Australian Open: Serena overpowers Sharapova to win 19th Grand Slam title

February 1, 2015

Feb 1: American top seed Serena Williams won her sixth Australian Open and 19th career Grand Slam title on Saturday with a 6-3, 7-6 (7/5) victory over Russia's Maria Sharapova.

Australian Open

The triumph means the world number one overtakes 18-time major champions Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert to go a clear second on the all-time Open-era winners' list, three behind Steffi Graf on 22.

It also extends her staggering decade-long dominance of arch rival Sharapova, with the world number one posting her 16th straight victory over the Russian.

At 33, she also became the oldest woman to win the title in the Open-era, taking her tally at Melbourne Park to six titles in six appearances in the final.

Contesting her 23rd Slam final, she surpassed Navratilova and Evert as she chases Graf's Open-era record of 22. Australia's Margaret Court, who played many of her match before the Open-era, has 24 titles.

The first Australian final in a decade to feature the tournament's top two seeds was a one-sided affair in the first set although Sharapova rallied to make a contest of it in the second.

An intensely focused Williams outgunned Sharapova, cannoning down 18 aces, including a 203 kmh (166 mph) thunderbolt and glaring at her opponent during key moments as Sharapova struggled to stay in the march.

Sharapova made a disastrous start when she double faulted to go down a break in the opening game, succumbing to pressure as Williams aggressively stood inside the baseline and easily read the Russian's intent.

The American then pounced on a tentative return from Sharapova in the next game to hold serve after swatting a pin-point backhand to the corner of the court.

Sharapova, wary of getting into a slugfest with the game's most powerful hitter, surprised Williams by throwing occasional drop shots into the mix, successfully holding serve.

Heavy rain interrupted play at 3-2, with Williams taking shelter and towelling down as the roof was closed, while Sharapova sat courtside then performed warm-up exercises.

Williams emerged briefly but went back inside after suffering a coughing fit before the match finally resumed after 13 minutes.

The American showed no sign of losing momentum though, blasting an ace with her first shot and then capitalising after Sharapova gave her three break points with another double fault.

Williams committed a double fault of her own to hand Sharapova a break against the run of play but immediately broke back to take the set after 47 minutes.

With the final threatening to become a massacre, Sharapova's fighting qualities emerged in the second set, with her serve improved as she held twice early, jubilantly fist pumping each time.

She started taking chances attacking Williams' serve but the American simply got herself out of trouble with three aces.

Sharapova battled to a rare break point in the ninth game but hit her forehand wide after failing to handle the blistering power of Williams' return.

She had to hold serving with Williams up 5-4, holding off championship point with a desperate forehand down the line.

Finally gaining confidence, she held Williams to love in her next service game to take it to a tie-break.

She managed to fend off another championship at 6-5 then Williams thought she had sealed the win with an ace, giving a wry grin when the umpire called let.

She slotted home another ace to seal the tournament, waiting for the umpire's call this time before jumping for joy.

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News Network
July 14,2020

New Delhi, Jul 14: Indian bowler Bhuvneshwar Kumar, who features in the list of A category players released by BCCI, has revealed his first-ever paycheck.

Bhuvneshwar was participating in a question and answer session on Twitter where he gave his take on fans' queries.

The 30-year-old bowler was asked about his first paycheck by a fan and Bhuvneshwar responded by saying, "It was for Rs 3000. I shopped and still managed to saved some."

During the question and answer session Bhuvneshwar picked Barcelona striker Lionel Messi over Juventus star Cristiano Ronaldo.

The right-arm bowler also revealed that football and badminton are his favourite sports other than cricket.

Earlier this year, Bhuvneshwar was named in the list A category of players. BCCI had released the list of centrally contracted players for the period from October 2019 to September 2020. Annually, A category players get Rs 5 crore.

The right-arm bowler would have been in action for Sunrisers Hyderabad if the Indian Premier League (IPL) had commenced from March 29. However, the tournament was postponed indefinitely due to the coronavirus pandemic.

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News Network
June 20,2020

Dhaka, Jun 20: Former Bangladesh skipper Mashrafe Mortaza on Saturday tested positive for coronavirus.

The skipper had gone for a coronavirus Test last week, and now his reports have come back as positive, ESPNCricinfo reported.

As per a report in ESPNCricinfo, it is not known how Mortaza contracted the virus.

Mashrafe, also a member of the parliament from Narail 2 constituency, had stepped down as the ODI captain of the country in March this year.

Covid-19 cases have crossed 1,00,000 mark in Bangladesh and the government is now planning area-wise lockdown.

Bangladesh was slated to face Sri Lanka in July in a three-Test series and the side would have later hosted New Zealand in August, but both series look unlikely now.

The Asia Cup, scheduled for September, is also uncertain due to the coronavirus.

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February 29,2020

Melbourne, Feb 29: India skipper Harmanpreet Kaur on Saturday said the team management has given Shafali Verma the freedom to play her natural game, which has set the Women's T20 World Cup ablaze.

The 16-year-old announced her emergence on the global stage by becoming the second highest run getter in the ongoing tournament. She has so far scored 161 runs, hitting 18 fours and nine sixes in four matches at an astounding strike rate of 161.

On Saturday, Shafali hit a 34-ball 47 to steer India to a seven-wicket victory over Sri Lanka after spinner Radha Yadav produced a career-best 4/23.

"Shafali is someone who loves to play big shots, and we don't want to stop her. She should continue doing the same and she should continue enjoying her game," Harmanpreet said after the match.

India entered the semifinals with an all-win record as they led Group A with eight points from four games and the captain insisted it is important to continue the winning momentum.

"It's really important to keep the momentum when you are winning games. You really work hard, so you can't afford to lose that momentum. You can't bowl same pace and lengths on these wickets, so you need to keep rotating the bowlers."

"Today I tried to be positive and got a few boundaries. In the upcoming games I'll try to give my best," Harmanpreet said.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka skipper Chamari Atapattu rued the reprieves given by her side to Shafali in the form of two dropped catches.

"I think that score was not enough, we lost couple of chances, specially Shafali, it was hard to stop her," she said.

"Yeah, I got a good start but unfortunately got out in the 10th, would have wanted to stay in there till the 16th or the 17th over. I hope we can beat Bangladesh in our last game," she added.

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