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31 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 15 JULY 2018 SPORTS TOUR DE FRANCE TENNIS Photography: Saviour Balzan Dylan Groenewegen wins stage eight of the Tour de France in Amiens DYLAN Groenewegen dou- bled up at the Tour de France as he won stage eight in Ami- ens. The Dutchman made it two wins in as many days following stage seven success in Chartres as he held off Andre Greipel and Fernando Gaviria at the end of this 181-kilometre stage from Dreux. Mark Cavendish had been near the front as the race moved into the final 500 me- tres but could only manage 10th place. Most of the general classi- fication contenders crossed the line in the main bunch to hold station but UAE Team Emirates' Dan Martin stood to lose over a minute after being caught in a crash inside the last 20km. Dimension Data's Cavendish, seeking to reverse a frustrating first week of this Tour, was on the wheel of world champion Peter Sagan as the pack took a left-hander on to the finishing straight. But he lost the wheel as Sa- gan launched his sprint early and could not find another opening. Sagan would regret going as early as he did as he faded in the final 100 metres and fin- ished fourth. Martin later crossed the line as part of a group 75 seconds down. The Irishman, winner of stage six on the Mur-de-Bretagne, was one of several riders to fall with 17km to go, with Quick- Step Floors' Julian Alaphilippe and Tom Skujins in the polka- dot jersey also caught out. Martin, with blood pouring from his elbow, quickly set off in pursuit of the peloton with several team-mates to help. They got within 30 seconds but as the paced ramped up at the front the gap soon began to grow again, leaving Martin to rue an expensive tumble. BMC's Greg Van Avermaet retained the yellow jersey, and extended his lead by one sec- ond to seven over Team Sky's Geraint Thomas after nick- ing third place on the bonus sprint. Djokovic outlasts Nadal in classic Wimbledon semi-final THE Serbian former world num- ber one will face Kevin Anderson in today's final after an absorbing 6-4 3-6 7-6 (11/9) 3-6 10-8 victo- ry which took five-and-a-quarter hours. It was the second longest semi- final in Wimbledon history with the longest, of course, having taken place 24 hours earlier. The 52nd meeting between these two great rivals was delayed by the six hours and 36 minutes it took Anderson and John Isner to play their match, with Djokovic taking a two- sets-to-one lead before play was suspended just after 11pm on Friday. Nadal will regret his missed opportunity the night before, when he was in the ascendancy but passed up two set points. But while Anderson and Isner's titanic tussle was more an exer- cise in totting up aces, this was a cast-iron classic. The Centre Court roof re- mained closed, and the players carried on where they left off, raising the level of tennis seen at the championships so far by several notches. The opening game alone, on Nadal's serve, was 15 minutes of blistering groundstrokes and stunning winners, the Spaniard fending off two break points amid six deuces to eventually hold. Yet when Djokovic's serve was placed under scrutiny it prompt- ly caved in, Nadal breaking to 15. Nadal gifted a break back with a suddenly sloppy service game but when he struck again for 5-3 Djokovic's frustration boiled over and he began hammer- ing the sole of his shoe with his racket. Djokovic forced three break points but Nadal hauled himself level and clinched the set with an ace - called out but correctly challenged - to take the match into a decider. South African Anderson, pre- sumably watching somewhere with his feet up, will have no doubt been pleased. Nadal faced a break point at 4-3 behind but roared away from trouble with a powerful first serve followed by two vicious, whipped forehand winners. Djokovic was under the cosh in the next but two booming serves saved two break points and suddenly Nadal found himself at 0-30 as he served to stay in the match. Once again his first serve was his saviour and the match started to enter prime Ander- son-Isner territory. At 7-7 Djokovic double-faulted for 15-40 but again got out of that hole before a simply sen- sational forehand winner saved another break point. The atmosphere, in sharp contrast to Friday's slug-fest, was electric. Djokovic convert- ed his game point and urged the crowd to its feet, Nadal converted a smash and raised his arms aloft. Nadal was flagging, though, and it told in the 18th game of a 91-minute final set. Djokovic raced to 40-0 and when his ri- val's tired forehand floated long, the 12th seed raised his arms again.