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Henman falls, Hewitt progresses
Greul too good for Sunil
Kiwis rout World XI
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De Villiers falls short of maiden ton
PCB threatens action against papers
Dynamos continue unbeaten run
2nd successive victory for Anand
Ajeetesh wins Faldo Series junior title
Mumbai in semis
Gujarat move into semis
India colts in driver's seat
Salgaocar crush
Tollygunge
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Henman falls, Hewitt progresses
Melbourne, January 22 Six Russians, including five women, booked their places in the last 16 yesterday and another three, Davydenko, French Open champion Anastasia Myskina and Elena Dementieva joined them today. However, Elena Likhovtseva and Tatiana Panova lost today. Myskina got a free ride when her American opponent, Lisa Raymond, withdrew from their match with a stomach muscle injury. Three high-profile Americans all marched through in straight sets as Venus Williams, Andy Roddick and Lindsay Davenport dropped just 18 games between them. Venus beat Israel’s Anna Smashnova 6-3, 6-0 to join her younger sister Serena in the fourth round, second seed Roddick slammed his way past Austrian Juergen Melzer 6-2, 6-2, 7-5 and world number one Davenport defeated Czech teenager Nicole Vaidisova 6-2, 6-4. Argentina were also celebrating after three of their players made it through. David Nalbandian, Guillermo Coria and Guillermo Canas all won. A bristling Lleyton Hewitt won a bad-tempered encounter with Argentine Juan Ignacio Chela 6-2, 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 to reach the fourth round. The third seed, looking to become the first Australian to win the title since Mark Edmondson in 1976, wore down the 25th seed in two hours, 17 minutes to set up a meeting with Spanish teenager Rafael Nadal. The first three sets were of high quality but the match burst into life early in the fourth with some unsavoury scenes. Chela appeared to get angry with Hewitt for his on-court gesticulations, fired a serve which the Australian had to jump to avoid being hit by. After Hewitt had broken for a 2-1 lead, he seemed to mutter an obscenity towards Chela and the Argentine was then seen to spit in Hewitt’s direction. The spat galvanised Chela and he broke back for 4-4, only to drop his own serve immediately, and Hewitt held on to reach the last 16. Rafael Nadal demolished American qualifier Bobby Reynolds 6-1, 6-1, 6-3 to reach the last 16 of a Grand Slam event for the first time. Nadal, at 18 the youngest player remaining in the men’s draw, outclassed his 283rd ranked opponent in 89 minutes. Elena Dementieva wore down Slovakia’s Daniela Hantuchova 7-5, 5-7, 6-4 in a rollercoaster match to book her place in the fourth round. Dementieva, runner-up at last year’s French Open and US Open, won a see-sawing match that lasted almost three hours and featured 13 service breaks. Dementieva plays Patty Schnyder in the fourth round after the Swiss 12th seed beat American Abigail Spears 7-6, 6-3. Henman was the biggest casualty on day six of the hardcourt Grand Alam. The seventh-seeded Briton was an overwhelming favourite to beat Davydenko but failed to mount any real challenge, continuing a history of disappointment at the major tournaments. Roddick, last year’s Wimbledon runner-up, fired 22 aces past Melzer to wrap up victory in just 95 minutes. He will play Philipp Kohlschreiber next after the German beat Jean-Rene Lisnard of France 7-5, 6-3, 6-2. Venus, the former world number one, romped into the second week in exactly an hour despite making 26 unforced errors against Smashnova. Looking for her first Grand Alam title since 2001, Venus plays Alicia Molik in the next round after the rising Australian beat Panova 6-3, 6-2. Davenport drew on her wealth of experience to overcome Vaidisova and advance to a fourth-round meeting with 13th seed Karolina Sprem. Argentina are already assured of at least one player in the quarterfinals after Nalbandian and Coria were drawn to play each other in the fourth round. Nalbandian beat Chile’s Olympic doubles champion Fernando Gonzalez while Coria beat Spain’s former French Open champion Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-3, 6-2, 6-1. Canas thrashed Czech Radek Stepanek 6-1, 6-2, 6-2 and plays Davydenko next. |
