Japan tops Qatar, advances to FIBA Asia Cup final

Entering the FIBA Asia Cup, Team Japan set a goal of advancing to the semifinals. Well, the last four is good, but at the same time it sounds like a compromising goal.

Why not the final two?

Despite struggling early on, the Japan men's national basketball team clicked from the second period on, thanks to its young prospects' outstanding performances, as it defeated Qatar 73-66 in the semifinals of the fourth FIBA Asia Cup at Ota City General Gymnasium on Friday night.

Japan, which finished runnerup in the third tourney (called Stankovic Cup back then) in 2010, will face Iran in Saturday's final.

Forward Kosuke Takeuchi again guided Japan on both ends of the court with an 18-point, nine-rebound performance, and guard Takatoshi Furukawa and forward J.R. Sakuragi contributed 15 and 12 points, respectively.

"I feel so happy that we've reached the final now," Takeuchi said. "Both teams played good defense and we had tough times scoring in the first half. But overall we took the momentum as we kept our cool throughout the game. So today's win means so much to the Japanese team."

Japan shot only 19 percent from the field in the first quarter and trailed 12-9 at the end of the period. But it came through from the second period on and extended its lead to as many as 14 points at the beginning of the final quarter.

Qatar rallied in the closing minutes, but its comeback fell short.

Collegiate guard Makoto Hiejima made some big baskets to give Hayabusa Japan a boost. The 22-year-old Aoyama Gakuin University student was 4-for-6 from inside the 3-point arc and scored 11 points.

"As the tournament wore on, I felt like I was getting a better touch, so I was just going to play as hard as I could today," Hiejima said with a smile.

Japan head coach Kimikazu Suzuki said that he and his staff made extra efforts on scouting Qatar because the Middle East team's coach is ex-Japan floor boss Thomas Wisman and he was quite familiar with his Friday opponent.

"Obviously, Tom knows about us more than any other coaches in this tournament," Suzuki said. "Such as how our players play and how I would mange. So I thought I need to work real hard on scouting on them. I thought we wouldn't be able to end the game on top otherwise."

Wisman started former NBA player Clinton "Trey" Johnson III, who had 28 points in the quarterfinals against Lebanon on Thursday, but Japan defended him well, holding the guard to 10 points on 2-for-14 shooting.

Johnson didn't play in Qatar's first game against Japan on the first day of the group league.

"We succeeded in keeping No. 12 (Johnson) away from scoring very well," Takeuchi said.

For Qatar, center Mohd Yousuf Mohmmed had 22 points and seven rebounds, followed by Erfan Ali Saeed, who had 15 points.

In Friday's earlier semifinal, Iran cruised past the Philippines 77-60.

On Saturday, Japan and Iran will play for the second time in the tournament. Japan lost 71-65 in their first meeting in the group stage.

"We've come all the way here, but it's not over yet. We lost to (Iran) in the preliminary round," Suzuki said. "So we'll play looking for revenge against them."

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Japan edges Qatar in FIBA Asia Cup opener

Power forward Kosuke Takeuchi and guard Kosuke Kanamaru scored 14 points apiece as host Japan defeated Qatar 73-69 in Group B action in the fourth FIBA Asia Cup on Friday night.

"I think our young players really contributed to the team," Japan coach Kimikazu Suzuki said after the game at the brand-new Ota City General Gymnasium. "We could've won more easily had we done a better job in rebounding and not had turnovers. But overall, we played good."

Qatar cut the deficit, which was as many as 12 points in the third quarter, down to three with less than two minutes left in the final period. But Japan survived Qatar's rally, with Takeuchi sinking a pair of clutch free throws in the final 10 seconds.

Veteran center J.R. Sakuragi, a naturalized Japanese citizen playing in his first game for the national team since 2007, also chipped in with 13 points and nine boards.

"It's really disappointing to lose any time," said former Japan national team head coach Thomas Wisman, who became the Qatar coach job two months ago. "But it was the first game of the tournament. We've got seven games in the tournament. We've got to use each game as experience to (become) a better team."

For Qatar, forward Erfan Ali Saeed had a team-high 21 points.

Japan led 41-36 at halftime.

In other games Friday, Lebanon crushed Macau 120-51, Iran beat India 83-71 and China edged the Philippines 71-68.

The 10-team tournament was previously known as the FIBA Asia Stankovic Cup. The tournament winner will earn an automatic berth for the 27th FIBA Asia Championship.

Japan finished runnerup in the last tournament in 2010. It will face Taiwan on Saturday.

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Tsonga beats Monfils in Qatar final

DOHA — Jo-Wilfried Tsonga shrugged off a slow start and beat Gael Monfils 7-5, 6-3 in an all-French final at the Qatar Open on Saturday, giving himself a confidence boost for the Australian Open.

The sixth-ranked Tsonga, who reached the final when Roger Federer withdrew with an injury, fell behind 3-1 before finding a rhythm, coming to the net more often and reeling off the final four games to win the first set.

The momentum carried over into the second set, when Tsonga kept Monfils off balance with his powerful forehand and occasional drop volleys. Tsonga broke Monfils to go up 4-2 and won the match when Monfils hit a backhand into the net after a long rally.

