Nadal has work cut out against Del Potro, Williams sisters eye final date

DEFENDING champion Rafael Nadal’s Wimbledon campaign runs into the imposing 1.98m (6’6”) figure of dangerman Juan Martin del Potro today while the rejuvenated Williams sisters eye another final date.

World number one Nadal, the 2008 and 2010 winner, has the toughest-looking clash of the fourth round when he tackles Argentine del Potro, the man who blew him off court in the US Open semi-finals in 2009 for the loss of just six games.

But the Spaniard, fresh from his sixth French Open title, can take heart from his form so far at Wimbledon where he has yet to drop a set.

Germany off to perfect start in women's World Cup

Kerstin Garefrekes and Celia Okoyino Da Mbabi led host nation Germany to a 2-1 win over Canada in the official opening game of the women's World Cup on Sunday after an impressive opening ceremony.

Christine Sinclair scored for Canada with a free kick in the 82nd minute.

The game took place after the opening ceremony in which a globe was "peeled" to reveal a mirrorball reflecting the fans in festive mood, before it released hundreds of helium footballs into the sky.

German President Christian Wulff, Chancellor Angela Merkel and FIFA President Sepp Blatter were among the capacity crowd of 73,680 at the Olympic stadium.

Earlier, Marie-Laure Delie scored the first goal of the three-week tournament to give France a 1-0 victory over Nigeria.

Nadal, Venus make comfortable starts to their Wimbledon campaigns

Defending champion Rafael Nadal made an emphatic start to his bid for a third Wimbledon title yesterday while five-time winner Venus Williams was back in the old routine with a dominant display.

Nadal, fresh from a record-equalling sixth French Open, was only troubled briefly by 33-year-old American Michael Russell as he cantered to a 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 first round win.

Russell, who has never got beyond the second round, broke for a 4-2 lead in the first set, but Nadal then reeled off six games in succession to take the opener and lead 2-0 in the second set.

Nadal was quickly 4-1 ahead in the third set and there was no way back for the world 91 as the top seed, who unleashed 35 winners, set up a second round meeting with Ryan Sweeting of the United States.

Victorious: Russia’s Ksenia Pervak celebrating her 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 upset win over Israel’s Shahar Peer in the first round yesterday. – AP

Murray beats Gimeno-Traver in 4 sets at Wimbledon

WIMBLEDON, England (AP) - The racket bag emblazoned with messages of support from Facebook fans looked like it might have had the opposite effect Monday when Andy Murray dropped the first set of his Wimbledon campaign.

But as if flicking on a switch, Murray reeled off 15 straight games from 3-3 in the second set for a 4-6, 6-3, 6-0, 6-0 win over Daniel Gimeno-Traver to reach the second round.

Gimeno-Traver began the match confidently under the roof on Centre Court and hit some particularly brutal forehands, but by the end, the 56th-ranked Spaniard looked every bit the player who has lost in the first round at eight of his 12 Grand Slam tournaments.

McIlroy breaks several records en route to capturing his first major title

BETHESDA (Maryland): Rory McIlroy captured his first major golf title in historic fashion on Sunday, turning the final round of the 111th US Open into a virtual victory lap on his way to an eight-stroke triumph.

The 22-year-old Northern Ireland prodigy fired a two-under 69 to finish 72 holes at Congressional Country Club on 16-under 268, the lowest winning total in US Open history, and become the youngest US Open winner in 88 years.

“The whole week has been incredible,” McIlroy said. “I couldn’t ask for much more. I’m just happy to be holding this trophy.”

The Ulsterman humbled course and rivals the same way 21-year-old Tiger Woods ripped apart Augusta National and overwhelmed the field in the 1997 Masters for the first of his 14 career major triumphs.

Proud moment: Rory McIlroy posing with the trophy after winning the US Open tournament by eight strokes in Bethesda, Maryland on Sunday. – AP

McIlroy became the youngest major winner since Woods at the 1997 Masters and the youngest US Open winner since Bobby Jones in 1923.

Casey Stoner makes flying start by topping Qatar MotoGP

DOHA: Australian Casey Stoner won the floodlit Qatar MotoGP season-opener for the fourth time in five years on Sunday ahead of Spaniards Jorge Lorenzo and Dani Pedrosa.

Starting from pole position after dominating all three practice sessions, Stoner beat Yamaha’s world champion Lorenzo by 3.44 seconds at the Losail circuit in a dream debut with the works Repsol Honda team.

