Andy Roddick gives a thumbs-up to the crowd after defeating Marc Gicquel during their evening match at the U.S. Open on Thursday. — Reuters

Yaroslava Shvedova, a 20-year-old Kazak ranked 55th in the world, outlasted former world number one Jankovic 6-3, 6-7 (4/7), 7-6 (8/6). The 2008 US Open runner-up blew two match points and lost to a Shvedova ace on match point. Sharapova, a former world number one back after right shoulder surgery, beat US teen Christina McHale 6-2, 6-1, and faces another US teen, Oudin, next. — AFP

Somdev ousted

A profligate Somdev Devvarman squandered chances galore to crash out of US Open singles even as Sania Mirza advanced in the women’s doubles and mixed doubles events here at Fushing Meadows. Somdev, who was trailing by two sets, staged a dramatic comeback by blanking 23rd seed German Philipp Kohlschreiber in the third set but eventually lost his second round encounter 3-6, 4-6, 6-0, 2-6 after a close to three-hour battle last night.

Sania and Francesca Schiavone, seeded 14th, survived a scare from unseeded Ekaterina Dzehalevich of Belarus and Czech Renata Voracova before recording a 5-7, 7-5, 6-1 win to advance to the women’s doubles second round. Later Sania teaming up with Daniel Nestor outplayed Akgul Amanmuradova and Ashley Fisher 6-3, 6-1 in the first round of the mixed doubles.

Leander Paes and Cara Black of Zimbabwe beat Patty Schnyder and South Africa’s Wesley Moodie. 6-4, 3-6, 11-9 in the first round of mixed doubles. Third seeds Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles cruised to the men’s doubles second round after scoring a comfortable 6-3, 6-4 win over James Cerretani and Lovro Zovko of Croatia. — PTI

New Delhi, September 4
The VJM02 will remain the same blindingly fast car, with or without Giancarlo Fisichella, and Adrian Sutil is good enough to score points in the remaining five races of the 2009 season, said Force India chairman Vijay Mallya.

Mallya dismissed suggestion that losing Fisichella, so far the team’s only point-scoring driver, would render the team a lesser force and insisted in F1, it all boils down to the car, more than its driver. “Let’s get one thing clear. Fisichella’s presence or absence will not make the car go faster or slower. The car has already been developed and it’s competitive and blindingly fast,” a nonchalant Mallya said.

“Let’s understand the driver’s responsibility. His first responsibility is to work with the engineers to develop the car. For all of last year and this year, Fisichella has worked with the engineers to develop a car and we now have a truly fast car. Now going forward, there are five races to go this year and I can tell you that there is no rule that only Fisichella can score points with this car,” he said.

“Now that we know that the car is good and competitive, Adrian Sutil can score points. In fact, I would go on to say that the new driver we put in the car can also score points because at the end of the day, we have successfully developed a car that is fast and competitive,” Mallya added.

Insisting that Fisichella’s exit doesn’t mean end of the world for Force India, Mallya said, “If I thought that Fisichella’s departure is going to affect the prospect of the team, I would not have let him go.”

Explaining why he let Fisichella go, Mallya said the Italian’s contract with Force India expires with the next five races and the team was “not in a position” to offer him a new contract for 2010-11. So when Fisichella sought an early release, Mallya said he did not want to be the spoilsport, since Ferrari was offering the Italian a long-term role there. — PTI 

New Delhi, September 4
Jai Bhagwan pulled off a come-from-behind win over Ireland’s Eric Donovan to enter the pre- quarters today after Thokchom Nanao Singh pummelled Azerbaijan’s Elvin Mamishzade in his opening bout to revive India’s campaign at the World Boxing Championships in Milan.

While Jai (60kg) beat his rival 11-6, Nanao (48kg) demolished Mamishzade 21-6 late last night to make it to the second round of the mega-event. Both Jai and Nanao were silver medallists at the Asian Championships in June. It was sweet revenge for Jai, who lost to Donovan by a point at European Grand Prix event in Czech Republic in May.

Fighting from long range initially, Jai was trailing 1-4 at the end of the first round but he made a late recovery to come through eventually. “I was counterpunching to start with but once I knew that I was trailing, I went for an all-out attack,” Jai said.

Jai’s recovery started in the second round when he narrowed the gap in scoreline to 3-5 before out-punching his rival in the third round. “I kept my guard and managed to connect some hard ones in the final round. I am very happy because I had lost to him in a very close bout in May,” said the 23-year-old, who will take on Germany’s Eugen Burhard in the pre-quarters on Sunday.

