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| Watford stave off threat of administration Watford have avoided administration by paying back the ÂŁ5 million that the club owed their former chairman. feeds.timesonline.co.uk |
Murray and 'local hero' Robson win again • On-form Robson holds her own in mixed-doubles• 15-year-old builds rapport with MurrayWhen Andy Murray signed up to play alongside Laura Robson for Britain in the Hopman Cup here this week, he must have thought he would just play his three round-robin group matches and then head to Melbourne to continue his preparations for the Australian Open, the year's first grand-slam event, which begins a week on Monday.But after a second consecutive victory today, this time a 2-1 win over the Germany team of Philipp Kohlschreiber and Sabine Lisicki, Murray may just have to put in a bit more overtime as he and Robson face Russia on Friday knowing victory would put them through to Saturday's final.Not only is the Scot facing an extra workload, he is also having to get used to playing second fiddle to his partner. As she was born in Melbourne and with her family in nearby Albany, the locals have been spending much of their time claiming Robson as their own – "she gets her ability from the Australian in her," one observer said – but though her English accent gives away her loyalties, the crowd have warmed to both her playing style and her unassuming, charming nature in her on-court interviews. "I think that's because most of the crowd are somehow related to me," she said."The friendly response to Robson can partly be explained by the fact that the family has close links with Western Australia, with the Austalian Rules Football club, Perth, naming their grandstand after her great-grandfather Pat Fogerty, who was the long time president of the club, while her uncle Larry Dwyer was part of the Premiership-winning South Fremantle of the 1970s.Such is the affinity that Robson is held in by the locals that today she will test out the tennis skills of two players from the Perth-based team Fremantle, nicknamed the Dockers, who will award her membership as an International Patron of the club. Not that she thinks of Perth as a second home, though. "I've got my relatives here but I've been staying in the hotel and everything so I'm not really with my uncle [who lives nearby] or anything like that," Robson said. "We did spend Christmas with my uncle but London is home."Murray continued his impressive start to the year with a 6-4, 6-1 demolition of Kohlschreiber, a player ranked No27, to make it two singles wins out of two. But unlike in their opening 2-1 win over Kazakhstan when the Scot did almost everything on his own in the mixed doubles, this time he was given outstanding support from the 15-year-old Robson, who showed just why she is expected to make quick strides when she joins the senior tour this season.In her first match against Yaroslava Shvedova Robson had faded badly after a bright start. Against Sabine Lisicki, a girl ranked No22 and surely destined for the top 10, she lifted her game to suit the occasion and frightened the life out of the German before going down 7-6, 6-3. "She is only 15 and I think she's playing pretty well for that age," Lisicki said. "It's never easy to make the transition from the juniors but I think we'll see her up there soon."Martijn Bok, the Dutchman who has coached Robson for two and a half years, watched proudly behind the court, delighted with the improvement, though he admitted he had not expected Robson to push Lisicki so close. "I knew that she can play with her, I've seen that before, but it's a very good performance," he said. "It's a very good match for her and she should be proud of herself."Robson turns 16 in the first week of the Australian Open and because of her age she is limited to 12 tournaments in 2010, including only three wildcards, so her chances of playing against the top players – like the world No5 Elena Dementieva whom she will meet on Friday – are few and far between until she climbs the rankings. "It's a shame because you can see she can play nicely against these girls," Bok said.The confidence of that performance was translated in emphatic style to the deciding mixed doubles when Robson more than held her own as she and Murray romped to a 6-3, 6-2 triumph. The pair have built up a rapport, bantering in front of the press and laughing and smiling their way through their matches. If Robson succeeds on the senior circuit then she is going to become pretty hot property when it comes to mixed doubles, which perhaps explains why she is keeping her options open. "I asked her if she wanted to play in the Olympics yesterday for 2012 and she said no," Murray said. "That's the last time I'll ask her to play mixed." When asked whether she thought she could get a better offer, she said, "No, probably not", and promised to think about it. At 33-1 with William Hill to win gold in London in 2012, they might be well worth a bet.Laura RobsonAndy MurrayTennisSimon Cambersguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Rafael BenĂtez fears club may sell Fernando Torres RAFAEL BENITEZ has revealed the extent of his budgetary worries by suggesting he might not be given any money raised by selling Ryan Babel to reinvest in the transfer market and conceding, for the first time, that he is not certain his club’s hierarchy would reject a “silly money” bid for Fernando Torres. feeds.timesonline.co.uk |
David Gold and David Sullivan complete takeover of West Ham United David Gold and David Sullivan have completed their takeover of West Ham United. feeds.timesonline.co.uk |
