TOP 100 SPORT SITES
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| Strauss ensures England make good start A day that ended with honours just about even was cut short by bad light and then rain, a habitual occurrence in Durban at this time of the year. While England would have been pleased to lose only one wicket in the 26.2 overs of their reply, albeit that of Andrew Strauss who had batted beautifully for the quickest fifty of his Test career, South Africa were delighted to reach 343, almost doubling their overnight score of 175 for five. feeds.timesonline.co.uk |
Andy Murray and Laura Robson through to Hopman Cup Final after beating Russia Andy Murray and Laura Robson - or should that be Laura Robson and Andy Murray - became Great Britain's first finalists in the Hyundai Hopman Cup when they defeated Russia's Igor Andreev and Elena Dementieva to complete a clean sweep of their round robin group. feeds.timesonline.co.uk |
Carroll: Seahawks 'have embraced my approach' RENTON, Wash. (AP) -- Pete Carroll took over as the new coach and executive vice president of the Seattle Seahawks on Tuesday with an authority that he said mirrors the latitude Southern California gave him to restore its dynasty.... hosted.ap.org |
Serena storms through as Venus also wins • Defending champion beats Carla Suárez Navarro 6-0, 6-3• Serena remains on course for semi-final with sister VenusSerena Williams produced her best performance of the Australian Open so far to beat Spain's Carla Suárez Navarro 6-0, 6-3 and keep her title defence on track. The top seed and four-time champion, who played well within herself in her first two matches, upped her intensity to advance to the fourth round in 81 minutes.For all of Suárez Navarro's craft and guile, the 32nd seed, who knocked Serena's sister Venus out in the second round last year at Melbourne Park, was unable to match the defending champion's power.Serena's only real difficulty was in closing out the first set, needing eight set points in a game that went to deuce 13 times and lasted longer than the previous five games combined. "It was definitely the toughest 6-0 set," she said. "I thought, 'OK, Serena, don't put too much pressure on this. Worst case scenario it will be 5-1.' But way to keep fighting."The world No1 will now meet the Australian 13th seed, Sam Stosur, who opened play on the Rod Laver Arena with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Italy's Alberta Brianti. "I'm looking forward to it," said Stosur. "I've lived up to my expectation and I've got to where I should have got to."Playing the No1 player in the world, defending champion, I can go out there and really enjoy it. I know I won the last time we played against each other [at Stanford in 2009]. That's probably not going to mean too much going into Monday's match, but at least I know I've been able to beat her before."Victory for Serena against Stosur could potentially leave her one more win away from an all-Williams semi-final. Venus had a tougher time today but still managed to see off Australia's Casey Dellacqua 6-1, 7-6, closing with an ace on her fourth match point.Venus will now play Italy's Francesca Schiavone as she looks towards a clash with Serena - and beyond. "Of course I want to progress well to the final, that is my goal," said Venus, who lost the 2003 Australian Open final to her sister. "So far, I'm getting closer. You know how it works. Just got to play well every match."Other winners on day six included the seventh seed, Victoria Azarenka, and last year's US Open finalist, Caroline Wozniacki. Under the Hisense Arena roof, which was closed following an early rain shower, Azarenka outclassed Tathiana Garbin 6-0, 6-2 to set up a last-16 match with Russia's Vera Zvonareva. Under the Rod Laver lights, Wozniacki rounded off the day's play as she eased past Israel's Shahar Peer 6-4, 6-0. The world No4 will next face China's Li Na.Australian OpenSerena WilliamsVenus WilliamsTennisKaty Murrellsguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2010 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds guardian.co.uk |
Andy Murray benefits from Rafael Nadal's sad demise Victory had a hollow feeling to it for Andy Murray as he moved through to the Australian Open semi-final. Nobody could deny the Scot outplayed Rafael Nadal for two sets and looked worthy of a place in the last four. However, the sight of the defending champion offering his surrender because of a painful right knee was the saddest sight of the tournament. feeds.timesonline.co.uk |