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Sania pips Serena on popularity front
Melbourne, January 22 The 18-year-old Indian won thousands of hearts at the Vodafone Arena with her gutsy performance while going down to Williams in the third round yesterday, but the 'virtual impact' she has had on the year's first Grand Slam event has crossed the million mark. Officially, the Australian Open website has registered 1.1 million hits so far and Sania's is the second most visited page in the women's section. Only Russian Maria Sharapova ranks above her. Sania has left in her wake Serena, Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova and Michaella Krajicek of the Netherlands (sister of former Wimbledon Richard Krajicek) in the top five women's pages. Among the men, Swiss phenomenon Roger Federer tops the list followed by the evergreen Andre Agassi, young guns Andy Roddick and Lleyton Hewitt, and the mercurial Marat Safin. The breaching of million mark makes it a 53 percent increase on traffic registered for the same period last year, the organisers said. Repeat visitors to the official website of the Australian Open, which is celebrating its centenary year, were up by 36 percent and more than 41-million page views have been recorded already, an increase of over 20 percent during the same period. Tennis Australia identified the increased volume of traffic from the Asian region. Japan continued to top the list of countries from the continent logging on, with people from India and China among the top five. The increased interest from world's two most populous nations has been attributed to the success of Sania, who became the first Indian woman to reach the third round in a Grand Slam, and the emergence of several talented Chinese players including Li Na who actually beat the Indian in the singles final of the Asian Tennis Championships in Tashkent last year. And if one were to go by the logic that those assessing Sania's page would have also visited Serena's, to whom she eventually lost, the American does owe something to her vanquished rival.
— PTI |
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Greul too good for Sunil
New Delhi, January 22 The cheers of home fans, mostly schoolchildren who had filled the stands on a chilly Saturday, were dampened as much by the icy weather as Sipaeya’s below-par performance at the DLTA Complex. In contrast was Greul’s
tunnel-visioned focus as he served and outslugged the Indian sixth seed in just 55 minutes to take the fifth title of the career. The second seed German, who had won the title in Mumbai last week, pocketed 18 ATP points and $ 1,950 in prize money. Greul had ranked as high as 148 in June, 2003, before an injury forced him out of action for five months and his ranking came down. The highest prize money title he had won was a $ 55,000 event on clay back home that year but he also has a $ 50,000 crown won on hard courts to back his claims of allround skills. Greul had also tested his abilities on the Grand Slam stage and reached the final qualifying round of the Australian Open in 2002. The gulf in standards was too much to bridge for Sipaeya. Also, having won the Satellite Masters here last year, Greul knew the Indian’s game very well. The only time when the 22-year-old Indian looked like getting the better of the German came in the very first game when he forced three break points. Greul saved two of them with some controlled shots up the net and the chair umpire overruled a line call on Sipaeya’s forehand in his favour on the third. Once he held serve, Greul shut the door for Sipaeya. He got his big serves working, there were five aces in all but the number seemed a bit high for a match of such short duration. He concentrated his attack on Sipaeya’s backhand and the Chandigarh player disappointingly lacked plan B for such a big match. There were occasions when Sipaeya was able to produce his brilliant forehands but Gruel had the upperhand throughout. After being broken in the fourth game of the first set, the youngster lost it psychologically when he made three unforced errors in a row to lose the sixth game and the set. It was a disappointing result for Sipaeya who announced his arrival on the tennis scene as a 16-year old when he won the nationals in 1999 and later the Asian Junior Championships in 2002.
