Andy Roddick beats Sam Querrey at Swiss Indoors

BASEL, Switzerland (AP) - Andy Roddick came out on top in a big-serving encounter with fellow American Sam Querrey 7-5, 7- 6 (6) while Roger Federer cruised into the quarterfinals at the Swiss Indoors on Wednesday.

Fourth-seeded Roddick sent down 16 aces and dropped just six first-service points against 22nd-ranked Querrey, who served 13 aces.

Roddick, who next faces Andrey Golubev of Kazakhstan in the second round, has returned to Basel after seven years in hopes of claiming one of the last three berths in the eight-man ATP World Tour Finals in London this month. Roddick was currently eighth in the standings

Federer, the No. 1 seed, eased past Serbia's Janko Tipsarevic, requiring a single break in each set to complete a 6-3, 6-4 win in St. Jakobshalle.

Federer served even more efficiently than Roddick, conceding just seven points in nine service games. He sealed the first set with an ace and clinched the match with a service winner.

The hometown favorite, and FC Basel fan, had his second-round match scheduled earlier in the evening to avoid clashing with the team's Champions League match against AS Roma. It was being played across the street at the St. Jakob. Park arena.

Eighth-seeded John Isner of the United States paid for squandering all eight of his chances to break Robin Haase's serve. The Dutchman closed out a 6-2, 6-7 (5), 7-5 win to join Federer in the last eight.

In other first-round matches, France's Paul-Henri Mathieu used his entry as a lucky loser in qualifying to beat Germany's Florian Mayer 6-3, 6-3. Three days earlier, Mayer lost to Federer in the final at Stockholm.

Wild card Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic beat Thiemo de Bakker of the Netherlands 6-3, 7-6 (5), and Finland's Jarkko Nieminen defeated Germany's Daniel Brands 6-3, 6-2 in a match between qualifiers.

Source: The Star

Alonso races into the lead after Vettel, Webber crash out

Alonso races into the lead after Vettel, Webber crash out
FERRARI’S Fernando Alonso won a rain-hit and chaotic Korean Grand Prix to seize the Formula One championship lead yesterday after both his Red Bull rivals failed to finish.

In an inaugural race delayed by a downpour, started, stopped again and then re-started behind the safety car after a 48-minute wait, the Spaniard could scarcely believe his good fortune and others’ bad luck.

With two races to go, and a maximum 50 points to be won under the new scoring system, Alonso celebrated his fifth win of the year to turn a 14-point deficit into an 11-point lead over Red Bull’s Australian Mark Webber.

More details : http://thestar.com.my/sports/story.asp?file=/2010/10/25/sports/7290860&sec=sports

Sivivatu handed NZRU warning

MELBOURNE: New Zealand winger Sitiveni Sivivatu has been found guilty of serious misconduct after he pleaded guilty to assaulting his wife, the New Zealand Rugby Union (NZRU) said yesterday.

The 25-year-old Fijian-born Sivivatu, capped 12 times by the All Blacks, was reprimanded by the NZRU in a conduct appraisal after a Hamilton court discharged him without conviction last month following the assault.

“The formal warning puts him on notice that we take the matter very seriously while the requirement for counselling is to help Siti work to ensure that nothing like this ever happens again,” NZRU deputy chief executive Steve Tew said in a statement.

“Clearly, we are very concerned when incidents such as these occur which is why we have processes in place to deal with them.

“At the same time, our major concern is that our employees and their families – in this case Sitiveni and his wife – have access to the support and help they need to deal with these issues,” Tew added. – Reuters

South African Els uses Wachovia tournament as warm-up event

CHARLOTTE: Ernie Els (pic) believes his second successive appearance at the Wachovia Championship could provide an ideal warm-up for next month's US Open at Oakmont.

The Quail Hollow Club, a tree-lined par-72 layout of 7,442 yards with three-inch thick rough, is running fast and firm in typical major championship fashion.

“It is the kind of golf course that I really like and I'm looking forward to it,” South African Els said on his official website.

