Brisbane: Australian Open champion Kim Clijsters advanced to the semifinals of the Brisbane International with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Iveta Benesova on Thursday. Clijsters won the Brisbane title in 2010 and, after missing the 2011 edition, now has an 8-0 record in the Australian Open tuneup. She raced to a 5-0 lead before Benesova, who ousted U.S. Open champion Sam Stosur in the second round, launched a comeback with...
05:11 PM, Jan 05, 2012
Brisbane: Serena Williams' Australian Open preparations took a major hit on Wednesday when she injured her left ankle and withdrew from the Brisbane International. In her first tournament since losing the US Open final in September, Williams was serving for the match with a 6-2, 5-3 lead against Bojana Jovanovski of Serbia when she twisted her ankle and crashed heavily to the court. The 13-time Grand Slam winner lay near...
06:56 PM, Jan 04, 2012
Brisbane: Andy Murray shook off some rust and overcame some big returns from Mikhail Kukushkin for a 5-7, 6-3, 6-2 win at the Brisbane International on Tuesday night in his first singles match since late November. The top-seeded Scot lost the first four games before he rallied to beat Kazakhstan's Kukushkin and advance to the second round. Defending Australian Open women's champion Kim Clijsters had a closer call in the...
07:35 PM, Jan 03, 2012
Brisbane: After winning the first match she's played since her US Open final defeat last September, Serena Williams admitted she's dreading another season of grueling workouts but still can't live without tennis. The 30-year-old Williams had her service broken in the opening game on Monday before beating Chanelle Scheepers of South Africa 6-2, 6-3 at the Brisbane International. She needed just 68 minutes to advance, firing seven aces and taking...
03:32 AM, Jan 03, 2012
Brisbane: Kim Clijsters began preparation for the defence of her Australian Open singles title with a 6-1, 6-4 win over Romania's Simona Halep in the first round of the Brisbane International on Sunday. Clijsters beat China's Li Na in the final at last year's opening Grand Slam at Melbourne Park. This year's Australian Open begins January 16. "I felt that I was playing aggressively and moving well, so I was...
01:18 PM, Jan 01, 2012
Melbourne: Tournament director Craig Tiley says James Blake has withdrawn from next month's Australian Open, the first Grand Slam of 2012. Tiley announced the 59th-ranked American's withdrawal in a Twitter post on Wednesday, but provided no explanation. He said, "just got word that James Blake has withdrawn from the AO and Brisbane. Sorry to hear this and we wish James all the best." Earlier, the Courier Mail newspaper reported Blake...
12:27 AM, Dec 30, 2011
Brisbane: Serena Williams could meet Samantha Stosur in a reprise of their US Open final after signing up to play the Brisbane International in January. The January 1-8 Brisbane International, which for several years has served as a warm-up for the Australian Open later in the month, has been elevated to WTA Premier level. As well as Williams and Stosur, former top-ranked Maria Sharapova, Kim Clijsters and Ana Ivanovic will...
09:02 PM, Oct 12, 2011
Melbourne: A Sikh man was denied entry into a hotel in Australia as he refused to take off his turban, a media report said on Monday. Confirming the incident, management of Royal English Hotel in Brisbane said it was trying to locate the man, whose identity is yet to be ascertained, to tender an apology. The hotel management told the Australian Associated Press (AAP) that one of its staff members...
11:26 AM, Jul 04, 2011
Sydney: Power was cut to Brisbane homes for safety reasons and residents ordered to higher ground as Australia's third-biggest city braced for its worst soaking in living memory. Flood waters barreling toward the Queensland state capital were set to inundate 9,000 properties - 10 per cent of the city's stock - and a further 30,000 were expected to sustain some damage. Thousands have fled to evacuation centres ahead of Thursday's...
07:49 AM, Jan 12, 2011
Sydney: Top seed Robin Soderling underlined his credentials as an Australian Open contender by overpowering defending champion Andy Roddick 6-3, 7-5 to win the Brisbane International on Sunday. The world number five, who had not dropped a set all week and only been broken once, matched Roddick's fiercesome service game and unleashed his deadly forehand to win his seventh professional title. The 26-year-old Swede stayed calm as Roddick raged through...
01:19 PM, Jan 09, 2011
Brisbane: Top-seeded Robin Soderling advanced to the Brisbane International semifinals, beating Australian qualifier Matt Ebden 6-3, 6-2 on Friday. The Swede will face Radek Stepanek, the 2009 Brisbane champion and runner-up last year. Stepanek beat Germany's Florian Mayer 6-3, 6-3. In the other semifinal, defending champion Andy Roddick will play South Africa's Kevin Anderson. They won their quarterfinal matches on Thursday. In the women's semifinals later on Friday, Germany's Andrea...
04:13 PM, Jan 07, 2011
Brisbane: Top-seeded Robin Soderling of Sweden held on to beat Michael Berrer of Germany 6-3, 7-6 (7) on Thursday to advance to the quarterfinals of the Brisbane International. Soderling saved both break points he faced against the left-handed Berrer. His next opponent will be Australian qualifier Matthew Ebden, who defeated eighth-seeded Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan 6-4, 6-4. Earlier, former Wimbledon finalist Marion Bartoli of France beat Barbora Zahlavova Strycova of...
04:47 PM, Jan 06, 2011
Brisbane: Defending champion Andy Roddick weathered an early onslaught from hard-hitting Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov before steamrolling him 6-4 6-1 to book a quarter-final place at the Brisbane International on Wednesday. The 22-year-old Dolgopolov was the early aggressor, attacking Roddick's serve to win an early break and go up 4-2. The American world number eight quickly broke back, however, and reeled off 10 of the final 11 games to seal the...
02:55 PM, Jan 05, 2011
Sydney: Third seed Fernando Verdasco of Spain crashed out of the first round of the Brisbane International on Tuesday, suffering an upset 6-1 6-7 6-3 loss to Germany's Benjamin Becker. Verdasco, a semi-finalist at the Australian Open in 2009, recovered from a listless start to grind out the second set but had few answers in the third as Becker played a faultless service game to seal the match in just...
02:52 PM, Jan 04, 2011
Brisbane: Holder Andy Roddick began with a no-drama 6-3, 6-2 victory against local Marinko Matosevic as the American second seed kicked off his title defence at the Brisbane International tennis on Monday. Roddick, who arrived in the Queensland capital with wife Brooklyn Decker before the New Year, produced a modest five aces as the one-time No. 1 eased himself into the 2011 season. Roddick was broken only once while getting...
07:11 PM, Jan 03, 2011
The incident took place even as a high level committee has been set up to look at the issue. ...
11:44 PM, Jan 28, 2010
Henin was playing her first tournament since her shock retirement in 2008. ...
09:05 PM, Jan 08, 2010
Henin believes she will return a better player to the international circuit. ...
11:18 PM, Dec 30, 2009
Prosecutors under 'extreme pressure' from AFP to charge the Indian doctor. ...
02:34 PM, Aug 20, 2008
Bangalore: Riding on unbeaten half-centuries by Jacques Kallis and skipper Gautam Gambhir, Kolkata Knight Riders registered a convincing nine-wicket win over the Royal Challengers Bangalore in their must-win Champions League encounter here on Thursday. Kallis clobbered 64 off in just 47 deliveries, while Gambhir struck 55 in 32 balls. Chasing a competitive 170 runs for victory, KKR got off to a terrific start, with Kallis and wicketkeeper-batsman Brad Haddin, who...
09:39 AM, Mar 05, 2008