— PTI |
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Kiwis rout World XI
Christchurch, January 22 Fleming hit nine sixes and 10 fours — 94 runs from boundaries — in an innings of 106 in 64 minutes, leading New Zealand past the World XI’s 158 in only 16.1 overs. Fleming’s innings lasted 57 balls and he contributed all but 54 runs of New Zealand’s total of 160 for one. His opening partner Nathan Astle batted throughout the innings for 36 and Chris Cairns appeared briefly to score eight. The world mark for the fastest century is held by Pakistan opening batsman Shahid Afridi, who scored 100 runs off 37 balls against Sri Lanka in 1997 at Nairobi, Kenya. Fleming took particular toll of the World XI’s twin attractions, spinners Shane Warne and Muttiah Muralitharan, who bowled in tandem in an international match for the first time. Muralitharan conceded 57 runs from 3.1 overs — 19 balls — and Warne, who captained the World side, gave up 26 from three overs. Fleming reached his half century with a six from Muralitharan, among three sixes and 22 runs he took from the 11th over, and reached his century with a four from the same bowler. World XI Jayasuriya c Cairns b Tuffey 5 Spearman c Wilson b Tuffey 14 Harvey lbw b Mills 0 Sangakkara c Cairns b Mills 0 Hick c McCullum b Wilson 44 Rhodes c Astle b Cairns 36 Klusener c McCullum b Vettori 4 Streak c Fleming b Vettori 0 Vaas not out 20 Warne run out 26 Muralitharan b Vettori 0 Extras
(lb-5 w-4) 9 Total (all out, 39.3 overs) 158 Fo w:
1-16, 2-20, 3-20, 4-20, 5-99, 6-112, 7-112, 8-113, 9-158, 10-158. Bowling: Tuffey 8-0-25-2 (w-3), Mills 7-1-30-2, Cairns 8-1-38-1, Wilson 7-1-27-1, Vettori 9.3-1-33-3 New Zealand Fleming c Spearman b Warne 106 Astle not out 36 Cairns not out 8 Extras
(lb-4 w-6) 10 Total (one wicket, 16.1 overs) 160 Fall of wicket:
1-148 Bowling: Vaas 5-0-28-0, Streak 3-0-22-0, Harvey 2-0-23-0, Muralitharan 3.1-0-57-0, Warne 3-0-26-1.
— AP, Reuters |
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De Villiers falls short of maiden ton
Centurion, January 22 Graeme Smith was 24 not out with Mark Boucher on seven. All rounder Andrew Flinoff had taken two for 32 from 12 overs. The 20-year-old de Villiers, playing in his fifth Test, was promoted to open instead of Smith and scored 92 in just over four hours at the crease, facing 165 balls and hitting 15 fours. He was trapped in front by left-arm spinner Ashley Giles three overs before tea. South Africa, put in, could have been 15 for one, but Marcus Trescothick at first slip failed to hold a regulation edge offered by Herschelle Gibbs off fast bowler Stephen Harmison. Gibbs failed to profit, however, going for 14 when he edged the last ball of Flintoff's first over to wicketkeeper Geraint Jones. De Villiers and Jacques Rudolph scored fluently before De Villiers, on 34, was also given a let-off. He edged the sixth ball of Harmison's second spell to gully but Andrew Strauss failed to hang onto the low, dipping chance that would have seen South Africa stumble to 77 for two. Instead, they reached lunch on 108 for one and lost their second wicket two overs into the second session when Rudolph spliced an attempted hook off fast bowler Matthew Hoggard and was caught by Robert key at square leg, who ran back and took a well-judged catch over his shoulder. The dismissal ended a stand of 88, and seven overs later South Africa were 144 for three after Flintoff bowled Jacques Kallis for eight with a yorker that swung away late and clipped the outside of the off stump. Scoreboard South Africa ( 1st innings): De Villiers lbw b Giles 92 Gibbs c G.Jones b Flintoff 14 Rudolph c Key b Hoggard 33 Kallis b Flintoff 8 Smith not out 24 Boucher not out 7 Extras
(nb-15 w-3) 18 Total (4 wickets, 57 overs): 196 Fall of wickets:
1-27 2-115 3-144 4-187 Bowling: Hoggard 14-3-54-1 (nb-4), Harmison 15-2-65-0 (w-2), Flintoff 12-3-32-2 (nb-7 w-1), S.Jones 11-3-35-0 (nb-4), Giles 5-1-10-1.
