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Federer finally conquers the East
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Stosur takes another Osaka title
Hamilton wins as Mercedes take constructors’ title
Another record for the Bryan brothers
Jayaram clinches Dutch Open
Poland stun world champs Germany
Atletico de Kolkata leaves city in joy
Tigers, Kings play out a draw
Fielding 3 pacers part of World Cup plan: MSD
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Federer finally conquers the East
Shanghai, October 12 The Swiss 17-times Grand Slam singles champion triumphed 7-6(6) 7-6(2) to register his 23rd Masters Series title and first in China, where strong winds caused the roof on the Stadium Court to be closed. The 33-year-old Federer let off a huge roar and threw both fists into the air after a battling Simon netted a return to hand the Swiss his fourth title of the year and the 81st of his career. “Well, it just makes me very happy winning here because this tournament means a lot to me,” Federer said. “I’ve always enjoyed coming here. I’ve come close a couple of times, but I’ve always wanted to win it as a Masters 1000. “I feel unbelievable prestige to win this event. Especially putting my hands on the trophy for the first time is a good feeling, I must say. I’m very happy with the way I’m playing.” It had all begun so well for the unseeded Simon, who broke a sloppy, error-strewn Federer in the opening game and comfortably held firm until he felt the pressure of serving for the set at 5-4 and began to creak. With his first serve and accurate groundstrokes deserting him, Federer had two break points but wasted the first with an alarmingly high 14th unforced error only for Simon to hand him the game on the next point after netting a backhand. A wobbling Simon fought off two set points on his next service game after finding his range with his first serve again to force a tiebreak with a booming ace as he refused to buckle. The world No. 29 had a set point of his own in the tiebreak but Federer came up with an unreturnable first serve to snuff out the danger before producing a near-perfect backhand winner down the line to take the breaker 8-6. Simon, who had knocked out Stan Wawrinka and Tomas Berdych en route to the final, took a medical time out for treatment on a suspected groin problem at the end of the set and looked uncomfortable upon his return. However, the Frenchman fought on admirably. The Swiss then stepped it up in the breaker, firing some big serves and stunning winners to fashion four championship points with Simon folding on the first. Federer, who will move above Rafa Nadal into second spot in the world rankings on Monday, has now won seven of the nine different Masters Series events with only the clay court Monte Carlo and Rome tournaments eluding him. — Reuters Wawrinka qualifies for ATP World Tour Finals
London: Australian Open champion Stanislas Wawrinka has become the fourth player to qualify for the end-of-season ATP World Tour Finals, the ATP said in a statement on Sunday. He became the fourth player after Novak Djokovic, Rafa Nadal and Roger Federer to make the prestigious event in London. |
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Stosur takes another Osaka title
Tokyo, October 12 The 2011 US Open winner was broken in the first game of the match as Diyas confidently held on for a 5-3 advantage before losing serve for the first time as she tried to close the set out. Diyas recovered in the tiebreak and held two set points but could not convert as the 30-year-old Stosur fought back to take it and avoid dropping her first set of the week. The Queensland native, ranked 18th in the world, then scored an early break at the start of the second set and claimed another to seal her sixth career title and first of the season. Riske wins first WTA title
Tianjin: American Alison Riske won her first WTA title after overpowering Swiss teenager Belinda Bencic in the final of the Tianjin Open in China on Sunday. The 24-year-old Atlanta, Georgia, resident blasted away the US Open quarterfinalist with some powerful serves and mean groundstrokes to take a 6-3 6-4 win. —
Reuters |
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Hamilton wins as Mercedes take constructors’ title
Sochi, October 12 The Briton, who started on pole position, chalked up his fourth win in a row and ninth of the season after German team mate Nico Rosberg locked up at the first corner and damaged his tyres in a costly error. With 100 points still to be won from the final three races, thanks to double points in Abu Dhabi, Hamilton has 291 points to Rosberg’s 274 with everything still to play for. Hamilton, the 2008 world champion, also became only the fourth driver in F1 history to win nine races in a single season and equalled Nigel Mansell’s British record of 31 career victories. On a warm and sunny afternoon in the Black Sea resort, Rosberg kept himself firmly in contention with a fine recovery drive from 20th place after his second lap pitstop. “Nico did a great job to return from his mistake,” said Hamilton. “To get the first championship for Mercedes Benz is amazing, a beautiful day. It’s very cool to have won the first race here.”
