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Venus, Hewitt shine brightest
Malaysian Open
India’s WI tour |
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Bhutia supports I-League coaches
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Venus, Hewitt shine brightest
London, June 25 Two breaks helped the American edge a competitive first set in 37 minutes but the third seed was really finding the middle of her racket in an impressive second set and sealed victory in one hour and nine minutes with a clean forehand winner. She will face Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain for a spot in the fourth round. In another match 13th seed Serbia’s Ana Ivanovic got past Sara Errani of Italy 7-5 6-1. Lleyton Hewitt returned to his old stomping ground at Wimbledon's Centre Court on Thursday to score the biggest upset in the men's draw so far with a 6-3 7-5 7-5 win over fifth seed Juan Martin Del Potro. Australian Hewitt, ranked 56 in the world after a series of injuries but champion here in 2002, never allowed the Argentine an inch of breathing space with superb ground coverage and made the most of his opponent's discomfort at the net. “It’s like a second home really,” said Hewitt after his first career meeting with the 20-year-old. “It’s great to be back in the third round.” Del Potro, a semi-finalist at Roland Garros last month, had his left knee taped up at the end of the first set after a nasty slip, and Hewitt, who won the opener in 45 minutes, rammed home his advantage. Hewitt, roared on by a vocal section of Australian fans decked out in traditional green and yellow colours, won his only break point of the second set late on before taking it 7-5. He served for the match at 5-4 but Del Potro levelled only for Hewitt to break again, roaring his trademark “Come on!” to the excitable crowd. Hewitt made no mistake second time around when he sealed the victory on his second match point when Del Potro boomed a service return long. He faces Philipp Petzschner or Mischa Zverev, both of Germany, in the third round. Top seed Dinara Safina blasted her way into the third round with a 6-3 7-5 victory over Paraguay's Rossana De Los Rios. Safina, the world number one but still chasing her first grand slam crown, used a mix of powerful serving and superior groundstrokes to unseat the South American, ranked 99 places beneath her. The Russian took the opener in 35 minutes courtesy of a single break and another break was all she needed to wrap up the match in an hour and 22 minutes, sealing victory with a crunching backhand crosscourt winner. Safina will bid to reach the fourth round here for the first in her career against Belgium's Kirsten Flipkens. French Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova showed an increasing liking for grass when she blazed past France's Pauline Parmentier 6-1 6-3 for a place in the third round at Wimbledon on Thursday. The Russian fifth seed, who has never passed the quarter-finals here, crunched 12 winners as she blazed through the first set in just 25 minutes. Kuznetsova never took her foot off the pedal and clinched the match with a second break of serve when Parmentier looped a backhand over the baseline with the clock on an hour. She will face either Austria's Patricia Mayr or Sabine Liscki of Germany for a place in the fourth round. — Reuters Sania-Chuang in 2nd round of women’s doubles
Sania Mirza and Chia-Jung Chuang earned a hard-fought 6-4, 6-2 win over Americans Jill Craybas and Carly Gullickson to advance to the women’s doubles second round at the Wimbledon championships here today. The Indo-Taipei pair won after 79-minute battle against unseeded Craybas and Gullickson, who ran out of steam after putting up a good fight against the 15th seeds initially. They next face the winners of the match between Lourdes Dominguez Lino-Aranta Parra Santonja and Alla Kudryavtseva-Monica Niculescu.
