Melbourne, January 24
Hard reality crushed a fairytale revival at Melbourne Park as a ruthless Rafa Nadal inflicted more grand slam agony on Roger Federer with a straight-sets rout on Friday that booked his third Australian Open final.

Rafael Nadal punches in delight after beating Roger Federer. Reuters

New coach, new racket and a new broom for Federer amounted to little against the irrepressible Spaniard, who simply dominated to win 7-6(4) 6-3 6-3 on a breezy night at Rod Laver Arena.

Not since the 2007 Wimbledon final has Nadal rolled over to his great rival Federer, and his sixth straight win in grand slams over the Swiss was among his most devastating.

Brushing off a crater-like blister on his racket hand, Nadal roared through in just in two hours and 24 minutes and conceded only two break points as he set up the title-decider against Federer's compatriot Stanislas Wawrinka. "I played well tonight. I played probably my best match of the tournament," Nadal told reporters after reaching his 19th grand slam final, equal second all-time with Ivan Lendl behind Federer. "So very, very, very happy for this great news that I played my best match in that semi-final against Roger.

"I hit a few passing shots today that if ... you are not quick and playing with confidence, you cannot hit those shots." Injury and illness have blighted Nadal's recent campaigns Down Under, but the rollicking victory put the Spaniard in the box seat for a long-awaited second title after his 2009 triumph at Melbourne Park.

For 32-year-old Federer, it was deja vu, and a stinging reality check after an encouraging run.

Slumping to 23-10 in his head-to-head record with Nadal, the loss was his first in straight sets in the majors against the Spaniard since the 2008 French Open, and continued his winless streak against him on grand slam hardcourts, the most democratic of surfaces.

The chip-and-charge game honed under mentor Stefan Edberg had helped him humble Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and fourth seed Andy Murray, but it came crashing head-long into Nadal's left-hand forehand, invariably coming off second best.

There was no succour from the baseline either, as Nadal marshalled his brilliant defences and counter-punched with a dizzying array of winners.

In the face of all evidence, Federer denied the Spaniard had the ability to get into his head. "Not necessarily. I enjoy playing against him because it's always going to be on centre court, it's always going to be a big story going into the match," the 17-times grand slam champion told reporters. "So that's kind of what you train hard for. That's where you want to be. "I mean, it's not as cool when you lose in straight sets. "Wish I could have won here tonight and then given an all-Swiss final ... That's something I'll regret, you know, for a long time."

Runaway victory

A runaway victory seemed an absurdity early, though, as the pair parried and probed in the opening games.

Although gradually chipping away at Federer's serve, Nadal's was impenetrable and he challenged the Swiss to take him down in a tiebreak.

Throwing his opponent from side to side, the Spaniard raised his game to play it on his terms, roaring to a 5-1 lead and closing it out when Federer sent an increasingly shaky backhand sailing past the baseline.

Surviving a small wobble on serve to close out the set, Nadal captured the decisive break in the third at 3-3 and broke the Swiss again to close out the match when shell-shocked Federer shanked a forehand long.

Errani-Vinci retain title

Earlier on Friday, top seeds Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci of Italy produced a great escape as they beat Russia's Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina 6-4 3-6 7-5 to retain their women's doubles title. The Russian third seeds led 5-2 in the decider before Errani and Vinci roared back to clinch their fourth grand slam title. — Reuters

melbourne, january 24
Roger Federer railed against Rafael Nadal's loud grunting and slow play on Friday after he tumbled out of the Australian Open at the hands of the aggressive Spaniard.

The usually ice-cool Swiss had sharp words with the umpire mid-match about the Spaniard's ball-striking grunt, and complained he repeatedly goes unpunished for time violations.

Federer's polished demeanour slipped after he crashed to a seventh consecutive Grand Slam defeat to his rival. Federer admitted he found Nadal's grunt distracting because the Spaniard was making a noise during some points, but not others. “It goes in phases. One point he does and he doesn't. That's just what I was complaining about,” Federer said. “Had no impact on the outcome of the match.” He added that fidgety Nadal, who is notoriously slow to serve, should have racked up several time violations during their 33-match rivalry -- but instead, he has only received two.

