Skip to main content

Federer, Williams Sisters, Djokovic reach Australian Open 4th round


Saturday, January 23, 2010
MELBOURNE: World number one Roger Federer, Williams Sisters and Novak Djokovic qualified for the fourth round at the Australian Open tennis tournament here on Saturday.

Serena Williams of America completed a 6-0, 6-3 demolition of Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain and her sister Venus beat Australian Casey Dellacqua 6-1, 7-6 (7/4).

Federer, the Swiss great, made short work of Spanish 31st Albert Montanes 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 as the fourth round of the opening Grand Slam of the season was finalised.

Also staying on track was men's third seed Novak Djokovic, sixth seed Nikolay Davydenko, ninth seed Fernando Verdasco and local hope Lleyton Hewitt.

Joining Williams Sisters in the women's draw were fourth seed Caroline Wozniacki, seventh seed Victoria Azarenka, ninth seeded Vera Zvonareva and 13th seeded Samantha Stosur.

Federer, with 15 Grand Slam titles, now faces a round of 16 clash against Hewitt, who was in good touch against Marcos Baghdatis before the Cypriot retired with a shoulder injury while trailing 6-0, 4-2.

Serena will next take on the imposing Stosur while Venus set up a fourth round clash with Italian 17th seed Francesca Schiavone

Stosur, the Australian 13th seed, outclassed Italy's Alberta Brianti 6-4, 6-1 and is gunning for another crack at Williams, who she beat when they last met in Stanford in July.

Also pushing through were Azarenka, who destroyed Italy's Tathiana Garbin 6-0, 6-2, and Zvonareva, a 6-1, 7-5 winner over Argentine Gisela Dulko.

They will play each other for a place in the quarters.

Chinese hope Li Na also stayed in the tournament with a three-set win over off-court friend Daniela Hantuchova and will next battle Denmark's Wozniacki, who shattered the dreams of Israel's Shahar Peer in straight sets.

Like Federer, Serbian third seed Djokovic, the 2008 champion, was also in imposing form as he crushed Uzbekistan's Denis Istomin 6-1, 6-1, 6-2.

He will next play unseeded Pole Lukasz Kubot, who was handed a free ride when Russian 20th seed Mikhail Youzhny withdrew with a wrist injury.

Russian sixth seed Davydenko stayed on the boil with a 6-0, 6-3, 6-4 hammering of Argentina's Juan Monaco and now faces a tough match against ninth seeded Fernando Verdasco.

The Spaniard booked his place in the last 16 when Austrian Stefan Koubek retired with a virus after losing the first set of their match.

Tenth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga also stayed on track with a four set win over Germany's Tommy Haas and will face Spaniard Nicolas Almagro next.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

India's swine flu death rate is increasing

Friday, August 14, 2009 MUMBAI: A 26-year-old woman died Thursday of H1N1 swine flu in the southern city of Bangalore, raising India's death toll from the virus to 20, authorities said.The death was the first reported in India's information technology capital, the Press Trust of India reported.Meanwhile in Pune, the worst-affected in India, two more victims of the virus died Thursday, raising the death toll in that western city near Mumbai to 12, the report said. The victims were an 11-month-old boy and a 75-year-old old woman.US media reported movie halls, schools and colleges were ordered closed Thursday for three days to a week in Mumbai, the commercial and financial capital of the country, as fear of the pandemic spread.Prajakata Lavangare, a spokeswoman for the government of Maharashtra state of which Mumbai is the capital, said similar orders were issued in Pune, which is also located in the state.The woman who died in Bangalore was identified only as Roopa, a teacher in...

Snake bite deaths

Monday, July 06, 2009 COLOMBO: The Sri Lankan government recorded some 33,000 snake bites in 2008, with most of the victims coming from remote villages.The Department of Government Information said in a statement that most of the snake bite cases could be fatal if neglected.The statement said snake bites are often neglected in Sri Lanka as victims do not seek treatment at hospitals where advanced medication is available. Instead, the victims rush to traditional type of treatment which could be a risk, reports Xinhua.Snake bites death at domestic level, outside hospitals, go unrecorded, said the statement.Most victims of snake bite are from the rural and remote villages where there is no electricity after dusk.Statistics show that Sri Lanka has over 90 species of snake with around 10 species possessing venom capable of killing a human being.In Sri Lanka the annual death rate due to snake bite envenoming is one of the highest in the world being 6 in 100,000 population.

Cuba's world-famous cigar festival closes in Havana

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...