"At the beginning, it was bit difficult. He broke me very early and it was tough," Tsonga said. "But in my head, everything was right, OK, I'm one break down. I will continue to play my game and make him run a lot. I think it was good solution. After that, he was bit tired of that and I was better than him."

His eighth career title also came in his third successive final. The previous two were at the end of last year, in the Paris Masters and ATP Finals, when he lost to Federer each time. The Swiss star pulled out of their Friday semifinal because of back spasms, hoping to be ready for the Australian Open starting on Jan. 16.

Tsonga said he was counting on his Doha success to carry over to Melbourne, where he was a finalist in 2008. He refused to predict how deep he can go in the tournament, partly because he didn't face Federer, Rafael Nadal or No. 1-ranked Novak Djokovic in this tournament.

"You know, my target is to go as far as possible, of course. If I can win it, I will," he said. "I think of it, and I really want it, like I think most of the other players. So I do everything for that, and this is why it's exciting, because I don't know if I will do it one day or not. But anyway, I work for that, and my ambition is to win a Grand Slam."

BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA — Andy Murray is one tournament into a partnership with new coach Ivan Lendl and already it has netted a title.

The No. 4-ranked Murray warmed up for the Australian Open with a commanding 6-1, 6-3 win over third-seeded Alexandr Dolgopolov in the Brisbane International final.

The victory provided the ideal start to Murray's partnership with Lendl, and the eight-time Grand Slam winner was courtside for only the second time when the 24-year-old Scot lifted the Roy Emerson Trophy.

"I'd like to thank my team . . . Mr. Lendl, he's up there somewhere, hiding," Murray said of his new coach. "It's my first week with this new team and it was good. I really enjoyed it. Hopefully it'll bring more success in the future."

The 24-year-old Murray's next task is the Australian Open, where he has lost the past two finals, to be 0-3 in major finals overall — a statistic he's desperate to improve.

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Federer shakes off pesky Seppi to reach semis at Qatar Open

DOHA — Defending champion Roger Federer extended his winning streak to 20 straight matches Thursday to reach the semifinals of the Qatar Open, despite being stretched by Andreas Seppi of Italy to three sets in a 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 victory.

The third-ranked Federer set up a rematch of last year's semifinal against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. The sixth-ranked Frenchman defeated Albert Ramos of Spain 6-2, 6-1.

Rafael Nadal also reached the semifinals, playing some of his best tennis this week in dispatching of Mikhail Youzhny 6-4, 6-4. He will face Gael Monfils, who won the last four games in each set to beat Viktor Troicki of Serbia 6-2, 6-3 and ensure that the top four seeds reached the semifinals for the second year in a row.

The 30-year-old Federer, who is 26-3 at the Qatar Open and is looking to win his fourth title in Doha, hasn't lost since falling to Novak Djokovic in the U.S. Open semifinals.

"I thought I started well. I was able to play aggressive, not giving too much rhythm. He was obviously missing more shots due to that," Federer said. "I thought he was a better player in that second set and deserved that set, and then the third set was close. I had my chances, he had his chances. But I was able to take mine."

Federer, who had never dropped a set against Seppi in seven wins, jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first set and appeared on the way to an easy victory. But he fell apart in the second set, going down 5-1 after a string of unforced errors coupled with improved returns from the 38th-ranked Italian. Federer came back to even the set at 5-5 but Seppi took the last two games, leveling the match when the 16-time Grand Slam champion hit his return long.

Federer fully recovered in the third, breaking Seppi to go up 2-1. He saved two break points to take control at 5-3 and closed out the match with a forehand winner into the corner.

Federer chalked up his struggles in the second set to the return game of Seppi and his own defensive lapses.

"I definitely think Seppi, he's a good return player," Federer said. "When you give him too many second serves, he can take advantage of that. . . . I had some chances to maybe not get broken a couple of times. So often I had the lead in some of the service games where I did get broken eventually, and I hope I can sort of not make that happen so often."

Facing his toughest test yet in the former eighth-ranked Youzhny, the second-ranked Nadal went on the attack from the beginning.

He stretched the Russian with his forehand but failed to convert several break points early on. He finally broke Youzhny in the fifth game to go up 3-2 and held on to win the first set. Nadal broke Youzhny twice in the second set to go up 4-1, before Youzhny earned his only break of the match to make it 4-3.

Nadal then struggled to serve out the match, having to save four break points before clinching the victory with a volley into an empty court.

"I think I played my best match here today," Nadal said. "Doing a lot of things very, very well. . . . For moments, I enjoyed playing tennis a lot tonight."

After meeting up with Schalke's Spanish forward Raul Gonzalez, who watched the match with his teammates, Nadal told reporters he is also feeling happier about his game and appeared to have the spark back following a year in which he repeatedly lost to Novak Djokovic and bemoaned his play as sometimes too predicable.

"Well, I think I am fresh mentally. That's important," Nadal said. "But I want to do it well, and I really am motivated to try to play well . . . I am in the right way. That's what I can say. My feeling is I am in the really right way. We'll see what's going on. I am doing much better than what I felt before this tournament, so that's a really positive thing."

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