs (Natasha Miles 15, Yasmin Daswani 11, Marina Lamplough 14; Nandani Sharma 2-06, Shree Charani 2-16, Deepti Sharma 3-09, Prema Rawat 2-12) by 137 runs
[Cricinfo]
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