Madrid: Real Madrid decided against holding their traditional pre-match news conference on Friday in an apparent attempt to defuse the war of words between coach Jose Mourinho and members of his squad. The nine-times European champions visit Espanyol on Saturday when a failure to win would gift leaders Barcelona their fourth La Liga title in five years. Even if they do triumph, Barca only need two more points to secure...
06:19 PM, May 10, 2013
Madrid: Top-ranked Serena Williams outlasted Anabel Medina Garrigues 6-3, 0-6, 7-5 to reach the Madrid Open semi-finals on Friday. Williams appeared to wear down against the scrappy Spaniard on the red clay court, and after getting blanked in the second set she fell behind 4-2 in the decider. But the defending champion rallied back to break Medina Garrigues' serve twice to move on. "It was definitely a battle," Williams said....
05:36 PM, May 10, 2013
Madrid: The Indian pair of Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna entered the quarter-finals of the men's doubles event while Leander Paes and Sania Mirza made exit with their respective partners at the Madrid Open, on Thursday. The sixth-seeded pair of Bhupathi and Bopanna defeated Argentine pair of Juan Monaco and Horacio Zeballos 6-3 3-6 10-5 in a hard-fough contest to make it to the last eight of the competition, which...
10:57 AM, May 10, 2013
Madrid: Real Madrid have stubbornly refused to capitulate in recent weeks but La Liga leaders Barcelona finally have their fate in their own hands and can secure a 22nd La Liga crown with victory at Atletico Madrid on Sunday. Barca need two points from their remaining four matches to wrest the title back from their arch rivals, who have played a game more and need to win at Espanyol on...
10:21 AM, May 10, 2013
Madrid: Roger Federer vowed to get straight back on the practice court after the world number two was dumped out in the third round of the Madrid Open by Japan's Kei Nishikori on Thursday. Defending champion at the clay Masters event in the Spanish capital, Federer was playing his first tournament after a seven-week rest following defeat to Rafael Nadal in the quarter-finals at Indian Wells. The 31-year-old Swiss is...
09:15 AM, May 10, 2013
New Delhi: The Supreme Court will take up Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt's review petition on Friday. Dutt had sought a review of the March 21 judgement upholding his conviction and five years jail in 1993 Bombay serial blasts case. A bench of P Sathasivam and BS Chauhan, which had delivered March 21 verdict, will take up the review plea in chamber. It will also consider similar pleas made by other...
08:46 AM, May 10, 2013
Madrid: Second-ranked Roger Federer was ousted by Kei Nishikori of Japan 6-4, 1-6, 6-2 in the third round of the Madrid Open on Thursday. After recovering from Nishikori's strong start, it looked like Federer found his stride after roaring back in the second set. But Nishikori reasserted his ground game in the decider after breaking the defending champion for a 3-1 advantage and held on for the surprising victory to...
10:38 PM, May 09, 2013
Madrid : Rafael Nadal cruised into the Madrid Open quarterfinals with a 6-2, 6-3 victory Thursday over Mikhail Youzhny that featured an array of creative shots. Top-ranked Serena Williams and No. 2 Maria Sharapova also reached the quarterfinals in straight sets. Having already established control by winning Youzhny's second service game, Nadal kept a point going with a deft no-look backhand flick before nailing a winner down the line to...
07:01 PM, May 09, 2013
Madrid: Sania Mirza and her American pair Bethanie Mattek-Sands made an early exit from the Madrid Open after losing their second round match in straight sets to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Lucie Safarova on Thursday. The fifth seed Indo-American pair lost 5-7 1-6 to the unseeded Russian-Czech pair in one hour and 10 minutes in the second round of the euro 4,033,254 clay court event. Sania and Bethanie could convert just...
04:06 PM, May 09, 2013
Madrid: Rafael Nadal avoided a similar fate to beaten world number one Novak Djokovic when he dismissed French young gun Benoit Paire 6-3, 6-4 to claim a place in the third round of the Madrid Open on Wednesday. Serb Djokovic fell to another promising youngster, Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov, in the second round of the Masters event on Tuesday but Nadal showed why he has the best record on clay in...