The Australian, who raced for Ducati last year, has now won 24 Grands Prix in the top category.

Spain’s Pedrosa, Stoner’s Honda team-mate, was struggling with a painful arm and looked exhausted after finishing just over five seconds behind the Australian, despite taking the lead on the opening lap and fighting an entertaining duel to the halfway point.

Valentino Rossi of Italy, winner of nine world titles across the classes but struggling with a shoulder injury, finished well off the pace in seventh in his first race with Ducati after leaving Yamaha.

Leaders Milan prepare for life without Ibrahimovic

ROME: Serie A leaders AC Milan enter the final quarter of the season with a severe handicap for the next three games as star forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic will be watching on from the stands.

Alexandre Pato

A moment of madness against rock-bottom Bari last week, when he slapped Marco Rossi in the ribs, earned the big Swede a straight red card and three-game ban.

He will miss today’s trip to Palermo but then perhaps crucially the top of the table Milan derby against Inter as well.

Without their top scorer and attacking focal point, Milan will have to show greater variety than they have otherwise demonstrated throughout much of this season, where Ibrahimovic has time and again made the difference.

However, he has scored only once since the end of January, and that a penalty, and some may feel that Milan have already been coping admirably without their talisman’s usual input.

But now it will be up to the likes of Alexandre Pato (pic), Antonio Cassano and Robinho to step up to the plate and show their worth.

Chelsea face Red Devils in repeat of 2008 final

LONDON: Chelsea were given the chance to avenge their shattering penalty shootout defeat to Manchester United in the 2008 Champions League final after being drawn to play them in the quarter-finals of the competition yesterday.

One of the most dramatic finals of all time played in driving rain in Moscow ended with United winning 6-5 on penalties after Chelsea captain John Terry blew the chance of winning the European Cup when his penalty hit the post.

United then took their chance to win the shootout and become European champions for the third time.

Yesterday’s draw also paired favourites Barcelona against Shakhtar Donetsk of Ukraine while nine-time winners Real Madrid will play Champions League debutants Tottenham Hotspur, the highest scorers left in this season’s competition.

Loew drops 6 German World Cup players

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — Germany coach Joachim Loew dropped six World Cup players from the 23-man squad to play Kazakhstan in a Euro 2012 qualifier and Australia in a friendly next week.

As expected, Loew also did not select former captain Michael Ballack, who still has not reached top form after a long injury layoff.

Loew picked one newcomer, midfielder Sven Bender of Bundesliga leader Borussia Dortmund.

Andre Schuerrle of Mainz, with one previous appearance, was also included, along with fellow midfielder Toni Kroos of Bayern Munich. Dortmund midfielder Mario Goetze, with two caps, and teammate and defender Marcel Schmelzer, with one, also return.

Real Madrid midfielder Sami Khedira and Mesut Oezil are both in the squad.

But the coach dropped six players who were on the team that finished third at the World Cup — Marko Marin, Cacau, Serdar Tasci, Piotr Trochowski, Marcell Jansen and Stefan Kiessling. All are struggling with form in their clubs.

Loew selected only two strikers, Bayern Munich teammates Mario Gomez and Miroslav Klose. Gomez leads the Bundesliga with 18 goals, but Klose was getting little playing time. Lukas Podolski of Cologne was also included, but was listed as a midfielder.

Germany plays Kazakhstan on March 26 in Kaiserslautern, and Australia three days later in Moenchengladbach.

Loew's team leads Group A of qualifying for next year's European Championship in Poland and Ukraine with four wins from four games.

Loew has said he will give some of the reserves and newcomers playing time against Australia, the Asian Cup runner-up.



Germany:

Goalkeepers: Rene Adler (Bayer Leverkusen), Manuel Neuer (Schalke), Tim Wiese (Werder Bremen).

Defenders: Dennis Aogo (Hamburger SV), Holger Badstuber (Bayern Munich), Jerome Boateng (Manchester City), Arne Friedrich (Wolfsburg), Mats Hummels (Borussia Dortmund), Philipp Lahm (Bayern Munich), Per Mertesacker (Werder Bremen), Marcel Schmelzer (Borussia Dortmund).