Earlier last night, 18-year-old Nanao, competing in only his second senior international event, decimated Mamishzade. The diminutive Manipuri negated his strongly-built opponent's longer reach with aggressive uppercuts and straight left jabs. Nanao led 7-2 at the end of the first round and extended it to 16-5 in the next three minutes. The Indian continued his domination in the final round and notched up five quick points to wrap up the bout in his favour.

“Nanao has such quick reflexes that even his short height doesn’t hamper him much,” said national coach Gurbax Singh Sandhu. Nanao has a tough bout at hand in the second round as he will square off against Pongprayoon Kaeo of Thailand tomorrow. Kaeo defeated Kapezov Adlet of Kazakhstan in his opening bout.

The former world youth champion had lost a close bout to the Thai in the finals of the Asian Championships. Also tomorrow, middle weight top seed Vijender Singh will open his campaign by taking on Kazakhstan’s Belgibayev Azamat in the second round. The Indian had got a bye in first round.

“I have trained hard and I am confident of doing well here. I am sure I can pull it off,” said the 23-year-old world number two, who lost in the very first round in the previous edition of the event in Chicago in 2007. — PTI 

Mumbai, September 4
Sachin Tendulkar today said he has more than lived up to the challenge thrown at him by legendary all-rounder Kapil Dev in 1989 by continuing to play international cricket for two decades. “It was a dream to play for India. On my first tour to Pakistan, Kapil said if you play for 10 years in international cricket you would have achieved something. I took it as a challenge and have nearly doubled it,” Tendulkar said after launching adidas cricket gear, including custom-made bats.

“It’s a great feeling (to be in international cricket for two decades),” he added. Tendulkar made his Test debut in Karachi on November 15, 1989 under the captaincy of Krishnamachari Srikkanth, the current chief selector. The last man to be in international cricket this long was former England opener and ex-captain Graham Gooch who played between 1975 and 1995.

The batting stalwart and former India skipper, however, denied having said in a recent interview to Wisden Cricketer magazine that he wanted to score 15,000 runs before retiring. “A lot of things are attributed to me that I had never said. I never said I wanted to score 15,000 runs (in Tests) before I retire,” Tendulkar said.

“Sunil Gavaskar told me I have to get to 15,000 runs. He said he would be angry with me and would come and catch me if I didn’t. I admire him so much and to score that many would be a terrific achievement, but that is not the only aim,” he has been quoted as saying by Wisden Cricketer.

The magazine also quoted Tendulkar as having said that “to win the World Cup in 2011” is his another ambition. He also conceded he would not know what to do when he quits the game. “It’s hard to imagine life without cricket,” said Tendulkar, currently top run-getter in both Tests (12,773 runs with 42 hundreds in 159 matches) and ODIs (16,684 runs with 43 tons in 425 matches).

The champion batsman, gearing up for a new international season with the triangular series in Sri Lanka later this month, said when he chose a bat he always looked out for its shape, balance, pick-up and weight. “The bat speaks to me. For me the curve is quite important but the most important is the bat stroke. I look for the right shape, balance, pick-up and weight. Otherwise I’m not comfortable,” said Tendulkar.

The 36-year-old batting maestro said he preferred heavier bats and has not changed this aspect right through his career even when he battled through injuries. “There was a lot of talk and advice to me about using lighter bats (when he suffered the tennis elbow injury some years ago). I talked to specialists and they said the heavier the bats the less the impact (on the elbow). As long as the bat is to my liking, I’m comfortable,” he said.

Sachin Tendulkar came up with a new proposal save the 50-over format from the Twenty20 wave which threatens its existence, suggesting that one-day matches be split into four innings of 25-overs-a-side. “I am for 50-over cricket. I think we should have 25 overs a side to start with. I thought of this during the 2002 Champions Trophy in Sri Lanka,” the champion batsman said.

“In the finals, we ended up playing 110 overs against Sri Lanka. First they played 50 overs and we played 10 overs before the rain interruption. The next day, Sri Lanka again played 50 overs and we played 10 overs and in the end we were declared joint winners. I thought, 110 overs and still no result,” he recalled.

“That is when I thought, we should have 25 overs first for one side and then the other. And then once again 25 overs for one side and then the other,” he said. Tendulkar said such a split would negate the luck factor and tosses would become less crucial.— PTI