“I had a bit of an up-and-down few days here last year but, despite that, I remember thinking straight after the tournament had finished that I wanted to come back again in 2007.

“In many ways, it reminded me a lot of the old traditional-like courses that we play major championships on. It asks a lot of tough questions about your game.”

Els, who opened with consecutive 71s at Quail Hollow last year before falling back into a tie for 38th, knows this week will place a premium on accurate driving.

“It's probably one of the toughest golf courses on the PGA Tour right now,” the twice US Open champion said.

“It's almost 7,500 yards and the fairways aren't that wide, so you need distance and accuracy off the tee to give yourself a decent shot at the flags.”

Els, who finished second in his most recent PGA Tour start at the Heritage Classic three weeks ago, feels putting is the only component in his game holding him back.

“My putting took up a lot of my attention last week but there's not much wrong,” the world number five said.

“Once I start seeing the ball going in the hole, it'll be fine. In some ways it's a confidence thing, really.

“The rest of my game is in good shape. I heard from a friend last week that the great teacher John Jacobs had seen me play recently and he thought I was swinging the club better than I have for many years, which is good to hear.”

Els, who won the US Open when it was last played at Oakmont in 1994, faces one of the strongest fields of the year at Quail Hollow.

Tiger Woods makes his first tournament appearance since tying for second at last month's Masters, and 26 other members of the world's top 30 are competing, including the entire top 10.

Second-ranked Jim Furyk, who has always loved playing at Quail Hollow, is back to defend the title he won last year in a play-off with South African Trevor Immelman.

“This is played on a very, very good golf course, it gets a very, very strong field and always has a very big purse,” Furyk said of the US$6.4mil event.

“Those three ingredients make a pretty darn good golf tournament.”

Also playing this week are 2005 champion Vijay Singh, who leads the inaugural FedExCup points race and has triumphed twice on the PGA Tour this season, world number three Phil Mickelson and fourth-ranked Adam Scott of Australia. – Reuters

Australian press lament bizarre ending to biggest event

SYDNEY: They might have walked away with the coveted World Cup trophy, but Australians were yesterday shaking their heads at the bizarre ending to the biggest event in cricket’s one-day calendar.

“Victory in tour de farce” trumpeted Sydney’s Daily Telegraph, which bemoaned the official bungling that saw the last minutes of the final against Sri Lanka played in near pitch-black darkness.

Confusion over whether the game had finished, which saw Australia celebrate victory for 10 minutes before being asked to play three more overs, had reduced the competition to an “international laughing stock”, the paper said.

The criticism did not stop at the rain-interrupted final played at Bridgetown’s Kensington Oval but extended to the entire tournament, which was dismissed as too long and boring. “The 2007 tournament will go down in cricketing history as being short on organisation and long on duration,” The Australian daily sniped in an editorial.

The contest was overshadowed by the murder of Pakistan coach Bob Woolmer after his team was stunned by cricket minnows Ireland, triggering concerns that match-fixing syndicates had again infiltrated the game.

Moreover, the World Cup was “dull and one-sided”, with Australia comfortably winning every game they played, leaving outgoing coach John Buchanan to say the difference between the Aussies and the rest was as “between night and day”, it said.

Such was the dominance of the Australians in the limited overs game that tail-enders Glenn McGrath, Nathan Bracken and Shaun Tait never had to bat.

The Sydney Morning Herald, under the headline “Blind led the blind”, decried the competition hosted by the West Indies as the “most tedious of tournaments”.

The absurdity of the Barbados final, it said, was “in keeping with a tournament that has witnessed everything from the murder of a coach to the erosion of supporter goodwill courtesy of overly officious administrators”.

The Australian eleven will none-theless be afforded the respect of champions on their return, with a public welcome home in Sydney on Thursday to congratulate the team and bid farewell to McGrath, who retired after the final.

In McGrath’s hometown of Narromine, locals are considering erecting a bronze statue of the lanky 37-year-old paceman or naming a park in his honour.

