Melbourne, January 23
Serbia's Novak Djokovic and Jelena Jankovic scrapped to hard-earned victories as ethnic violence again overshadowed the Australian Open today.

Almost invincible last year, Roger Federer stayed on track for USA’s Pete Sampras record-equalling 14th grand slam title when he swatted aside former champion Marat Safin in the third round. The anticipated clash of tennis juggernauts failed to materialise as the Swiss totally dominated the match between former world number ones to win 6-3 6-2 7-6 under floodlights late evening.

Federer will next meet Tomas Berdych after the Czech beat Switzerland's Stanislas Wawrinka.

''I would have loved to play Stan, he's a good friend of mine,'' Federer said. ''I hope I can carry this form over and beat Tomas again.''

Russia's Dinara Safina continued to bulldozer through the draw and young guns Marin Cilic and Juan Martin del Potro set up an enticing fourth-round match in other tennis highlights.

But attention will inevitably focus on the violent clashes which followed Djokovic's four-set win over Bosnian-American Amer Delic.

Dozens of Bosnian and Serb youths hurled plastic chairs and other missiles at each other, leaving one woman with minor injuries. About 30 people were thrown out as skirmishes continued outside.

"A number of people got into a chair-throwing contest between two groups with the result that 30-odd people were ejected from Rod Laver," said Inspector Chris Duthie of Melbourne East Police.

"We're charging two on summons and one will be receiving an on-the-spot fine."

A male streaker also invaded one court and danced around, naked from the waist down, in another security lapse.

The Australian Open was first marred by violence in 2007, when Serbian and Croatian fans attacked each other with flagpoles, bottles and boots.

Then last year, police used pepper spray to subdue rowdy elements of the crowd watching a match between Konstantinos Economidis of Greece and Chile's Fernando Gonzales.

The latest incidents took the gloss off another engrossing day of tennis with defending champion Djokovic made to work by Delic on a hot day before running out a 6-2, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) winner.

"I'm really sad to hear about it," said Delic when told of the violence.

"As I said a couple of days ago, there's absolutely no place for that here. This is a tennis match." While Djokovic went through Spain's David Ferrer, the 11th seed who was beaten by Djokovic in the quarter-finals last year, crashed out to Croatia's Marin Cilic 7-6 (7/5), 6-3, 6-4.

Cilic will now meet dangerous Argentine eighth seed Juan Martin del Potro who came from a set down to beat Luxembourg's Gilles Muller 6-7 (5/7), 7-5, 6-3, 7-5.

In a match lasting almost three-and-a-half hours, del Potro weathered some brilliant serving from Muller to reach the fourth round of a Grand Slam for the first time, surpassing his third-round effort at the US Open in 2006.

America's Andy Roddick made short work of Fabrice Santoro, 36, while the giant-killing run of Taiwan's Lu Yen-Hsun came to an end at the hands of Spanish 21st seed Tommy Robredo.

Marat Safin's sister Safina is running into form as the tournament progresses and whipped Kaia Kanepi of Estonia 6-2, 6-2 as she stayed on track to meet Serbia's Ana Ivanovic in the quarter-finals.

The third seed came into the tournament after a breakthrough 2008 in which she snared four titles plus Olympic silver, and made good on her stated intention of playing a more aggressive game this year.

"Finally I played my game. Compared to my first two matches, I reached my level," said Safina, 22.

Top seed Jankovic was made to work against Japan's Ayumi Morita, 10 years her senior, before grinding out a 6-4, 6-4 win.

"I have always had tough matches against her, she has a lot of experience and is a very solid player so I really had to work for every point," Jankovic said.

Also into the fourth round is Russia's Vera Zvonareva, with the seventh seed playing scintillating tennis. Tenth seeded Russian Nadia Petrova also went through. 
— AFP/Reuters

Sydney, January 23
A quick-fire half-century by Herschelle Gibbs and a sizzling knock from Albie Morkel led South Africa to a three wickets win over Australia in the third ODI of the five-match series here today.

