Raonic stuns Murray in Japan Open semis; Nishikori prevails

Milos Raonic of Canada outsted top-seeded Andy Murray to move into the final of the Japan Open, edging the defending champion 6-3, 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (7-4) on Saturday.

One more to go: Kei Nishikori lifts his arms in triumph after beating Marcos Baghdatis 6-2, 6-2 in the semifinals of the Japan Open on Saturday. AP

Raonic, seeded sixth and ranked 15th, will meet Kei Nishikori in Sunday's final after he routed unseeded Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus 6-2, 6-2 in just over one hour.

Nishikori, ranked 17th, defeated Baghdatis for the first time after having lost three previous matches to the Cypriot.

Nishikori and Raonic will play for the first time in the final, with the Japanese seeking his first title of the season.

Nishikori is the first Japanese to advance to the final since the event was sanctioned by the ATP in 1973.

"I can't believe it, to be honest," said Nishikori, who lost in the first round the last two years. "I haven't had great results here and I was struggling up until now."

"Playing in Japan means a lot to me. I don't think I've ever been this happy in my career. Winning a title in Japan has always been a career goal of mine."

Eighth seed Nishikori was in control from start to finish on this day.

He broke Baghdatis, once ranked eighth in the world, in the third game to take a 2-1 lead and won another break point at 5-2 to win the first set.

In the second set, Nishikori jumped out to a 4-0 lead and never looked back to move into his first final of the year. Nishikori said his returns will be key against Raonic, who he will play for the first time.

"I think he has the best serve on the tour," Nishikori said. "Murray has the best return on the tour, but even he still won only 18 percent of points on the first serve."

Playing under a blazing sun at Ariake Colosseum, the big-hitting Raonic broke Murray in the opening game of the match, then used his strong serve and powerful forehand to go up 5-3, before breaking again to claim the set 6-3.

The Olympic champion looked sluggish from the outset and had to save two break points to hold serve for 1-1 in the second set.

After Raonic held to go up 3-2, a frustrated Murray broke his racket by smashing it on the court.

The were no breaks of serve in the second set, and the contest proceeded to a tiebreak, where Raonic misplayed a volley to give Murray a 6-5 lead and then couldn't handle a Murray forehand that gave him the tiebreak 7-5, squaring the contest.

Murray turned the tide in his favor in the third set by breaking Raonic with a sublime backhand down the line to move ahead 3-1. Murray made it 4-1 on serve and looked to be in control, only to see Raonic break back for 4-3 and then hold for 4-4.

Murray held to go up 5-4 and then had two match points on Raonic's served in the 10th game, but could not capitalize as the Canadian held to send it to another tiebreak.

Raonic took control in the tiebreak and finished it 7-5.

"Live and die by the serve. I'm not afraid to go for it on my second serve. I know what I am capable of," Raonic said.

Murray and Raonic had split their two previous career meetings, both this year. Raonic beat Murray on clay at the Barcelona Open, while Murray knocked Raonic out of the U.S. Open in the fourth round.

"The first set was poor from my side," said Murray. "I played better in the second and third sets, but it was a disappointment not to close out the match. It came down to one or two points in the end."

BEIJING — Zhang Ze said he took inspiration from Grand Slam-winner Li Na after a record-breaking run which raised hopes that China's struggling men could finally emerge from the shadows of their female tennis stars.

In control: Kei Nishikori plays a return against Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis in Saturday's Japan Open semifinals. Nishikori won 6-2, 6-2. KYODO

The world No. 165 made history this week when he became the first Chinese man ever to beat a top-20 player, with a three-set win over Richard Gasquet that put him into the quarterfinals of the China Open.

His defeat of the Frenchman, ranked 14th, also meant China's top player has gotten further in an ATP tournament than any other Chinese man in 17 years, after Pan Bing made the Seoul semifinals in 1995.

After his campaign was halted by Florian Mayer on Friday, the 22-year-old right-hander from Nanjing was quick to name 2011 French Open champion Li, Asia's only singles Grand Slam winner, as his guiding light.

"Li Na is our example, as a role (model)," he said, adding that his next goal was to become the first Chinese man to break into the top 100.

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Murray gets warm welcome at home

DUNBLANE, Scotland — Thousands of people lined the streets in gloomy Scottish weather Sunday to give Andy Murray a rousing welcome to his hometown of Dunblane as he celebrated his Olympic and U.S. Open victories.

Britain's first men's Grand Slam winner in 76 years arrived on an open-top bus before walking slowly through the town's streets, signing autographs as the crowds chanted his name, waved Scottish flags and lifted homemade placards.

"So many people, so much support, it's been a bit overwhelming," Murray said. "It will take a few days to sink in."

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Murray tops Nishikori

MELBOURNE, Australia — Andy Murray overcame an inconsistent serve to beat Kei Nishikori on Wednesday and reach the semifinals of the Australian Open for the third straight year.