“Australia’s victory at the Cricket World Cup against Sri Lanka was nothing short of brilliant,” The Australian said in its editorial. “But while the team soared to ever greater heights, the Cup itself sank to new lows, with a farcical final that saw players, umpires, commentators and organisers literally groping in the dark.” – AFP

Malaysia will have to improve consistency, says Alex

PETALING JAYA: Inconsistency plagued Malaysia's fortunes in the second season of the A1 Grand Prix Series and driver Alex Yoong will have to overcome this when the new season gets underway in four months' time.

On Sunday, Alex lost the chance to defend his fifth position in the overall standings after a less than perfect pit stop in the feature race of the final round of the season at Brands Hatch Circuit in England.

He completed the 11th round of the championship with a fifth place in the sprint race and ninth position in the feature race. And Malaysia had to settle for sixth place in the 22-nation championships.

Among the highlights for the Malaysian team in the 2006-2007 season included three race wins, three pole positions and two fastest laps.

After a poor opening round in Holland in October, Alex came back strongly to clinch a double victory in the next round in the Czech Republic.

However, the podium finishes eluded him for the next seven rounds until he won the sprint race in Mexico last month.

Alex was in high spirits after receiving the Bruce McLaren Trophy from the British Racing Drivers' Club on Saturday and had certainly looked forward to finishing the season on a good note.

He was named as the recipient for 2006 for his achievements in the first season of the A1GP and is the first Asian driver to win it.

The accolade is awarded each year to the best Commonwealth driver competing in international motor racing.

Although the team slipped one rung from the previous season, Alex felt that it was still a good year for him and showed that Malaysia can compete at the top level of motor sports.

“At the end of the day, we had a very good year with three race wins. When we’ve been quick, we’ve been very good,” he said.

Klinsmann shuts door on Chelsea job to join German TV

BERLIN: Former Germany boss Juergen Klinsmann has accepted a job with German TV, apparently ruling himself out of becoming coach of English Premiership champions Chelsea, a report said yesterday.

Klinsmann will work for as an analyst and commentator for pay-TV channel Arena for the next two years, Bild newspaper reported.

He will fly to Germany from his home in California for major Bundesliga games, the report said.

“I had many offers after the World Cup to return to Europe, but Arena is the first partner that has really won me over,” Klinsmann said, quoted by Bild.

It has been reported this month that Chelsea’s billionaire Russian owner Roman Abramovich has approached Klinsmann with a view to him replacing Jose Mourinho, but the Portuguese coach appears to have patched up his differences with Abramovich.

Klinsmann, 42, led host nation Germany to the semi-finals of last year’s World Cup, moulding a young and relatively unfancied squad into an exciting attacking team.

But he stepped down immediately after the tournament, saying he did not want to uproot his family and his American wife from the United States.

As a player, Klinsmann helped Germany win the 1990 World Cup and played for Bayern Munich, Inter Milan and Tottenham. – AFP

Mahela’s men star with bat and ball to down Kiwis in semi-finals

KINGSTON: Sri Lankan captain Mahela Jayawardene scored a match-winning century but handed the credit to his bowling attack after Tuesday’s 81-run victory over New Zealand in the World Cup semi-finals.

Off spinner Muttiah Muralitharan took four wickets to rip the heart out of the New Zealand middle-order after paceman Lasith Malinga returned from his injury layoff with an outstanding opening spell.

Muralitharan grabbed three wickets in six balls to leave the Kiwis looking clueless against his cunning spin.

“When you have a guy like that you know that your wicket-taking options are better,” said the skipper, who hit an unbeaten 115 in his team’s total of 289 for five.

“But he is a human as well, he can’t do it all the time. He comes up with some really good efforts for us though.

“With him, Lasith and (Chaminda) Vaas I think I have better options now and obviously as a captain that is a good position to be in.”

While Muralitharan’s spell turned the game in Sri Lanka’s direction, Malinga had set the tone with a wicket-maiden in his first over. He claimed the scalp of New Zealand captain Stephen Fleming.

Malinga had missed Sri Lanka’s last three Super Eights matches due to an ankle injury but Jayawardene said he was not at all taken aback by his opening bowler’s return.

“I wasn’t surprised. The guy has been putting in a lot of effort and he was very upset that he wasn’t playing, wasn’t part of the team,” he said.

“In the last two practice sessions we saw him looking really eager and he was doing things that he has done before.

“He has a big heart and he has improved quite a lot as a cricketer in the last 12 months and I think his hard work has paid off.”

The vital wicket of Scott Styris, who was looking threatening on 37, came not from one of Sri Lanka’s frontline bowlers but back-up man Tillakaratne Dilshan.

Jayawardene said that surprise allowed him to turn the heat on New Zealand.

“Once the field went back after the Powerplays I thought I could sneak in maybe four or five overs but I never expected Dilshan to pick up a wicket that early,” he said.

“That was a bonus, once we got that Murali came and asked me ‘shall we have a go at the batsmen for a few overs and try and pick up a few wickets?’

“That was a good time for us to put pressure on New Zealand and he picked up two wickets in that next over so everything worked pretty well. Nothing was planned, everything just happened so quickly.”

Fleming, who announced after the match that he was standing down as one-day captain, acknowledged his side had been second-best.

“We certainly didn’t play well enough I felt we were outclassed at key moments.

“But I am proud of where we got to even if we wanted to go one further,” he said. – Reuters

Werder Bremen look to stem Spanish tide in UEFA Cup

PARIS: Werder Bremen’s Champions League elimination by Barcelona could be met by a measure of revenge today when they face Barca’s city rivals Espanyol in a UEFA Cup semi-final first leg clash.

The German side are the only non-Spanish team in the last four – holders Sevilla take on Osasuna in the other semi – but are in prime form as their 3-1 win in the league last Friday kept them within two points of leaders Schalke 04.

Werder’s outstanding German international midfielder Torsten Frings believes that the 1992 Cup Winners’ Cup winners are capable of beating anyone, and certainly the manner in which they demolished Dutch League leaders AZ Alkmaar in the quarter-finals lends his theory credence.

“We can beat any club in Europe,” Frings told Uefa.com.

Rooney powers United to slim win

MANCHESTER: Wayne Rooney scored twice including a stoppage-time winner to give Manchester United a thrilling 3-2 victory over AC Milan in their Champions League semi-final, first leg on Tuesday.

Rooney pulled United back into the match when he levelled the score at 2-2 after 59 minutes and his winner gives United a narrow advantage to take into the second leg in Milan next Wednesday, although Milan will fancy their chances thanks to their two away goals.

Becks sets up win for Real

MADRID: David Beckham returned from a six-week injury absence to set up Real Madrid’s winner in a 2-1 victory over Primera Liga title rivals Valencia at the Bernabeu on Saturday.

Ruud van Nistelrooy scored with a spectacular volley to put Real in front before Fernando Morientes levelled against his former club soon after the break.

Real climbed to second in the table on 57 points, two behind leaders Barcelona. Valencia are fourth on 53 points.

Real Sociedad kept up their chances of avoiding relegation with a 2-0 home win over Atletico Madrid.

Serbian striker Darko Kovacevic poked in Savio’s cross for the opener before Brazilian forward Savio made it 2-0 with a volley six minutes from time.

Atletico had midfielder Peter Luccin and defender Fabiano Eller sent off in the second half.

The Basque side, who claimed their third win in four, remained second bottom with 27 points, three from safety. Atletico stayed sixth with 50.

Real showed more desire to get forward early at the Bernabeu and took the lead after a sweeping move in the 18th minute.

Put clear down the left, fullback Miguel Torres crossed and Dutch striker Van Nistelrooy lashed in a volley from the edge of the area.

Real midfielder Fernando Gago was lucky to be on the pitch at half-time.

Having already received a yellow card, the Argentine’s mistimed tackle on Miguel went unpunished before the interval.

Winger Joaquin created the equaliser for Valencia in the 52nd minute, beating his man down the right and crossing low for an unmarked Morientes to steer the ball inside the far post.

Beckham came on as a substitute in the 65th minute and eight minutes later his free-kick set up Ramos’ winner.

Real went close to adding a third through Van Nistelrooy and Robinho, though goalkeeper Iker Casillas had to be sharp to push out an Asier del Horno volley near the end. – Reuters

Federer: Playing Nadal makes me improve

MONTE CARLO: Roger Federer still enjoys playing Rafael Nadal even though he has now lost his five meetings against the Spaniard on clay.

The world number one believes he improves on the slow surface every time he takes on the double French Open champion, who beat him 6-4, 6-4 in the final of the Monte Carlo Masters Series on Sunday.

“It's good for me to play against him. He sometimes makes me improve my backhand. I think that problem is solved for me,” Federer said.

“Today I started to miss on the forehand but, look, again, it can happen over a few minutes that you're going to have a downfall on one of your shots.

“Again, you should try to avoid it, and that's going to make you practise and make you a better player. I enjoy playing against him and I think (it is) the same for him.

“We can improve playing against each other,” added Federer, who made 19 unforced errors on his forehand.

“Mistakes, (a) few too many, I guess. I'm not happy about the performance of my forehand. Rarely it happens to me, because it's my best shot in the game. I guess it's a bit different against Rafael.

“You've got to keep on pushing and I just missed a few too many to go a break down in the first set.”

Federer was defeated by Nadal in last year's final in the principality before being beaten at the Rome Masters Series. The Swiss then handed Nadal his second French Open crown in Paris.

However, Federer had few regrets about Sunday's final.

“I should have used the chances when I had them early on,” he said. “Unfortunately it turned around with a few mistakes. But I feel this match gave me some information.

“I think I'm absolutely in the mix with him on clay, which is how I wanted to feel. You know, it's always disappointing to lose but I feel like I didn't play well and still it was close. That's a good thing.” – Reuters

Chelsea bid for revenge against Liverpool

LONDON: Chelsea are the odd one out in the Champions League semi-finals – they have never won a European title.

The Blues will have an eye on revenge when they host Liverpool in the first leg tomorrow.

Liverpool’s run to a victorious final against Milan two seasons ago hinged on a much-disputed goal by Luis Garcia, the only one of their two semi-final legs against Chelsea.

Many Blues fans still believe Garcia’s strike did not cross the line at Anfield and see this season’s meetings as a chance to set the record straight.

In the Premier League this season, Chelsea beat Liverpool 1-0 at Stamford Bridge in September courtesy of a wonder strike by Ivorian Didier Drogba but lost 2-0 at Anfield in January.

In the build-up to the first leg, Liverpool defeated Wigan 2-0 at Anfield off two goals from Dirk Kuyt on Saturday. Manager Rafa Benitez decided not to start captain Steven Gerrard in a league game for the first time in a year, instead inserting him for the last 30 minutes.

“This was the ideal situation,” Benitez said. “We wanted a good game, a good result, to score a few and control the game. We wanted to rest some players like Steven Gerrard and we didn’t want any injuries. In the end it was almost perfect.”

Jose Mourinho cannot say the same about his lead-up to tomorrow’s game. The Chelsea coach had the chance to close the gap to Manchester United in the Premier League to one point by defeating Newcastle on Sunday. Instead, Chelsea drew 0-0.

“All of our players are ready,’’ Benitez said. “We do not fear Chelsea, but we have respect for them and also confidence. In a competition like this, everyone is motivated – it will be a tough game for everyone.”

All four coaches in the semi-finals have won a Champions League title before – Alex Ferguson with United in 1999, Benitez with Liverpool in 2005 and Carlo Ancelotti with Milan in 2003. Mourinho won the Champions League with FC Porto in 2004. None of them are English. – Agencies