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Monday, February 01, 2010 MELBOURNE: Roger Federer stayed up all night, drinking champagne with friends and returned to his hotel as the sun rose Monday to cap the celebration of his Australian Open victory by holding one of his baby girls in his arms. Looking remarkably refreshed after a couple of hours sleep, Federer said that winning his 16th Grand Slam victory was different from the past 15. He's now married with six-month-old twins and everything, including his tennis, feels more meaningful. By Federer's own accounting, he played some of the best tennis of his career in the past two weeks, particularly in the final against Murray, who dashed Britain's hopes of winning the first men's Grand Slam title since 1936.

MELBOURNE: Defending champion and top seed Serena Williams powered to her fifth Australian Open title and 12th Grand Slam when she beat a brave Justine Henin 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 on Saturday. Williams took a tight first set then had to hold off a charging Henin to deny the Belgian a fairytale ending to her tennis comeback in a thrilling final on Rod Laver Arena. The American claimed her 12th Grand Slam with the win, putting her alongside fellow American Billie Jean King on the list of all time major winners. It was fitting that the final was played in front of King and Australian great Margaret Smith Court, who won a record 24 Grand Slams and handed Williams her trophy. Williams said she hung on grimly as Henin went on a 15-point, five game winning streak midway through the match. The world number one looked in complete control when she led 6-4 and had a break point on Henin's serve to make it 4-3 with her serve to come. But the unseeded Belgian then went on her incredible ram...

Thursday, January 28, 2010 MELBOURNE: Top seed and defending champion Serena Williams reached the final of the Australian Open when she beat China's Li Na 7-6 (7/4), 7-6 (7/1) in a thrilling semi-final on Thursday. The American will now play either Belgian Justine Henin or China's Zheng Jie in Saturday's decider after seeing off a tenacious Li in just over two hours on Rod Laver Arena. The 16th seeded Li played superbly and saved four match points before a delighted Williams clinched the semi-final with a booming ace. The world number one, who came back from the brink of defeat in a gruelling quarter-final against Victoria Azarenka, will be aiming to win her 12th Grand Slam title and her fifth Australian Open. She is also hoping to become the first player to successfully defend her title since Jennifer Capriati in 2002 In the second semi-final, Justin Henin of Belgium defeated unseeded Zheng Jie of China 6-1, 6-0 to qualify for the final.

Wednesday, January 27, 2010 MELBOURNE: China's Li Na created a massive boilover when she came from a set down to beat sixth seeded American Venus Williams 2-6, 7-6 (7/4), 7-5 on Wednesday to reach the semi-finals of the Australian Open. Li will now face either Serena Williams or Belarusian Victoria Azarenka for a place in the final.

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 ...

Wednesday, January 20, 2010 MELBOURNE: Second-seeded Rafael Nadal cruised in straight sets in his second-round match Wednesday to advance at the 2010 Australian Open, the opening Grand Slam event of the year. The former world No. 1 Nadal topped Slovakian Lukas Lacko 6-2, 6-2, 6-2, in a match that lasted a little under two hours. Nadal won 34 more points than Lacko, who committed 58 unforced errors. Also advancing to the third round Wednesday was seventh-seeded Wimbledon runner-up Andy Roddick, who took a 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 victory over Brazil's Thomaz Bellucci. Roddick, who reached the semifinals here last year, will face either Spaniard Feliciano Lopez or German Rainer Schuettler in round three. Joining Nadal and Roddick in advancing was 11th-seeded Chilean Fernando Gonzalez, who got past Turkey's Marsel Ilhan 6-3, 6-4, 7-5. Gonzalez's third- round opponent is already set, as Kazakhstan's Evgeny Korolev scored an upset of 21st-seeded Czech Tomas Berdych. Korolev...

Tuesday, January 19, 2010 MELBOURNE: Serena Williams started the defense of her Australian Open title with a dominating 6-2, 6-1 win Tuesday over Polish teenager Urszula Radwanska. Williams also only lost three games in her previous match at Melbourne Park: a 6-0, 6-3 win over now No. 2-ranked Dinara Safinain last year's final. Despite having her right thigh heavily wrapped with a white bandage, Williams didn't show any signs of restricted movement. The 28-year-old American hurt her left knee at the Sydney International last Friday night and later said she has been bothered by a foot problem. On the men's side, sixth-seeded Nikolay Davydenko had a 6-1, 6-0,6-3 win over Dieter Kindlmann of Germany and No. 21 Tomas Berdych advanced 6-0, 6-3, 6-3 over Robin Haase of the Netherlands. No. 9 Fernando Verdasco, who lost to fellow Spaniard and eventual champion Rafael Nadal in a five-set semifinal here last year that was the longest match in the tournament's history...

Monday, January 18, 2010 MELBOURNE: Former champion Maria Sharapova was knocked out of the Australian Open here on Monday, losing her first round match to fellow Russian Maria Kirilenko 7-6 3-6 6-4. Sharapova, seeded 14th, was broken by the 58th-ranked Kirilenko when serving to stay in the match at 5-4 down in the third set to lose her first match at Melbourne Park since beating Serbia's Ana Ivanovic for the title in 2008. The Russian former world number one, who posted 66 unforced errors and struggled with her serve, rallied from a set down but surrendered a break with her eighth double-fault of the match to trail 2-0 in the decider. Kirilenko wobbled when serving for the match at 5-3 to allow Sharapova to break back, but coolly sealed the win after bringing up two match points. World number two Dinara Safina overcame a poor service and a string of errors to advance to the second round. Safina, last year's beaten finalist at Melbourne Park, committed nine double fau...