Rafael Nadal made his earliest US Open exit in a decade Friday, suffering his first Grand Slam defeat after leading by two sets, while Serena Williams rallied to keep her calendar Slam dream alive.
Spanish eighth seed Nadal, whose 14 Slam titles include the 2010 and 2013 US Open crowns, fell victim to 32nd-seeded Italian Fabio Fognini 3-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Nadal had not lost so early on the New York hardcourts since the third-round in 2005 against American James Blake. The 29-year-old had been 151-0 in Slam matches when leading by two sets.
But Fognini imposed seven consecutive service breaks upon Nadal in the fourth and fifth sets, smacking 70 winners in a fantastic effort.
“I can’t describe how happy I am,” Fognini said. “It was very tough. To do it against Rafa, two sets down. It was an incredible match.”
Fognini, 32, booked a last-16 date with 18th-seeded Spaniard Feliciano Lopez, who eliminated Canadian 10th seed Milos Raonic 6-2, 7-6 (7/4), 6-3.
Nadal lost to Fognini on clay at Rio de Janeiro and Barcelona earlier this year, but had bounced back with a triumph in July’s Hamburg final.
It was Fognini’s first win in 18 tries on hardcourt against a top-10 rival and made him the first Italian in the US Open last 16 since Davide Sanguinetti in 2005.
Williams grinds through
Women’s world No 1 Williams, meanwhile, battled through mistakes and the tension of her quest for tennis history.
Williams fought back to defeat 101st-ranked US compatriot Bethanie Mattek-Sands 3-6, 7-5, 6-0 at Arthur Ashe Stadium and needs only four more triumphs to complete the first calendar Slam since Steffi Graf in 1988.
Williams, holder of all four major titles, also seeks her 22nd career Slam singles crown to match Graf’s Open Era record and move two shy of Australian Margaret Court’s all-time mark.
The 33-year-old American went to three sets for the 10th time in 24 Grand Slam matches this year and stayed perfect, eight of those fightbacks after first-set defeats.
“I’m not trying to live on the edge,” Williams said. “I don’t think I came out too slow. I think Bethanie came out really well. I had to adapt to her game and I finally got some rhythm going toward the end of the second set.”
Williams struggled with her first serve early, hitting only 52 per cent in the first set, when she also made half of her 28 unforced errors, but Williams found her form late in the second set and dominated from there.
“She stepped up,” Mattek-Sands said. “She’s a great closer. She always has been. You can see when she’s confident in her shots.”
Three-time defending champion Williams, who could reach her first Grand Slam final without facing a top-10 foe, next plays US 19th seed Madison Keys.
Djokovic cruises
Top-ranked Novak Djokovic moved a step closer to his 10th career Slam crown and third of the year by defeating Italy’s Andreas Seppi 6-3, 7-5, 7-5.
Djokovic took his 31st win in a row over Italian foes, 11 of them against Seppi, since losing to Filippo Volandri in his ATP debut at Umag in 2004.
“It was a tough three sets,” Djokovic said. “Just hanging in there. Be patient for your opportunities. You try to cash in when they come.”
Next up is Spanish 23rd seed Roberto Bautista Agut, who advanced when 14th-seeded Belgian David Goffin retired while leading 6-2, 7-5, 3-6, 1-3.
A Grand Slam record 13 men have retired from matches at this tournament, many from heat-related cramping issues.
Croatian ninth seed Marin Cilic barely escaped making the earliest exit of any defending champion since Andre Agassi in 1999 before outlasting 56th-ranked Kazak Mikhail Kukushkin 6-7 (5/7), 7-6 (7/1), 6-3, 6-7 (3/7), 6-1.
“It wasn’t easy but I stayed together and got it done,” Cilic said.
Cilic next meets French 27th seed Jeremy Chardy, who ousted Spanish seventh seed David Ferrer 7-6 (8/6) 4-6, 6-3, 6-1.
Venus rolls back the years
Venus Williams, 35, eased sister Serena’s path to the final by ousting the top-rated rival on their side of the draw, defeating 12th-seeded Swiss teen Belinda Bencic 6-3, 6-4.
Bencic, 18, inflicted the most recent defeat upon Serena last month in a Toronto semi-final, but fell to 0-4 against Venus, who fired 31 winners against 15 unforced errors.
“I just wanted to be aggressive,” Venus said. “Keeping the errors down really helped me close out the match.”
Venus, seeded 23rd, reached a fourth-round match against 152nd-ranked Estonian teen qualifier Anett Kontaveit and could face Serena after that.
“I hope we both get to the quarter-finals,” Venus said.
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ROUTE TO TITLE
Round 1: Beat Leolia Jeanjean 6-1, 6-2
Round 2: Beat Naomi Osaka 7-6, 1-6, 7-5
Round 3: Beat Marie Bouzkova 6-4, 6-2
Round 4: Beat Anastasia Potapova 6-0, 6-0
Quarter-final: Beat Marketa Vondrousova 6-0, 6-2
Semi-final: Beat Coco Gauff 6-2, 6-4
Final: Beat Jasmine Paolini 6-2, 6-2
Federer's 19 grand slam titles
Australian Open (5 titles) - 2004 bt Marat Safin; 2006 bt Marcos Baghdatis; 2007 bt Fernando Gonzalez; 2010 bt Andy Murray; 2017 bt Rafael Nadal
French Open (1 title) - 2009 bt Robin Soderling
Wimbledon (8 titles) - 2003 bt Mark Philippoussis; 2004 bt Andy Roddick; 2005 bt Andy Roddick; 2006 bt Rafael Nadal; 2007 bt Rafael Nadal; 2009 bt Andy Roddick; 2012 bt Andy Murray; 2017 bt Marin Cilic
US Open (5 titles) - 2004 bt Lleyton Hewitt; 2005 bt Andre Agassi; 2006 bt Andy Roddick; 2007 bt Novak Djokovic; 2008 bt Andy Murray
AGUERO'S PREMIER LEAGUE RECORD
Apps: 186
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Assists: 31
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Company profile
Company name: Nestrom
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Company profile
Company name: amana
Started: 2010
Founders: Karim Farra and Ziad Aboujeb
Based: UAE
Regulator: DFSA
Sector: Financial services
Current number of staff: 85
Investment stage: Self-funded
Draw:
Group A: Egypt, DR Congo, Uganda, Zimbabwe
Group B: Nigeria, Guinea, Madagascar, Burundi
Group C: Senegal, Algeria, Kenya, Tanzania
Group D: Morocco, Ivory Coast, South Africa, Namibia
Group E: Tunisia, Mali, Mauritania, Angola
Group F: Cameroon, Ghana, Benin, Guinea-Bissau
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Herc's Adventures
Developer: Big Ape Productions
Publisher: LucasArts
Console: PlayStation 1 & 5, Sega Saturn
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Bhuvan Bam
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Nikhil Sharma from Mumbai began his online career through vlogs about his motorcycle trips. He has become a lifestyle influencer and has created his own clothing line.
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Education reform in Abu Dhabi
The emirate’s public education system has been in a constant state of change since the New School Model was launched in 2010 by the Abu Dhabi Education Council. The NSM, which is also known as the Abu Dhabi School Model, transformed the public school curriculum by introducing bilingual education starting with students from grades one to five. Under this new curriculum, the children spend half the day learning in Arabic and half in English – being taught maths, science and English language by mostly Western educated, native English speakers. The NSM curriculum also moved away from rote learning and required teachers to develop a “child-centered learning environment” that promoted critical thinking and independent learning. The NSM expanded by one grade each year and by the 2017-2018 academic year, it will have reached the high school level. Major reforms to the high school curriculum were announced in 2015. The two-stream curriculum, which allowed pupils to elect to follow a science or humanities course of study, was eliminated. In its place was a singular curriculum in which stem -- science, technology, engineering and maths – accounted for at least 50 per cent of all subjects. In 2016, Adec announced additional changes, including the introduction of two levels of maths and physics – advanced or general – to pupils in Grade 10, and a new core subject, career guidance, for grades 10 to 12; and a digital technology and innovation course for Grade 9. Next year, the focus will be on launching a new moral education subject to teach pupils from grades 1 to 9 character and morality, civic studies, cultural studies and the individual and the community.
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Name: Xpanceo
Started: 2018
Founders: Roman Axelrod, Valentyn Volkov
Based: Dubai, UAE
Industry: Smart contact lenses, augmented/virtual reality
Funding: $40 million
Investor: Opportunity Venture (Asia)
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Name: Haltia.ai
Started: 2023
Co-founders: Arto Bendiken and Talal Thabet
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Will the pound fall to parity with the dollar?
The idea of pound parity now seems less far-fetched as the risk grows that Britain may split away from the European Union without a deal.
Rupert Harrison, a fund manager at BlackRock, sees the risk of it falling to trade level with the dollar on a no-deal Brexit. The view echoes Morgan Stanley’s recent forecast that the currency can plunge toward $1 (Dh3.67) on such an outcome. That isn’t the majority view yet – a Bloomberg survey this month estimated the pound will slide to $1.10 should the UK exit the bloc without an agreement.
New Prime Minister Boris Johnson has repeatedly said that Britain will leave the EU on the October 31 deadline with or without an agreement, fuelling concern the nation is headed for a disorderly departure and fanning pessimism toward the pound. Sterling has fallen more than 7 per cent in the past three months, the worst performance among major developed-market currencies.
“The pound is at a much lower level now but I still think a no-deal exit would lead to significant volatility and we could be testing parity on a really bad outcome,” said Mr Harrison, who manages more than $10 billion in assets at BlackRock. “We will see this game of chicken continue through August and that’s likely negative for sterling,” he said about the deadlocked Brexit talks.
The pound fell 0.8 per cent to $1.2033 on Friday, its weakest closing level since the 1980s, after a report on the second quarter showed the UK economy shrank for the first time in six years. The data means it is likely the Bank of England will cut interest rates, according to Mizuho Bank.
The BOE said in November that the currency could fall even below $1 in an analysis on possible worst-case Brexit scenarios. Options-based calculations showed around a 6.4 per cent chance of pound-dollar parity in the next one year, markedly higher than 0.2 per cent in early March when prospects of a no-deal outcome were seemingly off the table.
Bloomberg
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