Horse racing: Today's best bets and the latest news from Leopardstown Today's best bets plus the latest news from today's big meeting at LeopardstownToday's best bets, by Chris CookThe winner of last year's Champion Hurdle let down his fans yesterday, today we get to see if the runner-up can do any better. Celestial Halo (2.45) was beaten just a neck by Punjabi at Cheltenham in March and can fairly be said to be a stronger contender this year at the age of six. He can prove it by winning the Irish Champion Hurdle at Leopardstown this afternoon.The gelding was a wide-margin winner on his reappearance at Wincanton, when he carried top weight in a handicap and hammered Mamlook by 10 lengths. The runner-up was an easy winner at Ascot yesterday on his first run since. Celestial Halo was mugged by Khyber Kim at Cheltenham last month but he was giving 4lb to the winner, whose yard was flying at the time, and Paul Nicholls reckons that his charge is in better shape now, having been freshened up for this.There is probably not much to choose between Celestial Halo and Solwhit, who has won top-class races on four of his last five starts. The difference for punters is that Solwhit is odds-on while his rival is 2-1. In my book, their chance is about the same, with the English raider shading it by a fraction.At a less glamorous level, Alastair Lidderdale is in form for what seems like the first time in ages and his Take It There (3.10) is a tempting 5-1 in the staying handicap chase at Market Rasen. This mare won round here twice in November and can be forgiven her defeat at Taunton when sent out again shortly after the second of those. Sharpened up with a spin on the Flat at Wolverhampton, she is preferred to the market-leaders Quazy De Joie and Extra Smooth.Towcester will, as ever, take some getting on today's heavy going but Man Of The Moment (2.50) has done it before, having won the same race last year. He will be sharper than for his reappearance spin around Market Rasen and, at 4-1, is a better option than the unreliable Gunship, favourite by dint of having won last time.Rite Of Passage1.45pm Greg Wood at Leopardstown: Dermot Weld described Rite Of Passage as "a natural" after his easy win in the maiden hurdle, but has yet to decide whether he will line up against Dunguib, the hot favourite, in the Supreme Novice Hurdle at Cheltenham."My thoughts would be to give him one more run over hurdles and then if that goes to plan obviously he'll go to one of the novice hurdles at Cheltenham," Weld said. "Whether it's over two miles [in the Supreme] or two miles five [Neptune Investment Novice Hurdle], we'll decide nearer to the time."He won over two miles and three furlongs in a bumper at Naas and over a mile and six on the Flat, so he does stay very well. He's a very laid back and relaxed individual, and there's all the gears there. The second [Grey Soldier] was a very good horse in France on the flat, and he got the run through so this fella really had to show the gears he had. He'll have learned a lot from that."He's a natural jumper, and a stronger horse this year. He's always jumped super, he pinged the first as if it was a fence almost. He's a very athletic individual and hopefully we can have a lot of fun with him."Ladbrokes quoted odds of 12-1 for Rite Of Pasage for both the Supreme and the Neptune.Mor, Mor2.10pm Greg Wood at Leopardstown: Henry de Bromhead already has a major chance in the Arkle Trophy at Cheltenham with the former Irish Champion Hurdle winner Sizing Europe, and may find an alternative engagement for An Cathaoir Mor, who came from well off the pace to beat Sports Line in the Irish equivalent."That was some ride [by David Casey]," de Bromhead said. "We took a bit of a chance running him within a week [of his last victory] but as I said last Sunday, he's the one horse you could do it with, he's just got such a tough constitution."He has to come late. I did say to David that I wasn't sure when he was 20 lengths off them down the back, but he said that this horse [usually] travels so easily and he was struggling to travel early on, so they must have been going some gallop."He just had to sit and wait, and he said that when they turned in, he thought he was a certainty. Whether he's a Cheltenham horse, I don't know. He loves testing conditions and he's such a heavy-topped horse that I'm not sure you'd want to risk him around there. The Powers Gold Cup would be a possibility, but he definitely wants it soft."An Cathaoir Mor is 16-1 for the Arkle Trophy with Ladbrokes, while Sports Line is unchanged at 14-1 with William Hill.Solwhit steams in3.30pm Greg Wood at Leopardstown: Charles Byrnes's quiet monotone makes him sound like a man waking up from a general anaesthetic, but he has plenty to be excited about as he has the new Champion Hurdle favourite with some bookmakers."That was fantastic," Byrnes said after Solwhit's defeat of Donnas Palm and Sublimity in the Irish Champion Hurdle. "That's all he wanted really, a proper-run race from start to finish, and he got it today. At Newcastle [in the Fighting Fifth Hurdle] they absolutely walked and then sprinted for three furlongs, and even the last day here [at the Christmas meeting], they went a reasonable pace but not a proper one."He's a brilliant jumper, the fastest jumper I've ever had, and he's so calm and takes everything really easily. I told Davy [Russell] not to let Celestial Halo get more than three or four lengths up, and as it turned out, he wasn't the one to be watching."Paul Nicholls hopes that better ground at the Cheltenham Festival will help Celestial Halo, who could finish only fourth, to bridge the gap with the winner in the Champion Hurdle. "To be honest, he looked like a three-miler in that ground," Nicholls said. "Ruby [Walsh] just said that he's not totally convinced that ground suits him. Both times he's run really well at Cheltenham it's been on decent ground, and we just have to hope that the spring ground suits him better. If not, he'll be jumping fences after that. He's got to improve on what he's done to win, that's for sure, but then they all have."Solwhit is as short as 3-1 favourite for the Champion Hurdle with Boylesports, but unchanged at 6-1 with Ladbrokes. Sublimity is 14-1 (from 25-1) with William Hill, while Celestial Halo is out to 16-1 with the same firm.Horse racingHorse racing tipsChris Cookguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |