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The Malaysian Insider :: Sports

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The Malaysian Insider :: Sports

Federer revival underway as Sharapova struggles

Posted: 17 Jan 2014 10:14 PM PST

January 18, 2014

Roger Federer of Switzerland celebrates defeating Teymuraz Gabashvili of Russia during their men's singles match at the Australian Open 2014 tennis tournament in Melbourne, Australia today. – Reuters pic, January 18, 2014. Roger Federer said his Grand Slam revival was well underway today as he smoothly reached week two at the Australian Open, but Maria Sharapova admitted she had to improve or go out.

As cooler temperatures consigned this week's heatwave to memory, Federer swept past Russia's world number 79 Teymuraz Gabashvili 6-2, 6-2, 6-3 in what is his record 57th consecutive major tournament.

Federer, with an unsurpassed 17 Grand Slam titles but now aged 32, last year lost in Wimbledon's second round and in the last 16 at the US Open, raising doubt about his ability to win more major titles.

But the Swiss, who said he was comfortable with his new, bigger racquet and with Swedish great Stefan Edberg in his corner, hoped his 2013 difficulties were now behind him.

"It was a tough year last year and it took some time to figure out what I needed to do to feel better and to get my confidence back, because that's what I thought it was mostly," Federer said.

"For the last four to five months I feel that I'm back to normal again and at least I feel I've done the work to catch up and haven't had any setbacks, so it's very positive."

Federer, who now faces either Jo-Wilfried Tsonga or fellow Frenchman Gilles Simon, said he was happy with his first week's work in dismissing James Duckworth, Blaz Kavcic and now Gabashvili without losing a set.

"I didn't have the best of Wimbledon and US Opens last year, and I didn't want to get ahead of myself," the four-time champion said.

"Now the draw is getting extremely difficult, regardless of whether it is Jo-Wilfried or Gilles, but I'm looking forward to it... I've done the work and haven't lost a set so far."

Russia's Sharapova was less impressive, and less convinced about her form, after struggling for a second successive match before ousting France's Alize Cornet.

The third seed, on her way back after a shoulder injury, was made to work for the win before coming through 6-1, 7-6 (8/6).

She also had trouble putting away Italy's Karin Knapp in the second round.

"There are definitely things I'm going to have to improve and do better moving forward, because it only is going to get tougher," she said.

Sharapova will next play Slovakian seed Dominika Cibulkova, who beat Spain's Carla Suarez Navarro.

Serb Jelena Jankovic won against Kurumi Nara, her third successive Japanese opponent, to set up a meeting with Romanian Simona Halep.

America's Sloane Stephens, a semi-finalist last year, beat Ukraine's Elina Svitolina and will next face either defending champion Victoria Azarenka or Yvonne Meusberger, who play later.

France's Stephane Robert beat Slovakia's Martin Klizan in what was the first third-round Grand Slam clash between two 'lucky losers' – who failed to come through qualifying, but earned their spots due to withdrawals – in 41 years.

And in the men's doubles, Indian-Pakistani pair Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi ended the Grand Slam comeback of British cancer survivor Ross Hutchins and his partner, Colin Fleming. – AFP, January 18, 2014.

Sharapova works hard to make last 16

Posted: 17 Jan 2014 07:51 PM PST

January 18, 2014

Sharapova works hard to make last 16 Russian third seed, Maria Sharapova battled into the Australian Open fourth round on Saturday with a hard-fought, straight-sets win over France's Alize Cornet. The four-time Grand Slam champion came through her match on Rod Laver Arena 6-1, 7-6 (8/6) in one hour 51 minutes, but Sharapova's killer instinct deserted her in the second set when she failed to serve out for the victory, forcing a tiebreak. Russian third seed, Maria Sharapova battled into the Australian Open fourth round on Saturday with a hard-fought, straight-sets win over France's Alize Cornet.

The four-time Grand Slam champion came through her match on Rod Laver Arena 6-1, 7-6 (8/6) in one hour 51 minutes, but Sharapova's killer instinct deserted her in the second set when she failed to serve out for the victory, forcing a tiebreak.

"She started playing better when I gave her some chances," said Sharapova, after setting up a clash with 20th-seeded Slovak Dominika Cibulkova for a place in the quarter-finals.

"After my last match I'm just glad to be through and have another day to recover."

"I definitely need to step it up – every player will need to raise their game," she added, contemplating the tournament's second week.

Sharapova is still on the comeback trail from a shoulder injury and she was pushed hard in draining heat during her second-round match against Karin Knapp, eventually coming through a marathon third set that went 10-8.

Despite those energy-sapping conditions, she showed few ill-effects on Saturday although in temperatures that were some 20 Celsius cooler, she was still using ice vests on the changeovers.

Getting past Sharapova was always going to be a big ask for Cornet.

She has only beaten a top-10 player twice in her career and had only been beyond the third round once in 31 Grand Slams, at the 2000 Australian Open.

In contrast, the Russian has reached eight major finals and won four, with her last success coming at the French Open in 2012.

