USA:The fans in attendance at the 2009 US Open saw another day of exciting action on the court. A major upset, a comeback continuing on and some new tennis stars emerging was the US Open tennis 2009 results from day nine of the tournament.
The winners of the two quarterfinal matches on Tuesday advanced to the women's singles semifinals. The US Open comeback story, Kim Clijsters defeated her opponent, Na Li in straight sets: 6-2, 6-4. Clijsters will face Serena Williams in the semifinals. Williams beat Flavia Pennetta in straight sets as well: 6-4, 6-3.
The big upset of the day was in the men's singles match between Marin Cilic and the number 2 seed Andy Murray. Cilic outplayed Murray and defeated him in straight sets: 7-5, 6-2, 6-2. Fernando Gonzalez defeated Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in four sets: 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (3), 6-4.
The final match of the day was a slugfest lasting almost three hours. In the end number 3 seed Rafael Nadal outlasted Gael Monfils 6-7 (3), 6-3, 6-1, 6-3.
The quarterfinals of men's double saw the number one seed Bob and Mike Bryan continue on their march towards another US Open championship. The Bryan brothers took only one hour and five minutes to defeat the team of Carsten Ball and Chris Guccione in straight sets: 6-4, 7-6 (2).
The Bryan brothers will face off in the semifinals against the number 4 seed team of Lukas Dlouhy and Leander Paes. Dlouhy and Paes defeated Wesley Moodie and Dick Norman in three sets: 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 to advance to the semifinals.
Another men's doubles match was won by Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles. They defeated Ivan Ljubicic and Michael Llodra by the score of 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (4). Max Mirnyi and Andy Ram defeated Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic in the last men’s doubles match of the day: 6-7 (4), 6-4, 6-0.
The women's double quarterfinals had two matches on Tuesday. The first match was won by Samantha Stosur and Rennae Stubbs over Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Nadia Petrova in straight sets: 6-2, 6-3. The second match had Alisa Kleybanova and Ekaterina Makarova defeating Maria Kirilenko and Elena Vesnina by the score of 6-3, 2-6, 6-4.
The mixed doubles had two semifinal games on Tuesday. Cara Black and Leander Paes defeated Su-Wei Hsieh and Kevin Ullyett: 6-2, 3-6, [10-5]. In the second match Carly Gullickson and Travis Parrott defeated Mahesh Bhupathi in straight sets: 6-3, 6-4.
Day nine of the US Open tennis 2009 resulted in lots of excitement. The heartbreak of the number 2 seed Murray loosing and the thrill of Clijsters continuing her comeback were just some of what the fans were able to experience on Tuesday at the US Open.
Harbhajan Singh lashes out at camera
09 Sep 2009:Indian television news channels caught Harbhajan on a bad day as an unfortunate cameraman blocked his path as he attempted to retrieve his luggage from a car.
The volatile Harbhajan is no stranger to controversy. He was found guilty of using "abusive" language to sledge Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds last year, which saw him banned from the 2008 Indian Premier League and suspended from the one-day international side.
A few months later he was suspended for slapping bowler Shanthakumaran Sreesanth during a domestic Twenty20 league match.
He may have taken 330 Test wickets, but his fighting style is more slap than punch, so his county, Punjab, should have no concerns about losing him to the boxing ring any time soon.
Neither the Indian Cricket Board nor Harbhajan have commented on today's events, which come as the national team prepare for a one-day game in Sri Lanka on Saturday.
Vijender in World boxing quarter-finals
NEW DELHI: Olympic bronze medallist and middle weight (75kg) top seed Vijender Singh moved into quarter-finals of the World Boxing Championships after beating Steve Rolls of Canada 4-2 in Milan.
Vijender made into the pre-quarters of the event by outscoring Kazakhstan’s Belgibayev Azamat with a convincing margin of 14-8.
Round one of the pre-quarters ended with the Canadian ahead by 1-0. Although Vijender had managed to land a couple of lusty blows on the target, they did not find favour with the judges. In round two, Vijender capitalised on his hieght advantage and better arm span to score two straight left and right combination punches, to move ahead and finish at 2-1.