Finland’s Valtteri Bottas finished third for Williams, and set the fastest lap, in a race watched by Russian President Vladimir Putin at a circuit snaking around some of the landmark venues from this year’s Winter Olympics. Putin also presented the trophies, in what Hamilton described as a ‘kind of surreal’ moment, with the drivers making sure he had left the podium before spraying the champagne that had lain virtually untouched last weekend following Jules Bianchi’s horrific accident in Japan.
— Reuters |
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Another record for the Bryan brothers
Shanghai, October 12 The 35-year-old siblings defeated French Open champions
Julien Benneteau and Edouard Roger-Vasselin 6-2 7-6(3) to take an
unprecedented 101st career title in their 152nd final. The Masters 1000
events are the top ranking tournaments on the ATP Tour outside of the
Grand Slams with the Bryans now boasting 31 of them after multiple wins
in Indian Wells, Paris, Rome, Monte Carlo, Miami, Toronto, Madrid and
Cincinnati. They also won the now defunct Hamburg Masters in
2007. Sunday’s victory was their fifth Masters 1000 title of the
season, a joint personal best, after they secured the year-end doubles
No. 1 ranking earlier this week for the 10th time. “It’s another
great milestone,” Bob Bryan said. “This week was full of them for
us. To come and get in the title match, have a shot at winning the
tournament that’s eluded us, complete the Golden Masters, is
amazing.” — Reuters |
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Jayaram clinches Dutch Open
Jayaram started off on the wrong note, losing the first game.
But he came back to win the next two before Mustofa staged a strong
fightback to claim the fourth game. However, it was Jayaram who had the
last laugh as he went on to win the deciding game and clinch the title.
The 13th seeded Indian returned to the circuit in August after a
seven-month injury layoff. Jayaram had beaten top seed Rajiv Ouseph of
England 11-8 11-7 11-5 in a 26-minute semifinal to enter the title
round. Jayaram got past Chun Hei Tam of Hong Kong in the
pre-quarterfinals and third-seeded Indonesian Dionysius Hayom Rumbaka in
the quarterfinals. Coach Vimal Kumar said it was a creditable
performance from Jayaram and good for Indian badminton. “Jayaram has
had injuries in recent times. Despite that, he has won a Grand Prix
title,” Vimal said from Bangalore. “This is good for Indian
badminton as the country has now got some players who can win
tournaments of the Grand Prix level. I had always thought that Jayaram
has got the capability to win these kind of tournaments.” The BWF is
trying out a new scoring system of 11-point games at the Grand Prix
level and will have a review next month. — PTI |
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Poland stun world champs Germany
Warsaw, October 12 Arkadiusz Milik put them ahead with a well-timed header in the 51st minute and Sebastian Mila added another late in the game to hand the hosts a memorable victory against bitter rivals Germany after 18 previous failed attempts. The feat was even more impressive given Germany had not lost an away qualifier for either the World Cup or Euros since 1998. “In such games a squad gains its identity,” Poland coach Adam Nawalka said. “I hope this will be the beginning of a new road for the national team. We made a small step, but let’s not be too euphoric. We play Scotland on Tuesday and this is our focus now.” Poland, who had scored once in their previous six competitive meetings and had lost 12 of 18 games against either Germany or West Germany, now go top of Group D on six points, as many as Ireland. Poland are now unbeaten in their last seven European Championship qualifiers, equalling their all-time record. Germany are third on three points after two games. Wearing the black and red striped tops they had last worn during their 7-1 demolition of Brazil in the World Cup semi-final in July, Germany had control of the game but were wasteful with their chances. “Obviously we are very disappointed,” said Germany coach Joachim Loew. “But I can’t say much about the team. The only thing is that we were a bit sloppy with our chances in the first half. “Also