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Sania, Sharapova crash out
Malaysian Open |
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FIA, FOTA ward off breakaway threat
‘Indians were reluctant to play us’
India will eye T20 revenge: Gayle
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Sania, Sharapova crash out
Sharapova, ranked 60 after suffering with a shoulder injury but given a special seeding of 24 here, had battered Dulko for the loss of three games in two previous meetings. But the Russian struggled to find an answer to the world number 45's scurrying array of groundstrokes and changes of pace in the sunshine on Centre Court.
Sania Mirza’s singles campaign ended with a 4-6, 4-6 second round loss to Romanian 28th seed Sorana Cirstea here today. Unforced errors proved costly for the Indian in the one-hour-22-minute contest as she yet again failed to move beyond the second round here. Sania played mostly from the baseline but struggled to keep her booming strokes within the court. The inability to win points on serve added to the woes of the unseeded Indian against an opponent ranked as high as 27th in the world. Sania had the first opportunity to get a break but Cirstea denied her friend the favour.
Sania will now look to put up a better show in doubles where she and her Taipei partner Chia-Jung Chuang will take on Americans Jill Craybas and Carly Gullickson. Dulko, who is no stranger to Wimbledon upsets, having beaten the great Martina Navratilova as a 19-year-old in 2004 and she showed little stage fright as she sealed the opening set in 35 minutes with a crunching forehand winner. Sharapova’s frustration grew in the second as Dulko raced to a 3-0 lead but the Argentine suffered a temporary meltdown and her opponent raced back into contention with a run of seven straight games. The two exchanged breaks in a tortuous decider which saw Sharapova punch the air after claiming every key point and Dulko somehow recover the composure she lost so spectacularly in the second set.
As a contest it was all over once Federer broke serve in the third game of the match and the remainder of the one hour 29 minute stroll was pure exhibition stuff. “I played too straightforward and maybe a liitle too much attack for him,” said Federer, who lost in last year’s final to Rafael Nadal. “I could even try a few things in the third set.” Federer, the favourite to win the title in the absence of injured champion Nadal, will play either Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber or Czech Ivo Minar in round three. Serena Williams barely broke into a sweat during an imperious 6-2, 6-1 win over Australia’s Jarmila Groth as she cruised into the third round. The American second seed, chasing a third crown at the All England Club, was fast out of the blocks and never let the world number 69 settle into a rhythm. She will face either 31st seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia or Italy’s Roberta Vinci for a place in the fourth round. Fourth seed Novak Djokovic overcame a stuttering start before completing a resolute 7-5, 6-1, 6-4 victory over Germany's Simon Greul in the second round at Wimbledon on Wednesday. The Serbian went an early break down to the world number 106 but the former Australian Open champion broke back twice to take a hard-fought opening set in 45 minutes. Djokovic rattled off three breaks of serve to race through the second set and a crucial break in game nine of the third saw him serve for the match on Court One. He now faces a third-round clash against American 28th seed Mardy Fish. Bhupathi-Knowles beat
Somdev-Anderson
Fourth seeds Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles survived a scare from spirited qualifiers Somdev Devvarman and Kevin Anderson in a gruelling four-setter to enter the second round of the Wimbledon men's doubles event here today. The Indo-Bahamian pair came through 6-7 (4) 6-4 7-5 7-5 in a nerve-wracking battle in which the Indo-South African duo pushed the fourth seeds to limits before going down in three hours and 15 minutes.
— Agencies |
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Saina, Bhat in pre-QF, Sridhar loses
Johor Bahru, June 24 Second seed Saina needed less than half an hour to send Buranaprasertsuk packing with a 21-18 22-20 victory in her opening round match to set up a clash with another Thai Ratchanok Intanon in the round of 16. The world number eight Indian rode on her better net play and powerful smashes to pocket the first game after going neck and neck at 14-all at one point of time. In the next game, the Hyderabadi opened up a lead of 8-3 but her Thai rival reeled off three quick points to close the gap at 9-7 and draw level at 12-12 before surging ahead at 20-19. The Indian, however, shoved down three straight points to seal the match. Arvind Bhat and Ajay Jayaram also advanced into the men's pre-quarterfinals though it was curtains for compatriots Chetan Anand, Anup Sridhar, P Kashyap, Anand Pawar in men's singles and Aditi Mutatkar in the women's singles. Ninth seed Arvind had to toil hard for his 21-16 16-21 21-16 first round win over Sune Gavnholt of Denmark. The lanky Indian then defeated Yongzhao Ashton Chen of Singapore 21-18 17-21 21-15 in the second round to set up a pre-quarterfinals clash with Long Chen of China. Promising young shuttler Ajay beat Malaysian Chong Chieh 21-16 21-8 in the first round and then got the better off Iskandar Zulkarnain Zainuddin of Malaysia 21-13 24-22 in 30 minutes to set up a last 16 clash with Yun Hu of Hong Kong tomorrow. Meanwhile, third seed Chetan tumbled in the first round after losing to Iskandar 16-21 21-18 17-21, while 16th seed Anup went down to Japanese Koichi Saeki 21-17 11-21 17-21 in a 45-minute duel. Pawar also experienced a similar fate, losing to Malaysian Wei Feng Chong 14-21 21-11 15-21 in the first round. Twelfth seed Kashyap, however, won his first round match against Kazuteru Kozai 21-13 14-21 21-11 but couldn't continue his good work and lost to local player Chun Seang Tan 20-22 11-21 in the second round. Mutatkar was also the first round casualty as she pulled out of the game after 19 minutes into the match against Singaporean Mingtian Fu. The Indian was trailing 11-21 4-11 when she retired. — PTI