— PTI |
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Malaysian Open
Johor Bahru, June 25 Second seed Saina rallied to outlast Intanon 18-21, 21-12, 21-18 in a 46-minute clash to set up a quarterfinal with Chinese qualifier Xin Wang tomorrow. Xin thumped sixth seed Japanese Ai Goto 21-14, 21-14 in the other pre-quarterfinal. Intanon played better from the nets and scored from her smashes but could not get past Saina, who recovered well from a game down to get the better of her Thai rival. In a see-saw battle, Intanon had the upper hand when she overcame Saina in the first game. Even though Saina played well, the game slipped through her fingers. With her back to the walls, the world number eight Indian switched into an aggressive mode in the next game and raced to a 9-6 lead before pocketing it comfortably at the end. At 1-1, the decider turned out to be a perfect pot-boiler as fortunes fluctuated with the two involving in a tooth and nail battle. Saina raced to a 10-5 lead but the Thai soon reeled off four straight points to claw back and reduce the gap to 10-9 before Saina changed gears and eventually sealed the issue. However, it was curtains for Arvind Bhat and Ajay Jayaram in the men’s singles. Men’s doubles pair of Rupesh Kumar and Sanave Thomas won their first round match against the sixth seeded Chinese pair of Zhiben Chen and Ye Shen 14-21, 21-15, 21-16 in a 53-minute clash. They will next face the Malaysian pair of Teik Chai Gan and Bin Shen Tan. — PTI
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India’s WI tour
A tired Indian team, who suffered a seven-wicket tharshing at the hands of Christ Gayle’s men in T20 World Cup in England, has now regrouped for the 50-over format after a nine-day break from competitive cricket. The squad is sans big-wigs like Sachin Tendulkar, Virender Sehwag and Zaheer Khan, who are nursing various injuries, but promises to put up a good show against the hosts with the return of pacer Ashish Nehra and some new talents. The Indian team is packed with all rounders in Yusuf Pathan and Ravindra Jadeja besides the likes of star batsmen Yuvraj Singh, Gautam Gambhir and Rohit Sharma. Their bowling department, as admitted by West Indies batsman Ramnaresh Sarwan, will be the main concern for the home side, especially the spinners. Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who has vowed to bring cheer back to the Indian fans, has already made it clear to the opposition that his team was not short on confidence and had the wherewithals to challenge the West Indies. “When it comes to playing for your country you don’t really need motivation to go out and perform,” Dhoni had said on arrival in the Caribbean. He also warned the hosts against relying on the Twenty20 form, saying the 50-over format was altogether a different ball game. “The West Indies is playing good cricket at the moment. They had a very good (World) 20/20 tournament, but in the 50 overs, you have time to settle down,” he said. Dhoni believes consistency would be the key to success in the series, which begins at the slow Sabina Park track. “The team that plays consistent cricket over the series will come out as winners. We have to play consistent cricket and I think that will be the key for us,” Dhoni said. Dhoni’s men, ranked third in the ICC’s ODI team rankings, would also take the opportunity to climb up the ladder ahead of Australia. and inch closer to table toppers South Africa, especially in the backdrop of their successful last ODI series against New Zealand in March. The West Indies, seemingly resurgent following their semifinal berth in the T20 World Cup, are not taking the Indians lightly though. Chris Gayle and Co had lost their last series in England. “India is always a good One Day team and they will be looking to beat us based on their Twenty20 disappointment.” “Sehwag and Tendulkar are two world class players but they still have quality players to step up and they have a lot of experience in one-day cricket,” Gayle said. “They still have quality players in Yuvraj, Harbhajan Singh, Dhoni, (Ishant) Sharma and a lot of guys to give us a lot of trouble,” he added. — PTI
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Bhutia supports I-League coaches
“It is important to have a licence but degrees alone don’t make a good coach,” Indian football’s pin-up boy said. Bhutia’s comments came after the the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) turned down All India Football Federation’s (AIFF) request to allow coaches who do not possess AFC-A licence certificate to continue their club duty. East Bengal coach Subhas Bhowmick also falls in the same category but was omitted since he wasn’t handling the club then when AIFF had sent the request. Bhutia said the federation must give time to the coaches to earn the necessary degrees. “Coaches must be given one or two years to get them equipped. The federation must support them in this endeavour,” said the mercurial forward. “I have approached the IFA and in turn the AIFF. I am still waiting for their response. But whatever decision is taken hope it is good and the issue gets sorted out quickly,” he said.
— PTI |
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US shock Spain, reach final
Goals from Jozy Altidore and Clint Dempsey sank the world’s top-ranked team. It ended Spain’s world record run of 15 successive victories and their 35-match unbeaten sequence, a world record streak they share with Brazil. However, the match ended in bitter-sweet agony for U.S. coach Bob Bradley when his son Michael, who had a brilliant game in midfield, was sent off three minutes from time. He now misses Sunday’s final against Brazil or hosts South Africa. Overall though it was the best performance by the U.S. since they beat England 1-0 in the 1950 World Cup in Brazil. It was also the first time the U.S. had beaten a team ranked number one in FIFA's world rankings since they defeated Brazil in 1998. Both sets of players left the field in tears, the Americans crying with joy and the Spaniards frustrated after being thwarted by a superb defensive effort and the outstanding Tim Howard, who made an endless string of stunning saves. Spain fell behind for the first time in the tournament through Altidore. He muscled Villarreal club mate Joan Capdevila off the ball, turned and eluded Carles Puyol to score after Iker Casillas could only palm his shot on to the inside of his own post and into the net after 27 minutes. The second goal came in the 74th when the Spanish defence failed to deal with a cross from Landon Donovan and Dempsey swivelled to beat Casillas from close range. — Reuters
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Safina, Kuznetsova and Ivanovic also advance
on Thursday, crushing Ukraine’s Kateryna Bondarenko 6-3 6-2 to book a place in the third round at Wimbledon. Venus, her left leg strapped throughout, is seeking a sixth title here and her third in a row, and never gave the world number 73 the chance to fully express her game.
Kingston, June 25
New Delhi, June 25
Bloemfontein, June 25
Goof Roof :
Washington: