Nadal to meet Isner in final- latest sports news in india

Cincinnati: Rafael Nadal continued his perfect run on the North American hardcourts taming Czech Tomas Berdych 7-5, 7-6 (4) at the Western and Southern Open on Saturday to setup a final showdown with big-hitting American John Isner.Earlier, unseeded Isner had blasted his way into the final with a 6-7, (5) 7-6, (9) 6-3 marathon win over Argentine Juan Martin Del Potro. Rebounding nicely from a shock first round upset at Wimbledon, Nadal has been in sizzling form picking up his 58th career title last week in Montreal while extending his hardcourt winning streak to 14-0 with a run to the final in Cincinnati.
A win on Sunday in his first Cincinnati final would give the third ranked Spaniard his ninth title of the year and leave him the red-hot favourite heading into the US

Open which begins on August 26 in Flushing Meadows.
“It’s a very nice feeling,” said Nadal. “For me, this one is a tournament that I never was able to play very well. “I said last week, in Cincinnati I never felt that I was playing well and this year the situation is different.
“I am having the right feelings on court. I’m playing aggressive.” Nadal had the only break of a tight opening set to take the first set off the Czech in Cincinnati and grab a 1-0 lead. In the second, Berdych, battling to end a run of 13 straight losses to the Spaniard, broke to go up 4-2 only to watch Nadal break right back and go onto take the tiebreak (7-4) and the match.
A contest between the towering 6-foot, 10-inch (2.06m) Isner and the 6-foot, 6-inch (1.98m) Del Potro was always going to be a brui ing baseline battle and the match more than lived up to predictions as the two giants slugged it out for 2 hours and 47 minutes.
The semi-finals had a dramatically different look from what tennis fans might have hoped with the ATP Tour’s ‘big four;’ world No. 1 Novak Djokovic, number two Andy Murray, number three Nadal and five-time Cincinnati champion Roger Federer all featuring in the last eight.

Isner, who delivered the biggest shock of the quarter-finals toppling Djokovic, has traditionally saved his best for the home crowd with 13 of the his 15 career ATP Tour final appearances coming in the US and he proved once again to be a crowd pleaser pounding 23 aces past his opponent.
Since retiring in the second round at Wimbledon with a left knee injury Isner has been in sizzling hardcourt form putting together a 15-3 match record while picking up his seventh career title in Atlanta followed by a runnerup finish in Washington.
“I have been playing well, really in pretty much all facets of my game. There’s definitely some stuff I can always improve on, but I do think I’m playing well,” he said. In a tight opening set that failed to produce a break, it was Del Potro taking the initiative winning the tiebreak 7-5.

World No. 1 Serena Williams fought her way to a 7-5, 7-5 win over defending champion Li Na to reach the final of the Western and Southern Open on Saturday and close in on one of the few titles to elude her.
Meanwhile, India’s Rohan Bopanna and his French partner Edouard Roger-Vasselin were knocked out of the ATP Cincinnati Masters tennis by Spanish duo Marcel Granollers and Marc Lopez in the semi-finals. The
eighth-seeded Indo-French combination failed to get any
of the five break points
and went down 5-7, 2-6 to Spanish tandem on Saturday. The Spaniards are seeking their second Masters 1000 title, having won in Rome last year.
Agencies

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Proteas’ plot to outplay MSD & Co.

New Delhi: Despite the fact that India A team under Cheteshwar Pujara has gained accolades for its triumphant sojourn in South Africa, the young brigade is not happy. Rather, they have expressed displeasure on being provided wickets entirely different from what the Proteas are known to be offering them.

In a series where destructive opener Shikhar Dhawan blasted his way to a magnificent world-record 248, most of the players in the touring squad are likely to board the flight to Cape Town when the Men in Blue under Mahendra Singh Dhoni play against South Africa later this year in a three-match Test series, seven ODIs and two T20 Internationals.

However, skipper Pujara said that the surface was flat which meant that the batsmen would be able to tear the bowling attack apart. This is entirely contrary to the bouncy wickets which the grounds in Durban and Johannesburg are known for. “Dhoni & Co won’t get such flat wickets in the series scheduled to be held in December this year.

