Saturday, August 22, 2009 CINCINNATI: Two-time winner Roger Federer and reigning champion Andy Murray lined up a top-two semi-final showdown at the Cincinnati Masters. Federer, the world number one and top seed, never faced a break point as he dismissed former world number one Lleyton Hewitt of Australia 6-3, 6-4. Third-seeded Murray, who seized the world number two ranking en route to capturing the Montreal Masters last week, rallied to beat French lucky loser Julien Benneteau 4-6, 6-3, 6-1.Federer and Murray will meet for the ninth time, and the Scot is one of the few players who can boast a commanding head-to-head record against the mighty Swiss. Rafael Nadal the world number three and second seed, beat unseeded Czech Tomas Berdych 6-4, 7-5 to set up a semi-final rematch with fourth-seeded Djokovic. Djokovic, who ousted Nadal in last year's semis here, beat ninth-seeded Frenchman Gilles Simon 6-4, 7-5.
BEIRUT: Thousands of people converged Saturday on central Beirut to mark the fourth anniversary of the assassination of Lebanese former premier Rafiq Hariri.Waving Lebanese flags and carrying pictures of the slain leader, men, women and children gathered under sunny skies in Martyr's Square where members of the parliamentary majority were to address the crowd. The rally comes as final preparations are underway in The Hague for the launch of the international tribunal set up to bring Hariri's killers to justice. It also comes as the country prepares for legislative elections in June that will pit Western-backed political parties against a Hezbollah-led alliance backed by Syria and Iran.Hariri died in a massive car bombing on February 14, 2005 that also killed 22 others. The assassination was widely blamed on then Lebanese power-broker Syria, which has denied any involvement. The attack on the Beirut seafront was one of the worst acts of political violence to rock Lebanon since t...
Comments