Wimbledon 2016: Novak Djokovic crashes out against Sam Querrey; Andy Murray cruises into last 16

July 3, 2016

London, Jul 3: Two-time defending champion Novak Djokovic was sent crashing out of Wimbledon by big-serving Sam Querrey on Saturday, shattering his dreams of securing the first calendar Grand Slam in 47 years.

wimbThe world number one, bidding for a fourth Wimbledon title and 13th major, suffered his earliest loss at a Slam since the 2009 French Open.

The 7-6 (8/6), 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 (7/5) third round defeat also ended Djokovic's Open era record run of 30 successive wins at the majors and his streak of having reached 28 consecutive Grand Slam quarter-finals.

"Sam played a great match. His game was brutal and I was overpowered," said the Serb, who added that he "wasn't 100 percent healthy".

Djokovic, who completed a career Grand Slam at the French Open, refused to dwell on failing to become the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to win a calendar Grand Slam having won in Melbourne and Paris already this year.

"I managed to win four Grand Slams in a row. I want to try to focus on that rather than on failure," he added.

"Coming into Wimbledon, I knew that mentally it's not going to be easy to kind of remotivate myself."

Djokovic added that he would not be playing in the Davis Cup quarter-final against Andy Murray's Great Britain in Belgrade in two weeks' time.

Fate sealed

America's Querrey, the world number 41, built only his second win in 10 meetings with Djokovic on an epic-serving performance over two days after the tie had been suspended with him two sets to the good on Friday.

The 28-year-old sent down 31 aces — 15 in the fourth set alone — and saved 14 of 17 break points while unleashing 56 winners.

His reward is a last-16 clash with 34-year-old Frenchman Nicolas Mahut.

"It's incredible, especially to do it here at Wimbledon. I'm so ecstatic right now and so happy," said Querrey.

Rain had saved 29-year-old Djokovic on Friday. On the resumption Saturday, the US, Australian and French Open champion took the third set 6-3.

In the fourth, he squandered 11 break points before finally breaking through at the 12th time of asking for a 5-4 lead.

But he couldn't convert with the American hitting straight back for 5-5 and holding for 6-5 when the rain returned to cause a second suspension of the day on Court One.

Djokovic served to take the set into the tiebreak and was ahead at 2/0 and 4/3 but Querrey clawed his way to two match points.

The top seed saved the first, but ballooned a forehand wide and his fate was sealed.

Murray cruises through

Djokovic's defeat was good news for second seed Murray who lost to his long-time rival in the Australian and French Open finals this year.

The 2013 champion responded by making the last-16 with a 6-3, 7-5, 6-2 victory over Australia's John Millman under the Centre Court roof.

"What Novak's done in the last 18 months, I don't think we'll see again for a long time. The level of consistency he's had is amazing, but it's impossible to win every match," said Murray.

Murray will play Australian 15th seed Nick Kyrgios or Spain's Feliciano Lopez for a place in the quarter-finals.

That tie was suspended due to bad light at one set apiece.

Japanese fifth seed Kei Nishikori beat Andrey Kuznetsov 7-5, 6-3, 7-5 to set up a last-16 clash with Marin Cilic, the Croatian ninth seed who eased past Lukas Lacko of Slovakia 6-3, 6-3, 6-4.

That will be a repeat of the 2014 US Open final won by Cilic.

In-form American Steve Johnson reached the fourth round of a major for the first time by defeating former semi-finalist Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria 6-7 (6/8), 7-6 (7/3), 6-4, 6-2.

The world number 29 faces seven-time champion Roger Federer for a place in the last-eight.

Canadian sixth seed Milos Raonic, a 2014 semi-finalist, defeated America's Jack Sock 7-6 (7/2), 6-4, 7-6 (7/1) and next faces Belgium's David Goffin.

Due to the rain-hit first week, two-time champion Petra Kvitova only finished her second round match at 5.30 pm (1630 GMT).

The Czech 10th seed, with 43 unforced errors, lost 7-5, 7-6 (7/5) to Russia's Ekaterina Makarova.

Third seed Agnieszka Radwanska, the 2012 runner-up, enjoyed a 6-3, 6-1 win over Katerina Siniakova and next plays Dominika Cibulkova, the 19th seed from Slovakia.

German fourth seed and Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber also reached the last-16 with a 7-6 (13/11), 6-1 win over compatriot Carian Witthoeft.

A semi-finalist in 2012, Kerber will next face Japan's Misaki Doi.

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News Network
July 21,2020

Jul 21: The tickets sold for the now-postponed ICC T20 World Cup will remain valid if Australia hosts the edition in 2021 instead of India.

In case the event is shifted to 2022, all ticket-holders will be entitled to a full refund, the ICC stated on its website on Monday night after postponing the mega-event this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The tournament was to be held in October-November but will now be conducted later because of the pandemic.

The ICC has not yet announced which country will host which edition as there are operational issues that both the Indian and Australian cricket Boards need to sort out.

The world body had opened ticket booking through its ticketing partners and a significant number was already sold.

"Ticket holders are welcome to retain their tickets, noting, if Australia hosts in 2021, tickets will remain valid for fans who have already bought and will be automatically updated to reflect the new dates.

"If Australia hosts in 2022, for tickets already bought a full refund will be processed automatically," ICC stated in a series of FAQs.

Fans can retain their tickets until a date is confirmed for the event.

