Federer beats Nadal to enter Wimbledon final

Agencies
July 13, 2019

London, Jul 13: Roger Federer reached his 12th Wimbledon final on Friday, defeating old rival Rafael Nadal, 11 years after the Spaniard triumphed in their epic 2008 title showdown at the All England Club, a match widely regarded as the greatest ever played.

The 37-year-old eight-time champion won 7-6 (7/3), 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the pair's 40th career meeting to move into his 31st Grand Slam final where he will face defending champion Novak Djokovic.

Top seed and four-time winner Djokovic reached his sixth Wimbledon final, and 25th at the majors, with a nervy 6-2, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 triumph over Spain's 23rd seed Roberto Bautista Agut.

"I'm exhausted, it was tough at the end. Rafa played some unbelievable shots to stay in the match, it was a very high level," said Federer.

"The battles with Rafa are always special. The biggest points went my way, there were some tight ones in the long rallies."

Federer is the third oldest man ever to play in a Grand Slam final after 39-year-old Ken Rosewall featured in the 1974 Wimbledon and US Open finals.

However, he will have his work cut out on Sunday if he is to secure a 21st major title as he trails 15-time Slam winner Djokovic 25-22 in career meetings.

"Novak is the defending champion and he has shown that this week," added Federer.

"He has been really solid. I will try and push him to the brink but it will be difficult as it's not for nothing that he is number one.

"But I am very very excited to say the least."

Friday's semi-final was never likely to match the knife-edge theatrics of the 2008 final although Federer needed five match points to secure victory.

Federer will not mind with his win coming just a month after Nadal handed him his worst loss at a Slam in 11 years in the Roland Garros semi-finals.

In a tight 51-minute opener, Nadal managed to save the only break point in the eighth game before surrendering the advantage of an early mini-break in the tie-breaker which Federer claimed thanks to five points in a row.

The Spaniard finally carved out the first break of the semi-final in the fourth game of the second set, backing it up with a hold for 4-1.

Nadal then broke again for 5-1 as Federer suffered a sudden and severe power outage with the two-time champion comfortable levelling the contest.

Federer, the oldest semi-finalist in a Grand Slam semi-final since Jimmy Connors at the 1991 US Open, broke Nadal for the first time in the fourth game of the third set.

He then fought off three break points for a key 4-1 lead, coming out on top in a 23-shot rally and then a 25-stroke exchange.

There was no respite for Nadal, an 18-time Slam winner, who slipped a break down at 2-1 in the fourth.

Nadal saved two match points in the ninth game and two more in the 10th but a loose return sealed his fate.

Federer finished with 14 aces and 51 winners.

Djokovic, meanwhile, will be looking to add another Wimbledon title to the Australian and US Open crowns he already holds.

"This has been a remarkable tournament for me and to be in another final is a dream come true," said the top seed.

"I had to dig deep, Roberto was playing his first semi-final at a Grand Slam and he was not really overwhelmed.

"It was a really close opening four to five games of the third set that could have gone either way -- thankfully it went mine."

Djokovic swept through the first set with breaks in the second and eighth games.

It seemed certain that Djokovic was going to spend a lot less time on court in this semi-final compared to 12 months ago when he needed five sets and five hours and 15 minutes to beat Nadal.

However, Bautista Agut, who had already defeated the Serb twice this year, eventually settled and broke for 2-1 in the second set.

Djokovic fought off two break points, via a 23-shot rally, in the fifth game.

But the 31-year-old Bautista Agut held his nerve to eventually level the semi-final at 6-4 off a fortuitous net cord.

Djokovic, increasingly irritated by a restless crowd, broke for 4-2 in the third set and held for 5-2 off the back of a lung-busting 45-shot rally.

The set was secured, ironically off another net cord which fell this time in the Serb's favour.

Bautista Agut, who had planned to be in Ibiza this week for his stag party, fought off break points in the opening game of the fourth set.