The third seed got the match underway serving to love and made an early breakthrough in a tight second game highlighted by a series of entertaining baseline rallies, breaking to go 2-0 ahead when Cornet hooked a forehand long.

Sharapova's serve was finding its mark and she comfortably held before her pinpoint ball placement forced Cornet into a series of errors that allowed her to go 4-0 in front.

But her serving issues returned in the fifth game when a double fault gave Cornet a second break point and she grabbed the opportunity.

Unperturbed, the Russian broke straight back to love and served out for the set in 32 minutes.

Sharapova threw away a chance to ram home her advantage in the third game of the second set, blowing three break points as Cornet fought a rearguard action.

The Frenchwoman, who partnered Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to Hopman Cup success earlier this month, made the most of her reprieve, breaking the third seed with a deft drop shot to take a 3-1 lead.

But she wasted the advantage when she let the Russian break back.

With the finish line in sight, Sharapova got another crucial break in the seventh game with a forehand down the line to go 4-3 in front.

Cornet saved a match point on her serve at 3-5 to keep the tie alive and Sharapova then failed to serve out for the match.

She paid the penalty with the showdown going to a tiebreak, in which she saved a Corner set point before finally getting the win to book her spot in the last 16.– AFP, January 18, 2014.

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The Malaysian Insider :: Showbiz

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‘12 Years A Slave,’ ‘American Hustle’ win big at Critics Choice Awards

Posted: 16 Jan 2014 08:33 PM PST

January 17, 2014

Oprah Winfrey presents the Joel Siegel award to Forest Whitaker at the 19th annual Critics' Choice Movie Awards in Santa Monica, California yesterday. – January 17, 2014."12 Years a Slave", Cate Blanchett and Matthew McConaughey were among big winners at the Critics Choice Movie Awards yesterday, taking honours for best picture, actress and actor.

The all-star "American Hustle", about 1970s corruption which earlier received 10 Oscar nominations, was named best comedy film, with Amy Adams winning best comedy actress.

The 281-member Broadcast Film Critics Association, the largest film critics' organisation in the United States and Canada, also gave the film its best acting ensemble prize at the event in Santa Monica, California.

Leonardo DiCaprio won best comedy actor for "The Wolf of Wall Street," setting the pattern early for the awards which virtually mirrored the top winners at Sunday's Golden Globes.

Blanchett, who also won the Globe and is favored for the Oscar, was honored for Woody Allen's "Blue Jasmine," in which she plays the unbalanced wife of a disgraced Bernard Madoff-like swindler.

Many stars who were nominated – or snubbed – just hours earlier for the Oscars, Hollywood's top honors, were on hand, including Julia Roberts, Meryl Streep and Tom Hanks.

Jared Leto won best supporting actor for his turn as a transsexual fighting AIDS in "Dallas Buyers Club." He dedicated his award to "all the people around the world who are living with HIV (and) all the people who have lost their lives to this horrific disease."

Both McConaughey, who plays the real-life, heterosexual Ron Woodroof who became an AIDS activist after being diagnosed in the 1980s and given weeks to live, and Leto won Golden Globes on Sunday, and both were nominated for Oscars on Thursday.

"Thank you, this is fun," exclaimed a clearly elated McConaughey, who thanked Woodroof "for living a life that was damned well worth putting to the big screen."

Lupita Nyong'o, who plays slave Patsey in "12 Years a Slave," won best supporting actress, prevailing over such A-list contenders in the category as Roberts and Oprah Winfrey.

Mexican filmmaker Alfonso Cuarón was named best director for the outer-space hit "Gravity," which also took prizes for visual effects, film editing and cinematography. Star Sandra Bullock also won best actress in an action film, calling "Gravity" "a movie that should not have worked – but it did."

The acclaimed French lesbian love story, "Blue is the Warmest Color," which was snubbed by the Oscars earlier on Thursday when it failed to be nominated, won the award for best foreign language film.

Twenty-year-old Adèle Exarchopoulos was named best young actor or actress for "Blue Is the Warmest Color," and noted in her acceptance speech at the gala dinner, "I can't even drink."

Best sci-fi or horror film went to "Gravity," while Mark Wahlberg won best actor in an action film for the true-life war film, "Lone Survivor," which was also named best action film.

The Disney hit "Frozen" won best animated feature, and "Let It Go" from the same film took the award for best song.

"20 Feet From Stardom," about backup singers for music icons, was named best documentary.

The writing awards went to "Her" for original screenplay and "12 Years a Slave" for adapted screenplay.

The prizes were handed out following the Golden Globes, part of the host of awards leading up to the Oscars, Hollywood's all-important honors ceremony to be held on March 3.

Actor-director Forest Whitaker received the Joel Siegel award, named for the late film critic, for his humanitarian work. Winfrey presented the award to Whitaker.

Stars Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke and director Richard Linklater won the Louis XIII Genius Award for the romantic trilogy "Before Sunrise," "Before Sunset" and "After Midnight." – Reuters, January 17, 2014.