Australian Open: Venus Williams crashes out in quarters

January 28, 2015

Australian Open

Melbourne, Jan 28: American teenager Madison Keys overcame a left thigh injury to beat Venus Williams 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 at the Australian Open on Wednesday, ensuring there would be no Williams sisters semifinal.

The 19-year-old Keys will play either Serena Williams or last year’s finalist, Dominika Cibulkova, in Thursday’s semifinal. The Williams sisters last met in a Grand Slam match at Wimbledon in 2009, when Serena won the final.

The semifinalists from the other half of the women’s draw have already been determined No. 2 Maria Sharapova will play No. 10-seeded Ekaterina Makarova on Thursday.

Keys received treatment on her leg after dropping serve in the second set to give Venus Williams a 4-1 lead. After the medical timeout, she came back to break Williams’ serve twice to level the set at 4-all, but Williams then broke her next service game and served out the set, sending it to a decider.

Keys was also behind 3-1 in the final set before breaking Williams’ serve three times in a row to close out the match.

The match featured 12 service breaks, seven won by Keys, and 83 combined unforced errors. Williams had only 10 winners to go with her 38 unforced errors; Keys had 34 winners and 45 unforced errors.

The loss ended an encouraging 10 days for Venus Williams at Melbourne Park. She hadn’t advanced to the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam since the U.S. Open in 2010 and had struggled to recapture her earlier form after being diagnosed with Sjogren’s syndrome, an auto-immune disease that causes fatigue and joint pain.

But Williams is already 9-1 to start the new year after capturing her season-opening tournament in Auckland, New Zealand, before the Australian Open.

“It already feels like a long season already, so many matches in a row,” Williams said. “But it’s a great start. Hopefully I’ll be able to keep this level up.”

Regardless of the quality of the error-strewn match, Keys was pleased to be through to the semis.

“It’s amazing, you just have to embrace the moment,” said Keys, who is now coached by former three-time major winner Lindsay Davenport. “And I get to enjoy another moment next round.”

Keys said the injury was the same one that forced her to retire from her third-round match last year at Wimbledon.

“It was definitely one of those things where it wasn’t nearly as bad as Wimbledon, but it was that nightmare of ‘I don’t want this to happen again,’” she said. “Luckily the pain meds kicked in.”

Two men’s quarterfinals were scheduled later Wednesday defending champion Stan Wawrinka against Kei Nishikori, and No. 1 Novak Djokovic against Milos Raonic in a night match.

Andy Murray and Tomas Berdych are already through to the semis on the other side of the men’s draw.

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Agencies
August 1,2020

Bengaluru, Aug 1: Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Chennai Super Kings (CSK) are aiming to set up their preparatory camp for the 13th edition of the tournament from early August.

This year's IPL was slated to commence from March 29 but the tournament was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Recently, the IPL Governing Council chairman Brijesh Patel had confirmed that the 13th edition of the mega event will commence on September 19 in the UAE.

As per a report in ESPNcricinfo, CSK players have been asked to report to Chennai first, following which they will leave for Dubai via a charter flight only after approval from the Indian government.

The IPL Governing Council will meet on August 2 to finalise the schedule and other key arrangements for the tournament. Also, the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) around securing eight teams for 51 days across three venues will be formally established in that meeting.

CSK, who has the oldest squad in the IPL, are looking for a month's preparation before ahead of the tournament.

Before the coronavirus pandemic, the side was the first team to start their training camp in March. Senior players like Suresh Raina and Ambati Rayudu had begun training their training in December 2019.

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News Network
June 13,2020

New Delhi, Jun 13: West Indies all-rounder Dwayne Bravo has said that wicket-keeper batsman MS Dhoni is the biggest superstar in cricket and is one of the easiest guys to interact with.

Bravo was doing an Instagram live chat with former Zimbabwe pacer Pommie Mbangwa and it was then that the all-rounder was asked to talk about his stint with Chennai Super Kings (CSK).