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FIA, FOTA ward off breakaway threat
Paris, June 24 Ahead of the meeting, FIA president Max Mosley had insisted that he would not step down as part of the price of any potential agreement and might seek re-election as head of world motor sport. The 69-year-old Briton has been under pressure amid the disagreements emanating from the proposed swingeing budget cuts. The Paris meeting was a clear-the-air opportunity for member clubs to hear from F1 teams about their plan to break away from the FIA and set up a rival series, a proposal which had led the FIA to prepare a legal claim against FOTA. Writs against Ferrari and FOTA - which also includes McLaren, BMW Sauber, Renault, Toyota, Red Bull Racing, Toro Rosso and Brawn GP - had been due to be served on Monday, but the FIA held back pending today’s meeting. Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo chose to praise long-term enemy Max Mosley rather than gloat after the teams largely won their battle over the future of Formula One. A breakaway series threatened by eight teams has been averted after FIA president Max Mosley agreed to drop his plans for a budget cap next year. But costs will be cut and three new teams - Campos, U.S. F1 and Manor - are still in line to join next season after pressure from Mosley, who nonetheless will retire when his mandate runs out in October. “I hope that sooner or later I can do the same as Mr. Mosley and have a bit more relaxation. I hope I can join the club very soon,” Montezemolo joked at a news conference following a meeting of the World Motor Sports Council. “I think he has done a very good fix of the problem. When you have reached an agreement everyone has to help in the same way.” Montezemolo, head of the Formula One Teams’ Association (FOTA), was glad that months of wrangling had been sorted out. — Agencies
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‘Indians were reluctant to play us’
Even though the arch-rivals did not meet in the main tournament, they featured in a sold-out warm up match and Afridi alleged Dhoni and his men did not look keen to play Pakistan even though they claimed so. “I was a bit disappointed. It didn’t appear to me by the attitude of the Indian players that they want to play against us,” Afridi said after his arriving home this morning. “On the face, they said they would like to see cricket between the two countries but I think in their hearts they thought otherwise. Their attitude and behaviour while playing against us showed this,” Afridi said. Pakistan and India have froze bilateral cricket ties since the Mumbai terror attacks last November with the Indians cancelling a scheduled Test tour earlier this year. Afridi said he still believed that cricket could heal relations between the two nations and bring people together. “I always say use sports to foster good relations and remove misunderstandings,” said Afridi who starred in the tournament both with the bat and ball.
— PTI |
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India will eye T20 revenge: Gayle
Kingston, June 24 Gayle believes the side under Mahendra Singh Dhoni, however depleted, would seek to settle score in the four-match ODI series starting here on Friday. “We have a big game on Friday against India. We’re all looking forward to it,” Gayle said. “India is always a good One Day team and they will be looking to beat us based on their Twenty20 disappointment,” he added. Having led the side to the semifinals of the T20 World Cup, Gayle said, “The support has been brilliant. The guys gave me their full support and I gave them the same sort of support.”.
— PTI |
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South Africa have nothing to lose
Johannesburg, June 24
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Federer, Serena and Djokovic march into third round
Formula One’s world governing body the FIA and the F1 teams association FOTA agreed today there will be no parallel championship next season following talks in Paris to ward off a threatened breakaway. The accord followed a meeting of 120 members of the FIA and came in the wake of weeks of bitter rowing between the two bodies which centred on proposed tough spending limits from next season.
London, June 24
A relaxed Roger Federer outclassed Spain’s Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-2, 6-2, 6-4 to waltz into the third round at Wimbledon on Wednesday. The number two seed barely broke sweat as he sent out an ominous message to the rest of the field. 
Karachi, June 24
Hosts South Africa have nothing to lose when they take on mighty Brazil in the semifinals of the Confederations Cup on Thursday. Bafana have reached their pre-tournament goal of making the final four and defeat at Ellis Park in Johannesburg against the title holders would be no shame. “Whatever happens, Bafana can’t really lose. If we lose, it is expected because we are playing against the best team in the world and if we win, it will just be terrific,” said South African goalkeeper Rowen Fernandez. Orlando Pirates midfielder Teko Modise was upbeat: “But now we want to go further. We want to win and the Brazilians are not unbeatable.”
— DPA