I don’t think that the conditions will be same when we come here again,” Pujara said. Another story doing the rounds is a possible plot by Graeme Smith to spoil batting legend Sachin Tendulkar’s purported farewell party. After former spinner Karsan Ghavri said that the 40-year-old iconic batsman would quit the longer version of the game after his 200th Test, cricket pundits have begun predicting that the series against Proteas will be the last one for him.

Rohit is captain material: Kohli- latest sports news in india

Lucknow: He is the likely successor when Mahendra Singh Dhoni decides to relinquish national captaincy but India vice-captain Virat Kohli also named Mumbai batsman Rohit Sharma as a captaincy material.

“He (Rohit) has tremendous cricketing brain. I often take his advice during matches,” Virat let out a secret when asked as to who apart from him and Dhoni has the ability to lead the India team.

For Kohli, captaincy is about taking responsibility and he is enjoys every bit of it.

“I got a chance of being a captain in recently concluded Zimbabwe series. I like to be a captain and take responsibility,” Kohli, who was here to attend a programme of TVS Motors as their brand ambassador, told reporters.

“As a batsman, we focus on oursleves, but as a captain we have to look into every aspect. The responsibility increases manyfold as the captain,” he added.             On being asked about future plans Kohli said that he has never planned anything.

“I never plan anything and believe in consistancy. I can’t tell what will happen in future,” he said.

The champion batsman said that upcoming series against South Africa was important and hoped that with new faces Indian team would give a good performmance.

He said that time of batsmen from the big cities calling the shot in old times was over and now hardworking player, whether they were from the small city were knocking the door of Indian team.

Expressing pleasure on being compared with former Australian captain Ricky Pointing Kohli said that many people have said that and it felt good being compared with such a tremendous player. 

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All eyes on Dhawan in tri-series- latest sports news in india

Pretoria: A confident India A, boosted by Shikhar Dhawan’s brilliant double century, will take on their consistent Australian counterparts in what promises to be a high-scoring tri-series final on an absolute featherbed at the LC de Villiers Stadium here tomorrow.

India have lost both their round robin league matches against the Australians by close margins but Cheteshwar Pujara and Co will hope that ‘Law of Averages’ catches up with the opposition side.

India A will certainly go into the match with a lot of confidence after yesterday’s ‘Dhawan Mayhem’ against the Proteas but Australia, who have been the best side in the tournament, will certainly chalk out some elaborate plans to stop the star-studded rival batting line-up.

All eyes will be on Dhawan, who has dazzled with his superb strokeplay, and one would expect him to fire when it matters the most.

As far as batting is concerned, India have ticked all the boxes in the tri-series with each and every top-order batsmen getting runs. While Dhawan, with 348 runs from three games (one game rested), leads the tally, skipper Pujara has come back to form with a half-century and a century in successive games.

While Rohit Sharma has been a picture of consistency with a hat-trick of 50s, Ambati Rayudu and Suresh Raina have also chipped in with useful contributions.

Meanwhile, the regularity with which Shikhar Dhawan hit boundaries off his bowlers made Justin Ontong feel as if he was watching a “highlights package” where only boundaries and sixes are shown. Dhawan hit 30 boundaries and seven sixes in his unbelievable 248 against SA A in a tri-series encounter on Monday.

“Dhawan summed up conditions quickly. Every shot he hit found the gap or went over the fielders. It was like watching a highlights package. He hit so many good shots, it’s hard to pick out one that stood out. There were a few sixes that went into the construction site,” Ontong told ESPN Cricinfo after the match.

The South African ODI specialist termed it the best ever innings he has watched. “It was probably the best one-day innings I’ve seen. But I am also really proud of the boys. We showed some character when we were batting and if someone batted through, we could have won the game. Ontong expressed his helplessness that his bowlers were unable to stop Dhawan.

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latest sports news in india - I could have scored a triple ton, says Shikhar Dhawan

Pretoria: He might have missed out on the world record for the highest list A score, but Indian batsman Shikhar Dhawan is not complaining as he is glad to have become only the third Indian cricketer after Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag to get a double hundred in a 50-over game.