Refund requests can be made until December 15 and they will be processed within 30 days after an online submission.

The hospitality package will also remain valid for the 2021 fixtures.

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News Network
March 2,2020

Madrid, Mar 2: Real Madrid won El Clasico and might have saved their season as they ended their slump in the best way possible last night by beating Barcelona 2-0 and returning to the top of La Liga.

Vinicius Junior's deflected finish and a stoppage-time goal from Mariano Diaz decided a frenzied contest at the Santiago Bernabeu, where Madrid found new life after a Champions League defeat by Manchester City had left them on the brink of crisis.

"It's been a tough week," said Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane. "We talked about how we had an opportunity this weekend and we took it."

Victory put them one point clear at the top of the table and shifts focus back to Quique Setien's Barcelona, who were outfought and, at times, outplayed.

"The reality is we lost a lot of confidence with the ball," said Setien. "We entered a nervous spell and that's when the goal came."

Lionel Messi's rasping shot was saved by Real goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois in the first half but it was the Argentine's opposing captain, Sergio Ramos, who was thrashing his arms in celebration after the final whistle.

His reaction was an indication of the importance of this victory, not only for the effect it has on the standings but on the dynamic of the title race, which had seemed to be switching firmly in favour of Barca.

Opportunity missed

Cristiano Ronaldo, now of Juventus, was watching from an executive box and Madrid could have done with him during a period in which they had won only one of their last five games.

Zidane said on Saturday this match would not decide who lifted the trophy in May but a Barca win and a five-point gap might well have been difficult to close.

Yet from the start Barcelona seemed keener to kill the game than win it, playing for time in the hope of keeping the contest tight, when they might have been better off attacking their opponents' fragility.

The Madrid we faced in the first half was one of the worst Madrids I have faced at the Bernabeu. I don't say it as a criticism, we also have our problems, but we've missed an opportunity.

--Gerard Pique, Barcelona defender

There was more tension than creativity in the early stages as Fede Valverde crashed into Arthur Melo before fellow Spain full-backs Dani Carvajal and Jordi Alba were both booked after a disagreement.

Madrid had the better of the play and regularly broke at speed through Vinicius down the left but constantly they failed to make the final pass, with Isco once left with his head in his hands after Marcelo opted not to pull the ball back.

Slow Barca

Barcelona's passing was slow and their lack of urgency obvious. At one point Messi bent to tie his bootlaces and re-spotted the ball before taking a corner.

But the visitors also created chances as Antoine Griezmann drove over from Alba's cutback and then Madrid had Courtois to thank for two excellent saves.

First, Arthur held off Toni Kroos to go clear but his finish was blocked by teh foot of Courtois and then the Belgian palmed away Messi's shot after he had skipped in behind Madrid's defence.

Ramos was lucky to get away with an error that allowed Nelson Semedo to break past him while Alba risked a second yellow when he checked Valverde but referee Mateu Lahoz was unmoved.

Barcelona were sloppy after half-time and Madrid should have capitalised. Instead, Isco's header beat Marc-Andre ter Stegen but not Pique on the line and Karim Benzema volleyed over after a sloppy pass from Arturo Vidal.

Vidal was replaced by Martin Braithwaite, Barca's emergency signing, and he sprinted in behind Marcelo twice in his first minute.

But Madrid remained in the ascendancy and in the 71st minute they took the lead.

Benzema came short and pointed right to encourage Vinicius to run in behind. Kroos found him and Vinicius's shot deflected off the sliding Pique to beat Ter Stegen at his near post.

The game opened up as Barcelona chased an equaliser. Marcelo celebrated when Messi's surge through was stopped by Raphael Varane. Pique headed Messi's cross over at the near post. Messi picked up a yellow card for a frustrated slide on Casemiro.

In injury time, Ter Stegen ventured up for a late free-kick but it was Madrid that struck again. Mariano sped past Semedo and finished from the angle.

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Agencies
January 5,2020

Mumbai, Jan 5: All-rounder Irfan Pathan on Saturday announced his retirement from all forms of cricket, ending an injury-ridden career that prevented him from realising his true potential.

The 35-year-old's retirement was on expected lines, considering he last played a competitive game in February 2019 during the Syed Mushtaq Ali trophy for Jammu and Kashmir.

He did not even put himself in the IPL auction pool, last month.

The left-arm seamer's bowling was like a breath of fresh air when he made his India debut against Australia at the Adelaide Oval in 2003.

He never had express pace but his natural ability to swing the ball into the right-handers got him instant success, also drawing comparisons with the great Kapil Dev.

It seemed India had found the all-rounder they were looking for since Kapil left the scene. Pathan, who last played for India in October 2012, featured in 29 Tests (1105 runs and 100 wickets), 120 ODIs (1544 runs and 173 wickets) and 24 T20 Internationals (172 runs and 28 wickets).

He was part of the victorious Indian team at the 2007 World Twenty20 and was the man-of-the-match in the final against Pakistan.

One of his best performances came on the tour of Pakistan in 2006 when he became the second Indian after Harbhajan Singh to take a Test hat-trick, removing Salman Butt, Younis Khan and Mohammad Yusuf during the Karachi game.

He also played a big role in India winning a Test match against Australia on a tough Perth wicket, which offered steep bounce.

Injuries and lack of form troubled him thereafter and his ability to swing the ball deteriorated.

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