But Djokovic was relentless and tightened his grip, breaking twice for a 4-1 lead, and eventually claimed victory on a fifth match point.

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News Network
March 11,2020

Mar 11: In a bid to keep its flock together, the crisis-hit Madhya Pradesh Congress has decided to shift its 92 MLAs either to Jaipur or some other place.

The move comes after 22 Congress MLAs loyal to former Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia resigned on Tuesday, pushing the 15-month-old Kamal Nath government to the brink of collapse.

"We are going to take our 92 MLAs and those supporting our Madhya Pradesh government to a hotel," a senior Congress leader said on Wednesday.

The legislators would be taken either to Jaipur or some other Congress-ruled state like Chhattisgarh, a party source said.

Apart from its own MLAs, the Congress is also keeping a close watch on four Independents who are supporting the party-led state government.

On Tuesday, 22 Congress MLAs from Madhya Pradesh resigned soon after Scindia quit the party.

The development reduced the Congress government in the state to minority.

The state Congress unit is now making all efforts to save the Kamal Nath-led government.

The BJP on Tuesday night shifted its MLAs to Manesar at Gurugram in Haryana, sources in the saffron party said.

The Congress, whose tally before the rebellion was 114, has a wafer-thin majority in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly whose current effective strength is 228.

It also has the support of four Independents, two BSP legislators and one SP MLA, but some of them are now likely to switch sides to the BJP.

The BJP has 107 seats in the state Assembly.

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Agencies
January 11,2020

New Delhi, Jan 11: Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram on Friday said that he has never seen innocents like the Indian people, who believe the claims made by the government on the implementation of its programmes. The former Union Minister, addressing a literary event, said, "I have never seen innocents like the Indian people. If something appears on print (and named two newspapers also), we believe it. We believe anything."

Claims like all villages having been electrified in the country and toilets built for 99 per cent of families in India were being believed, he said.

Similar was the case of the Ayushman Bharat scheme, (Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana or PM-JAY is a flagship health care scheme of the Centre), he alleged.

Stating that his Delhi-based driver's father had to get a surgery done under the scheme, he said, however, it could not be performed.

"I asked him (car driver) if he had the Ayushman card and he showed a card and I told him to take it (to hospital). In hospital after hospital, they said they were not aware of anything like that (Ayushman scheme). But we believe that the Ayushman scheme has come to the whole of India," he said.

Further, he said "we believe that for any disease, treatment will be done (indicating the Ayushman scheme) without shelling out money. We are being innocents."

Many news items and data were contrary to the truth, he added.

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News Network
February 10,2020

Potchefstroom, Feb 10: India's under-19 cricket team manager Anil Patel says the ICC has taken a serious view of the aggressive celebrations by Bangladesh players after their World Cup triumph and will be reviewing the footage of the final game's "last few minutes".

Some Bangladeshi players got carried away while celebrating their historic three-wicket win over India in the final on Sunday. While their captain Akbar Ali apologised for the "unfortunate incident", his Indian counterpart Priyam Garg said their reaction was "dirty".

"We don't know what actually happened," Patel told 'ESPNCricinfo' on Sunday.

"Everybody was in a shock, absolutely, but we don't know what happened exactly. The ICC officials are going to watch the footage of the last few minutes and they are going to let us know," he said.

Even when the match was on, the Bangladesh players were overly aggressive while fielding and their lead pacer Shoriful Islam sledged the Indian batsmen after every delivery.

As soon as the match ended, it became tense with Bangladeshi players rushing to the ground and displaying aggressive body language. The two teams nearly came to blows before the situation was defused by the coaching staff and on-field officials.

Patel claimed that match referee Graeme Labrooy met him and expressed regret at what transpired on the field.

"The referee came to me. He was sorry about the incident. He clarified the ICC is going to take very seriously what has happened during the match and the last session. They are going to witness the footage and they will tell us in the morning (Monday)."

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