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Nadal rolls in Acapulco for best career start

AFP

Rafael Nadal achieved his best start to an ATP Tour season on Tuesday, improving to 12-0 this year by defeating Stefan Kozlov to reach the Mexican Open quarter-finals.

The 35-year-old Spanish left-hander eliminated the US lucky loser 6-0, 6-3, advancing to a Thursday matchup against 39th-ranked American Tommy Paul, whom he has never played before.

“Always it’s important to win as quick as possible, but the most important thing is to win,” Nadal said. “Tonight has been straight sets. That’s great news and I’ll try to be ready for tomorrow again against a tough opponent.”

The victory kept Nadal unbeaten over a dozen matches in 2022, his best career start to any year, surpassing the 11-0 run in 2014 that ended with a loss to Swiss Stan Wawrinka in the Australian Open final.

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Nadal won his men’s record 21st Grand Slam title at last month’s Australian Open, breaking the career mark of 20 Slam crowns he had shared with Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer.

World number five Nadal, seeking his 91st career ATP title and fourth Acapulco crown, also won a warm-up tournament last month in Melbourne.

Nadal broke for a 2-0 lead when Kozlov netted a backhand and broke again on forehand smashes in the fourth and sixth games to sweep the opening set in 32 minutes.

Another forehand smash to break put Nadal ahead 3-1 in the second set but Kozlov broke back within 4-3 when Nadal netted a backhand volley.

Kozlov handed back the break in the next game on a botched backhand and Nadal held serve once more to advance after 76 minutes.

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“A little bit of a strange match,” Nadal said. “Kozlov has a different style than most other players, so you need to be very careful.

“Sometimes you are able to win points in a row, but then if you start to play at his rhythm, it’s very difficult because he has great control from the baseline and he’s very smart.”

– Medvedev advances –

Reigning US Open champion Daniil Medvedev, whom Nadal rallied past in five sets in the Australian Open final, beat Spain’s 68th-ranked Pablo Andujar 6-1, 6-2 to continue his quest for the world number one ranking.

“It’s pretty tough conditions, quite humid. Even if we play at night it’s quite hot,” second-ranked Medvedev said. “The faster the matches, the better you’re going to feel for the next one.”

Medvedev and Nadal could meet in a Friday semi-final.

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If Medvedev wins the Acapulco title, he will overtake Djokovic atop the rankings no matter how the Serbian star fares this week at Dubai.

Medvedev would become the 27th player to reach world number one and only the third Russian, joining Yevgeny Kafelnikov (1999) and Marat Safin (2000-01).

The last player outside of Djokovic, Nadal, Federer and Britain’s Andy Murray to sit atop the rankings was American Andy Roddick in February 2004.

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International

At least nine injured, including two children, in new US bombings in Yemen

At least nine people, including two children, were injured this Wednesday in a new wave of bombings carried out by the United States against at least four cities in Yemen under the control of the Houthi rebels, reported media affiliated with the Iranian-backed Shiite movement.

Al Masirah, spokesman for the Houthis, reported that at least “seven women and two children were injured in the US attack” in the Al Thawra district of Sana, the capital of Yemen controlled by the insurgents since 2014.

According to the chain, the bombings also targeted “the surroundings of the city of Saada”, north of the capital; the northern town of Hazm, in the governorship of Al Jawf; and a district of the city of Al Bayda, in the center of the country.

At least two missiles hit the capital’s neighborhood of Al Jeraf, on the road that leads to Saná airport, according to EFE.

Large columns of smoke and a large fire could be observed from different points of the city, while ambulance teams and firefighters went to the scene of the attack, which according to witnesses was aimed at a deposit.

Al Masirah added that one of the attacks hit “a celebration hall under construction in a residential neighborhood in the Al Thawra district” and, in Al Jawf, destroyed a farm and killed several head of cattle.

This new wave of bombings came minutes after US President Donald Trump warned that Iran must completely and immediately cease its support for the Houthis, not just reduce it, and threatened the latter that they will be “completely annihilated” if the attacks against Israel and the Red Sea do not cease.

The Republican leader estimated on his social network, Truth Social, that “tremendous damage” has already been inflicted on the Houthis and stressed that “the situation will progressively worsen.”

At the weekend, the United States began a series of airstrikes against different cities controlled by the Houthis in northern and central Yemen, as well as in the capital, Saná, bombings that resulted in more than fifty deaths.

 

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International

China celebrates the call between Trump and Putin and affirms that dialogue is the “only way out” of the war in Ukraine

China said on Thursday that the dialogue is “the only way out” to the war in Ukraine and held the talks held on Wednesday by US President Donald Trump and Russia President Vladimir Putin, who agreed to start “negotiations immediately” to end the conflict.

“Russia and the United States are influential powers and we welcome them strengthening the dialogue. Regarding Ukraine, dialogue is the only way out of the crisis. From the beginning, Chinese President Xi Jinping has advocated for peace talks,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said at a press conference.

The spokesman added that China “will continue to make efforts” for peace and that it will play “a constructive role” to end the European conflict.

He also reiterated that China supports “any effort that leads to peace” and emphasized that the Asian country hopes to “maintain communication with all parties” for this purpose.

The possibility of Russia and Ukraine starting peace negotiations for the first time in almost three years of war multiplies after that call between Trump and Putin, to which we must add the one made by the American with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky.

This Friday, the US Vice President, J.D. Vance, will meet on the margins of the Munich Security Conference, which will be attended by China’s Foreign Minister, Wang Yi.

Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, China has maintained an ambiguous position from which it has called for respect for “the territorial integrity of all countries”, including Ukraine, and attention to the “legitimate concerns of all countries”, in reference to Russia.

Beijing has opposed “unilateral” sanctions against Moscow and advocated for “a de-escalation and a political solution”. However, the West has accused China of supporting the Russian military campaign, something it has always denied, and of supplying Putin with key components he needs to produce weapons.

In addition, European countries have repeatedly asked Chinese leader Xi Jinping to use his influence on Putin to end the conflict, but the Asian country has given priority to strengthening its relations with Russia, a country from which it imports oil and gas at a lower cost.

China has limited itself to presenting peace initiatives that have had a lukewarm reception in the West, such as the plan it presented last year together with Brazil that did not include the withdrawal of Russian troops and that was rejected by Kiev.

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International

More than 400,000 migrants passed the Darién in 2024, according to the Colombian Ombudsman’s Office

More than 400,000 migrants, most of them Venezuelans, passed through the Darién Tapón, the natural border of Colombia and Panama, reported this Friday by the Ombudsman’s Office in 2024, which warned about the high risks of sexual and gender violence that women and adolescents can suffer.

According to the monitoring carried out by the Ombudsman’s Office, in 2024 there were a total of 400,612 migrants crossing the Urabá and Darién region in Colombia.

The figure was known in a bilateral hearing of the ombudsman, Iris Marín, with the Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants, Madi Gehad.

The Ombudsman’s Office detailed in a statement that most migrants are from Venezuela (302,185), followed by those from Ecuador (22,785), Colombia (17,529), Haiti (17,329), China (12,214) and India (6,927).

Of this total, 126,151 are women, 195,369 men and 72,092 boys, girls, adolescents and young people.

The Ombudsman’s Office also warned of the “special vulnerability of women, girls and adolescents, who face high risks of sexual and gender violence.”

In addition, they found deficiencies in the mechanisms to verify the kinship of minors with accompanying adults, increasing the danger of human trafficking and exploitation.

The entity highlighted the return of migrants by the National Border Service of Panama (Senafront), which has forced many people to use more dangerous routes.

Added to this is the recent issuance in Panama of a decree imposing sanctions on those who enter irregularly from Colombia, which could aggravate the humanitarian crisis at the border.

The National Migration Service (SNM) reported on February 1 that the flow of irregular migrants entering through the dangerous Darién jungle marked a “historic” drop of 94% last January, compared to the same period in 2024.

According to the comparative figures published by the entity, in January of this year 2,158 migrants entered the Darién, compared to the 34,839 who did so in the same period of 2024.

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