US Open: Another win, another record puts Serena in last eight

September 6, 2016

New York, Sep 6: Serena Williams broke through another barrier on Monday, her 308th Grand Slam match win taking her past Roger Federer for the most in major tournaments and into the quarter-finals of the US Open.

Serena 2

"Wow, it's really exciting," Williams said of moving out of a tie with Swiss great Federer for most Grand Slam match wins.

"This is where it all started so it's always so magical out here for me -- 308 sounds pretty good."

Williams was never seriously challenged in a 6-2, 6-3 victory over 52nd-ranked Yaroslava Shvedova as she extended her career record over the Kazakh to 5-0.

In fact, despite the injury fears sparked by the sore shoulder that hampered her at the Rio Olympics she has barely been challenged since arriving at Flushing Meadows, where she claimed the first of her six US Opentitles in 1999.

She has reached the business end of the tournament without dropping a set or indeed even dropping her serve. She has faced just one break point in four matches.

A seventh US Open title would take her past the record she shares with Chris Evert, and would also break the Open Era record she shares with Steffi Graf of 22 Grand Slam crowns.

She'll face Simona Halep for a semi-final berth after the fifth-seeded Romanian dispatched Spain's Carla Suarez Navarro 6-2, 7-5.

Halep, beaten in seven of eight prior encounters with Williams, was already bracing for the challenge.

"She's like the best player in the world. I don't have to be afraid or to have emotions because I have nothing to lose," Halep said. "It's just a huge challenge for me."

Halep will go into the contest against Serena buoyed by a victory over Suarez Navarro, with whom she'd split 10 prior meetings 5-5.

Serving for the match at 5-4 Halep was broken, but she broke back immediately and made no mistake with her second chance.

The tantalizing prospect of a semi-final clash between Williams and her sister Venus evaporated as the elder Williams fell to hard-hitting Czech Karolina Pliskova 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7/3).

Venus was unable to convert her lone match point as Pliskova, serving at 5-4 in the third, saved herself with a forehand volley then held to extend the match.

With another break under her belt Pliskova had a chance to close it out at 6-5, but after surging to a 40-0 lead she lost five straight points as Venus forced the decider.

"In the breaker, I went for a little bit more, but I didn't put the ball in enough," said the 36-year-old American, whose seven Grand Slam titles include two US Opens.

"I went for some aggressive shots, didn't necessarily put them in."

For Pliskova it was a breakthrough win, putting her into a first Grand Slam quarter-final. Despite her entrenched position in the top 20 she had never made it past the third round of a major in 17 prior tries.

No. 1 under threat

Happy to have the discussion of her under-performance on the game's major stages behind her, she remained wary of a possible quarter-final meeting with fourth-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska.

Radwanska closed out fourth-round action against Ana Konjuh, the 18-year-old Croatian who held three match points against the Pole before succumbing in the second round at Wimbledon.

Not only is Radwanska trying to reach the US Open last eight for the first time, she has an outside chance of overtaking Serena Williams atop the world rankings if she can go all the way.

Second-seeded German Angelique Kerber is even better placed to nudge Serena off the summit.

Her run to the quarters means the American must at least reach the final to stay top.

If both Kerber and Serena make the championship match, the American will have to win to extend her reign.

Kerber will try to keep the pressure on when the quarter-finals get underway on Tuesday. She takes on seventh-seeded Italian Roberta Vinci -- who shocked Serena en route to a runner-up finish last year.

Former world number one Caroline Wozniacki takes on Latvian Anastasija Sevastova in a quarter-final between two players on the comeback trail.

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Agencies
January 11,2020

London, Jan 11: Former cricketer Sachin Tendulkar's famous lap around the Wankhede Stadium after the World Cup 2011 win has been nominated in Laureas's list for the most inspiring sporting event in the last twenty years.

The moment featuring Tendulkar has been described as "Carried on the shoulders by a nation".

On his sixth attempt at the World Cup and with India not having won the competition since 1983, Tendulkar finally became a part of the team that lifted the coveted trophy. Carried on the shoulders of the Indian team, he made a lap of honour, shedding tears of joy after the victory was sealed in his home city.

The 2011 World Cup was also the first time, in which a host nation ended up winning the trophy.

Apart from Tendulkar, England's Andrew Flintoff is the only other cricketer to feature in the list. In 2005, England managed to defeat Australia in an Ashes Test, but Flintoff chose to first shake hands with Brett Lee rather than celebrate with his side.