— Reuters |
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PCB threatens action against papers Islamabad, January 22 "If an uncorroborative or sensational report is received against the team and individual, defamatory action can be taken. If any more reports of this nature are published we are ready to take legal action," he told Geo TV. Australian newspapers yesterday reported that a woman had alleged been raped by a Pakistani cricketer in a Melbourne hotel but had not made a formal complaint. Reacting angrily to a speculation in a section of Australian press, Shaharyar said the recall of fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar had nothing to do with the scandal. Akhtar was being recalled to help him to get rid of his injuries and to keep him fit for the forthcoming Indian tour and not because of the allegation figuring in Australian tabloid press, he said.
— PTI
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PCB undeterred
by Sena threat
Islamabad, January 22 Reacting to the threat issued yesterday by Shiv Sena’s Delhi unit, Pakistan Cricket Board Chairman Shahryar Khan told Geo TV that the organisation had issued similar threats in 1999 but the team went ahead with the tour. “When we went there in 1999, at that time also they issued threats and caused some damage. We will go ahead and play where we think we should. Security is in the hands of our hosts, the Indian board. We will certainly go and we will not be deterred because of threats,” he said. According to the proposed venues for the series, New Delhi would be hosting one of the five one-day internationals between the arch-rivals most likely in the first week of April. Though the venues would be finalised only after a visit by a two-member venue inspection committee from Pakistan, the Delhi unit of Shiv Sena did not lose time in issuing the threat. They said they would disrupt the match in Delhi “at any cost” claiming that it would be a “deception” to have sporting links with Islamabad till the time it put an end to terrorist activities in the country. During Pakistan’s last tour to India in 1999, Sena activists had dug the pitch at the Ferozeshah Kotla ground in Delhi.
— PTI
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Dynamos continue unbeaten run
Hyderabad, January 22 Navdeep, who was today fielded just before the closing time of the second quarter, neatly collected a long pass on top of the circle and hit a slap shot to put Chandigarh ahead just before the break. The forward struck again minutes after resumption when Harbhajan Singh extended a long pass outside the circle and he slammed it into the goal giving the team a 2-0 lead. The first quarter of play started on a sluggish note and no serious attempts were made by either side. But in the next three quarters, Chandigarh had 13 attempts at the opposition post and succeeded in converting twice even though they wasted all four penalty corners they earned. Lucknow had two hits at the Chandigarh post and could not make use of the two penalty corners they won.
— PTI
Dazzlers trounce Bengal
Tigers
Delhi Dazzlers, true to their name, dazzled today to defeat Bengal Tigers 3-1 in a tier II match of the Premier Hockey League, being played at the Gachibowli Stadium here. Delhi opened their account in the 20th minute when Gurucharan Singh passed from the right flank to Ajit Pal Singh in the circle and the latter beat an otherwise stubborn Manoj Singh in the Bengal goal with his power and speed. Delhi reduced the pace of the match and Bengal took advantage and had more exchanges and took possession of the ball in the first two quarters but their forwards muffed many an easy chance. Skipper Iqbal Singh and Sudhir Bhengra were wayward in their shooting. Perhaps the lack of an Astro-turf in the entire eastern region was showing in their game. Except for Imphal, where an artificial surface was laid for the National Games, no other state has a turf in the region. Bengal, trailing till the third quarter, pulled themselves back into the game with an early goal in the last quarter. The tribal talent in the team came to the fore when Manoj Kujur banged into the boards from their second penalty corner to level scores 1-1.
