Federer's U.S. Open quarter includes former fate Soderling

NEW YORK -- If Roger Federer is going to reach a seventh repeated U.S. Open title match, he might want to get history the man who ended his Grand Slam semifinal strip.

Five-time U.S. Open winner Federer was given a probable quarterfinal beside two-time French Open second best Robin Soderling in Thursday's draw. The No. 5-seeded Soderling disturb Federer in the quarterfinals in Paris this year, stopping Federer's record run of reaching at least the semifinals at 23 following Grand Slam tournaments.

The other men's matchups in the quarterfinals could be No. 1-seeded Rafael Nadal next to No. 8 Fernando Verdasco, two-time major finalist Andy Murray against Wimbledon runner-up Tomas Berdych, and No. 3 Novak Djokovic against No. 6 Nikolay Davydenko or No. 9 Andy Roddick.

The top-seeded woman, 2009 runner-up Caroline Wozniacki, could face 2006 champion Maria Sharapova in the fourth round and 2004 champion Svetlana Kuznetsova in the quarterfinals.
"I know if I play well that I can beat anybody out there," said Clijsters, who also won the 2005 Open, "so that's what I'm going to try to accomplish."
Murray, hoping to turn into the first British man since 1936 to be successful a Grand Slam title, could meet No. 20-seeded Sam Querrey of the United States in the fourth round. Another American, Wimbledon marathon man John Isner, is seeded 18th and also is in that quarter of the draw.

In the semifinals, Murray was drawn to meet Nadal, who lost in that round in New York each of the past two years and is trying to complete a career Grand Slam by winning the U.S. Open for the first time.

"Over the last three years here, I've only lost to one player -- Federer -- and that gives me enough reason to believe I can go far this year," Djokovic said, "because I like the courts, I like the feel here. I just like the tournament -- it's appropriate to my game, and to my personality."
Federer could face another common enemy in the third round: 2001 U.S. Open and 2002 Wimbledon champion Lleyton Hewitt. Federer beat Hewitt in the 2004 U.S. Open final, part of a 15-match, opposite winning line for Federer -- which ended when Hewitt hit him in the final of a grass-court tournament at Halle, Germany, in June.

Williams' older sister Venus, who is seeded No. 3, could face an intriguing matchup in the third round against No. 32-seeded Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria. Pironkova has won two of her previous three matches against Venus Williams, including a straight-set upset in the Wimbledon quarterfinals June 29.

The U.S. Open begins Monday, and Williams will have gone more than two months without a match by the time she meets her first-round opponent, Roberta Vinci of Italy, who is 1-7 for her career at Flushing Meadows.

Stephen Strasburg Injury Devistating For Nationals

"I look at the bright side," Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo said Friday. "Tommy John surgery is a surgery that we've had great success at. The success rate for guys coming back from Tommy John and retaining their stuff is very good. We saw two examples of it on the mound yesterday at Nationals Park."

Empirically, Rizzo is correct about Stephen Strasburg's ability to recover from likely Tommy John surgery. In fact, he may be right even statistically. Look at this list of players in MLB who have had Tommy John surgery. There are plenty of success stories in there. Chris Carpenter. Tim Hudson. Shawn Marcum. AJ Burnett. Josh Johnson. Joakim Soria. Rafael Soriano.

The problem with Strasburg, however, is that the Nationals didn't draft and sign Tim Hudson. Or Shawn Marcum. Or a closer like Soria and Soriano. Rather, the Nationals used the #1 pick of the 2009 draft on what Strasburg's agent, Scott Boras, dubbed a "once in a generation pitcher." Carpenter and Johnson are very good pitchers, but they're not the type of pitcher that comes around every fifty years.

Reality is that Strasburg will return in 2012 and will likely be a very good pitcher. More and more pitchers are recovering from Tommy John surgery with good success, returning with their stuff, as Rizzo said. But, will Strasburg be able to throw 99-100mph in 2012? Will his change up still be 90-91mph? That type of ability seems unlikely to survive a major elbow surgery.

Beyond the obvious impact Strasburg's physical ability, the impact to the Nationals bottom line will be crippling, even at the simple basic level of individual ticket sales. Consider that the Nationals average ticket price is $35 and their average crowd for a Strasburg start is roughly (and conservatively) 10,000 fans larger than a typical home game. At $350,000 a game times the approximately five home starts Strasburg would have left that is a $1.75M loss for the Nationals.

