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WORLD SPORT
Djokovic outlasts
Dimitrov
INDIAN WELLS,
California: Australian
Open champion Novak
Djokovic recovered from
a poor start while third seed Andy
Murray displayed much sharper
form as they both advanced to the
fourth round of the BNP Paribas
Open on Tuesday.
Top seed Djokovic beat Bulgaria’s
Grigor Dimitrov 7-6 6-1 in an errorstrewn
match on the Stadium Court
in hot afternoon conditions at Indian
Wells before Scotsman Murray overcame
Taiwan’s Lu Yen-Hsun 6-3 6-2
in an evening encounter.
Seventh seed Juan Martin Del Potro
of Argentina brushed aside Germany’s
Bjoern Phau 6-2 7-5 while eighthseeded
Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
withstood a fast start by Mardy Fish to
overcome the American 7-6 7-6.
Djokovic came from 2-5 down to
win his opening set 7-4 on the tiebreak,
then broke his opponent’s serve in the
second and sixth games of the second
set to seal victory in just over an hour.
Dimitrov, who at 21 was the youngest
player left in the draw, made four
double faults when serving for the
first set at 5-3 and his challenge then
quickly folded.
Serb Djokovic extended his winning
streak to 20 matches, his last defeat coming
in October to big-serving American
Sam Querrey in the second round of the
ATP Masters 1000 event in Paris.
Intriguingly the pair will meet
again in the last 16 at Indian Wells,
n Sharapova returns a shot against Arruabarrena-Vecino
BARCELONA: Barcelona’s reputation
has been restored.
Already considered by many
to be the best football team in the
world, the Spanish club’s 4-0 rout of
AC Milan in the Champions League
will go a long way to burying the
memories of the two recent losses to
Real Madrid.
Tuesday’s win, which started with
two goals by Lionel Messi, also put
Barcelona into the quarter-finals of the
Champions League – a tournament the
Catalan team has won three times in
Querrey having scraped past Australian
Marinko Matosevic 7-6 6-7 7-5 earlier
in the day.
the last seven seasons.
“Beyond the result and moving on
to the next round, we have returned to
our origins and that is what we must
feel most satisfied about,” Barcelona
defender Javier Mascherano said
yesterday. “The fact that we strung
together some bad games undermined
our confidence and our way of playing.
On Tuesday, our fans went home
knowing that they had seen their team
again.”
Heading into the match at the Camp
Nou, Barcelona had been struggling
n Djokovic
returns a shot to
Dimitrov. Inset,
Murray celebrates
defeating Lu.
Reuters
“I tried to hang in there and stay in
the match,” a relieved Djokovic said
courtside after improving his record
for the year to 15-0. “I started very bad,
very poor.”
World number three Murray was
delighted to gain revenge against Lu,
who beat the Scot in their only previous
meeting, in the first round of the 2008
Beijing Olympics.
“It was a tough match,” Murray said
after breaking his opponent’s serve twice
in each set while also having to battle
hard to hold his own serve early on.
“He started off well. I didn’t serve
particularly well to get myself into
those situations, and then I served well
INDIAN WELLS, California: Former
champion Maria Sharapova raised her
game when it mattered to storm into
the BNP Paribas Open quarter-finals with a 7-5
6-0 victory over Spaniard Lara Arruabarrena-
Vecino on Tuesday.
Australian Open champion Victoria
Azarenka also cruised into the last eight,
pounding Poland’s Urszula Radwanska 6-3 6-1
in a match lasting just under 90 minutes despite
being hampered by a sore ankle.
Fifth seed Petra Kvitova advanced with a
comfortable 6-2 6-3 win over fellow Czech
Klara Zakopalova but third seed Agnieszka
Radwanska of Poland was knocked out, losing
6-1 4-6 7-5 to 13th-seeded Russian Maria
Kirilenko.
Russian world number three Sharapova
won a tight opening set then swept through
the second in only 22 minutes to reach the
quarter-finals at the Indian Wells Tennis
to get myself out of some tough situations.
“He can kind of leave you flat-footed
sometimes, and he certainly did that a
lot in the first set. I knew it was going
to be a tough encounter, so it was good
to win in straight sets.”
U.S. Open champion Murray will
next face Carlos Berlocq of Argentina,
who eased past Japan’s Kei Nishikori
6-2 6-2.
In other matches, Canadian Milos
Raonic fired down 16 aces as he battled
past Croatia’s Marin Cilic 3-6 6-4 6-3
while Germany’s Tommy Haas won a
cliff-hanger against Spaniard Nicolas
Almagro 6-3 6-7 7-6.
