Daily News Channel
World number two Roger Federer survived the loss of the second set to see off Chilean Fernando Gonzalez 6-3 5-7 6-2 to reach the quarterfinals of the Masters Series event in Indian Wells. Federer was winning for the 12th time in 13 matches against Gonzalez to earn a clash with Fernando Verdasco of Spain. Verdasco, playing his first match since reaching the semifinals of the Australian Open, beat German Phillipp Kohlschreiber 6-4 3-6 6-1.
Tennis superstar Maria Sharapova returned to action after a seven month injury layoff in a doubles match at Indian Wells in California.
Diminutive South Korean Ji-Yai Shin was walking tall after a superb two-stroke victory from Australian Katherine Hull at the HSBC Women’s Champions tournament in Singapore on Sunday. Seven adrift at halfway and still six behind with a round to go at Tanah Merah, the 20-year-old British Women’s Open champion took the title with her second successive 66 for an 11 under total of 277. Hull had started the final round with a two-shot advantage thanks partly to a final-hole birdie in the third round Shin, who collected $300,000 for her latest triumph, birdied the first four holes and then picked up further strokes on the 11th and 15th to put the pressure on her big rival
The ambush by up to a dozen gunmen of a bus carrying members of the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore is the realization of fears long held by the sport’s leading players. The Sri Lankan team had agreed to tour Pakistan after India pulled out in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks in Mumbai last November when more than 160 people died in a three-day siege.
Wildfires that scorched much of southeastern Australia this month now threaten part of the country’s water supply, even as the fires’ death toll has risen to 200, officials said. Fires that continue to burn near some major reservoirs in the region imperil the quality of billions of liters of water, according to Australian television station 9 News.
Just like some U.S. officials looking into the mystery, the man who captured video of an apparent fireball plunging from the sky over Texas on Sunday is perplexed about what it was.
A court has lifted a ban on identifying a man charged with one of a number of deadly wildfires that scorched southwestern Australia this month. The man, 39-year-old Brendan Sokaluk, did not appear in Monday’s hearing in Melbourne Magistrates’ Court, the Australian Associated Press reported
Second seed Andy Murray collected his 10th career title after defeating world number one Rafael Nadal, who was hampered by a knee injury, 6-3 4-6 6-0 in the final of the ABN AMRO tournament in Rotterdam on Sunday. World number four Murray was himself carrying an ankle injury he picked up during his quarterfinal win over Marc Gicquel, but showed little signs of early discomfort as he raced around the court before burying two forehands to take his first service game. Nadal held before spurning his first break point to allow Murray to take a 2-1 lead and the match stayed with serve as Murray let a 0-30 lead slip to lose the fourth before he thundered an ace down on the way to take a 3-2 lead despite his second double fault of the game.
The raging infernos that have left more than 160 people dead in southern Australia burned with such speed that they resembled less a wildfire than a massive aerial bombing.
Winds whipping across southeastern Australia’s countryside continued to fan deadly brushfires Wednesday, spreading flames through rural towns and ravaging scores of homes. “The temperatures are much cooler, but the concern is there’s still this wind which sort of fans the flames and keeps them spreading,” said CNN Correspondent John Vause from Whittlesea, where tent cities have sprung up just north of Melbourne. Relief agencies pitched camps for those forced out of their homes.