Gibbs delivered the opening onslaught and Morkel landed the finishing blows as South Africa achieved the highest run chase at the SCG, overhauling Australia's total of 269 with 21 balls to spare.

The Proteas now have a 2-1 lead and the home side must win the clash at the Adelaide Oval on Monday to avoid a series defeat.

The hosts claimed an early breakthrough in the form of Hashim Amla (13) but Gibbs got the Proteas away to a flying start. He was given able support at the other end by Jacques Kallis.

Kallis took a while to get going but there was a moment of enjoyment early in his innings when he became the eighth man and the first South African to reach 10,000 ODI runs.

Gibbs hammered 64 off 52 balls with 10 boundaries and a six.

His dismissal by Mitchell Johnson left Kallis in charge of the task at the halfway mark.

Morkel did what he does best, coming in at number eight and hitting boundaries during powerplay. He smashed 40 off only 22 deliveries.

The all-rounder claimed 30 of his runs in boundaries, with a six and two fours heaved off the 46th over bowled by Nathan Hauritz, playing his first one-day international since 2003.

He went down trying to smash a six for victory, but the damage had already been done and captain Johan Botha was left to hit the winning runs, which he did in style with a boundary.

Mark Boucher remained unbeaten on 31, providing a perfect foil for the likes of Morkel by refusing to give his wicket away by playing a rash shot. 

Scoreboard

Australia:

Marsh st Boucher b Botha 43

Warner b Steyn 69

Ponting c Gibbs b Botha 29

M Hussey run out 12

D Hussey b Ntini 36

Haddin c & b Botha 6

Hopes c Botha b Ntini 33

Johnson b Duminy 10

Hauritz c Botha b Steyn 7

Bracken not out 6

Tait run out 0

Extras: (lb-7, w-11): 18

Total: (all out in 49.2 overs): 269

Fall of wickets: 1-114, 2-144, 3-165, 4-172, 5-188, 6-239, 7-253, 8-262, 9-267, 10-269.

Bowling: DW Steyn 8.2-1-47-2, M Ntini 9-0-46-2, JH Kallis 5-0-38-0, JA Morkel 7-0-47-0, J Botha 10-0-32-3, JP Duminy 10-0-52-1.

South Africa:

Amla run out 13

Gibbs c MEK Hussey

b Johnson 64

Kallis c Haddin b Tait 60

AB de Villiers c M Hussey

b Bracken 5

Duminy b Hauritz 9

McKenzie run out 27

Boucher not out 31

J Morkel c Hopes b Hauritz 40

Botha not out 4

Extras: (b-4, lb-3, w-8, nb-2): 17

Total: (for 7 wickets in 46.3 overs): 270

Fall of wickets: 1-29, 2-125, 3-140, 4-163, 5-163, 6-209, 7-265.

Bowling: SW Tait 9.3-0-55-1, NW Bracken 9-2-29-1, MG Johnson 9-0-71-1, JR Hopes 10-0-48-0, NM Hauritz 9-0-60-2. — Agencies

Bangalore, January 23
Speedster S Sreesanth, who is on a bid to comeback into team India, claimed three wickets for 92 to help South remain in the hunt to gain vital first innings lead against Central zone on the second day of the Duleep Trophy quarterfinal match here today.

In reply to South's 329, Central, which resumed at 30 for no wicket, ended the day at 326 for nine, thanks to brilliant rear guard action by wicket keeper batsman Naman Ojha who top scored with a gritty 85.

Murali Karthik (23) and Pankaj Singh (01) were at the crease at stumps. Central Zone needed just four runs to gain the first innings lead.

Skipper Mohd. Kaif (73, 118 b, 11x4, 1x6) steadied the Central innings after the visitors were down four for 78. 