Midfielders: Sven Bender (Borussia Dortmund), Mario Goetze (Borussia Dortmund), Sami Khedira (Real Madrid), Toni Kroos (Bayern Munich), Thomas Mueller (Bayern Munich), Mesut Oezil (Real Madrid), Lukas Podolski (Cologne), Andre Schuerrle (Mianz), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Bayern Munich), Christian Traesch (Stuttgart).

Forwards: Mario Gomez (Bayern Munich), Miroslav Klose (Bayern Munich).

Messi fit for Argentina friendlies

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Argentina coach Sergio Batista says his Barcelona star Lionel Messi has recovered from a knee injury picked up in the Spanish league last weekend and will be ready to play upcoming friendlies against the United States and Costa Rica.

Batista said Friday he had talked with Messi and had been assured the world's best player was ready to go.

Argentina will play the United States on March 26 in East Rutherford, New Jersey, and Costa Rica on March 29 in a new stadium in San Jose.

Batisita also said that starting goalkeeper Sergio Romero of AZ Alkmaar in the Netherlands would miss the matches. He said the club notified Argentine officials, although Batista did not explain why Romero would be absent.

He said Mariano Andjuar of Italian club Catania would start in goal and Agustin Marchesin of Argentine club Lanus would be the backup.

Andrey Arshavin's goal completes the Arsenal recovery against Barcelona

The Arsenal substitute Andrey Arshavin, left, scores their winner
against Barcelona in the Champions League

Arsenal would not tolerate a remake of the past. They had taken just a draw with Barcelona at home last year before being knocked out of the Champions League. Here, they rallied from 1-0 down to win. Robin van Persie tied the score with a drive that beat the goalkeeper Víctor Valdés at his near post 11 minutes from time. Four minutes later, Cesc Fábregas set Samir Nasri moving on the right and the cut-back was drilled home perfectly by the substitute Andrey Arshavin.

There was a conviction to Arsenal that offered yet another illustration of the maturity being attained. The return is perilous, but Barcelona themselves will suspect that this team will not be brushed aside at Camp Nou as they were a season ago.

Meeting Barcelona is a predicament for virtually all teams, but Arsenal's case is unusual. Rather than being the normal contrast of styles, this encounter saw Pep Guardiola's side taking on opponents who would like nothing better than to emulate their methods. The hosts aimed for that same fluent movement, but a flawed version of Barcelona could not be expected to outdo them.

The initial impression was that Arsenal could withstand the comparison. Even when the visitors took the lead through David Villa in the 26th minute it came in a spell where they might just as easily have fallen behind.

Tottenham beats AC Milan 1-0 at San Siro

MILAN (AP) - Peter Crouch's late goal gave Tottenham Hotspur a 1-0 win at Serie A leader AC Milan in the first leg of their Champions League last 16 tie on Tuesday.

Crouch scored with 10 minutes remaining after Aaron Lennon had broken clear from his own half.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic thought he scored an injury time equalizer, but his overhead kick was ruled out for a push on Spurs captain Michael Dawson.

The Milan players' frustration boiled over at the final whistle and Genaro Gattuso appeared to headbutt Tottenham assistant coach Joe Jordan - a former Milan player - before both sets of players began scuffling.

Milan captain Gattuso, who had earlier shoved Jordan during the match, was also booked in the 75th minute and will miss the return leg at White Hart Lane.

It was an unseemly end to a match in which Tottenham again impressed at the San Siro, having recovered from 4-0 down to 4-3 against Inter Milan in the group stage earlier in the season.

Crouch was picked up front, with Jermain Defoe on the bench, and Harry Redknapp had clearly set up his side to target Crouch's height as a way to trouble the Milan defense.

Raul earns Schalke a 1-1 draw at Valencia

VALENCIA, Spain (AP) - Raul Gonzalez extended his Champions League record to 69 goals to give Schalke a 1-1 draw at Valencia Tuesday in the first-leg of their last-16 series.

Raul - returning to Spain for the first time since his summer move from Real Madrid - held off defender David Navarro in the 64th minute before slotting a shot inside the far post beyond outstretched goalkeeper Vicente Guaita.

Valencia had taken a 17th-minute lead at its Mestalla Stadium when Roberto Soldado redirected Jeremy Mathieu's deep cross past goalkeeper Manuel Neuer at the near post.

But Raul's record 71st goal in UEFA competitions allowed the Bundesliga team to take a valuable away goal home in the knockout stage matchup.

