Monday, November 02, 2009 DOHA: Serena Williams won her second career WTA Championships title on Sunday with a commanding 6-2, 7-6 (7/4) victory over sister Venus, a triumph which earned her a cool 1.55 million dollars.Serena, who will finish the season as world number one, also won the trophy in 2001, making her just the second player after Justine Henin in 2007 to win two Grand Slam titles as well as the WTA Championship in the same year.World number one Serena won all five matches at this event, including a group stage win over Venus, and such was her dominance in the final that she gave up just seven points on serve.The 85-minute romp was Serena's 13th victory in 23 meetings with her sister, a family rivalry stretching back to 1998.In a symbol of this injury-hit, desert money-spinner, which had seen four players end their campaigns prematurely through various aches and pains, both sisters arrived on court nursing knocks.Serena had her left thigh heavily-strapped while Venus had protection on her left knee which was treated several times during her semi-final win over Jelena Jankovic.But Serena, with four wins from four matches here, was the fresher of the two in the first set, a legacy of having spent three and a half hours less than her sister in reaching this stage.Breaks in the third and seventh games gave the new world number one the opening set.Serve dominated the second set before Serena stretched to a 5-2 lead in the tie-breaker. An ace set up match point and the title was secured with a crunching forehand winner. Victory added to Serena's capture of the Australian Open and Wimbledon titles in 2009.
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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