11:03 PM, May 08, 2013
Madrid: Ekaterina Makarova of Russia ousted third-seeded Victoria Azarenka 1-6, 6-2, 6-3 on Wednesday to reach the third round of the Madrid Open. Azarenka, runner-up in Madrid the past two years, lost her temper, broke her racket and argued with the chair umpire. The Belarusian double-faulted five times and got in only just over half of her first serves, compared to a 60 per cent first-serve accuracy for the 24-ranked...
06:58 PM, May 08, 2013
Madrid: Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho sent out a clear message to former captain Iker Casillas that he will not be first choice keeper at the club while he is there. Casillas has had to be content with a place on the bench after recovering from the hand injury he suffered at the end of January with Diego Lopez, who was brought in to cover for Casillas, starting every game,...
01:06 PM, May 08, 2013
Madrid: Novak Djokovic was dumped out of the Madrid Open in the second round on Tuesday when he went over on his ankle and incurred the wrath of the locals on the way to a shock 7-6 6-7 6-3 reverse to Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov. The world number one, who had a bye in the opening round, was already a break down to the unseeded 21-year-old in the second set when...
08:06 AM, May 08, 2013
Madrid: Roger Federer looked as sharp as ever in his first match following a two-month layoff as he beat Czech Radek Stepanek 6-3, 6-3 at the Madrid Open on Tuesday. The Swiss chose an eye-catching mint-green shirt for his first match since losing to Rafa Nadal at the Indian Wells Masters in March and secured a 12th victory over Stepanek in 14 meetings. The victory set up a possible third-round...
11:30 PM, May 07, 2013
Madrid: World number one and defending champion Serena Williams continued her serene progress at the Madrid Open tennis when she eased past Spanish wild card Lourdes Dominguez Lino 6-2, 7-5 in the second round on Tuesday. Chasing a fourth title of the year and the 50th of her career, Williams had too much power for the slightly-built Dominguez Lino, who nonetheless managed to unsettle her illustrious opponent with some clever...
08:48 PM, May 07, 2013
Madrid: Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho has refused to tone down his rhetoric in response to a call from club president Florentino Perez for unity in an obviously divided dressing room during the final few weeks of the season. After some unsavoury sniping between Mourinho and members of his squad in recent weeks, Perez made a rare foray into the limelight on Monday when he called for the club to...
08:05 PM, May 07, 2013
Madrid: Fifth seeds Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sania Mirza advanced to the next round at the Mutua Madrid Open with a three-set win over Daniela Hantuchova and Anabel Medina Garrigues. The Indo-American pair have been in terrific form this year, winning Premier-level titles in Brisbane and Dubai and finishing runners-up in Stuttgart. The duo were down a break in the first set at 4-3, 5-4 and 6-5 yet broke serve each...
07:36 PM, May 07, 2013
Barcelona: Encouraged by their "best ever" start to season, Force India are determined to see their drivers on the podium soon as the side prepares "hard" to compete in Sunday's Spanish Grand Prix. Paul di Resta came close to getting the team their first podium of the season but had to be content with a fourth-place finish in the last race in Bahrain. Team Principal Vijay Mallya said the team...
06:48 PM, May 07, 2013
Madrid: Sniping comments between Jose Mourinho and members of the Real Madrid squad have caused president Florentino Perez to make a rare foray into the limelight to call for unity at the club during the season run-in. The nine-times European champions host Malaga in La Liga on Wednesday in a rearranged fixture due to their involvement in the May 17 King's Cup final against Atletico Madrid. Second-placed Real must win...
12:14 PM, May 07, 2013
Milan: Although the title has already been secured by Juventus, there is still much to play for at both ends of the Serie A table, with AC Milan and Fiorentina fighting for the final Champions League spot. Milan is in pole position to finish third and earn a place in the Champions League qualifiers, as it is four points ahead of Fiorentina with three rounds remaining. Milan visits already-relegated Pescara...
12:10 PM, May 07, 2013