“Rafa is doing a much better job today than he used to. I mean, I'm not complaining much about the time. But I think I've played him, what, 33 or 34 times,” Federer said.

“He's gotten two point penalties over the course of our rivalry. I just think that's not quite happening. I mean, we know how much time he used to take.”

“I'm not complaining about so many things. But, I mean, either you have rules or you don't. If you don't have rules, it's fine. Everybody can do whatever they want to do.”

He added: “I didn't lose the match because of that. It didn't bother me. I just felt I had to mention something.”

Nadal looked surprised when told about Federer's exchange with the umpire. “I really didn't know that. When I am playing, when I am hitting the ball during the point, the last thing that I am thinking is trying to bother the opponent,” he said. — Agencies

MOHALI, January 24
Two star-studded teams eagerly wait round the bend as the hours to the opening match of the second Hockey India League tantalizingly shrink. After a successful first season, the month-long hockey fiesta is back. And just like last year, Punjab Warriors and Delhi Waveriders will get the ball rolling this time as well. And the players just can’t wait to line up on the gleaming blue turf of the International stadium in Mohali on Saturday.

“Can’t wait, looking forward to the first match,” said Jamie Dwyer, Punjab captain. The enthusiasm is palpable, but there is an air of seriousness too, which comes with high expectations.

“Everyone was a bit wary about the league last year but it turned out to be such a success, with a display of high-level hockey,” said Jagbir Singh, Punjab Warriors coach. “This year the expectations are higher from the spectators and the franchisees, so every team has come better prepared. There is that extra level of professionalism in the coaches and the players.”

Deft foreign touch

A major selling point of the league is the presence of many foreign hockey stars such as Jamie Dwyer, Mark Knowles, Rob Hammond form Australia, and Jaap Stockman and Teun de Nooijer from the Netherlands. Though they increased the brand value, not many could perform to their full potential. “Last year most of the foreign players didn’t expect such competitive hockey, so they were surprised and were found underprepared; some were even unfit. You can’t blame them for being a bit wary about a new league,” said Ashish Balal, former India goalkeeper.

This year, though, with most of them coming here fully fit and prepared – after doing the national duty in the World Hockey Series (WHL) – the foreigners are expected to regale with their talent.

Apart from the big names, a player to look out for will be Australian drag-flicker Kieran Govers, who was the top-scorer in the WHL. “Last year I wasn’t as successful. I’ve been working hard on my drag-flicking since June and after a good WHL performance, I feel good coming into this tournament,” the Punjab Warriors’ player said.

Any team can win

The once-in-a-year format means that past results mean almost nothing. It’s the form that counts rather than past records. “Absolutely, form will dictate how the teams perform,” added Govers.

Sardar Singh, Delhi Waveriders captain, feels no team can be underestimated. “There are some top players in every team and you can’t tell who will fire on a given day. Besides, there have been changes in all teams; new players, new coaches. So you can’t take any team lightly.”

Cedric D'souza, the new coach of the Delhi team, believes it would be a mistake to predict by looking at past results. “Past results don’t matter. It’s a new season and we’ll have to gauge every team again,” he said.

Live on Star sports, 8 pm 

MOHALI, January 24
Gaganjeet Bhullar carded a dismal one-over-par, 73 in the third round of the $2.5 million Commercial Bank Qatar Masters, being played at the Doha Golf Club.

This dropped him at least six places down the leaderboard in a tie for 22nd place alongside compatriot Shiv Kapur and ten other professionals. Meanwhile, Shiv climbed a few spots after carding a one-under-par, 71 in the third round.

Bhullar bogeyed the third and went on to pick up birdies on the seventh, eighth and tenth holes. But his charge stopped there as he bogeyed the next, the 15th and the 17th holes. Bhullar who is high on confidence and has been saying that, “the game is there and I am looking for a win soon,” will have his work cut out for him tomorrow but a good round can help him card yet another top-10 this week.

