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. APRaonic, 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. KYODOThe 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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Fancy footwork: Aston Villa's Christian Benteke attempts to control the ball in front of Manchester City's Joleon Lescott on Tuesday at Etihad Stadium. Villa won 4-2. APVilla beat City 4-2 after twice coming from behind to force the game into extra time, when Charles N'Zogbia and Gabriel Agbonlahor scored.Goals from Aidy White and Rodolph Austin put Leeds into the fourth round with a 2-1 victory over Everton, which is third in the Premier League.But it was completely one-sided at Chelsea, with Fernando Torres among six different scorers as the Premier League leaders crushed Wolves 6-0.Man City's patchy form in the league, however, extended into the first domestic cup competition of the season.Despite manager Roberto Mancini making 10 changes from Sunday's 1-1 draw with Arsenal, the team's combined value was still more than $200 million.Mario Balotelli gave a strong City side the lead in the 27th minute, but the visitors drew level thanks to an own goal by former Villa midfielder Gareth Barry in the second half.Aleksandar Kolarov restored City's lead before Villa equalized again when Agbonlahor scored his first of the night in the 70th.N'Zogbia scored six minutes into the first extra period with a low shot from close range, and Agbonlahor sealed victory with a fine strike near the end."It was a difficult match because Aston Villa were a good team," Mancini said. "We didn't play well and we had some unlucky moments, but I think they deserved to go through."Mancini exchanged heated words in the second half with Villa manager Paul Lambert after complaining to the fourth official about a tackle on Barry by Joe Bennett."It is a massive result for us. I thought the way we played was excellent," Lambert said.At Elland Road, Leeds stormed in front after four minutes when Aidan White weaved his way through the visiting defense before unleashing a fierce drive into the net.Leeds doubled its lead with 20 minutes remaining when Danny Pugh's shot was backheeled into the net by Rodolph Austin, ensuring Sylvain Distin's late header was only a consolation."We started terribly, gave them the initiative and lost the game in the opening 20 minutes due to the way we started," Everton manager David Moyes said. "We gave away a really poor first goal and left ourselves trying to get back into the game."At Stamford Bridge, Chelsea captain John Terry played after appearing in front of a Football Association racism hearing for a second day.Gary Cahill, Ryan Bertrand and Juan Mata all scored inside the opening 17 minutes against a heavily weakened Wolves side, while Oriol Romeu netted from the penalty spot earlier in the second half before Torres and Victor Moses added further goals.Also Tuesday, Swansea was spared from embarrassment late on at Crawley, coming from behind and scoring in stoppage time to beat the third-tier side 3-2.Wigan eliminated West Ham with a 4-1 victory, Southampton defeated Sheffield Wednesday 2-0, and Sunderland won 2-0 at MK Dons.
Roman empire: Tottenham's Roman Pavlyuchenko celebrates his goal against Cheltenham Town on Saturday in London. APThe topflight's two bottom teams were the big casualties as world soccer's oldest knockout competition threw up a typically mixed bag of results in the third round on Saturday.Argentine midfielder Jonas Gutierrez scored the winner in the fifth minute of stoppage time as Newcastle snatched a 2-1 victory over Blackburn in one of the round's two all-Premier League matches.In the day's biggest giant-killing act, fourth-tier Swindon — managed by former West Ham forward Paolo Di Canio — rallied to beat Wigan 2-1 at the County Ground."My lads deserve something from the club — maybe just a small plaque with all their names because they did something special," Di Canio said.It wasn't all plain sailing for the rest of the Premier League teams either.Queens Park Rangers required a last-minute equalizer by Heidar Helguson to secure a 1-1 draw and a replay against third-tier MK Dons while David Wheater's 77th-minute header earned Bolton a 2-2 draw at Macclesfield, which plays in England's fourth division.Tottenham, which is third in the Premier League, avoided what would have been the mightiest upset by easing past fourth-tier Cheltenham 3-0 thanks to goals by attacking trio Jermain Defoe, Roman Pavlyuchenko and Giovani dos Santos.Some of the famous romance of the cup was lost as Tamworth, Fleetwood and Salisbury were all defeated, which ensures that there won't be any non-league teams in the fourth-round draw.Everton beat Tamworth 2-0 after goals by defenders Johnny Heitinga and Leighton Baines while fellow fifth-tier team Fleetwood was thrashed 5-1 at home by northwest rival Blackpool.Salisbury, which at 17th in the sixth-tier Conference South was the lowest-ranked club left in the competition, was defeated 3-1 at Sheffield United.United States midfielder Clint Dempsey scored a hat trick in Fulham's 4-0 home win over Charlton, Ireland striker Simon Cox did the same for West Bromwich Albion in a 4-2 win at Cardiff City while Premier League teams Aston Villa, Stoke and Norwich also progressed.Liverpool beat Oldham 5-1 on Friday, with the match of the round coming on Sunday when Manchester City and Manchester United — the Premier League's top two teams — meeting in a derby at Etihad Stadium.MANCHESTER ENGLAND — Paul Scholes is coming out of retirement to rejoin Manchester United for the rest of season, starting Sunday in the F.A. Cup against Manchester City.The 37-year-old midfielder quit soccer at the end of last season but has remained at Old Trafford as a coach.United says Scholes approached manager Alex Ferguson to reverse his decision and would be on the bench at Man City on Sunday.Scholes says it's been "pretty clear since I stopped playing that I miss it."He added: "I'm delighted the manager feels I can still make a contribution to the team and I'm looking forward to playing my part in trying to bring more success to this great club."Ferguson says "it's fantastic that Paul has made this decision."