Schalke played the final minute with 10 men after Lukas Schmitz was sent off for a second booking, but former Spain striker Raul put the Bundesliga team in control of the tie after gathering Jose Manuel Jurado's pass inside the area for the type of finish that characterized his 18 years at Madrid. Raul now leads AC Milan striker Filippo Inzaghi by one goal in the overall UEFA tally.

"If you give him a chance he'll do what he did," Soldado said after scoring his sixth goal of the competition. "We knew they were very dangerous, they have outstanding players."

Valencia went on the attack from the start but the visitors were nearly ahead after nine minutes when Klaas-Jan Huntelaar missed with only Guaita to beat.

Valencia's pressure paid off soon after as Aritz Aduritz set Mathieu off along the left with a well-played ball that Soldado fired past Germany 'keeper Neuer.

Guaita judged Peer Kluge's looping header well as the Valencia keeper palmed the ball off the crossbar and out in the 26th.

Valencia dominated the chances until Raul's equalizer as Neuer denied a long-range drive from Mehmet Topal in the 28th, Soldado headed wide of the far post and Aduritz sliced a hard shot into the side netting.

Guaita dived to stop Raul's shot in the 48th before the former Spain striker scored his 14th career goal against Valencia, which will need to score at the Veltins Arena in the return leg to have any chance of advancing to the quarterfinals.

Wingers Joaquin Sanchez and Vicente Rodriguez came on soon after as Valencia pressed for a second, although it had trouble organizing its attack.

Schalke responded with by bringing on 17-year-old Julian Drexler in the 78th just after Aduritz shot wide off the break.

But Schalke held out with substitute Junmin Hao forcing Guaita into a fingertip save in the 90th.

Valencia hasn't beaten Schalke in three games at the Mestalla, with all ending in draws. Its last win over a German opponent on home soil was in 1996.

Roddick wins opener in Memphis

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) - Andy Roddick beat Richard Berankis of Lithuania 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 in the opening round of the RMK Championships on Tuesday.

The two-time winner in Memphis will face Serbia's Janko Tipsarevic in the second round.

Roddick, playing for the first time since the Australian Open, had plenty of unforced errors, but produced 23 aces with his strong serve.

"It was one of those days where I felt if I made a first serve the point was done, didn't have to do much work after that," Roddick said. "That gave me a chance. And I played a little bit more aggressive in the third set."

Defending champion and fifth-seeded Sam Querrey of the United States opened with a 6-7 (5), 7-6 (5), 6-4 victory over Uzbekistan's Denis Istomin, snapping a three-match winless streak to open the season. Querrey had lost first-round matches in Sydney, Melbourne and San Jose to start the year and had dropped six straight since to mid-October.

Earlier, No. 2-seeded Mardy Fish of the United States beat Russia's Teymuraz Gabashvili 6-1, 7-5. Fish skipped last week's SAP Open because a thyroid condition was bothering him.

"I felt a lot better today than I did Friday," Fish said. "So that's a good sign. Obviously the goal is to try to get to 100 percent. To be honest, I've felt better each day."

Fish is coming off a year in which he attained a career-high world ranking of 16, won two tournaments and reached the finals of three others.

Among those joining Fish in the second round were American James Blake, who beat Ricardo Mello of Brazil, 6-4, 6-3; and 2009 finalist Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic, who beat German Benjamin Becker, 6-4, 6-2.

Croatia's Ivan Dodig, who won his first ATP World Tour event two weeks ago in Croatia, beat Germany's Rainer Schuettler 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

In second-round matches on the women's side, the Cellular South Cup, No. 7 seed Renata Voracova of the Czech Republic was eliminated by Russian Ksenia Pervak, 6-1, 6-1. Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia beat Britain's Anne Keothavong, a Memphis semifinalist the previous two years.

The only seeded players remaining in the field are No. 3 Melanie Oudin and No. 6 Rebecca Marino.

Nadal out, hopes over for four Slams in a row

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP): Rafael Nadal's bid to win four straight Grand Slam tournaments ended when he lost his Australian Open quarterfinal 6-4, 6-2, 6-3 to fellow Spaniard David Ferrer on Wednesday.

An injured Nadal, who appeared to have tears in his eyes during a changeover while trailing 3-0 in the third set, took a medical timeout for an apparent leg injury after three games and was clearly out of sorts, failing to chase down balls that he would ordinarily return easily.

It was the second year in a row he lost in the quarterfinals here due to injury - in 2010 he retired against Andy Murray due to a right knee ailment that kept him off the tour for two months, again on the Australia Day national holiday.

