Five-time champion Roger Federer strolled into the US Open third round on Thursday as fellow veteran Lleyton Hewitt bid farewell in trademark fighting style.
On a dramatic day which saw a record created for the longest women’s match, and a new Grand Slam high for retirements from the men’s tournament, Andy Murray escaped his earliest exit in 10 years when he came back from two sets down to make the last 32.
There was also a late security scare when a drone crashed into the corner of Louis Armstrong Stadium.
Then, after midnight, 2009 and 2014 runner-up Caroline Wozniacki, the fourth seed, was knocked out by Czech world No 149 Petra Cetkovska who saved four match points to win 6-4, 5-7, 7-6 (7/1).
Cetkovska, who recently missed seven months of action with a hip injury, committed 60 unforced errors but unleashed 60 winners.
World No 2 Federer, the 17-time major champion, needed just 80 minutes to rout Belgium’s Steve Darcis 6-1, 6-2, 6-1.
The 34-year-old, who was champion from 2004-2008 and runner-up in 2009, goes on to face German 29th seed Philipp Kohlschreiber.
Federer has lost just nine games in the first two rounds, his fewest in 16 appearances.
“Very often I started this tournament quite strong. It’s always gone quite well for me,” Federer said.
“I’ve always enjoyed conditions here, the balls, the speed of the court, the atmosphere in the arena. It’s always worked very well for me.”
Darcis later tweeted that playing Federer was like facing “a Martian.”
Third seed and 2012 champion Murray came back from two sets down to defeat tiring Frenchman Adrian Mannarino 5-7, 4-6, 6-1, 6-3, 6-1 on Arthur Ashe Stadium.
Murray goes on to face Brazilian 30th seed Thomaz Bellucci for a place in the last 16.
Murray, 28, who had needed four sets to beat Nick Kyrgios in the opening round, fired 21 aces while Mannarino was undone by 61 unforced errors.
Hewitt fights to the end
Former world No 1 Hewitt, the champion in 2001, made a dramatic farewell battling from two sets down and having two match points before losing to fellow Australian Bernard Tomic on a rocking Grandstand court.
In his final match in New York, the 34-year-old fell 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 5-7, 7-5 after three hours and 27 minutes after his 57th career five-set match.
Hewitt will retire after January’s Australian Open.
“I would have liked to have been able to enjoy it a bit more,” said Hewitt, who was described as a “legend” by Tomic.
“But obviously when it’s so tight, especially in the fifth set, you’re just trying to find a way to get across the line.”
Retirements
America’s Jack Sock and Denis Istomin retired from their matches as they wilted in the 33-degree Celsius (91.4F) heat.
Twelve men — a record at the majors — as well as two women have now quit matches in the first four days.
Sock, 22, was leading Belgium’s Ruben Bemelmans 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 1-2 when he started cramping and was forced to retire.
Sock collapsed on the court, where he was treated with ice packs by US Open medical staff before being helped off to the shade of the Grandstand.
Bemelmans next plays fifth-seeded French Open champion Stan Wawrinka who beat South Korean teenager Chung Hyeon 7-6 (7/2), 7-6 (7/4), 7-6 (8/6).
Istomin called it quits on Court Seven against Austrian 20th seed Dominic Thiem, who was 6-4, 6-4, 1-0 up at the time, with his win coming on his 22nd birthday.
The carnage led again to suggestions that the men, who play the best of five sets, should be accorded the same heat protection as women players.
The WTA allows a 10-minute break between the second and third sets of women’s matches when the mercury bursts through 30.1 degrees.
“When it’s extremely hot and humid, it helps to have that break,” Murray said.
“You get the chance to sort of go off and change, get under a cold shower if you want to.”
Drone crash
New York police were investigating a drone which crashed on Armstrong, causing Flavia Pennetta’s victory over Monica Niculescu to be held-up.
“I feared the drone was a bomb,” Pennetta, who next faces Cetkovska, told www.tennisworlditalia.com.
Britain’s world No 97 Johanna Konta made history when she defeated Wimbledon runner-up Garbine Muguruza in the longest women’s match in US Open history.
Konta won 7-6 (7/4), 6-7 (4/7), 6-2 in 3 hours 23 minutes, beating by seven minutes the previous longest match played in 2011 when Samantha Stosur defeated Nadia Petrova.
The defeats for Muguruza and Wozniacki left just three of the top 10 left in the tournament — top seed Serena Williams, second seed Simona Halep and fifth-seeded Petra Kvitova.
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Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
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The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder MHEV
Power: 360bhp
Torque: 500Nm
Transmission: eight-speed automatic
Price: from Dh282,870
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In Full Flight: A Story of Africa and Atonement
John Heminway, Knopff
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
Company profile
Company name: Nestrom
Started: 2017
Co-founders: Yousef Wadi, Kanaan Manasrah and Shadi Shalabi
Based: Jordan
Sector: Technology
Initial investment: Close to $100,000
Investors: Propeller, 500 Startups, Wamda Capital, Agrimatico, Techstars and some angel investors
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
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On sale: Now
Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)
The five pillars of Islam
Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
If you go
The flights
There are various ways of getting to the southern Serengeti in Tanzania from the UAE. The exact route and airstrip depends on your overall trip itinerary and which camp you’re staying at.
Flydubai flies direct from Dubai to Kilimanjaro International Airport from Dh1,350 return, including taxes; this can be followed by a short flight from Kilimanjaro to the Serengeti with Coastal Aviation from about US$700 (Dh2,500) return, including taxes. Kenya Airways, Emirates and Etihad offer flights via Nairobi or Dar es Salaam.
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Director: Laxman Utekar
Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna
Rating: 1/5
Quick%20facts
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Guns N’ Roses’s last gig before Abu Dhabi was in Hong Kong on November 21. We were there – and here’s what they played, and in what order. You were warned.
- It’s So Easy
- Mr Brownstone
- Chinese Democracy
- Welcome to the Jungle
- Double Talkin’ Jive
- Better
- Estranged
- Live and Let Die (Wings cover)
- Slither (Velvet Revolver cover)
- Rocket Queen
- You Could Be Mine
- Shadow of Your Love
- Attitude (Misfits cover)
- Civil War
- Coma
- Love Theme from The Godfather (movie cover)
- Sweet Child O’ Mine
- Wichita Lineman (Jimmy Webb cover)
- Wish You Were Here (instrumental Pink Floyd cover)
- November Rain
- Black Hole Sun (Soundgarden cover)
- Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door (Bob Dylan cover)
- Nightrain
Encore:
- Patience
- Don’t Cry
- The Seeker (The Who cover)
- Paradise City
ADCC AFC Women’s Champions League Group A fixtures
October 3: v Wuhan Jiangda Women’s FC
October 6: v Hyundai Steel Red Angels Women’s FC
October 9: v Sabah FA
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
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