Sharapova survived her first clay court title

Saturday, April 12, 2008

Top-seeded Maria Sharapova survived a second straight three-set marathon at the Bausch & Lomb Championships in her proffer for her first clay court title. Sharapova was pushed by 10th-seeded Alona Bondarenko of Ukraine to win 6-7 (9), 6-3, 6-2 in a nearly three-hour quarter-final.

In semifinals, Sharapova will face three-time champion Lindsay Davenport, who defeated No. 8 Agnes Szavay of Hungary 6-4, 7-6 (3). Sharapova and Davenport last met at the Australian Open, where Sharapova won 6-1, 6-3 in the second round on the way to her third Grand Slam title.

As this is Sharapova's first trip to Amelia Island, Davenport has through it to the final in her last three appearances.

The first Russian to win the Miami Crown

Monday, April 7, 2008

Russian fourth seed Nikolay Davydenko crushed Spanish second seed Rafael Nadal 6-4, 6-2 on Sunday in the final of the 3.77 million-dollar Miami ATP Masters Series Sony Ericsson Open hardcourt event. Davydenko won 590,000 dollars and his 12th career ATP title, his first since capturing the crown at Moscow last October. Davydenko's best Miami result in six prior appearances was reaching the fourth round two years ago.

Davydenko became the first Russian to win the Miami crown as he outmuscled two foes in a row he had never beaten. He got rid of Andy Roddick in the semi-finals despite having lost all five prior matches with the sixth-seeded American.

Davydenko broke Nadal early but the Spaniard bust back at love when the Russian meshed up a forehand to level the first set at 2-2. Nadal held but Davydenko won six of the next seven games to grab control of the match.

Nadal admit defeated another break in the fifth game of the second set when Davydenko blasted a winner past him for a 4-1 lead. Davydenko held at love for a 5-1 edge and, after Nadal held serve, closed out the match on his second championship point opportunity with a forehand winner after 82 minutes.

Massa silences his critics with his win at Bahrain GP

Sunday, April 6, 2008

Brazilian Felipe Massa grabbed success in Manama on Sunday for his second successive victory in the Bahrain Grand Prix and answered his mounting bank of critics as his Ferrari team celebrated an easy one-two win with Kimi Raikkonen finishing second.

The 26-year-old Latin American, who was unsuccessful to score a point after an error-strewn performance in both opening races, came home as a comfortable winner ahead of his team-mate defending drivers world champion Finn Kimi Rakkkonen. This was enough for the BMW-Sauber team to lead the constructors' championship for the first time.

Massa clearly loves the 5.412 kms desert track in Sakhir as he repeated last year's triumph, dominating the 57-lap race after blasting off the grid to take the lead from BMW's Robert Kubica, the first Polish driver to start a grand prix from pole. He finishing track time is 1:31:06.970 with 2 Pit Stops.

It was Massa's sixth career win, whose future at Ferrari is by now the question of theory.

United were tested harsh by Middlesbrough equilizer

Sunday, April 6, 2008

Manchester United were pushed all the way by Middlesbrough in a lively 2-2 Premier League draw at the Riverside Stadium on Sunday as a final point rescued by Wayne Rooney's late equalizer.United looked to be coasting thanks to Cristiano Ronaldo's early opener - the innovative winger's 37th goal of an quite amazing season.

Middlesbrough's 12 million pounds ($24 million) club witness signing Afonso Alves finally came good to break his duck with cool finishes either side of half-time to intimidate table-topping United with a extraordinary defeat. The well-deserved draw was enough to drive United three points clear at the top of the table as they close in on their 10th Premier League crown.

Alves, who had failed to score in his first eight Boro appearances, brought an end to such a superfluous statistic 10 minutes before half-time to drag the hosts level. Gary O'Neil's probing ball forward was flicked on by Jeremie Aliadiere, and even with the attentions of Michael Carrick, Alves lifted the ball over the advancing Edwin van der Sar from the edge of the area as United conceded in the Premier League for the first time in eight-and-a-quarter hours.

In a nonstop ending, Rooney and Boro substitute Tuncay Sanli went close, but a late winner for either side would have been hideously inequitable as both had played their division in a excellent way.

The Spaniard progressed to the Sony Ericsson Open final

Saturday, April 5, 2008

World number two Rafael Nadal will face fourth-seeded Russian Nikolay Davydenko in the Sony Ericsson Open final after semi-final victories on Friday.

The Spaniard, who spooled off the last 12 points of the match, thrash Czech Tomas Berdych 7-6, 6-2 in bracing conditions. Nadal holds a 2-0 record against Davydenko in their career meetings, while Davydenko beat Andy Roddick of the United States by the same score line.

Roddick and Davydenko produced a high eminence in first set, but the Russian was the only player able to maintain the intensity in the second. Roddick took a 2-1 advantage with a service break in the second set, but admitted defeat in the next game when he dropped serve. Roddick looked an obscurity of the player who beat world number one Roger Federer on Thursday and gave Davydenko his first victory in their six career matches.

Davydenko bust again, on his fourth opportunity, with a forehand crosscourt in the sixth game and sealed victory in the eighth when a Roddick forehand dropped into the net.