WNT: USA takes bronze with win

U.S. handles Venezuela, 15-5, at World Cup

MARACAY, Venezuela -- Team USA scored in every inning en route to a 15-5, six-inning win over swarm Venezuela to imprison the bronze medal Sunday at the 2010 International Baseball Federation (IBAF) Women's World Cup. The U.S., which entered the semifinals as the No. 4 seed, registered a team-high 20 hits to come away with its second repeated bronze medal.


"I think we had a marvelous mind edge over Venezuela," said head coach Don Freeman. "They were beat up from playing the last game last night and our girls came to play. It's an example of their determination and flexibility because it could have been very easy for them not to show up and take the field following our disappointing loss to Japan last night."

Jenna Marston was 2-for-3 with two RBIs and finished as the team leader in hits with 16, doubles with eight and a .571 average. Tamara Holmes and Veronica Alvarez drove in a pair of runs each while Malaika Underwood posted a team-best three hits with a run batted in. Clarisa Navarro was 2-for-4 with an RBI and three runs scored. Navarro, in her first World Cup, played all nine games and batted .483 while finishing second on the team with 14 hits and eight RBIs. Holmes posted a team-best 14 runs batted in and three home runs.


The U.S. jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the first, capitalizing on three Venezuela errors. Marston sparked the inning with a one-out double and took third on a dropped fly-ball by centerfielder Marianne Perez. Holmes' single would score the first U.S. run and Jenny Dalton-Hill gave the U.S. a 3-0 lead with a two-run single to right. Back-to-back errors allowed Dalton-Hill to plate the fourth run of the inning.


Venezuela cut into the lead in the top of the third. Leonel Reyes singled and Lesli Gomez reached safely on an error by USA. Venezuela then delivered three straight singles, scoring Reyes and Gomez and loading the bases for Allinson Velasquez, who was hit by the field, pushing across Kellyn Mendoza. Sementelli ended the rally by reserved the final two batters with Team USA holding on to a 7-3 lead.


The U.S. answered with three runs in the fourth. Anna Kimbrell's leadoff double was cashed in by Veronica Alvarez's hit through the left side. Underwood knocked in Laura Espinoza-Watson with a double and Harbert gave USA the 10-3 lead with a run-scoring single to left.


The U.S. ended the game in the bottom of the sixth. Underwood singled and wrap second before taking third on Ashley Sujkowski's grounder to short. Karen Costes was plunked by the pitch and Navarro laced a single to right to score Underwood. Nicki Holt continued the rally with a bloop single to center to load the bases for Kimbrell, who extended USA's lead to 10 runs with a two-RBI single.

Atwal becomes first Indian to win on PGA Tour

Greensboro: Arjun Atwal became the first Indian and just the sixth Asian-born player to win on the PGA Tour when he secured a one-stroke victory at the Wyndham Championship on Sunday.
Atwal joined Japanese trio Isao Aoki, Shigeki Maruyama and Ryuji Imada and South Koreans KJ Choi and Y.E. Yang in an elite but growing club of champions from world's most populous continent.
The 37-year-old, who now lives in Florida, sank a pressure-packed seven-foot par putt at the final hole to edge American David Toms at Sedgefield.
His final round of 67 left him on 20-under 260, ignited by an opening day 61. Toms closed with a 64.

"It was a long-time dream of mine to win out here but until it happens you keep doubting yourself and, believe me, I had my doubts teeing up today, even with a three-shot lead," Atwal, who took up golf at the age of 14 in Kolkata, told reporters.
"Until you do it, you don't know. My swing wasn't feeling all that great today. It was a little tight (but) I just grinded it out and got it done somehow."
Atwal believes his victory will resonate in his homeland.

Yuki in finals in Youth Olympic Games

Singapore: Yuki Bhambri pulled off an upset victory to storm into the final of the tennis event but the hoopsters and swimmers came up with disappointing performances on a mixed day for the Indians in the inaugural Youth Olympic Games here on Thursday.

