PARIS, June 8
Serena Williams won her 16th Grand Slam title and her first French Open championship since 2002 when she beat familiar foil Maria Sharapova 6-4, 6-4 on Saturday.

The victory completed the No. 1-ranked Williams' rebound from a shocking loss to 111th-ranked Virginie Razzano in the first round at Roland Garros a year ago. Since that defeat she's 74-3, including titles at Wimbledon, the U.S. Open, the London Olympics and the season-ending WTA Championships.

Williams whacked 10 aces, including three in the final game, to extend her career-best winning streak to 31 matches. She improved to 14-2 against Sharapova, with victories in their past 13 meetings and four of the wins this year. At 31, Williams became the oldest woman to win a major title since Martina Navratilova at Wimbledon in 1990 at age 33. Her 11-year gap between Roland Garros titles is the longest for any woman.

Sharapova completed a career Grand Slam by winning Roland Garros last year. In an all-Spanish final Sunday, Rafael Nadal will try to become the first man to win eight titles at the same Grand Slam event when he plays first-time major finalist David Ferrer.

The women's final, the first between No. 1 and No. 2 at a Grand Slam tournament since 2004, wasn't as close as their rankings. It has been 12 years since the most recent three-set women's title match at Roland Garros. Both players swung with their typical aggressiveness from the baseline, and Williams' superior serve and defense proved the difference. She silently ran side to side whipping groundstrokes with little apparent strain, while Sharapova often found herself lunging after the ball to stay in the point, with each shot accompanied by her familiar shriek.

When Williams once summoned a grunt herself to match Sharapova's volume and pound a winner, the crowd responded with a laugh.

Playing in hazy, warm weather, the finalists took ferocious swings from the start. With fans perhaps fearful that Williams would win quickly, they began shouting encouragement toward Sharapova after she lost the first two points.

She overcame four break points to hold in the opening game and led 2-0 before Williams began to assert herself. It took Williams 17 minutes to win a game, but then she swept four in a row.

After Sharapova took the next two for 4-all, Williams surged at the end of the set, taking the lead for good by winning eight of the final 10 points. Sharapova had to dig in again to hold at the start of the second set, fending off five break points, and it was all downhill for her from there. Williams easily held serve all the way to the finish.

She improved to 16-4 in Grand Slam finals. She leads all active women with her 16 major titles and is sixth on the all-time list. Margaret Court holds the record with 24.

Williams improved to 43-2 this year, including 23-0 on clay. Now comes the switch to grass, and she'll be a heavy favorite to win Wimbledon for the sixth time.

Quick facts Serena dropped just 29 games, matching her best Grand Slam effort (she also dropped 29 games on her way to the 2002 U.S. Open title) With 16 Grand Slam titles, the 31-year-old American trails Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova by two majors for sixth place all time. Sharapova, the defending French Open champion, dropped to 2-14 vs. Williams, including 13 in a row and four defeats this season Williams is 16-4 in Grand Slam finals. Sharapova, the only other active player to complete a career Grand Slam, fell to 4-4 Williams improved to 43-2 this year, including 23-0 on clay. Now comes the switch to grass, and she'll be a heavy favorite to win Wimbledon for the sixth time.

Paris, June 8
The match figures (14-2) may have been tilted drastically towards Serena side after this year win at the French Open but Maria thinks she gave her best.

“I gave it all I had today. I had to. It wasn’t enough,” Sharapova said.

“Serena’s been playing incredible tennis for the last year. You certainly saw that level today. I've had many years in this tournament, many tough ones, last year was certainly the big one. I love being part of this tournament, being part of this event."

As for Serena, who became the first American to win the French Open since she beat her sister Venus in the All-American final in 2002, this win was one of the sweetest of her career. ”I didn’t think 11 years ago I would still be playing,” Serena said.

“Honestly, I just feel so good. This is the only one I hadn’t won more than once.” She is now part of an elite club that includes Steffi Graf, Martina Navratilova, and Chris Evert as the one women to win all four Slams more than once in the Open Era.

Meanwhile, top-seeded Bob and Mike Bryan of the United States beat Michael Llodra and Nicolas Mahut of France 6-4 4-6 7-6 (4) to win their 14th major doubles title.— Agencies

Paris, June 8
David Ferrer is used to wearing the "best of the rest" label when it comes to Spanish claycourters, but on Sunday against Rafa Nadal the 31-year-old has the chance to add his name to the pantheon of greats.

The Valencia-based player has reached the French Open final without dropping a set, and on Friday produced a ruthless display of power and accuracy to torment French hope Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.It was a magnificent performance to end a sequence of five defeats in his five previous grand slam semi-finals, yet once again Ferrer was left in the shade by Nadal's extraordinary five-set semi-final thriller over Novak Djokovic.

For many that match was "le final" in all but name, but Nadal has too much respect for Ferrer - a player who shares his work ethic - to relax as he aims to become the first man to win the same grand slam tournament eight times.

"He didn't lose a set during the whole tournament, so he's a player that brings you to the limit," 11-times major winner Nadal - who was an unknown 15-year-old when Ferrer began his professional career in 2000 - told reporters on Saturday.

"He's a player that if you are not playing perfect, you will be in big, big trouble."

The statistics do not look good for Ferrer, although he will take some heart from the fact that the last time two Spaniards met in the French Open final, in 2002, Albert Costa was the underdog but defeated Carlos Moya in four sets.

Ferrer won his first claycourt clash with Nadal in 2004. Since then he has lost 16 in a row on the surface.

Add the facts that Nadal has suffered one defeat in 59 matches at Roland Garros, has never lost any of his 13 finals against Spaniards, and is just five behind Argentine Guillermo Vilas's record of 46 career claycourt titles, and the odds are stacked against fourth-seed Ferrer.

Ferrer has arguably been unlucky in that his career has spanned an era containing some of the greatest players in the sport's history. More often than not in recent years the only players he loses to at grand slams are the top four of Djokovic, Nadal, Andy Murray and Roger Federer.

He is not one to complain, though. Instead he rolls up his sleeves and gets down to the business of winning tennis matches with the minimum of fuss, hustling and bustling behind the baseline and grinding most foes into submission.

Ferrer is one of the quickest players on the tour but he has other weapons, too. He is accurate from the baseline with his economical groundstrokes off both flanks and can surprise opponents with well-disguised drop shots and an effective net game. Ferrer's serve does not have the beef to win many cheap points, though his variety of placement allows him to set up points and dominate from the middle of the court with angled forehand and backhands. "Any person who doesn't respect David as one of the greatest players of the world - and not for one year, for a long time - is a person that doesn't know anything about tennis," Nadal said when asked if Ferrer gets the respect he is due.

"When I read a few things about the semi-finals, people were saying was a good semi-final for Tsonga.” — Agencies

Toni Nadal breaks down after ‘miracle’ victory
Toni Nadal, the uncle and coach of Rafael Nadal, breaks down in tears after his nephew’s five-set victory over World No. 1 Novak Djokovic in the semifinals of Roland Garros. Rafael Nadal was off the tour for seven months due to knee trouble. "It is a miracle." Toni Nadal told reporters. Nadal was also reportedly shedding tears of joy in the locker room afterward, as was his agent, Carlos Costa.

Birmingham, June 8
World number two Andy Murray is hoping his Wimbledon title chances will benefit from his enforced absence from the French Open in Paris.

The Briton ended a sequence of three successive grand slam final appearances when he pulled out of the claycourt event at Roland Garros because of a back injury.

Asked if missing the French Open would improve his hopes at the Queen's Club tournament in London next week and at Wimbledon later this month, Murray replied: "I hope so - that's the sort of attitude you need to take.

Britain could be about to be flattened by a tidal wave of debt. "After the French Open last year I took five or six days off and when I started practising again I felt really comfortable on the grass straight away and that isn't normally the case.

"Grass takes time to get used to. I've been on it for 10 days or so now and that's probably a week longer than I would have had if I'd been at the French," the U.S. Open champion told British newspapers on Saturday.

"It's more than I've had the past few years and I've been playing better and better each day in practice so hopefully it turns out to be a blessing."

Last year Murray became the first British male in 74 years to reach the Wimbledon grasscourt final where he was beaten by Roger Federer. Roland Garros was the first grand slam Murray had missed since Wimbledon in 2007 when he had a wrist injury. Rafa Nadal will meet fellow Spaniard David Ferrer in the French Open final on Sunday. — Reuters

Birmingham, June 8
England struck the first blow at the start of an eight-month campaign against Australia involving 26 matches in all three formats of the game by winning their Champions Trophy Group A game in Birmingham on Saturday.

The hosts defeated their oldest enemy in their opening match of the eight-nation 50-overs competition by 48 runs in advance of back-to-back Ashes series and four limited-overs series.

James Anderson became England's leading one-day wicket taker when he dismissed Mitchell Marsh for five. It was his 235th wicket, putting him one ahead of Darren Gough.

"He's great bowler," England captain Alastair Cook told Sky Sports. "He just keeps getting better and better."

Australia, set 270 to win on a good batting pitch, gave a lacklustre performance and fell steadily behind the required run rate after taking the field without their injured captain Michael Clarke.

Shane Watson, their best one-day batsman, survived a hard chance to Cook off Stuart Broad but still made only 24 from 40 deliveries. His opening partner David Warner was out for nine and Phil Hughes was lbw to Joe Root for 30 trying to force the pace with an ill-judged pull shot. Stand-in captain George Bailey was the top-scorer with 55 and his dismissal in the 40th over spelt the end of Australia's victory hopes.

England rallied after a middle-order collapse to reach 269 for six on a slow pitch with Ravi Bopara (46 not out) and Tim Bresnan (19 not out) adding 56 from 41 balls in an eighth-wicket partnership.

They reached 168 for the loss of only Cook (30) but wickets quickly tumbled.

Man-of-the-match Ian Bell top-scored with 91 off 115 balls and Jonathan Trott made 43 but none of the other specialist batsmen made any impact. Root went for 12, Eoin Morgan was bowled for eight and Jos Buttler, England's most dangerous one-day batsman, made only one. "It was a little bit frustrating," Cook said. — Reuters

Scoreboard
England
Cook c Wade b Watson 30
Bell b Faulkner 91
Trott c Wade b Starc 43
Root c Bailey b McKay 12
Morgan b McKay 8
Bopara not out 46
Buttler b Faulkner 1
Bresnan not out 19
Extras: (lb 12, w 6, nb 1) 19
Total: (6 wickets; 50 overs) 269
Fall of wickets: 1-57, 2-168, 3-189, 4-189, 5-212, 6-213

Bowling
Starc 10-0-75-1
Johnson 8-0-44-0
McKay 10-0-38-2
Watson 7-0-26-1
Faulkner 10-0-48-2
Voges 3-0-13-0
Marsh 2-0-13-0

Australia
Warner c Buttler b Broad 9
Watson c Cook b Bresnan 24
Hughes lbw b Root 30
Bailey c Root b Tredwell 55
Voges b Bresnan 15
Marsh c Morgan b Anderson 5
Wade c Buttler b Anderson 1
Faulkner not out 54
Johnson c Morgan b Bopara 8
Starc b Anderson 5
McKay not out 7
Extras: (lb 6, w 1, nb 1) 8
Total: (9 wickets; 50 overs) 221
Fall of wickets: 1-17, 2-47, 3-94, 4-127, 5-134, 6-136, 7-151, 8-175, 9-190

Bowling
Anderson 10-0-30-3
Broad 10-0-35-1
Bresnan 10-1-45-2
Tredwell 10-0-51-1
Root 5-0-20-1
Bopara 5-0-34-1

LONDON, June 8
The ICC on Saturday charged West Indies wicketkeeper Denesh Ramdin for wrongly claiming a catch against Pakistan in Champions Trophy.

The incident took place at the Oval, London, on Friday when Ramdin “caught” Pakistan captain Misbah-ul Haq off Kemar Roach before the batsman had opened his account.

Australian umpire Steve Davis gave Misbah out, but the decision was referred to third umpire Tony Hill following the intervention of English official Nigel Llong at square leg. Replays showed that while Ramdin had, initially, caught the ball, he had subsequently allowed it to spill out of his grasp. It was eventually decided that Ramdin did not have full control over the ball.

The ICC said in a statement that Ramdin had been charged with a Level two breach of the ICC Code of Conduct which relates to “conduct that is contrary to the spirit of the game.”

Ramdin has pleaded not guilty to the offence, and a hearing will take place in London on Monday, the ICC said. If found guilty, Ramdin could be fined between 50 and 100 percent of his match fees and/or be suspended for up to two one-day internationals. — AFP

Cardiff, June 8
Their morale sky high after a 2-1 series win over England, New Zealand would look to carry their good form into the Champions Trophy when they clash with Sri Lanka in a Group A match on Sunday.

Sri Lanka have an overwhelming record of winning 10 of their last 11 ODI matches and six in a row against the Kiwis but the Black Caps would back themselves to reverse the trend particularly when their batsmen are in superb touch.

Opener Martin Guptill smashed two consecutive hundreds against England and Ross Taylor hit half-centuries in all the three matches of the series. Skipper Brendon McCullum on his day can demolish any attack. — PTI

Montreal, June 8
Sebastian Vettel put his Red Bull on pole position at the Canadian Grand Prix on Saturday and ended Mercedes' hopes of a fifth successive start from the top slot.

The triple world champion lapped the wet Montreal street circuit in a fastest time of one minute 25.425 seconds for his third successive pole in Canada.

In a repeat of last year's qualifying, the German was joined on the front row of the grid by Britain's 2008 world champion Lewis Hamilton - last year's winner for McLaren and now with Mercedes. Finnish rookie Valtteri Bottas was third for Williams, the highest grid placing of his career and a major boost for a team without a point in six races so far this season, followed by Monaco winner Nico Rosberg for Mercedes.

Red Bull's Australian Mark Webber and Ferrari's Fernando Alonso shared the third row. Lotus's Kimi Raikkonen, second in the championship behind Vettel, qualified ninth.

Despite his run of poles in Canada, Vettel has yet to win a race in North America despite his domination elsewhere.

With light rain falling on the track, none of the drivers were able to drive flat out on the slippery Circuit Gilles Villeneuve and used intermediate tyres instead of the faster super-softs.

Adrian Sutil of Force India was eighth, while Paul Di Resta was 17th. — Reuters

Jalandhar, June 8
For those whose football dreams took wing in the state, Punjab’s unfortunate regression into oblivion, especially after the JCT club wrapped up, has not been a comfortable spectacle.

As I-league players Anwar Ali and Harpreet Singh came to the city during the ongoing sports trials at the local Lyallpur Khalsa College, they talked about their own journey and the state of Punjab football. Anwar Ali, the acclaimed I-league stopper said while the JCT FC got him popularity, the grim situation in Punjab, has robbed budding players of hope.

Ali, who has played for the Indian national team as well as football clubs such as JCT, Dempo, United Sikkim, Churchill Brothers and Mohan Baghan, said, “Punjab is way behind in the I-league compared to teams from Goa, Bengal and the East. While there are 16-18 teams from other states in the league, from the North or Punjab, there isn’t even one.”

“In the last 3-4 years, football has seen a drastic downfall in Punjab. While earlier there used to be about 30 players from Punjab in the I-league, now there are only four to five. Since other states give preference to their local players, Punjabi talent has no hope there either. If something isn’t done soon, football might die a slow death in the state,” said Harpreet Singh, who represented United Sikkim and has played for JCT FC, Mohan Baghan and Mahindra United. 

New Delhi, June 8
One of the key points suggested in the amendments to Indian Olympic Association (IOA) constitution was three consecutive terms for the president and two for the secretary-general, though the issue of upper age limit for the office-bearers has been left unaddressed — the IOA is likely to follow the International Olympic Committee (IOC) rule in this matter.

The most contentious point of dissension between the IOA/National Sports Federations (NSFs) and the Sports Ministry has been the age and tenure limits for the office-bearers. The Government had insisted that those over the age of 70 years would be ineligible to contest for any post in the IOA and the NSFs. It was interesting to note that around 30 representatives of the NSFs and 20 from the State Olympic Associations left the decision on the age limit to the IOC.

IOA acting president Malhotra and secretary-general Randhir Singh did not attend the meeting held in Delhi on June 2. The IOA has forwarded the decisions arrived at the meeting and is now awaiting the IOC response. — TNS

Chandigarh, June 8
From JCT Mills to the national team and then to Pailan Arrows, Sukhwinder Singh is finally making a pit stop at Churchill Brothers. Sukhwinder will take up the job of Technical director with the No.1 I-League team from July 15.

"I was set to join on July 1 but I have some personal work so I will be joining on 15th. I am excited to be part of the team. It's a great challenge to lead a champion team. — TNS

Phagwara, June 8
With the raging IPL spot-fixing scandal denting the credibility of cricket, off-spinner Harbhajan Singh on Saturday said that every effort should be made to clean up the game and adequate steps should be taken in this regard, but said he himself is a small person to comment and bigwigs are busy to clean the mess.

Harbhajan was addressing a press conference after inaugurating a cricket academy in Cambridge school here today.

Asked how he spent his time when he was out of the Indian team, Harbhajan said there was a lot of cricket left in him and he wanted to give back something to the game without being unnecessarily concerned about his future. — TNS

BRIEFLY

New Delhi
Junior shooting team wins gold in German tourney
The Indian junior women's 10m Air Rifle team, Shriyanka Sadangi, Apurvi Chandela and Mampi Das, bagged a gold medal in the International Junior Shooting Championship in Suhl, Germany. — PTI

Pune
Holders Punjab in Senior Hockey Nationals semis
Defending champions Punjab thrashed Jharkhand 6-0 to advance to the semifinals of the 3rd Hockey India Senior Men National Championship here today. Haryana, Karnataka and Air India also entered the last four stage with wins in their quarterfinal matches.

New Delhi
Ankita ends runner-up at Uzbeksitan ITF event
Indian qualifier Ankita Raina's splendid run at the USD 25000 ITF Women tennis tournament in Karshi, Uzbekistan ended with a runners-up finish as she lost the summit clash in straight sets to local favourite Sabina Sharipova.

Patiala
U-17 Punjab wrestling trials at Faridkot on June 11, 12
The trials for the selection of U-17 Punjab wrestling squad (men and women) will be held at Nehru Stadium Faridkot on June 11 and 12. — Agencies