—PTI, UNI
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2nd successive victory for Anand
Wijk Aan Zee, January 22 Anand, who had a forgettable start here, has moved to 3.5 points from six games and is now just half a point behind four leaders, Britain’s Michael Adams, Hungarian Peter Leko, Bulgarian Veselin Topalov and Cuban Lazaro Bruzon, who is turning out to be the biggest surprise of the event. While all leaders have four points apiece, Russians Vladimir Kramnik and Alexander Grischuk are next in line on 3.5 along with Anand, who is looking for a hat-trick of titles here. The next spot is jointly held by Ponomariov, Judit Polgar of Hungary and local challenge Loek Van Wely, who all have three points each in their kitty with seven rounds still to go in this category-19 event being played under classical time control. It turned out be another exciting game for Anand as white after Ponomariov opted for the Sicilian Nazdorf and tackled the English attack in a rather offbeat fashion right from the opening.
— PTI |
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Ajeetesh wins Faldo Series junior title
He matched the performance of the British Open Junior champion Oliver Fisher, both returning a similar score of 143 in the two-round contest. Ajeetesh played a one-over card of 72 in the first round. This was four strokes behind Oliver’s card of 68. But Ajeetesh played steadily to return a par card of 71 in the second round. Oliver got himself into a bad patch and could manage only a four-over card of 75 for a tie for the first place. Ajeetesh has been improving upon his performance in the tournaments he has played so far. Last month he clinched the runner-up title in the Asian Junior Golf Championship held at Dhupatemiya in Thailand. And with this Faldo Series title in his belt, Ajeetesh is all set for the World Junior Golf Team Championship Asia Regional Pre-Qualifying Tournament to be held at Orna Golf and Country Club, Malaysia, from January 25 to 27.Ajeetesh has also go an offer for receiving training at the prestigious Led Batter Golf Academy in Florida with free board and lodging. This could be the right platform for this 16-year-old to hone his skills under the watchful eyes of a seasoned coach. |
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Mumbai in semis
Patiala, January 21 The hosts managed to score 339 for eight before light but continuous showers ended their aspirations of taking the all-important first innings lead and with that a spot in the last four. Mumbai scored 412 runs in their first essay in 115 overs while Punjab managed to score 339 for 8 in 130 overs which meant that the visitors were in the semi-finals once the quotient rule was applied. Brief scores:
Mumbai (1st innings): 412 all out. Punjab: (1st innings): 339 for 8 (Sidharth Sharma 107, Simrat Bawa 85, Gurkirat Singh 43, Sumit Kalia 46 n.o, B.Parab 4 for 129, Swapnil Kuley 3 for 131). |
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Gujarat move into semis
Rohtak, January 22 Set to score 135 runs in their second innings, Gujarat were denied a possible outright victory by bad weather. When play finally stopped due to rains just before the scheduled tea interval, Gujarat had reached 114 for 6 and were 21 runs short of victory target. In the Gujarat innings opener Amar Padhya made 28 runs. Mayank Rajput took 3 for 42, while Paras Jain claimed two wickets for 21 runs. Scores: Madhya Pradesh: 130 and 157.
Gujarat: 153 and 114 for 6. |
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India colts in driver's seat
Bangalore, January
22 Brief scores: India U-19 (1st Innings): 334 in 102.4 overs (Pinal Shah 22, T C Smith 3/35, A Miller 4/76)
England U-19: 112 all out in 62 overs (J L Denly 59, M O'Shea 22 Abid Nabi 5/26, M Tiwary 3/12).
India U-19 (IInd Innings): 51 for one in 15 overs (F Y Fazal batting 14, A T Rayudu batting 19).
— UNI
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Salgaocar
crush Tollygunge
Margao, January 22 Salgaocar, who led 3-1 at half time scored through Jyothi Kumar (17th), Felix Ibrebru (20th, 53rd), Francis Andrade (42nd) and Bernard Pires (69th). Tollygunge reduced the margin through Suley Musah in the 25th minute. The win took Salgaocar’s tally to six points from three matches.
Tollygunge who lost their first match, have four points from three matches.
Salgaocar took the lead in the 17th minute through Jyothi Kumar. — PTI |
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Melbourne, January 22
In video: Sania's relatives hope her tennis will get a boost, despite losing to former world
number one at the Australian Open.
Chandigarh, January 21