South Zone (1st innings): 329

Central Zone (1st innings)

Srivatsava c Dinesh b Robin 24

Shivkant Shukla b Sreesanth 26

Yere Goud c Dinesh b Balaji 04

Mohd. Kaif c Robin b Suresh 73

Parvinder Singh lbw Sreesanth 05

Naman Ojha lbw Sreesanth 85

Bhuvaneshwar c Dinesh b Robin 28

Chawla c Laxman b Ashwin 35

Murali Karthik (batting) 23

Pankaj Singh lbw Balaji 01

Extras (b-4, lb-5, nb-6, w-7): 22

Total (9 wickets, 100.1 overs): 326

Fall of wickets: 1-52, 2-65, 3-65, 4-78, 5-205, 6-265, 7-266, 8-323 9-326.

Bowling: L Balaji 28.1-8-72-2

S Sreesanth 25-4-92-3 R Ashwin 26-2-86-1 Robin Uthappa 11-2-41-2 
M Suresh 10-1-26-1. — UNI

Ludhiana, January 23
For a team harbouring Asian ambitions, Dempo Sports Club, Goa, were rather ordinary as they were outclassed 2-1 by JCT FC at the Guru Nanak stadium here today.

Talking of early goals, JCT’s Baljit Sahni’s strike in the 15th second was as early as they come. New recruit Paul Mac James used his height to good effect to control a lob, and then played it to Edu. The Brazilian, who generally finds it hard to control his yearning to shoot, showed the deft side of his game and cleverly played the ball through for Baljit. The winger still had much to do as he side-stepped two defenders and then beat the Dempo custodian Satish with a crisp shot low down in the bottom corner.

Dempo virtually hit back straight away. Their wingers Sameer Naik and Clifford Miranda were creating a lot of width, causing the JCT wing-backs discomfort. Even the target man Beto was in his elements and the JCT back four had their hands full for the first 15 minutes.

But just when it looked like Dempo might crawl their way back into the game, it was again Baljit Sahni, who scored for the home team in the 18th minute. Baljit collected a ball from the left wing and ran at the Dempo back line. Paul made a deceptive run into the box as Baljit, showing some extremely gifted foot-work, left his tailing marker behind and with a rasping shot, beat Sathish again. JCT were 2-0 up within the first 20 minutes.

Dempo failed to construct any fruitful moves and at the breather the home side were looking firm favourites for three points.

The second half started with the visitors taking the fight to the home team. In the 56th minute, Edu was booked and substituted with Pawan. Dempo were clearly the side creating the ripples as JCT went into a shell. In the 80th minute, Beto took a blazing shot from outside the box that narrowly missed the crossbar.

Dempo pressed hard as JCT were beginning to feel the heat. In the 89th minute, Anthony Perriera got their first goal after Julius failed to clear near the penalty area. But it turned out to be the only consolation as JCT held on in the dying minutes despite some nervy moments. 

Gurgaon, January 23
It was a dream day for Chennai-based former national under-17 champion P Saravana Krishnan, who defeated two foreign grand masters in consecutive rounds of the ongoing Gurgaon International Open Grand Master Chess Tournament here today.

Krishnan got the better of Kazakh grand master Nurlan Ibrayev in the fourth round after overcoming highly rated Evgeny Gleizerov of Russia in the third.

On the top boards, top seed Ukrainian grand master Alexander Areshchenko defeated Debashish Das while second seed Yuriy Kuzubov also from Ukraine had it easy against Turkmenistan Fide Master Esenov Annaberdi in the third round.

In other top board results, talented Indian youngster Swapnil Dhopade held third seed Grandmaster Yuri Solodovnichenko of Ukraine while B.S. Shivananda held former national champion and grand master Abhijit Kunte.

After a great outing in the just-concluded seventh Parsvnath Chess Tournament at New Delhi, Russian grand master Mikhail Ulibin found Indian youngster R Premnath a tough nut to crack and signed the peace treaty in just 17 moves.

The other Indian grand masters Neelotpal Das and Magesh Chandran also settled with half point against P Maheswaran and Soumyaranjan Mishra, respectively.