in the second half we played well and created chances but Poland scored with their first dangerous ball. Our game execution was good. Our finishing wasn’t.” The Germans, playing in the stadium where they lost 2-1 to Italy in the Euro 2012 semi-final, were made to work hard against a solid Polish backline in front of a fiery 57,000 crowd. Towering central defenders Kamil Glik and Lukasz Szukala also made sure to eliminate any aerial threat from Mats Hummels, playing his first game for Germany since the World Cup final. The visitors, missing half a dozen starters including Bastian Schweinsteiger and Marco Reus, had their best chance in the 38th minute when Mario Goetze floated a cross to the far post but winger Karim Bellarabi, on his debut, fired wired. They gradually wore the Poles down and towards the end of the first half found more and more space down the wings to feed the ball into the box. They carved out several more good chances but neither Thomas Mueller twice nor Bellarabi could find the back of the net.
— Reuters |
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Atletico de Kolkata leaves city in joy
Kolkata, October 12
It was Fikru Teferra who struck the first goal of ISL to give the home franchise a 27th minute lead to bring the 70,000 capacity crowd at the Salt Lake Stadium to their feet, while Borja Fernandez's stunning volley from the edge of the box delighted one and all with some top quality stuff. Substitute Arnal Llibert (90+3rd) gave the Kolkatans enough reasons to celebrate by turning Fikru's cross from the right to give a perfect ending to the match of the league touted to change the landscape of Indian football. From the short passing of ATK's to the trademark English style long passes by the MCFC, it was high quality football on display, something that was rarely seen at the Vivekananda Yuva Bharati Krirangan. The iconic stadium might have witnessed such a big crowd reminding one of an East Bengal-Mohun Bagan encounters but the derby had never experienced such motley spectators who varied from hardcore football fans to young families to waving youngsters. It was a day of many firsts at VYBK as fans enjoyed quality football with replays from 17 giant screens that dotted the uppermost tier, something that was never experienced in Indian football. The 28-year-old Ethiopian forward got a long through pass from ATK's marquee player Luis Garcia and before German defender Manuel Friedrich could intercept, brilliantly chipped over local lad Subrata Paul for the first goal. The home team had the better share of chances and Spanish short passing skill was well evident in the side which had its affiliations with La Liga giants Atletico Madrid. Glitzy opening ceremony
It was an evening to remember for the people residing in ‘Mecca of Indian Football’ as a riot of colours lit the Salt Lake skyline with much-awaited Indian Super League (ISL) doing everything possible to strike the right chord with the football afficianado. The fireworks lit up the sky in a full capacity Vivekananda Yuva Bharati Krirangan to conclude a 45-minute opening ceremony as the 70,000 capacity crowd were treated to some eye-catching visual extravaganza. Amid the confluence of Bollywood superstars, renowned sportpersons, corporate magnates and politicians, it was master blaster Sachin Tendulkar who drew the maximum applause. With chants of ‘Sachiiiiin, Sachiiiiin’ reverberating the colossal stadium which had the earlier capacity of 120,000 now reduced to 70,000, crowd gave a standing ovation to the retired legend. For a moment, it felt Tendulkar was once again going into the middle to take guard before the reality took over as clad in yellow t-shirt Tendulkar and his Kerala Blasters marquee player David James made the entry into the centre podium. Bollywood diva Priyanka Chopra was the highlight of the show as she made a grand entry with Bollywood chartbusters ‘Tune Mari Entriyaan’, ‘Ram Leela’ before welcoming the crowd in Bengali style — ‘Kemon achen Kolkata!’ Starting with Atletico de Kolkata, Priyanka called the team owners one by one on to the centre stage and quipped to Sourav Ganguly: “Dada chose to own a football team because he can remove jersey whenever he wants...”
— Agencies Nita replaces Mamata to declare ISL open
It was not West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee but Nita Ambani who declared the tournament open. Earlier, it had been decided that Banerjee would declare the league open. Nita completed the formality by saying in Bengali, “Aami Indian Super League er subho suchno korchi (I declare the ISLOpen)”. Mamata however appeared on the stage before the ceremony and thanked the organisers for choosing Kolkata for the inaugural game. |
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Tigers, Kings play out a draw
Bathinda, October 12 Manminder Singh Saran, one of the two most successful raiders in Tigers’ squad, pulled off a fine raid to give his team a slender lead at 54-53. There was barely time for one more raid for the Kings. Kamaljit went for the final charge and he pulled it off despite a great effort from Kulveer who had twice stopped Gurlal earlier in the session. That brought the score to 54-54 and the hooter went off, giving both teams one point each. Gursewak of the Yo Yo Tigers was adjudged the man of the match for his 17 raids, while Royal Kings’ Iqbal Singh Ruby, who made six stops, was named the best stopper.
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India defeat Kiwis in Johor Cup opener
Johor Bahru, October 12 In a hard fought match, India took an early lead through Parvinder's field goal just five minutes into the match and they kept the lead in the first half. India doubled its lead in the 43rd minute when Varun Kumar made no mistake in converting a penalty corner. New Zealand reduced the margin in the 53rd minute through a penalty corner conversion by Nic Woods. Just before the hooter, New Zealand earned another penalty corner but they failed to convert it. “Most of the boys in our team represented the country for the first time in today's match and I am happy with the performance of the team. We will keep on improving match by match as the tournament progresses,” India coach Harendra Singh said. India will now take on Britain in their second match tomorrow. Apart from India, the other participating teams in the prestigious under-21 tournament are Australia, Great Britain, Pakistan, New Zealand and host Malaysia. The 18-member Indian team led by Harjeet Singh will take Great Britain (October 13), Pakistan (October 15) and Australia (October 18).
— PTI |
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Fielding 3 pacers part of World Cup plan: MSD
New Delhi, October 12 This, according to Mahendra Singh Dhoni, was part of India's quest to identify the third seamer, keeping in view the upcoming 2015 World Cup, where the pacers will have a significant role to play. In the first ODI at Kochi, India had fielded the pace trio of Mohammed Shami, Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Mohit Sharma. In the second, Mohit was replaced by Umesh Yadav in the playing XI after the former suffered a shin injury, which eventually ruled him out of the remainder of the West Indies series. “In the conditions, we can easily play three or four spinners, but with the World Cup around the corner, we have to sort out our death bowling issue. That is the reason why we are fielding three seamers,” Dhoni explained. The move had almost backfired, at least, when Dwayne Smith and Darren Bravo added 64 runs for the first wicket and Smith then combined with Kieron Pollard to add another 72 runs for the second wicket while chasing a challenging target of 264 runs. The visitors, however, fell short by 48 runs after the spin duo of Amit Mishra and Ravindra Jadeja and paceman Shami strangulated them in the middle overs. Asked about the performance of his fast bowlers with the new ball, Dhoni felt it would be wrong to point fingers at them on a two-paced Kotla surface. “When there has been help for the fast bowlers, they have all done well. Here, there wasn’t much help and the ball was coming on to the bat nicely under lights, so you can’t look at this game to judge them. The way Shami bowled towards the end was excellent. He got some reverse swing and was able to create opportunities. The wicket was two-paced, but under lights it changed and I felt 265 wasn’t a par score,” he added. Dhoni also made it clear that dropping Virat Kohli to the fourth spot doesn't mean the Indian team management has settled on his batting position. Ambati Rayudu was promoted to No.3 in place of Kohli, who responded with a scratchy 78-ball 62. “Virat understood that the team needed him there, but it’s not a fixed position. We haven’t been capitalising towards the end, so we thought let’s have the most experienced batters – Kohli, Raina and myself – bat at 4, 5 and 6. If someone's playing well at No. 3 and Virat is getting runs at No.4, with the overall strength of the team being healthy, there is no reason why he shouldn't bat there,” Dhoni added. Dhoni also emphasised on the need of using the Powerplays well after their batsmen managed just 37 in the first one and then 29 runs in the next. Indian bowlers made it count: Smith