The day was not good for the Indians playing European Tour event. Jeev Milkha Singh also carded a one-over-par, 73 today. The Indian stalwart started out with pars and bogeys on the fourth, fifth, seventh, a birdie on the eighth and yet another bogey on the ninth to make the turn at three-over-par for the day. He finished the round strongly with a birdie on the 14th hole followed by a par and a hat-trick of birdies on the 16th, 17th and 18th holes.

Auckland, January 24
Medium pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar said on Friday that his team was completely focussed ahead of the do-or-die match against New Zealand and confident of reversing the 0-2 deficit in the five-match ODI series.

“There is no extraordinary pressure on us. We are confident of doing well. To win this match, we just need to be focussed on the game. We are not overconfident about winning, just confident enough,” he said.

“If we can win tomorrow, it will lift us to even win three matches in a row and win the series,” he added.

The visitors lost the first two ODIs — at Napier by 24 runs and at Hamilton by 15 runs (D/L method) — to go down 0-2 in the five-match series. New Zealand have batted well in this series so far, with their in-form line-up not giving away many wickets in the middle overs. It has allowed their lower-order batsmen, particularly Corey Anderson, to make a late surge in the death overs.

“The middle overs are not a weakness. New Zealand have just played better than us. We have just been focussing on keeping the run-rate down and we haven't been able to get wickets. We need to keep working on that,” said Bhuvneshwar. Asked to pick their opposition's most dangerous batsman, he replied, “There is no one name that we are concentrating on. Their whole batting line-up is in form at the moment. Jesse Ryder, Martin Guptill, Kane Williamson, Ross Taylor... they are all in good touch. The aim is to get them all out, and not just focus on one player.

“Obviously we do need to get Anderson early. He has given them good scores in the last two matches, so we need to get him out cheaply to keep the scoring down,” he added. It has been a whirlwind first year in international cricket for Bhuvneshwar, with varied experiences at home and then on overseas tours, especially in England, South Africa and New Zealand. The medium-pacer acknowledged his learning experience.

Live on Sony Six, 6.30 am 

BRIEFLY

Saina, Sindhu, Srikanth book semifinal berths
Lucknow: Top shuttlers Saina Nehwal and P V Sindhu and national champion K Srikanth continued their rampaging run with contrasting victories to reach the semifinals of the $120,000 Syed Modi International India Grand Prix Gold tournament here today. London Olympics bronze medallist, Saina was on course for her first title of the season when she registered a 21-15 21-15 victory over fifth seed Bellaetrix Manuputty of Indonesia in the women's singles quarterfinals today. She will next take on sixth seed Xuan Deng of China tomorrow.

World championship bronze medallist, Sindhu too was on course for her first final appearance of the season as she took just 34 minutes to pack off Indonesia's seventh seed Hera Desi 21-11, 21-13.

BCCI exploring possibility of playing Pak at neutral venue
New Delhi: The BCCI is exploring the possibility of playing against Pakistan at a neutral venue like Dubai or Sharjah in the near future. The issue of scheduling a series against Pakistan was briefly discussed at the Working Committee meeting in Chennai on Thursday. “Yes, there was a discussion on the subject but nothing has been finalised as of now. We are definitely looking at the possibilities and are open to discussion with our PCB counterparts," said a senior BCCI office-bearer.

Ashwin lacks deception to succeed overseas: Prasanna
New Delhi: Former Test spinner Erapalli Prasanna is highly critical of Ravichandran Ashwin's performance while playing abroad, saying the Tamil Nadu tweaker “lacks deception” in his bowling. Ashwin, in his last five ODIs in South Africa and New Zealand, has taken only a single wicket bowling 46 overs for 271 runs. “It’s simple. Ashwin lacks the required deception to trouble international batsmen. Deception is a quality that should worry your opposition. Not only the batsman who is facing you should be worried but also the man padded up and due to come next should also be worried. The deliveries should work on his mind also," said Prasanna. — Agencies