“I was aware of the record and it felt really special to score these runs,” Dhawan said after the match after India A’s 39-run win over South Africa A which took them to the tri-series final against Australia A.
“When I got out in the 44th over it occurred to me that if I had batted till the end I had a chance to score a triple hundred. I am happy with what I scored though. It did cross my mind that I joined Sachin paaji and Viru paaji in scoring a double century in a one-day game,” he added. Dhawan toppled quite a few batting records en route to his way to a 150-ball knock of 248 runs. He overtook Virender Sehwag’s 219 in an ODI against West Indies in 2011 to register the highest List A score by an Indian. He became the third Indian, after Sachin Tendulkar and Sehwag to score a double century in a 50-over match. Dhawan’s 248 also became the second highest List A score of all time

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‘Cricket made me a better man’ | latest sports news in india

Panaji: Former Indian captain Rahul Dravid on Sunday said that cricket’s influence in his life was such that the game made him a better person.

“One and half years after my retirement I have realised that cricket has made me a better human. I learnt from successes and failures,” Dravid said, speaking at convocation ceremony of BITS-Pilani Goa campus today, in the presence of Dr Kumar Mangalam Birla, Chancellor of the institute.

Dravid narrated several anecdotes from his career, starting from his school days, making a special mention of school principal, Father Coelho.

He also said that his father was an ardent fan of the game. “After Australia tour I felt it is time to make way for the next generation. Now I am back to the little boy listening to cricket commentary in my father’s studio,” said Dravid, who dubbed himself as a boy from a middle-class family.

There were millions of ways to be successful, he said. “You don’t have to be number one in the world, you have to be number one to yourself by achieving all the height which you always aimed,” Dravid said, receiving a huge applause from the students.

Last week, the former Indian cricket captain had claimed that his comments on restoring the credibility of the game, after the recent IPL spot-fixing scandal, have been taken out of context. “It is disappointing that my comments have been taken out of context by some sections of the media,” Dravid was quoted as saying in a tweet posted by ‘ESPNCricinfo’, the website to which he gave the interview.

“A lot of conclusions and inferences have drawn from Rahul Dravid’s quotes on credibility. Wait for the full interview,” read the website’s twitter handle.

Dravid had expressed anguish over the recent IPL spot-fixing scandal and its fallout, saying that restoring the credibility of the game is of utmost importance failing which cricketers may lose respect of their fans. “There are so many fans and so many people who care deeply about this game and it is because of these fans that we are who we are as cricketers.

“Administrators are there because of the fans and the cricketers to run this game, so credibility of a game, or a board, or even a government for that matter, is important irrespective of what you do.”

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Saina survives scare, in quarters | latest sports news in india

Guangzhou:Third seed Saina Nehwal overcame a jittery start against Thai Porntip Buranaprasertsuk to move into the women’s singles quarterfinals of the World Badminton Championships here Thursday.

The World No.3 overcame 15th seeded Porntip 18-21, 21-16, 21-14 in 52 minutes at the Tianhe Indoor Stadium to go 6-0 up in career meetings. With the win, Saina equalled her best performance at the worlds having reached the last eight stage in 2009, 2010 and 2011. The 23-year-old is now one step away from a medal.
Saina looked out of sorts in the first game and made several errors. Her Thai opponent capitalised on it and closed the gap from 4-7 to 8-all and was at Saina’s heels till 18-all. The 21-year-old Thai clinched the next three points to bag her first game against the Indian since 2008.
Porntip hit 11 smashes in the game which caught Saina off guard. Several out-of-court errors by the 23-year-old Indian cost her the game but she bounced back in the second game by taking a 15-4 advantage in no time.
Though the Thai tried coming back into the game (10-16), but Saina was in her elements and sealed the game with the help of nine smashes. Despite the game getting tight at the end, Saina held her nerves to level the match.
Unlike the first game, Saina made sure she kept the lead throughout the decider. Aided by some brilliant cross court slices from the third court, Saina increased her lead to 11-5. After the change of sides, Porntip found legs and notched up a few points with some down-the-line smashes, bringing down Saina’s lead to 14-13.
The aggressive Thai made some errors too, giving the initiative to Saina, who then extended the lead to 17-13. 

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