Yuki stunned second seeded Damir Dzumhur of Bosnia and Herzegovina 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 in the boys' singles semifinal at Kallang Tennis Centre on the fifth day of the Games to at least assure India of another silver. In the summit clash, the sixth-seeded Indian will take on Juan Sebastian Gomez of Colombia who beat Victor Baluda of Russia 6-1, 3-6, 7-5 in the other semifinal. Yuki had on Wednesday braved cramps to get the better of Ireland's John Morrissey in the quarterfinals. Wrestlers had won two medals for India. Pooja Dhanda had bagged a silver in women's 60kg freestyle while Kadian Satyawart fetched a bronze in men's 100kg freestyle. Shuttler H S Prannoy is also assured of at least a silver after stunning top seed Kang Ji Wook of Korea in the singles semifinal on Wednesday. He, however, will have to wait longer in his quest for a gold medal as his final match against Pisit Poodchalat of Thailand has been rescheduled. The other Indian who impressed on Thursday was Durgesh Kumar who won the boys 400m race heat number two with an effort of 52.20sec to qualify for the final round. In basketball, Indian boys lost to New Zealand 12-17 in a Group A preliminary round match. In swimming, Aaron Agnel D'Souza finished fifth in boys 100m freestyle second semifinal with a timing of 51.49sec. He had qualified for the semifinals after finishing fourth in the heat number five. In women's 100m butterfly, Arhatha Magavi finished a disappointing eighth in heat number four. India fielded 32 competitors in the inaugural edition of the Games which is meant for athletes in the age group of 14 to 18.

India enter Emerging Players Tournament final

Melbourne: India huffed and puffed to a two-wicket win against Australia AIS in their third league game of the Emerging Players Tournament to book a place in the final of the 50-over leg.
Jaydev Unadkat's dream spell of four wickets for eight runs restricted AIS to just 127 runs. However, Indian batting almost caved in but for a sensible 32 by Cheteshwar Pujara and 23 not out by Manish Pandey in the end.

Though the Indian openers Abhinav Mukund (27) and Shikhar Dhawan (20) began well, quick wickets pegged India back to 95/5, when Manish Pandey distorted down to overhaul the not enough target with two wickets to spare.

India will play South Africa in the final on August 20, 2010.
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I am no bad boy, says Balotelli

Manchester: Manchester City signing Mario Balotelli says he is "not a bad boy."

The Italy soccer player had a tempestuous relationship with Inter Milan coach Jose Mourinho, but is ready for a new start after being reunited with Mourinho's ancestor, Roberto Mancini.



The 20-year-old Balotelli said on Wednesday that he is "happy to be here at Manchester City because of the manager and the environment."

Mancini added that "all of us are said to be bad boys when we are young."

City's offseason spending is now beyond 100 million pounds (7 million) — and midfielder James Milner is immobile to sign from Aston Villa.

Mancini hopes to confirm the deal for Milner by Wednesday, with City midfielder Stephen Ireland leaving for Villa.
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Federer refutes talks of his decline

Mason, Ohio: Roger Federer has heard the speak about his supposed refuse before and the world number two finds it hard to take the proposal seriously.

The record 16-times Grand Slam winner failed to get beyond the quarter-finals at the French Open and Wimbledon this year and with the last Grand Slam of the season - the US Open - on the horizon, speak has twisted to whether the Swiss is vanishing.

Federer, who lost to Andy Murray in last week's final in Toronto, appears to find the idea ludicrous. "I had a wonderful summer last year with (winning) the French Open and Wimbledon, which wasn't the case this year.



"But last year after the Australian Open, when I lost against Nadal, people were also talking about how I was on a enormous decline. I cried on center court at the Australian Open, which was a big disaster for many people," he told reporters.

"Nobody ever believed I would come back. I won two slams and played the finals of the US Open and won the Australian Open. So then everything changes and you don't win the French or Wimbledon and things are all bad again.

"So it moves very quickly. I know the rules and how it all works," he said.

Federer said that in the current age, with four outstanding players at the top of the rankings and others such as Robin Soderling and Tomas Berdych closing in, people better get used to eager competition.

"(You) can't win them all. I always knew that. So I was very shocked and surprised at how dominant I was and how well I played for so many years. And still today I'm hanging with the top and I've got chances and already won a slam again this year. I have a chance to win a second one and maybe the World Championships at the end of the year.

"There's still a lot to play for. But usually if you stay the same, you will move down. That's never something I was content with," he said.

Federer, whose semifinal win over Novak Djokovic last week regained second spot in the world from the Serb, says he has a very simple measurement for how well he is doing.

"For me, it's important that I'm happy with my game... I'm very happy with how I played in Toronto.

"I fought hard and I was able to turn it around a bit and get those close matches going my way. Now we're gonna be on this kind of (hard court) surface for eight months. So I think this is a very important start for me, playing well on the hardcourts again," he said.
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Basic wicket keeping tips

step1

After adopting the correct stance, the body should rise as you judge the bounce of the ball.Move the feet and body to get into the line with the ball.

