Melbourne, January 19
Top seed Roger Federer waltzed into the fourth round of the Australian Open today, brushing aside the challenge of Mikhail Youzhny 6-3, 6-3, 7-6. Although taken to his first tiebreak of the event, Federer took another largely effortless step towards the defence of his title with victory in two hours and four minutes for his eighth straight win over the 25th-seeded Russian.

Federer, who is yet to lose a set in this year's Melbourne Park bid, sealed the first set with a booming ace only ruled in after he referred it to the Hawk-eye instant replay technology.

The Russian, who upset Rafael Nadal en route to last year's US Open semi-finals, required treatment to his back after the first set but recovered from 0-3 to take the third to a tiebreak on Rod Laver Arena.

The win was his 32nd consecutive victory on tour and he now faces Serbian 14th seed Novak Djokovic for a place in the quarter-finals.

Sixth seed Andy Roddick outgunned former champion Marat Safin 7-6, 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 in the first heavyweight clash of the Australian Open today.

Roddick made a late break in the third set and dominated the fourth-set tiebreak, sealing it 7-2 on his first match point to wrap up victory in three hours and 12 minutes.

Safin, the 2005 champion, received treatment for a cut finger during the third set and the 26th seed was handed a warning after complaining that the court was too wet to play on.

Roddick will play ninth seed Mario Ancic of Croatia in the last 16.

Women’s third seed Svetlana Kuznetsova overcame a spirited challenge from fellow Russian Maria Kirilenko to secure a 6-1 6-4 victory in the third round today. Kuznetsova, US Open champion in 2004, proved too strong for her opponent, seeded 26th, using her powerful groundstrokes to move her round the court.

Kirilenko, 19, rallied in the second set to level at 4-4 but Kuznetsova stepped up a gear to win the next two games and clinch victory in one hour 19 minutes on her third match point.

Fourteenth seed Novak Djokovic advanced to the fourth round with a 6-3, 6-4, 5-7, 6-1 victory over Thailand's Danai Udomchoke today. The 19-year-old Serb overcame a back injury to overpower the world number 102 in the first two sets and he served for the match at 5-4 in the third.

Djokovic will play top seed Roger Federer in the last 16.

Serena Williams revived memories of her two Australian Open titles by coming from a set and a break down to beat Russian fifth seed Nadia Petrova 4-6 7-5 6-3 and book a place in the fourth round today.

Second seed Amelie Mauresmo stayed on course to defend her Australian Open title with a 6-3 6-1 win over Czech Eva Birnerova in the third round today. — Reuters

Melbourne, January 19
Sania Mirza looked determined to atone for her second round exit from singles event and the Hyderabadi ace teamed up with Spaniard Anabel Medina Garrigues to wallop the Ekaterina Bychkova-Martina Muller pair in straight sets and waltz into the third round of the women's doubles event of the Australian open here today.

The 10th seeded Sania-Anabel pair took 83 minutes to down Russian Ekaterina and the latter's German teammate Martina 6-3, 6-4.

They, however, face a tough job in the third round, which pits them against sixth seeds Daniela Hantuchova and Ai Sugiyama after the Slovak-Japanese pair thrashed Michaella Krajicek (Holland) and Agnes Szavay (Hungary) 6-3, 6-2 in another second round match.

Sania and Anabel looked  in perfect sync and the  Indian was especially  impressive with her controlled aggression.

Sania served well and went selectively for the winners, while Anabel proved the perfect foil. Broken twice in the set, the seeded pair responded by breaking back thrice and it took them 40 minutes to wrap up the set and go one up.

The Ekaterina-Martina duo, however, refused to throw in the towel and turned the heat in the second set, forcing a couple of unforced errors from their rivals.

Sania and Anabel, however, did well to break their opponents once and saving both the break points as well to complete a comprehensive victory.

Later in the evening, Paes and his partner, Martin  Damm of the Czech Republic, ran away easy 6-4 6-2  victors over the Australian combination of Nathan  Healy and Robert Smeets.

The Aussies were no match for the seasoned number five seeds, who won the US Open title last year, and were knocked out in 68 minutes.

Paes and Damm were on form with their first serve, winning 33 out of 38 points when they got it in.  They also converted three of the five break point  opportunities, while their opponents wasted two.

The Indo-Czech pair next face the French com bination of Julien Benneteau and Nicolas Mahut in the third round.

The Frenchmen defeated  the 11th seeded Simon Aspelin of Sweden and South Africa's Chris Haggard  6-3 7-5. — UNI

Port Elizabeth, January 19
Pakistan’s Shoaib Akhtar made a triumphant return to help skittle South Africa for 124 in the second Test today. However, Pakistan stumbled to 135 for six at stumps on day one.

Scoreboard

South Africa (1st innings)

De Villiers c Akmal b Shoaib 2
Smith c Younis b Kaneria 28
Amla c Akmal b Shoaib 5
Kallis c Akmal b Shoaib 24
Prince c Farhat b Sami 2
Gibbs lbw Kaneria 2
Boucher c Younis b Kaneria 35
Pollock c Sami b Akhtar 4
Nel c Kaneria b Asif 10
Ntini not out 0
Harris c Yasir b Asif 4

Extras: (lb-3, nb-5) 8 Total: (all out; 40 overs) 124 Fall of wickets: 1-9, 2-27, 3-40, 4-49, 5-58, 6-83, 7-89, 8-120, 9-120. Bowling: Shoaib 11-2-36-4, Asif 9-2-34-2, Kaneria 14-3-36-3, Sami 6-1-15-1.