The Indiancorner was clearly agitated as they felt that atleast two more legitimate scoring blows delivered by Vijender should have got judges nod.
In round three, Steve Rolls closed the lead to 3-2 before Vijender who was continuously cheered by his Indian supporters, was able to increase the lead to 4-2.
With the seconds ticking away, Vijender intelligently kept the Canadian at arms length by great footwork and sharp jabs.
Vijender Singh now meets Derevyanchenko Sergiy of Ukraine who defeated Killici Adem of Turkey in the other pre quarter-finals match.
In any case this is one of the best performance by Indian boxers at the World Championships in recent times.
In the last World Championships held at Chicago in 2007, Anthresh Lakra (57kg) was the lone Indian to reach the quarter-finals. Thus, the performance of Vijender Singh (75kg) and Dinesh Kumar (81kg) in this World Championship is a record by itself.
India eye number one ranking in Sri Lanka
CHENNAI, India — Coach Gary Kirsten said Wednesday India needed to be consistent in the ongoing tri-series in Sri Lanka to become the world's best one-day team.
India, who have won five successive bilateral series, will top the one-day rankings if they beat both Sri Lanka and New Zealand in the league stage and also win the final on September 14.
"We have set our goals," Kirsten said ahead of the team's departure for Colombo. "One of them is to be the best team in the world. We are headed that way and we are very excited.
"We have to perform well as we continue the quest to be the best. We won the last two series in Sri Lanka and we are confident."
India are without injured opener Virender Sehwag and paceman Zaheer Khan, but Kirsten said the team had the depth to do well.
"Obviously, missing a player like Sehwag is huge," the former South African opener said. "He is a quality batsman, but we have got a lot of depth in our cricket at the moment.
"We have done well in Sri Lanka and are familiar with the conditions. We know we are playing against two good teams, but we have been performing well and we need to maintain our performance."
India open their campaign against New Zealand on Friday and play the hosts the next day. Each side will play two league matches before the top two make it to the final.
Kirsten said the toss would be vital on low, slow Sri Lankan pitches, where chasing a target under lights was not easy.
New Zealand found runs hard to come by on Tuesday when they were bowled out for 119 in reply to Sri Lanka's 216-7 in the opening match.
"Winning the toss is quite important," said Kirsten.
"But if you are going to be a world-class team, you need to win from any situation or condition. We have a good batting line-up which is flexible in the middle order."
He said Rahul Dravid's return to one-day cricket after nearly two years also augured well for the team.
"It is good to have him in the team. With that sort of experience, he is always going to help the team," said Kirsten.
Dravid is only the second batsman in the current team after Sachin Tendulkar to have completed 10,000 runs in one-day internationals.
India's squad: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Sachin Tendulkar, Gautam Gambhir, Rahul Dravid, Suresh Raina, Yuvraj Singh, Yusuf Pathan, Harbhajan Singh, Praveen Kumar, Ishant Sharma, Ashish Nehra, Rudra Pratap Singh, Amit Mishra, Dinesh Karthik, Abhishek Nayar.
Paes survives tough test
September 9, 2009:India's Leander Paes and his Czech partner Lukas Dlouhy have moved into the semi-final of the men's doubles at the US Open.
Paes and Dlouhy, seeded fourth, beat seventh seeded Wesley Moodie of South Africa and Dick Norman of Belgium 6-3, 5-7, 6-4.
After winning the first set rather easily, Paes-Dlouhy took a 2-0 lead in the second, but were broken in the fourth and 12th games as Moodie and Norman took the tie to the decider.
Inaugural Karnataka Premier League kicks off
September 09, 2009 (Karnataka):The inaugural Karnataka Premier League was inaugurated on Wednesday evening - with eight teams representing different regions of the state all set to battle it out.
Mysore Maharajas, Mangalore United, Bijapur Bulls were some of the teams representing different regions of Karnataka at the first ever KPL.
