介绍:
2nd-to-last slot in ATP semi-finals up for grabs tonight in London
In tennis,
Roger Federer will be up against Japan's Kei Nishikori later tonight at ATP Tour Finals.
Federer has already progressed to the semi-finals of the season-ending tournament, while Nishikori will need a victory if he's going to have an outside shot at making the semi-finals.
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The other match tonight has Novak Djokovic against Tomas Berdych.
If Berdych has any chance of advancing, he needs to down Djokovic in straight-sets, and have Federer having first beat Nishikori.
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On the other side of the bracket, it will be a battle on Friday between Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka to see who will advance to join Raphael Nadal in the semi-finals.
Wawrinka kept his shot at the semi-finals alive after downing David Ferrer in straight sets 7-5, 6-2 last night.
"Yeah, I'm really happy with the win. It wasn't easy at the beginning, I wasn't feeling great, playing well but I'm happy to turn that match, to start to play better. I think I started to be more tough with myself and tried to play more aggressive and at the end I was playing good tennis."
Murray comes into the match after being dumped by Nadal last night, 6-4, 6-1.
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On the women's side,
A number of Chinese women have been handed early exits from the WTA Challenger event taking place in Taipei.
Tianjin native Zhang Yuxuan went down to Russia's Evginya Rodina this afternoon in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3.
And earlier it was 21-year old left-hander Wang Yafan going down to a Thai player in a 3-set affair.
Hong Kong's Zhang Ling put up a good fight against the tournament's top seed, Japan's Misaki Doi, but ended up going down to the world number-60 this evening 6-4, 6-4.
Tonight, its China's Liu Chang up against Japanese veteran Kimiko Date-Krumm, who - at 45-years old - is 20-years older than Liu.
Badminton: Wang Yihan through to next round of Hong Kong Open
In badminton,
A solid day for mainland shuttlers so far at the Hong Kong Open.
It was the world number-7 Wang Yihan advancing into the next round at the tournament over Hong Kong's Cheung Ngan-yi in straight sets this afternoon.
Wang has moved up one spot on the world rankings this week to 7th after her 4th place finish this past weekend at the China open in Fuzhou.
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On the men's single's side,
It was Tian Houwei over a South Korean competitor in straight sets.
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Mixed doubles action has seen the 4th ranked duo of Xu Chen and Ma Jin get past an Indonesian pair in straight-sets.
World number-3 Liu Cheng and Bao Yixin are also through after dumping a duo from Norway.
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The marquis match of the evening in Hong Kong has last week's China Open winner, Malaysia's Lee Chong-Wei, taking on Germany's Mark Zweibler.
Golf: Davis Love III Picks Tiger Woods as One of His Vice-captains
In golf,
The first round of this year's finale of the European Tour season is underway in Dubai.
A total of 7 players in the 60-player field in Dubai have a chance at winning this year's Race to Dubai competition, which calculates points based on how the players finish at the tournaments they take part in .
Rory McIlroy comes into Dubai as the leader, followed closely by England's Danny Willet.
They're best positioned.
However, 5 other golfers in this week's field have a mathematical shot at winning the title as well, including England's Justin Rose, who sits in 3rd in the rankings.
"Well, obviously my chances are ... at least it's a do-able option. Obviously I've worked hard to get to this point where I feel like if I win the tournament, I'm going to be unlucky not to be lifting both trophies. So I feel like I have a great opportunity."
Shane Lowry, Louis Oosthuizen, Branden Grace and Ahn Byeong-hun are the other players in Dubai with a mathematical shot at the title.
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On the women's side,
The final tournament of the year in the LPGA season is set to get underway in just over an hour's time in Florida.
A couple of mainland golfers will be in the hunt to win the season-ending Tour Championships.
Rising star Lin Xiyu is among those with an early start to round-1, and will be teeing off in around an hour.
Compatriot Feng Shanshan, the world number-9, will start her first round in a few hours from now.
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This week's PGA stop gets underway later this evening at the RSM Classic on Sea Island, Georgia.
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In other golf news,
Team USA Captain Davis Love III has announced who his vice-Captains are going to be for next year's Ryder Cup competition.
"The vice-captains I want to announce today are Steve Stricker, Jim Furyk and Tiger Woods. Two thing that excite me about these vice captains is , as I've said since the start of the task force and the news committee to a man they said we will do anything you ask us to do to make this Ryder Cup successful."
This announcement comes as part of an agreement with Europe to expand to a maximum of five vice-captains.
The next Ryder Cup, which pits the best players in the US against the best in Europe, will be played at the end of September in the United States.
Basketball: Houston Rockets Fire Coach Kevin McHale
In basketball,
The Houston Rockets have managed to stay focused when it counted, getting past the Portland Trailblazers this morning 108-103 in overtime.
James Harden led the Rockets with 45-points in a game which came just hours after Rockets GM Daryl Morey announced the firing of the team's head coach.
"We relieved Kevin McHale of his head coaching duties. We hired J. B. Bickerstaff as the interim head coach. This was a very tough decision. I want to thank Kevin McHale, he did great things for the team and the city of Houston - made the Western Conference Finals. This was very tough."
This was McHale's fifth season with the Rockets, who he helped coach to the Western Conference Finals last year, only to bow-out to the Golden State Warriors.
However, the Rockets were just 4-7 to start of this season.
In other action,
Jeremy Lin struggled somewhat today coming off the bench, going 0-4 outside the arc. However, his 13-points did help lead his Charlotte Hornets over Brooklyn 116-111.
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Philadelphia remains winless on the season after getting hammered at home by Indiana 112-85.
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Orlando got past Minnesota 104-101 in overtime.
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It was Dallas over Boston 106-102.
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Oklahoma City edged New Orleans 110-103.
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Atlanta held off Sacramento 103-97.
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San Antonio cruised past Denver 109-98.
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It was Chicago over Phoenix 103-97.
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And Toronto has lost its 3rd in a row, going down to Utah 93-89.
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Hockey: Hamonic trade request confirmed
In the National Hockey League,
Reports are suggesting the New York Islanders have been actively shopping defenseman Travis Hamonic for a trade.
Hockey insiders say they've confirmed the 25-year old requested a trade before the season to a team in western Canada to be closer to his family.
Hamonic, who is from a town just outside Winnipeg, is a top-two defenceman for the Islanders, and averages 23 minutes in ice time per game.
He signed a 7-year, 27-million dollar contract with the Islanders prior to the 2013-14 season.
On the ice, two of the teams Hamonic could be traded to were in action earlier this morning.
It was the Winnipeg Jets snapping a 6-game losing skid, downing the Vancouver Canucks 4-1.
The Canucks have now lost 4-in-a-row.
Only 2-other games in the NHL this morning,
It was Chicago needing overtime to get past Edmonton 4-3.
Chicago rookie Artemi Panarin with a goal and 2 assists in the game.
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The other game had Detroit managing to keep Alex Ovechkin off the score-sheet once again, but it still wasn't enough, as the Capitals downed the Red Wings 2-1 in overtime.
The Capitals' Ovechkin, who hasn't scored in 4-games, needs just one more goal to surpass Detroit Red Wings great Sergei Fedorov as the all-time leading Russian goal scorer in the National Hockey league.