Step 2

• If the ball is below the chest height,then take the ball with the fingers pointing down.
• If the ball is above the chest height, then twist the head and body and take the ball with hands horizontal.

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Schumacher was almost disqualified: Warwick

London: Michael Schumacher would have been disqualified from Sunday's Hungarian Grand Prix if his risky move on Rubens Barrichello had been earlier in the race, steward Derek Warwick said on Tuesday.

Warwick, a retired Formula One racer acting as the drivers' representative on the four-man stewards panel at the Hungaroring, told BBC radio that the seven-times world champion should have been shown a black flag for almost driving the Brazilian into the pit lane wall.

Instead the former Ferrari ace, making a comeback with Mercedes after three years out and at the age of 41, was handed a 10-place penalty on the starting grid for his favourite Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps this month.

"Throwing a black flag would have shown a better example to our young drivers," said Warwick, who overlapped with Schumacher in Formula One for one season in 1993 when the Briton drove for the Footwork team.

"But by the time we got the video evidence we ran out of time and we had to do it retrospectively."

Barrichello, who skimmed the wall at 300 kph and then had to chop across the pitlane exit and on to the rough before passing Schumacher for 10th place, said it had been the most dangerous manoeuvre against him he had experienced in nearly 300 grands prix.

Schumacher made a rare apology to his former Ferrari team mate on Monday.

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Nadal, Djokovic sweat it out in Toronto

World number one Rafael Nadal was made to work and number two Novak Djokovic had to sweat as they launched their North American hardcourt campaigns with battling second round wins at the Toronto Masters on Wednesday.

Under a floodlit center court, Nadal was put to the test by Stanislas Wawrinka, needing two hours and 20 minutes and all his weapons to put away the stubborn Swiss 7-6 6-3.

The opening set took a gruelling 92 minutes before ending in a pulsating tiebreak that Nadal took 14-12, matching the longest tiebreak of his career.

In five meetings with Nadal, Wawrinka had never taken a set off the muscular Mallorcan or claimed a victory over any world number one in six tries.

But Nadal, playing his first match since his Wimbledon victory in July, never panicked and seized control of the tiebreak and the second set to remain on course for a third Canadian title.

"I had a little bit of everything today being my first match after awhile," Nadal told reporters. "I had difficult moments. I had moments when I played well. I did a little bit of everything."

While Nadal skipped off the court looking as if he could keep playing, Djokovic could barely stand after a gritty 7-5 7-5 win over Frenchman Julien Benneteau in sweltering midday conditions.

Drained by the sauna-like conditions, the Serb was left slumped over the net gasping for breath after finally finishing off his French opponent in a little over two hours.

"I have said before, I will never risk my health to win and I was really on the edge," said Djokovic, who has struggled with heat-related issues throughout his career.

"If your body gives you signs that something bad is going on, you have to do something... no one can turn off the sun and do me a favour even though I would like it."

A winner in Canada in 2007, Djokovic appeared uncomfortable the moment he stepped onto the court and eventually summoned for the trainer after going down a break in the second set.

Struggling for air, Djokovic appeared ready to throw in the towel but hung on as Benneteau kept up the pressure.

Desperate to keep the match from going to a third set, a faltering Djokovic finally finished off his French opponent on the fifth match point with an overhead slam.

Briton Andy Murray followed Djokovic onto a scorching center court and had to overcome a slow start before speeding past Belgian Xavier Malisse 7-5 6-2.

It was a positive start to an important tournament for Murray, who needs a good result in Toronto to keep Swede Robin Soderling from replacing him as world number four.

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Building up for London with a trip to Kentucky

BRITISH Showjumping have announced their team for the Alltech World Equestrian Games which take place in Kentucky at the end of September.
The squad members are Scott Brash, riding Intertoy Z; Tina Fletcher, riding Hello Sailor; David McPherson, riding Chamberlain Z and Michael Whitaker, riding GIG Amai II. Robert Smith is the non-travelling reserve with Talan.

Rob Hoekstra, Team GB's performance manager, said: "My target this year was to remain in the top level Nations' Cup series for 2011, which we have now achieved.

"This fits with the overall build-up to London 2012 which is primary to all we do. Results have been exciting and we have seen a number of new horses and riders producing excellent performances in the Nations' Cup.

"The team for WEG is very much part of the development of the squad for 2012 and we have selected horses that have performed well in the Nations' Cup.

"Michael will be the experienced hand in the team; Scott and Tina will benefit enormously from experiencing their first championship, while David has championship experience but takes an inexperienced horse. It is an exciting team for the future and part of the road to 2012."

Tina Fletcher has been having a very successful season, including putting in a terrific performance as a member of our winning team in the Nations' Cup at Hickstead recently, where she had two clear rounds with Hello Sailor.

She also came close to winning the Hickstead Derby with Promised Land but was beaten by Guy Williams in the jump-off.

The show-jumping competition at the World Equestrian Games will take place between October 4 and 9. And soon after that, up-and-coming show-jumpers in Yorkshire will have the chance to win tutorials with Tina Fletcher and her husband Graham, the former Olympic show-jumper.

The couple have run some very popular demonstrations at the Countryside Live event, which is held at the Yorkshire Show ground. This year, they will be leading tutorials in a new competition to find Yorkshire's most talented show-jumper. More details about this in Equestrian Post shortly.

Countryside Live is being held on October 23-24.

A POLO tournament this weekend will be helping to raise money for research into Parkinson's Disease.

The White Rose Polo Club at North Cliffe, near Market Weighton, hosts an annual tournament, the Yorkshire Open, and the organisers have joined forces with Ann-Marie Jackson, from Spaldington near Howden, a sufferer from the illness. She and her husband, David, who is a member of the polo club, have raised over £80,000 for the charity through Music in the Park events at their home over the past seven years.

"I was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease myself 13 years ago and there is some really exciting research taking place at the moment. This is the first year we haven't been able to organise an event, so I'm thrilled that the proceeds from this year's Yorkshire Open will go towards the research," said Mrs Jackson.

Polo teams from Yorkshire and beyond will be competing over the two days.

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'Grondona didn't keep his word on Maradona'

Buenos Aires: Argentina's soccer chief Julio Grondona broke his word when the ruling body did not renew World Cup coach Diego Maradona's contract, striker Carlos Tevez said on Tuesday.


"Mr. Grondona said Maradona could do what he liked (after the World Cup)," Tevez said, adding the AFA president had told the coach the job was still his after Argentina's 4-0 quarter-final defeat by Germany.


"In the changing room (after Argentina's elimination), Don Julio told Diego he would continue (as coach). If (Grondona) holds a meeting and I can say it to him face to face, I'll do it," the outspoken Tevez told TyC Sports when he joined the squad in Dublin for Wednesday's friendly against Ireland.

"There's a lot lacking in the AFA's word... I say what I think and feel. I don't care if for the next match I'm in the national team or not," the Manchester City player said.


The AFA board voted against renewing Maradona's contract after the coach had said he could not accept Grondona's demand to drop of some of his coaching staff and pick new assistants.


Argentina are under interim coach Sergio Batista, who has been in charge of the juniors and steered the country to Olympic gold in Beijing in 2008.


The AFA plan to name a coach in December to see Argentina through to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, a job Batista - who played alongside Maradona in the 1986 World Cup-winning team - is keen to land.

New one-day cricket format makes debut in Australia

Darwin (Australia), Aug. 11 : Split-innings one day cricket made its Australian domestic debut in Darwin on Tuesday as Cricket Australia hurried to fine-tune the format ahead of an imminent decision on the shape of the coming season.

Tasmania thumped South Australia by six wickets with 8.3 overs to spare in an experimental contest that featured two 40-over innings split in half, with fielding restrictions applying in both brackets and only four bowlers required.

The first bracket of each innings was mediocre fare, as SA made 4-87 and Tasmania replied with 4-77, before the Redbacks folded for only a further 58 runs and allowed the Tigers an easy fourth innings chase.

CA officials watched with interest in preparation for a board meeting in Melbourne on Friday, after which the details of the one day domestic format to be trialled this summer will be finalised.

Tasmanian acting captain Xavier Doherty said the format''s conditions placed greater focus on specialists and less on bit-part players.

Doherty admitted the rules made all-rounders a less valuable commodity, reducing the need for versatile role-players capable of swinging both bat and ball.

"The rules also allowed 12 players, 11 bat or bowl, so it''ll probably leave all-rounders a little bit out of the game, obviously if they''re still in your best 11 they''ll play, but there''s probably not such a great need for an all-rounder now," he said.

He added: "There are probably a few blokes a bit shirty about having this split innings (format), but without trialling it no-one''s going to know what it''s going to throw up, so the only way to go is to try it and see what happens.",

The match was played minus Cricket Australia''s most left-field concept, that of a super-striker batting twice, and Doherty was strong in his disapproval of the idea. (ANI)