The show was launched with lasers and fireworks, song and dance with all the showmanship that was expected from this version of the game. Some film stars shared the spotlight with the cricketers too.
Sudeep, one of the actors present gracing the event, said, "I love cricket - I am an Indian. Acting is my profession, cricket is my passion..."
With few of the Karnataka cricketers taking part in the event, the chances seem to be bleak for the League to be a hit but due to T20's growing popularity, the organizers would definitely be hoping otherwise.
Bagan beat United SC to enter final of IFA Shield
KOLKATA: Mohun Bagan showed nerves of steel even after being reduced to 10 men from the eighth minute onwards to edge out United SC 5-4 in penalty shootout and set up a summit clash against Churchill Brothers in the 114th IFA Shield, on Wednesday.
The newly-laid artificial turf at Yuba Bharati Krirangan in Salt Lake saw the second semifinal being decided through tie-breaker as both the sides failed to score in regulation period and extra time.
The first semifinal between Churchill Brothers and Air India on Tuesday was also decided via penalty shootout in which the Goans won 4-2 after being tied 1-1 in 120 minutes of play.
Substitute goalkeeper Sangram Mukherjee gave Mohun Bagan a flying start in the tie-breaker by saving Jayanta Sen's shot from the spot.
All the five Mohun Bagan penalty takers -- Marcos Pereira, Rakesh Masih, Snehashis Chakraborty, Surkumar Singh and James Singh -- then found the target to send the Green-and-Maroons to the final.
Earlier, Mohun Bagan's starting goalkeeper Shilton Paul did all the hard work thwarting all United efforts for 120 minutes but Sangram emerged the hero with his anticipation diving to the right to deny Sen in the penalty shootout.
Sen's miss proved costly for United though PC Lalawmpuia, Eduardo Coelho, Lal Kamal Bhowmick and Subhashish Roy Chowdhury found the net from the spot.
Younus urges Pakistan to win Champions Trophy
KARACHI — Pakistan captain Younus Khan on Wednesday urged his team to win the elite eight-nation Champions Trophy in South Africa, saying it would signal a fresh beginning in the nation's cricketing fortunes.
"The World Twenty20 success in England (in June) came at a time when the country and our people were in crisis. Now if we win the Champions Trophy it will be tantamount to a fresh beginning," Younus told AFP.
The Champions Trophy was originally scheduled to be held in Pakistan in 2008. It was first postponed to September-October 2009 over security fears before being relocated to South Africa after teams refused to tour Pakistan.
"It would have been best had the Trophy been played before our home fans, but it did not happen. Now I want my team to win the Trophy so that people can rejoice over another success," said Younus.
Younus led Pakistan to this summer's World Twenty20 title amidst crisis in the country, as suicide bombs killed hundreds of people and fighting forced millions to evacuate the Swat valley in North West Frontier Province.
Younus said if Pakistan won the Champions Trophy, which takes place from September 22 to October 5, it would signal renewed hope.
"We are fast coming out of the crisis and I hope that the win in the Champions Trophy will give us hope to build on the game which has suffered a lot in the recent past."
The whole nation celebrated a rare moment of joy when Pakistan beat Sri Lanka in the final to lift the World Twenty20 title on June 21.
Pakistan dedicated their win to the people of Swat and raised funds for those who were suffering there.
"At this point of time our country and team need more and more victories so that we remain amongst the top nations of the world. Winning the trophy is not the only aim. Taking the team to the top of the rankings is the aim," said Younus.
Pakistan lurks fourth in the official one-day rankings and a dismal sixth in the Test standings.
Younus said winning the major ICC (International Cricket Council) events was an imperative.
"I always believe that if a team wins a major ICC event, its standing and image gets better and my aim is to win the Champions Trophy and then the World Cup 2011, and I am confident that the team can achieve that."
Pakistan have never won the Champions Trophy since its inception in 1998. They lost in the semi-finals in 2000 and 2004 and lost in earlier rounds in 1998, 2002 and 2006.
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