The Malaysian Insider :: Sports
The Malaysian Insider :: Sports |
| Sharapova dominates on return from injury in Brisbane Posted: 30 Dec 2013 03:15 AM PST The world number four showed no signs of the shoulder injury which has kept her off court since the Western and Southern Open in August as she raced into the second round in 64 minutes. "I was sick of the off-season and I was ready to get going," a beaming Sharapova said on court. "I missed the game. I wanted to come out here and perform well." Frustrated after so long without any competitive action, the 26-year-old Russian came out firing on all cylinders and raced to a 3-0 lead against her 74th ranked opponent. The four-times major champion, watched by her new coach Sven Groeneveld, ruthlessly dismantled the big serve that has created excitement around the 20-year-old Garcia. Sharapova wrapped up the first set with a blistering forehand winner after 39 minutes, and two further service breaks later was 4-0 up in the second. With the momentum all on her side of the court and Garcia shaking her head at the quality of some of the returns coming back over the net, Sharapova grabbed another break and sealed the victory on her own serve with a forearm smash. The Russian, forced to pulled out of the Brisbane tournament by injury for the last two years, was delighted to show off her skills to the Queensland public. "It's been so long. I'm sorry," she said. "I've been meaning to play this event for so many years and I'm happy it was this year after being away from the game for a few months." The third seed will have the majority of the crowd against her in her second round match when she plays Australian teenager Ash Barty, who earlier beat Daniela Hantuchova 6-3 7-5. "It's going to be another tough one. She's played four times here which is a huge advantage," said Sharapova, who is seeded to meet world number one Serena Williams in the semi-finals. German fifth seed Angelique Kerber, the beaten finallist at Wimbledon this year, also beat a French 20-year-old in her first match, seeing off Kristina Mladenovic 6-2 6-2. Former world number one Jelena Jankovic earlier beat former French Open champion Francesca Schiavone 6-2 7-6(6) to take her place in the second round. In the men's draw, Croatian Marin Cilic came from behind to beat Uzbek Denis Istomin 6-7(3) 7-6(5) 6-4 and American Sam Querrey upset Russian seventh seed Dmitry Tursunov 7-5 6-4. Finn Jarkko Nieminen earlier thrashed local James Duckworth 6-2 6-3 to earn the dubious pleasure of a second round meeting with top seed Roger Federer. - Reuters, December 30, 2013. |
| Wenger hails resilience of table-topping Arsenal Posted: 30 Dec 2013 12:09 AM PST The Londoners moved one point ahead of Manchester City with the 1-0 success, thanks to Olivier Giroud's second half header and some resolute defending in the final stages to protect their slim advantage. Wenger, looking for his first league title since 2004, hailed the uncharacteristic quality shown by his side, who made it back-to-back league wins after the 6-3 defeat by City and home draws with Everton and Chelsea. "In the last 15 minutes, we have shown another aspect of our team - resilience, fight. We threw our bodies in the box," the Frenchman was quoted as saying by Arsenal.com. "You have seen today a technical aspect of our team that was quite good, but as well, a mental aspect that was needed in a game of that stature. There is something in the team that is special on the mental front where we have been questioned many times. "We showed that at West Ham when we were 1-0 down. We showed that again today when we were backs to the wall in the last 15 minutes. There's a great solidarity and a great spirit in the side." Arsenal had led the league by five points earlier this month, but defensive frailties were exposed at City before disappointing draws with Everton and Chelsea moved them off top spot and left many pundits questioning their title ambitions. Further dropped points looked likely as they trailed relegation candidates West Ham United 1-0 away in the second half of Thursday's clash before fighting back to claim a 3-1 win which they followed up with Sunday's success. "We've come out of very difficult games," Wenger said. "We played Everton, we played Man City, Chelsea, at West ham, at Newcastle and we dropped some points, but I felt it was more down to the heavy schedule and short recovery time we had than to the difficulty of the games." They host Cardiff City on Wednesday before Saturday's FA Cup third round tie at home to arch-rivals Tottenham Hotspur marks the end of the hectic run of Christmas fixtures. The heavy schedule has taken its toll with record signing Mesut Ozil and midfielder Aaron Ramsey, who has been in a rich vein of goalscoring form this season, both missing the Newcastle match with injury. The duo's absence was an obvious explanation for the lack of chances created by the visitors, who came close to conceding just before halftime through Moussa Sissoko and then Mathieu Debuchy. Arsenal controlled the game at the start of the second half with Giroud's header breaking the deadlock, but the striker wasted a glorious chances to double the advantage before the visitors opted to retreat into defensive mode. Wenger added to that by making protective substitutions in the final stages that left Arsenal with a back five happy to sit on the edge of their area and clear the barrage of balls as Newcastle dictated play. For all the possession though, the home side struggled to find a way through the mass of bodies. Loic Remy provided the only real moment of panic when Arsenal goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny cannoned a clearance against his head, but the ball rebounded past the post. "For years, we were younger (and less able) to resist this kind of pressure, but we have always been up there at the top," Wenger said. "If you analyse our results, we have always been up there. Last year in this period, we were out of the title race, but 2013 we have been quite consistent," he said, before turning to this season's chances of a 14th league championship. "We believe in ourselves and we are determined to give our best. I hope it will be enough, but it's a long way to go - it's too early to say that." - Reuters, December 30, 2013. |
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