CHARLESTON: Top seed Elena Dementieva cruised into the semi-finals of the Family Circle Cup on Friday after her opponent Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia retired hurt. The Russian, who won Olympic gold in Beijing, will meet Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark, who trounced France's Virginie Razzano 6-2 6-0. Dementieva, who had lost only four games in her two previous matches, was leading 6-4 1-0 in the quarter-final when the seventh-seeded Slovakian retired with a left thigh injury.Fifth seed Wozniacki, who won last weekend's Florida claycourt title, completely outclassed 13th seed Razzano, but was banking on a sterner test in the semi-final. Another teenager in Sabine Lisicki of Germany booked a semi-final place, the 19-year-old riding out a comfortable 6-46-0 winner over Elena Vesnina of Russia. Lisicki, who upset world number five and second seed Venus Williams in the previous round, will play the winner of the quarter final bout between sixth seed Marion Bartoli of France and Hungarian Melinda Czink.
Sunday, February 28, 2010 HAVANA: Hundreds of wealthy merchants and cigar aficionados from all parts of the world gathered in Havana this week to bid high stakes for humidors full of premium cigars. Cuba's annual Habanos festival ended on Friday night with an auction of ornate humidors of cedar and mahogany stacked with hand-rolled stogies that raised 800,000 euros ($1.09 million dollars). Habanos S.A. executives this month said cigar sales fell 8 percent to $360 million in 2009, so they have created the Julieta, a smaller, milder version of the Romeo y Julieta cigar, aimed specifically at female smokers. Women now make up only 5 to 10 percent of customers for Habanos. But even with the creation of the Julieta, Garcia said Habanos has only modest hopes for 2010 sales, due largely to a weak economy in Spain, the biggest market for Cuban cigars. The flavor of premium tobacco relies on the soil and climate in which it is grown. The western province of Pinar Del Rio, famous fo...
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