The No. 4-ranked Murray won 6-3, 6-3, 6-1 to join No. 1 Novak Djokovic, No. 2 Rafael Nadal and No. 3 Roger Federer in the semifinals.

During the first set, Nishikori played a lob shot through his legs on his way to winning the point — but by that time he was already a break down.

Murray, who hasn't dropped a set since the first round, broke seven times in all, although he plans to work on his serve after only managing a 44 percent success rate with his first serve.

"He's really tough to play because he never misses," Nishikori said of Murray. "It's tough to break his serve. He was making me run side to side all the time. To be honest, I don't think I have a chance against him with my skills for now."

In their previous head-to-head meeting, Murray routed Nishikori 6-3, 6-0 in the semifinals of the Shanghai Masters last October on his way to the title.

"I thought it was a good match," Murray said. "There were a lot of good points. Most of the fun points he was winning, so I was trying to keep them as short as possible. But I did well."

Earlier this week, 24th-seeded Nishikori upset sixth-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the fourth round to become the first Japanese man to reach the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam event since Shuzo Matsuoka did so at Wimbledon in 1995.

Nishikori's previous career-best Grand Slam result was the round of 16 at the U.S. Open in 2008.

No Japanese player has advanced to the semifinals in the men's draw of a Grand Slam tournament since the Open era began in 1968. Jiro Sato was the last Japanese male player to reach the Australian Open semis (1932).

"I once again realized I need to have a great ability to achieve my goal of winning a Grand Slam tournament," Nishikori said.

Murray's opponent in the semifinals will be Djokovic, who appeared physically unwell for much of his quarterfinal match but still beat David Ferrer 6-4, 7-6 (7-4), 6-1.

Djokovic rubbed the back of his upper left leg on several occasions, looked on the verge of being physically sick in the second set and buried his head in towels several times during breaks. During the third set, a tired-looking Djokovic sat down on a linesman's chair during a line-call video challenge by Ferrer.

"I was lucky to get out of the second set, it was a big mental advantage to get two sets up," Djokovic said.

The women's semifinal matchups were completed Wednesday when former and reigning Wimbledon winners Maria Sharapova and Petra Kvitova both won in straight sets.

After Kvitova beat unseeded Italian Sara Errani 6-4, 6-4, Sharapova set up a repeat of last year's final at the All England Club with a 6-2, 6-3 defeat of fellow Russian Ekaterina Makarova.

Kvitova beat Sharapova 6-3, 6-4 in their last Grand Slam meeting to claim her first major title.

"Obviously, it was a tough one at Wimbledon," Sharapova said. "She's full of confidence and playing the best tennis right now. I look forward to it."

Sharapova and Kvitova also kept alive their chances of claiming the top ranking, which Caroline Wozniacki will vacate on Monday after her quarterfinal loss to Kim Clijsters.

To earn the No. 1 ranking, Sharapova must repeat her 2008 Australian Open title. Kvitova only has to match or better the run of Victoria Azarenka, the only other player still in the running this week for the No. 1 spot.

Federer beat 2009 U.S. Open champion Juan Martin del Potro 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 Tuesday in his 1,000th tour-level match. Nadal rallied for a 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (8-6), 6-4, 6-3 win over Tomas Berdych.

Their semifinal match on Thursday will be their 27th in all and 10th at a major.

It will also will be the first time Federer and Nadal have met at Melbourne Park since the Spaniard won the 2009 title in five seesawing sets. Nadal collected the trophy from the great Rod Laver after consoling Federer as he sobbed in the background.

"We are talking about a player who has won 16 Grand Slams, and I've won 10," Nadal said. "We have played a lot of matches together, many in very important moments for our careers. So the matches against him are always special, even if we are (ranked) 20 against 25."

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Murray insists firing due to bogus reasons

The Saitama Broncos have been consistently bad or mediocre since the bj-league's inception in 2005. Despite being one of the league's two original teams, along with Niigata's JBL-defecting squad, the Broncos have never managed to finish above .500 and never advanced to the playoffs.

Now, their latest coaching casualty, Dean Murray, who was in charge until Nov. 23, when he was shown the door by team officials, claims his firing was due to bogus reasons. His replacement, Natalie Nakase, the first female head coach in league history, is a former UCLA point guard.

The team, which was 6-10 entering this weekend's series against the Niigata Albirex BB and ninth in the 10-team Eastern Conference, issued a news release on Nov. 24 in which it said there was a "serious breach" of his contract.

Murray, a former NBA Development League coach, spoke to The Japan Times after his dismissal. He disputed the team's claims.

"It is obvious the team wanted to make a coaching change for whatever reason," the 47-year-old Murray said. "I am OK with that. I have been in this business a long time, but do not make up these excuses not to pay me, because that is all they were — just some excuses."

League spokesman Akihiro Ejima declined to comment on what was said during two recent meetings attended by Murray, Saitama president Toshihiko Narita and bj-league commissioner Toshimitsu Kawachi. The Broncos did not respond to requests to issue a comment about those meetings or Murray's claims.

The Broncos entered this season with a 93-173 record over six seasons. In that time, 14 new bj-league franchises have entered the league and one — the Tokyo Apache — has left. Charles Johnson, Kenji Yamane, David Benoit, Masato Fukushima and Bob Nash have all had a crack at turning the club into a winner. All failed and moved on to other opportunities.

Now, Murray is left to shake his head at what he considers two ridiculous reasons for his ouster.

He said the first reason cited on paper was that "the coach has made some noises until late night and disturbed a neighbor."

No. 2, he said, was "the coach did not wear the club's official supply suit provided by the club sponsor during an official game on Nov. 19, 2011."

The issue over noise, Murray insisted, was an incident that was totally blown out of proportion.

"A neighbor called the office and complained about some noise in my apartment the night before," Murray said. "The neighbor never identified herself and at no time did the team ever call me in for a meeting about it. Narita said, 'It was probably some old woman who did not like sports,' and he never said another word to me about it. He said he understood, he laughed about it, also too this was back in September.

"Never, ever did police come to my house . . . it was nothing . . . just me sitting in my apartment."

As far as the suit goes, Murray said he never knew there was an expectation to where an official sponsor's suit for the aforementioned game.

"At no time did anyone from our management or team say to me that the official sponsor would be at the game that night and I should wear the suit during the game," Murray said. "I was wearing my personal suit an hour before the game, went out on the main court before the game, gave my pregame speech in my personal suit and not one person said that I should put a different suit on.

"Narita called me out in the locker room after the game in front of the team, as unprofessional a thing as I have ever seen in my life, and asked me why I had broke a team rule. My answer was 'Excuse me? What are you talking about?'

"It was a total misunderstanding about the suit and I said as much after the (Nov. 19) game. I would never intentionally not wear the suit if the team had asked me to wear it . . . That is the reason why I was suspended after the Toyama game and that led to my firing — not wearing a suit.

"They did not even tell me to wear it," he continued.

"Narita's exact words to me after the game in private (through a translator) were, 'You should have known to wear it.' "

Murray characterized this wardrobe episode by saying, "what a joke. It was the team's fault and they tried to save face with the sponsor and fans by saying on the website. I had 'a severe breach of contract.' "

In Murray's view, this is false.

Several league sources have told The Japan Times that former NBA point guard Kenny Satterfield didn't see eye to eye with Murray. Murray is no longer on the team, but Satterfield remains a Bronco. Which leads one to believe that Narita sided with Satterfield, the league's leader in assists (7.7 per game).

"I wanted to cut a player because of insubordination the weekend of the Okinawa series (Nov. 5-6)," Murray said, without directly naming Satterfield. "(Narita) agreed to cut the player on Sunday night after me and the assistant coach (Natalie) were adamant the player had to be cut, but then Narita went back on his word on Tuesday. Then I wanted to suspend and fine the player, but nothing happened. Narita just swept it under the rug."

Murray described the incident this way: "It was a case of where we had a player who refused to play in a game that he did not start. When he was asked to go in he would not. The player even removed his game jersey and cut his ankle tape at halftime during the halftime speech with no explanation to the coaches or trainer."

Another incident showed the disconnect between Murray and Narita in mid-November.

"It was a team rule that Narita gave to the team: Everyone has to ride the team bus," Murray said. "But he (Narita) denied another player and allowed the same player who was insubordinate the weekend earlier to ride back in a car (from Hamamatsu)and not on the team bus."

". . .Narita always said he would support me," Murray continued. "But when it came time to make a move on a player because of a discipline situation he backed down, and once that situation occurred, it makes it very difficult for a coach."

The Broncos' lousy start this season is partly due to the team's lack of frontcourt depth. Entering this weekend, 203-cm power forward Jayme Miller hadn't played a minute. To compound the problem, Murray said, the team would not commit to spending the money needed to give Miller the proper timetable for his recovery.

"He needed a walking boot for part of his rehabilitation, but the team would not buy it because they did not agree with the diagnosis from Miller's doctor in the (United) States," Murray said.
"Jayme Miller ended up buying the boot himself, and it slowed his return by at least 2-3 weeks while he was waiting on a boot to be shipped from the States."

Former Bronco Isaac Sojourner, who played for the franchise during its JBL2 championship days nearly a decade ago and had a second stint with the club a few years ago, said nothing surprises him about the way Narita runs the club.

"I didn't say it wouldn't happen," Sojourner said. "(As for Narita), he has no idea what he is doing, and karma is a (expletive). He will never learn though, and Saitama will continue to be insignificant because of it. Damn shame really, though."

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