Casper Ruud advances to the Madrid final

Ap

La Jornada Newspaper, Saturday, May 3, 2025, p. a10

Madrid. With the help of painkillers, Norwegian Casper Ruud overcame a rib injury to defeat Argentine Francisco Cerúndolo in straight sets and reach the final of the Madrid Open.

Ruud received treatment three games into the match and then beat Cerúndolo 6-4, 7-5 on the center court of the Caja Mágica .

Tomorrow, Ruud will face Jack Draper, who defeated Italian Lorenzo Musetti 6-3, 7-6. The Briton will be playing in his third final of the year.

The 15th- ranked Norwegian said he felt something in his rib during the warm-up, just before stepping onto the court. He said he "felt it on almost every shot, especially on the serve."

I wasn't sure I was going to be able to finish the match, honestly , he said. I took a couple of painkillers, which isn't ideal, but at the same time in a situation like this, you have to do it every now and then. It got easier and better as the match went on .

Ruud saved 15 of the 18 break points he faced against the Argentine, currently 21st in the rankings.

“ I played terribly ,” Cerúndolo said. “I couldn’t take advantage of my opportunities. He was better in that regard. There’s anger today, but I’m not going to be ignorant: it’s a good week.”

"I'm happy, and in a couple of days I'll take the positives. Not yet, but it's my second Masters 1000 semifinal, and I can't criticize myself for what I did," added the 26-year-old Argentinian.

Back to the top 10

Ruud, who once ranked number two in the world, will return to the top 10 thanks to his campaign in Madrid. He could reach number six in the rankings with a victory in the final.

If he wins the title, Ruud – a 12-time tour-level champion – will become the first Norwegian to lift a Masters 1000 trophy since the series was introduced in 1990, according to the ATP.

The 26-year-old Nordic player had lost two matches in a row against Cerúndolo, who had earlier eliminated top seed Alexander Zverev.

Ranked sixth in the world, Draper went 4-0 in duels against Musetti (eleventh).

Meanwhile, American Coco Gauff and Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka will face off today in the women's singles final.

▲ An example of what Rizo points out was the controversial referee change on Matchday 17 of the Liga MX, when Pumas requested that referee Daniel Quintero (pictured) not officiate their match against Tigres. Photo @Arbitraje_Mx

Alberto Aceves

La Jornada Newspaper, Saturday, May 3, 2025, p. a11

For Felipe Ramos Rizo, a former World Cup referee who has been critically analyzing the situation of the union in Mexican soccer since 2005, working in television has made him several enemies. "Some of those who were my friends stopped being so; they were bothered that I might have a different opinion on their work and became more like adversaries ," he tells La Jornada while organizing an extensive file of papers to travel to Guatemala, where the National Soccer Federation (FedeFut) will present him in June as president of that country's Referees Commission.

Contrary to the opinions of former colleagues, Ramos Rizo believes there is a crisis in professional refereeing that he hasn't seen for years: pressure from owners, changes in designations, neglect in instruction, training, and the use of VAR. In Mexico, refereeing is at its worst point in history; I've never seen a crisis as severe as the one I'm experiencing now , he states as he closes his stint as an analyst of such tasks on a television channel, surrounded by former players and media professionals who questioned his distancing himself from the commission currently chaired by Juan Manuel Herrero.

If the doors were closed to me, it was because of my personality, because I'm not one to let it be. The president of a commission should be independent, have the freedom to choose who referees a final or an important match. Today, however, he's at the command of the team owners. If an owner tells him he doesn't want someone, he has to remove them, as happened recently with Pumas. Training, instruction, and VAR were neglected. How can someone who was once a nobody in refereeing talk about hierarchy? It doesn't matter who they bring in; the problem is those who are there; they've done everything possible to sink Mexican refereeing.

The conversation doesn't prevent the 62-year-old former international, a World Cup player in Korea-Japan 2002, from resuming the complaint the university club filed in April with the Referee Commission when it appointed referee Daniel Quintero Huitrón, who had performed controversially the previous day, to referee the match corresponding to the 17th round of the Liga against Tigres. Ultimately, César Ramos steered the course of the proceedings. "The commission had to bend and replace him ," he maintains, convinced of the information at his disposal. He doesn't miss the opportunity to mention past administrations. With former head coach Arturo Brizio (2017-2022), there remains the memory of an intense discussion in which there were irreconcilable positions.

There are people who never liked me very much, including the commissioners. They are my greatest enemies. I guarantee you that, once I arrive on June 2nd as the Guatemalan referees' director, the results will be better than those in Mexico. After 20 years on television, I learned to see refereeing differently, to express my ideas more easily. That will surely be very useful for the project I presented, in which nothing will be more important than the personality, hierarchy, and authority of the referee on the field of play. Respect for referees has been lost all over the world; now we must restore it.

Ramos Rizo will travel to Guatemala on May 30 to be inaugurated in the position José Luis Camargo left last March. For at least three years, FedeFut president Gerardo Paiz has been trying to convince him to establish a new structure within the organization. They spoke for a few minutes but didn't reach an agreement. In February, the Federation's secretary sought him out again to tell him that Don Gerardo wanted to see him in his office. " They offered me the freedom to make all decisions, additions, departures, referee designations ," he notes, including the implementation of VAR in refereeing.

In a few days, I'm going to take a course at FIFA to be able to incorporate it into the next tournament. It would be a huge success for soccer in that country.

In the play-in match that determines the last team to qualify for the Liga MX playoffs, referee Adonai Escobedo will be in charge of the Monterrey-Pumas match on Sunday at BBVA Stadium.

From the Editorial Staff

La Jornada Newspaper, Saturday, May 3, 2025, p. a11

Julián Quiñones celebrated his fine scoring form in Saudi Arabia. The Mexican scored a brace in Al-Qadisiya's 4-1 victory over Al-Kholood on Matchday 30 of the tournament, putting his team in contention for a spot in next season's Asian Champions League.

With these two goals, his name resonates on the list of the tournament's top scorers this season. The former América player reached 19 goals, placing him in second place, surpassing Frenchman Karim Benzama (18), of Al Ittihad, and closing in on Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo, (23), of Al Nassr.

His attacking prowess led him to score the first goal. Quiñones capitalized on a defensive error to attack in the six-yard box, hold off his opponent, and unleash a shot that beat goalkeeper Marcelo Grone (in the 26th minute) to score the second goal of the match. His teammate Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang had opened the scoring moments earlier (12).

The team coached by Spaniard José González Martín didn't back down and attacked even with the lead. Quiñones scored his double when he was alone in front of goal and tapped the ball in (33), following a perfect pass from Uruguayan Nahitan Nándeze to score and make it 3-0 before halftime.

In the second half, Al-Kholood's Jackson Muleka (50) converted a penalty that gave his team hope and they began to reduce the deficit. However, all hope ended when Aubameyang (55) finished off his double to score the fourth goal for the Eastern Knights, who are in fourth place overall with 59 points.

City's triumph

Elsewhere in the English Premier League, Manchester City secured a hard-fought 1-0 home win over Wolverhampton, thanks to a solitary goal from Kevin de Bruyne, to provisionally move into third place on Matchday 35.

Ahead of the matches of the other contenders in the race for the Champions League places ( top five this year in English football), City has 64 points and climbs from fourth to third place in the table.

(With information from AFP)

▲ Legendary 76-year-old Gregg Popovich stepped down as head coach of the San Antonio Spurs yesterday, ending a three-decade run in which he led the team to five NBA championships, became the league's all-time wins leader, and was inducted into the Hall of Fame. He will remain as president of the franchise. AP Photo

La Jornada Newspaper, Saturday, May 3, 2025, p. a11