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Maria Sharapova proud of 'amazing' clay victory

June 8, 2014

Maria SharapovaParis, Jun 8: The Russian, 27, beat Romania's Simona Halep 6-4 6-7 (5-7) 6-4 in just over three hours at Roland Garros.

"I didn't grow up on clay; didn't play on it," she said. "I just took it upon myself to make myself better on it.

"There is no one else that was going to do that for me. I had to do the work and I worked to get to this position."

Sharapova won Wimbledon aged 17 and within four years had added the US Open and Australian Open titles, but in her early years she famously described her movement on clay as being "like a cow on ice".

"You can't go out there and just do it without putting in the effort, putting in the work," she added.

"You're not just born being a natural clay court player. OK, maybe if you're Rafael Nadal, but certainly not me.

"It's really amazing. There is no substitute to these titles."

Sharapova missed the second half of 2013 with a shoulder injury and will move back up to fifth in the rankings next week, with no points to defend for the rest of the year after Wimbledon.

Halep had been hoping to cap a remarkable 12 months that has seen her rise from outside the top 50 to a new high of three in the world next week.

The 22-year-old broke down in tears at the end of the final, but was soon able to reflect on a breakthrough fortnight in the French capital.

"I was crying at that moment for a few minutes, and then I was smiling," she said.

"Because it was my first Grand Slam final I have to be happy, to smile, because I did everything on court.

"I played very good tennis, so I'm really proud about these two weeks."

Sharapova was warned for her pace of play between serves in the final set, a feature of her matches over the fortnight, but Halep played it down.

"It's her style and I don't want to say anything about this," said the Romanian.

"It's normal. She does this always, for me it wasn't too bad, but sometimes I felt a little bit nervous during that moments."

Sharapova, who also won the French Open in 2012, said: "I think the rules are a bit different at the Grand Slams, and I might have to speed it up a bit at these tournaments."

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Agencies
August 3,2020

Silverstone, Aug 2: Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton on Sunday won his seventh British Grand Prix title after a dramatic last-lap at the Silverstone Circuit.

Hamilton and teammate Valtteri Bottas were at the first and second spot respectively until tyre drama struck.

Second-placed man Bottas was the first to suffer as his tyre deflated on lap 50, resulting in 11th place finish. Hamilton also suffered a similar issue before the final few seconds of the race.

However, with Max Verstappen having opted to pit a few laps from the end to try and claim the fastest lap, Hamilton had enough time in hand to just cross the line first, five seconds ahead of Verstappen and the third-placed Ferrari of Charles Leclerc.

McLaren's Carlos Sainz had been set to finish fourth, but his own last lap tyre issue saw him eventually come home P13, allowing Renault's Daniel Ricciardo to claim fourth, following a late pass on the sister McLaren of Lando Norris.

Renault's Esteban Ocon finished sixth, having enjoyed a race-long battle with Lance Stroll's Racing Point, with Pierre Gasly having enjoyed a fine race to finish seventh for AlphaTauri.

Alex Albon finished eighth for Red Bull, having recovered from a lap 1 tussle with the Haas of Kevin Magnussen that saw him fall to last, while Lance Stroll and Sebastian Vettel rounded out the top 10, Vettel holding off a late charge form the recovering Mercedes of Bottas.

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News Network
February 22,2020

Sydney, Feb 22: India's demolition of a formidable Australia in the Women's T20 World Cup opener will give them a huge boost going forward, said star batswoman Mithali Raj, who also lauded leggie Poonam Yadav for her magical performance.

Poonam took four for 19 to help India complete a 17-run victory against defending champions Australia on Friday.

"Everyone has been talking about how much batting depth Australia have, yet they couldn't chase 132," Raj, a former India Test and ODI captain, said in an ICC release.

"India will take so much confidence from that victory, but this World Cup is still very open. The match between Australia and India proved how competitive the tournament will be. It proves it does not matter where you stand in the ICC rankings.

"We will be seeing more of the same drama yet. This victory proves every team has a chance," said Raj, who has retired from T20 cricket.

The 37-year-old veteran batswoman said "the opening match definitely lived up to the hype of the tournament".

"It was a whirlwind. There were so many ups and downs. It was a great start to the tournament not only because India beat the defending champions on home soil, but also because of how the game progressed altogether.

"At no point could you say it was going in one side's favour. First we saw our early wickets fall, then we recovered and Australia had to chase 132 before their middle-order collapsed. India and Australia both took the game their own way at different points which made it fascinating for spectators to watch."

Raj said Poonam's spell was the turning point.

"She's been one of the main spinners for India for quite some time now, and her style worked again. Getting their (Australia's) middle-order out really titled the match towards India, she was brilliant.

"Although we recovered our innings through Deepti Sharma and her partnership with Jemimah Rodrigues, it was Poonam's flurry of wickets against Australia's megastars, which completely changed the game," Raj said.

Raj also praised 16-year-old Shafali Verma for scoring 29 off 15 on her World Cup debut.

"Shafali Verma impressed me too on her debut. She gave India's middle order the cushioning they needed to regain momentum. Verma has stuck with stroke play that she demonstrated in the tri-series," she said.

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Agencies
January 19,2020

Bengaluru, Jan 19: Opening batsman Rohit Sharma on Sunday became the third-fastest batsman to register 9,000 runs in the 50-over format.

He achieved the feat in the ongoing third ODI against Australia here at the M.Chinnaswamy Stadium.

Only Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers have achieved the feat faster than Rohit.

Sharma brought up the milestone in the first over of the Indian innings as he clipped Mitchell Starc away for a single.

With this, the right-handed batsman has become just the sixth Indian to achieve the milestone.

Apart from Sharma, Virat Kohli, MS Dhoni, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid, and Sachin Tendulkar have more than 9,000 runs in the 50-over format.

Overall, 20 batsmen have more than 9,000 ODI runs to their name.

In the match between India and Australia, the former won the toss and elected to bat first.

Steve Smith played a knock of 131 runs to propel Australia to 286/9 in the allotted fifty overs.

 

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