Sharapova enters quarters
a bit. The team twice lost to Real
Madrid – once in the Copa del Rey,
once in the Spanish league – and was
also disappointing in a 2-0 loss at
Milan in the first leg of the Champions
League series three weeks ago.
That shocking string of defeats had
many fans and the Spanish media
suddenly asking if Barcelona’s reign
was finally coming to an end. Even
Barcelona defender Dani Alves had
said Monday that Messi appeared
“down” to him and that the team had
lost the “hunger” required to carry out
Garden for a third consecutive year.
The second seed will next meet Italy’s Sara
Errani, a 6-3 6-2 winner against Frenchwoman
Marion Bartoli earlier in the day.
Sharapova had never previously played
against the 20-year-old Arruabarrena-Vecino,
who is ranked 87th in the world and won her
first WTA singles title in Bogota last year.
There were five breaks of serve in an erratic
opening set but the Russian earned the crucial
break in the 11th game when her opponent
pushed a forehand wide.
Sharapova needed three set points before
serving out, then broke Arruabarrena-Vecino’s
serve three more times in the second set to
advance with ease.
Top seed Azarenka, who initially struggled
to find her rhythm before battling past Belgian
Kirsten Flipkens 3-6 6-3 6-0 in the previous
round, broke Radwanska’s serve three times in
the opening set and twice in the second.
its high-intensity pressing on defense.
And all that with Barcelona enjoying
a double-digit lead in the Spanish
league over Madrid and well on its
way to its fourth domestic title in five
seasons.
“What we have done over the past
five years is crazy,” Mascherano said.
“This team is still competitive. That is
what we have to take away from this.”
“Barcelona is the best team in the
world,” Milan coach Massimiliano
Allegri said after his team’s worst loss
since 2010. “Barcelona’s pressure in
Gulf Daily News Thursday, 14th March 201339
Sammy blitz
helps Windies
seize control
BRIDGETOWN,
Barbados: Big-hitting
by West Indies captain
Darren Sammy put his side
in a strong position after they
reached 265 for seven at tea
on the second day of the first
test against Zimbabwe at the
Kensington Oval yesterday.
Sammy hoisted four sixes off
leg spinner Graeme Cremer in
blasting 73 and added 106 for
the seventh wicket with Denesh
Ramdin before being bowled
by Hamilton Masakadza 10
minutes before the interval.
The hosts lead by 54 after
dismissing Zimbabwe for 211
on the first day.
Sammy’s demise came as
his concentration levels began
to wane. He tried to work a
wide delivery from Masakadza
through the covers, but the
inside edge dropped onto his
pad and then the wicket.
At stumps yesterday,
Zimbabwe were 41 for 3 in
the second innings. Earlier,
West Indies were all out for
307 in their first innings.
The only other wicket
Zimbabwe managed in the afternoon
session was Shivnarine
Chanderpaul (26) just after
lunch with the score on 151.
Chris Gayle (40), Darren
Bravo (11) and Marlon Samuels
(51) fell before lunch in what
was an even morning session.
Bravo became Jarvis’ third
victim of the innings when he
edged to Chakabva playing forward
to a full delivery.
Gayle showed typical intent
with a blaze of boundaries, but
became the first Test wicket
for debutant fast-bowler Tendai
Chatara.
Samuels’ excellent recent
form continued as he passed 50
for the 10th time in his last 15
Test innings, but was out the
ball before lunch.
SCOREBOARD AT TEA
Zimbabwe (1st innings) 211
West Indies (1st innings, overnight
18 for 2):
C. Gayle c Taylor b Chatara 40
K. Powell lbw Jarvis 5
K. Roach lbw Jarvis 0
D. Bravo c Chakabva b Jarvis 11
M. Samuels c Chakabva b
Masakadza 51
S. Chanderpaul c Chakabva b
Jarvis 26
D. Ramdin not out 44
D. Sammy b Masakadza 73
S Shillingford not out 1
Extras (b-9, lb-3, w-1, nb-1) 14
Total (for seven wickets) 265
Fall of wickets: 1-8 2-8 3-43 4-81
5-144 6-151 7-257.
Bowling (to date): Jarvis 15-4-
44-4 (1nb 1w), Chatara 17-5-61-1,
Cremer 16-0-97-0, Masakadza 10-2-
25-2, Price 13-2-26-0.
Barcelona restores reputation with Milan comeback
the first half was lethal. They played
a beautiful and fast-paced brand of
football. They deserved to go through
after playing the perfect game.
“Just because they had lost two or
three matches doesn’t mean they had
lost their potential.”
Elimination this early from the
Champions League would have no
doubt provoked a crisis at the club,
which is under constant pressure by
its demanding supporters not only to
always compete for every title, but to
do so with flair and finesse.