"I think a lot of credit for CSK's success has to be given to Dhoni and Fleming, obviously the owners, they trust both Fleming and Dhoni, so there is no outside interference when it comes to decision making, both are very big students of the game, players love MS and it's an environment and franchise that allows you to be you," Bravo told Mbangwa during the chat.

"MS Dhoni is the biggest superstar in cricket and in our team. He was one of the easiest people to interact with, outside of the cricket field, he is like playing video games, his door is open at all times, whenever you talk about the biggest superstar and then you think a person like Dhoni is the most humble of them all. CSK is a special team and we have the most loyal fans," he added.

Bravo has been with the CSK since 2011. He has played a total of 104 matches for the franchise, picking up 121 wickets.

The all-rounder has also managed to win the Purple Cap (most wickets in IPL) two times (2013 and 2015).

CSK has won the IPL thrice (2010, 2011 and 2018) and all the titles have come under the leadership of MS Dhoni.

Thirty-eight-year-old Dhoni has been currently enjoying some time away from the game. He last played competitive cricket during the 2019 World Cup.

Dhoni had to face criticism for his slow batting approach during India's matches in the high-profile game.

This year, Dhoni did not find a place for himself in the BCCI's centrally contracted players list.

The board had released the list of central contract list of players for the period from October 2019 to September 2020.

Dhoni is the only captain to win all major ICC trophies (50-over World Cup, T20 World Cup, and Champions Trophy).

Under his leadership, India also managed to attain the number one ranking in Test cricket.

He would have been leading the Chennai Super Kings (CSK) if the Indian Premier League (IPL) had commenced from March 29.

However, the tournament has been postponed indefinitely due to the coronavirus pandemic.

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News Network
May 30,2020

St John's, May 30: The Cricket West Indies (CWI) on Saturday announced a temporary 50 per cent reduction in salaries and cricket funding across the entire regional cricket system, effective from the start of July due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic which resulted in the suspension of all the cricketing activities across the globe since March.

"This decision has been necessary in the face of debilitating economic challenges which have resulted from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. With no international cricket currently being played anywhere in the world, and with great uncertainty of when regular cricket activity will resume, CWI - like many other international sporting organisations worldwide - is facing a significant loss of income, whilst also being uncertain of the long-term impact of the crisis on our operations," the CWI said in a statement.

During Thursday's teleconference, CWI's Board of Directors received recommendations from the Financial Strategy Advisory Committee (FSAC). The FSAC was formed in April by CWI president Ricky Skerritt, to make recommendations on how CWI could best manage its resources in order to continue its core business over the next few months in view of the changing and uncertain economic environment created by the global pandemic COVID-19. These recommended measures followed close consultation with all stakeholders.

"Cricket is the beating heart of our region for many individuals, communities, and economies. This pandemic is hurting every West Indian and this decision to cut staff and player incomes has been a very difficult one to make; one that will impact so many members of the cricketing family around the Caribbean," Skerritt said.

"This business continuity plan, unfortunately, requires all stakeholders to make a huge sacrifice, but I am confident that it won't be long before CWI will be in a position to ensure that the sport we love can restart and be enjoyed once again by the thousands of cricket fans across the region and diaspora," he added.

CWI has kept staff, players, umpires and coaches on full-pay since the outbreak of COVID-19 and have tried our best to avoid any cuts for as long as possible. CWI hopes that these temporary measures will only be in place for not more than three to six months. These measures will also include a 50 per cent reduction in funding for Territorial Boards, Territorial Board Franchises and WIPA, as well as a 50 per cent cut in all retainers and allowances for Directors and Executive management.

Earlier in the day, CWI gave its approval for a 'bio-secure' Test tour to England.

West Indies were first slated to play three Tests against England in June, but the original starting date of the series was pushed due to the coronavirus pandemic. The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) is looking to go ahead with the series against West Indies in July and then the Three Lions will play three Tests against Pakistan.

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