Federer whips Wawrinka to set up clash with Djokovic, Li Na in last four again

DEFENDING champion Roger Fede rer demolished fellow Swiss Sta­nislas Wawrinka to reach his eighth straight Australian Open semi-final yesterday, setting up a grandstand clash with Novak Djokovic.

Women’s top seed Caroline Woz niacki survived a thrilling quar ter-final with tenacious Italian Francesca Schiavone and will now need to beat Li Na, who ratcheted up Chinese hopes of a first Grand Slam singles title.

Federer, who can become only the second man to win five Australian Opens after Roy Emerson (six), showed no mercy against close friend Wawrinka as he took him apart 6-1, 6-3, 6-3 in just one hour 47 minutes on Rod Laver Arena.

Birmingham through to League Cup final

LONDON (AP): Birmingham rallied to beat West Ham 3-1 after extra time Wednesday and set up a meeting with Arsenal in the League Cup final, while Liverpool climbed to seventh in the Premier League by edging past Fulham 1-0.

Craig Gardner was the match winner for Birmingham in a dramatic semifinal second leg at St. Andrew's, firing home from 25 yards in the fourth minute of extra time to earn the Midlands club a 4-3 aggregate win.

Carlton Cole scored a stunning goal in the 31st to put West Ham 3-1 up in the two-legged series but Birmingham took the game into extra time thanks to second-half goals by Lee Bowyer and Roger Johnson.

The Blues, whose only major trophy came when they won the League Cup in 1963, will be underdogs when they play Arsenal at Wembley on Feb. 27.

Arsenal qualified for the final by beating second-tier side Ipswich 3-0 in the second leg of their semifinal, winning 3-1 on aggregate.

Federer matches Connors’ record, Schiavone in longest women’s match

MEN’S champion Roger Federer stuttered to a record-equalling 27th consecutive Grand Slam quarter-final at the Australian Open yesterday, as Francesca Schiavone won the longest women’s match at a major.

While Federer needed four sets against Tommy Robredo, Novak Djokovic stayed in dazzling form and women’s top seed Caroline Wozniacki also progressed, as Germany’s Andrea Petkovic stunned 2008 winner Maria Sharapova.

However, all attention was on Hisense Arena, Melbourne Park’s second-biggest court, where Schiavone and Svetlana Kuznetsova treated the crowd to an epic, 4 hours 44 minutes slugfest which outstripped the previous record by 25min.

French Open champion Schiavone saved six match points and needed three of her own before volleying the clincher and raising her arms aloft, and turning her thoughts to a quarter-final with Wozniacki.

The final set alone lasted three hours as the 6-4, 1-6, 16-14 marathon eclipsed the longest Grand Slam women’s match of 4 hours 19 minutes between Barbora Zahlavova Strycova and Regina Kulikova in Melbourne last year.

Uzbekistan advances to Asian Cup semifinals

DOHA, Qatar (AP): Uzbekistan advanced to the Asian Cup semifinals for the first time by beating Jordan 2-1 on Friday after two goals by forward Ulugbek Bakaev within four minutes.

Bakaev scored in the 46th and 49th minutes for Uzbekistan, before Bashar Bani Yaseen cut Jordan's deficit in the 58th at Doha's Khalifa stadium.

"Big, experienced player, I know him well," Uzbekistan coach Vadim Abramov said of Bakaev. "I give him a chance, he scores two goals."

Uzbekistan will play either Australia or Iraq in one of Tuesday's semifinals.

Lee just too good for Taufik in final

The world No. 1 went on a whirlwind rampage to win the Malaysia Open title for a seventh time – beating Indonesian Taufik Hidayat 21-8, 21-17 in a 37-minute final at the Putra Stadium in Bukit Jalil yesterday.

Chong Wei was one cut above Taufik in the opening game. In the art of deception in a cool and confident manner, he unleashed an array of tricky shots to outfox his opponent.

He even had the chance to wrap up the match in quick time when he led 18-9 in the second game but he allowed Taufik to get back into the fight, conceding nine consecutive points.
Chong Wei managed to recover and then romped home, much to the delight of the home crowd.

With the comfortable win yesterday, Chong Wei is one title short of equalling the record of eight Malaysia Open men’s singles triumphs achieved by the late Wong Peng Soon.

Chong Wei, as usual, ran over to hug his coach, Misbun Sidek, after the victory.