Friday, August 21, 2009 CINCINNATI: World number one Roger Federer was nearly blown off track by blustery winds, while Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal steered a steady course into the quarter-finals of the Cincinnati Masters. Swiss top seed Federer rallied for a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory over Spain's David Ferrer, conquering not only the world number 19 but also blustery winds to line up a meeting with Aussie Lleyton Hewitt.Despite the difficult conditions, the top four seeds all advanced to the quarter-finals. Murray, whose run to the title in Montreal last week saw him seize the world number two ranking from Nadal, defeated Czech Radek Stepanek 6-4, 6-1. Nadal, the second seed despite his current No.3 world ranking, downed France's Paul-Henri Mathieu 7-5, 6-2, and fourth-seeded Serbian Novak Djokovic advanced with a 7-5, 6-3 victory over France's Jeremy Chardy. In Friday's quarters, Federer will face an old rival in Australian veteran Hewitt, who overcame American Sam Querrey 6-1, 2-6, 6-3 to earn a shot at the Swiss superstar. Murray will face French lucky loser Julien Benneteau, a 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7/4) winner over Spain's Guillermo Garcia-Lopez. Nadal will face Czech Tomas Berdych, who beat Aussie Chris Guccione 6-4, 6-3, while Djokovic will tackle another Frenchman, ninth-seeded Gilles Simon, who downed eighth-seeded Russian Nikolay Davydenko 6-7 (6/8), 6-4, 6-4.
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
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