Dejected at missing out on his maiden ODI ton for the “24th time” in 93 matches, West Indies opener Dwayne Smith said the Indian bowlers came back brilliantly to halt the visitors, who were cruising along at one stage in the second ODI. Smith, 31, could not hide his disappointment but praised the Indian bowlers for their good showing. “I am of course disappointed at missing out on another century. Twenty fourth time I have fallen short of a ton, so it really hurts. They (India) bowled really well. We were cruising at one point and the Indian bowlers just got wickets after that,” said Smith on Saturday. “I think we bowled well but it all came down to some good bowling by the Indians. There is something that we can learn from it and move forward,” he added. — Agencies Third ODI abandoned because of cyclone
The third ODI between India and West Indies on October 14 in Visakhapatnam has already been abandoned because of a cyclone on the country's east coast. The game will not be rescheduled and the series is now a four-match contest. BCCI joint secretary Anurag Thakur said it was yet to be decided whether the teams will travel to Dharamsala on Tuesday or Wednesday. “Even though the host association was hopeful of staging the match if weather cleared, the BCCI didn't want to take any risk," he said. |
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‘Dravid is a
genuine guru’
London, October 12 In his autobiography ‘KP’ released this week, Pietersen refers repeatedly to an e-mail the Indian batting legend wrote to him about playing spinners which made a massive difference to him. “Rahul was a great and heroic Indian batsman in his day. He is also a genius at dealing with spin bowlers. Our conversations and emails were a private master class from a genuine guru,” Pietersen writes in the book. “Rahul improved my cricket and helped me develop the way I think about the game. His generosity will stay with me always.” In the email quoted by Pietersen, Dravid refers to him as a “champ” and goes on to give him a pep talk: “KP, you are a really good player, you need to watch the ball and trust yourself... Don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t play spin, I have seen you and you can!” Pietersen wrote that he often reads this particular email and it beings a smile to his face. “My playing of spin has gone up a number of levels since I’ve spent time in the IPL, and in particular, since I’ve spoken to Rahul Dravid...In England, batsmen get taught to play with the spin against spin bowlers. In India, the best players of spin get taught to play against it,” he adds. In his autobiography, Pietersen is outspoken about the unfriendliness of his teammates and is all praise for the IPL for the “adrenalin rush” and bonding atmosphere. “The IPL is the future... I could talk about money and the IPL all day to you, but for the friendships alone I would play for free,” says the Delhi Daredevils player. “I’ve built all my relationships with foreign cricketers while in the IPL. That doesn’t help in the England dressing room... there are not many of those friendships,” he adds. Pietersen also claims the general culture towards the game of cricket is better in the sub-continent and describes Indian players as “free spirits” who truly love cricket. — Agencies
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Roger Federer claimed one of the few titles to have previously eluded him after he overcame a sluggish start to beat injured Frenchman Gilles Simon in the Shanghai Masters final on Sunday.
The Swiss 17-times Grand Slam singles champion triumphed 7-6(6) 7-6(2) to register his 23rd Masters Series title and first in China, where strong winds caused the roof on the Stadium Court to be closed. The 33-year-old Federer let off a huge roar and threw both fists into the air after a battling Simon netted a return to hand the Swiss his fourth title of the year and the 81st of his career.
Warsaw, October 12
Putin present
Almere, October 12
Australia beat Pakistan by one run in third ODI