Pakistan (1st innings)

Hafeez c Amla b Ntini 13
Farhat c De Villiers b Ntini 0
Younis c Gibbs b Ntini 45
Hameed c De Villiers b Ntini 2
Yousuf lbw Pollock 32
Akmal c Prince b Nel 33
Sami not out 0

Sydney, January 19
Australia secured a four wicket win over a valiant England in their one-day cricket international at the Gabba here today.

Nathan Bracken of Australia in action during a triseries one-day match against England in Brisbane on Friday. — AF photo

After bowling England out for a meagre 155, the Australians were in trouble at 93 for five and 108 for six before Michael Hussey (46 not out) came to the rescue for Australia once again and guided the home side to victory with 11.2 overs to spare.

England seamer Jon Lewis took career-best figures of 4-36 and James Anderson chipped in with 2-29 to have Australia firmly on the back foot early on.

Anderson also had a confident appeal against Hussey turned down when he was on 19, with replays indicating Hussey got a fine edge through to wicketkeeper Paul Nixon only for umpire Daryl Harper to give it not out.

Anderson charged down the wicket and confronted Hussey after the decision but the West Australian was unmoved.

Lewis started England's response when he had openers Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden caught in almost identical fashion, mistiming pull shots and holing out to Anderson at deep square leg.

Anderson had Brad Hodge caught at gully for a duck before Lewis then had Andrew Symonds caught behind to reduce Australia to 48 for four.

But first Michael Clarke and then Hussey steadied the Australian innings to get the home side over the line.

Although they lost the match, the English will have gained confidence from their performance after enduring a wretched tour of Australia.

After arriving in Australia in November, they only won their first game last Tuesday when they beat New Zealand in Hobart.

Scoreboard

England

Strauss c Hodge b McGrath 18
Loye c Hayden b Bracken 36
Bell run out 10
Joyce c Gilchrist b McGrath 5
Collingwood c Gilchrist
b McGrath 0
Flintoff c Hodge b Lee 27
Nixon c Hayden b Lee 9
Dalrymple c Johnson b White 31
Tremlett c Gilchrist b Bracken 8
Lewis c&b Bracken 1
Anderson not out 4

Extras (lb-3, w-3) 6
Total (all out, 42 overs) 155
Fall of wickets: 1-52, 2-56, 3-70, 4-70, 5-71, 6-93, 7-118, 8-141, 9-145, 10-155.
Bowling: Lee 10-0-53-2, Bracken 9-0-24-3, McGrath 8-1-24-3, Johnson 8-1-32-0, Symonds 5-1-14-0, White 2-0-7-1.

Australia
Gilchrist c Anderson b Lewis 8
Hayden c Anderson b Lewis 19
Hodge c Dalrymple b Anderson 0
Clarke c Nixon b Lewis 36
Symonds c Nixon b Lewis 4
Hussey not out 46
White lbw Anderson 5
Lee not out 20

Extras (lb-5 w-9 nb-4) 18
Total (6 wkts, 38.4 overs) 156
Fall of wickets: 1-26, 2-30, 3-35, 4-48, 5-93, 6-108.
Bowling: Lewis 10-2-36-4, Anderson 10-3-29-2, Flintoff 9.4-0-45-0, Tremlett 9-0-41-0.
Man of the match: Mike Hussey. — AFP

Jalandhar, January 19
Lahore XI lost 0-1 to Lyallpur Khalsa School, Jalandhar, in a closely contested quarterfinal match at the All-India S. Balwant Singh Kapur Memorial Hockey Tournament at Surjit Hockey Stadium here today. The only goal of the match came when Rakesh Kumar of Lyallpur team converted his team’s seventh penalty corner in the 47th minute.

The most keenly contested match was played between Satguru Partap Singh Academy, Bhaini Sahib, and Guru Harkrishan Public School, Delhi. The Delhi team won the match 8-7 via a tie-breaker.

Government Model School Jalandhar, too, entered the semifinals after defeating Government Senior Secondary School, Maqsudan 2-0. Sukhdeep Singh scored both the goals.

Gale storm damages Lord’s
London: Strong winds have caused damage to the Lord's ground, known as the Mecca of cricket, forcing evacuation of the non-essential staff from the building.
— PTI

Anand wins
Wijk Aan Zee: Viswanathan Anand scored a thumping victory over Russian Grandmaster Peter Svidler in the fifth round of the Corus International Chess progress here Thursday. — PTI

Ball tampering
Lahore: England-based lawyer Mark Gay has been smiling his way to the bank ever since the PCB hired him to defend Inzamam-ul Haq in the ball-tampering case and though he failed to save the Pakistan skipper from being banned, the British legal eagle took home a mind-boggling £250,000 for his services. — UNI

Serena Williams
Melbourne: Serena Williams, a budding actress, is planning to make a movie about the life of trailblazing black tennis player Althea Gibson. — AFP

Sexual assault
Melbourne: Extra security guards were added at the Australian Open after a boy was allegedly sexually assaulted in the toilets at the main stadium, officials said on Friday. — AP

France leads
Melbourne: France topped the list as the country with the most men in the top 100 tour rankings at the end of 2006, closely followed by Spain. Led by Richard Gasquet (18), Sebastien Grosjean (28) and Julien Benneteau (40), France had 13 top 100 players. — AP

Handball meet
Patiala: Punjabi University men entered the final phase of the superleague in the North East zone Inter-University handball championship held at the Punjabi University campus here on Friday. They downed Kurukshetra University 31-29 while in the women's section, the hosts beat GNDU, Amritsar 
23-11. — OSR

Skiing meet
Shimla: A prolonged dry spell has cast a shadow on the National Junior and Sub-Junior Alpine Skiing Championship, scheduled to be held in Narkanda from February 11 to 14. — TNS