Matthias Steiner (weightlifting), Natalie du Toit (swimming), Sky Brown (skateboarding), Alistair and Jonathan Brownlee (triathlon), Xia Boyu (mountaineering) have been nominated in the list.

Female tennis stars also feature in the list for coming up with an equal play, equal pay campaign. After pressure from Venus Williams and others, Wimbledon announced that female tennis players would receive prize money equal to the men's.

German international footballer Miroslav Klose was playing for Lazio in Italy's Serie A in 2012 against Napoli when he rose for a ball in the early moments of the game.

The ball came spiraling off his hand and skirted into the back of the net and a goal was awarded. While most players would carry on as if nothing had happened, Klose was honest with the referee and admitted that he handled the ball.

As a result, he also finds a place on the list.

The Laureus Sporting Moment Award celebrates the moments where the sport has unified people in the most extraordinary way.

This campaign has shortlisted 20 sporting stories from the last 20 years that have left their mark on the world.

The winner will be decided on the basis of public voting. It has already started, and the final date to cast the vote is February 16.

Finally, the result will be declared on February 17.
With three knock-out rounds, the top-20 moments will be whittled down to ten then five, with the top-five moments going head-to-head.

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News Network
May 14,2020

May 14: Veteran South Africa batsman Faf du Plessis has proposed a two-week isolation period for players before and after the T20 World Cup as a way to stage the event as per schedule later this year.

Like other sports, cricketing action too has come to a complete halt due to the coronavirus pandemic. The fate of the T20 World Cup to be held in Australia in October-November is shrouded in uncertainty.

Talking to Bangladesh ODI captain Tamim Iqbal, du Plessis said travel was going to be an issue despite Australia being less affected by the deadly contagion.

"I am not sure... reading that travelling is going to be an issue for lot of countries and they are talking about December or January. Even if Australia is not affected like other countries, to get people from Bangladesh, South Africa or India where there is more danger, obviously it's a health risk to them," du Plessis said.

"But you can go in before the tournament (for) two weeks isolation and then play the tournament and afterwards two weeks isolation," said the former captain.

Several countries across the globe, including South Africa, Australia and India, have travel restrictions in place and the veteran Proteas batsman joked travelling by boat is not an option.

"But I don't know when South Africa will open their travel ban because we can't go there like old days on boats," du Plessis said.

In March, South Africa's ODI series against India was called off after the first match in view of the pandemic.

The coronavirus outbreak, which originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan, has infected more than 44 lakh people worldwide while causing close to 3 lakh deaths.

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News Network
May 3,2020

New Delhi, May 3: In a startling revelation, India speedster Mohammed Shami has claimed that he thought of committing suicide thrice while battling personal issues a few years ago, forcing his family to keep a watch over him at all times.

He said his family members feared he "might jump" from their 24th floor apartment.

Shami, one of India's leading bowlers in recent years, opened up on his personal and professional life during an Instagram chat with teammate and limited overs squads' vice-captain Rohit Sharma.

"I think if my family had not supported me back then I would have lost my cricket. I thought of committing suicide three times during that period due to severe stress and personal problems," Shami revealed during the session on Saturday.

Now one of the mainstays of Indian bowling attack across formats, the 29-year-old was struggling to focus on his cricket, then.

"I was not thinking about cricket at all. We were living on the 24th floor. They (family) were scared I might jump from the balcony. My brother supported me a lot.

"My 2-3 friends used to stay with me for 24 hours. My parents asked me to focus on cricket to recover from that phase and not think about anything else. I started training then and sweated it out a lot at an academy in Dehradun," Shami said.

In March 2018, Shami's wife Hasin Jahan had accused him of domestic violence and lodged a complaint with the police, following which the India player and his brother were booked under relevant sections.

The upheaval in his personal life forced his employer BCCI to withheld the player's central contracts for a while.

"Rehab was stressful as the same exercises are repeated every day. Then family problems started and I also suffered an accident. The accident happened 10-12 days ahead of the IPL and my personal problems were running high in the media," Shami told Rohit.

Shami said his family stood like a rock with him and the support helped him get back on his feet.

"Then my family explained that every problem has a solution no matter how big the problem. My brother supported me a lot."

Speaking about another painful period in his life after his injury in the 2015 World Cup, Shami said it took him almost 18 months to get back on the field.

"When I got injured in the 2015 World Cup, after that it took me 18 months to fully recover, that was the most painful moment in my life, it was a very stressful period.

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