Maria Sharapova saved three match points in a battling performance on Sunday to defeat Switzerland’s Patty Schnyder 3-6, 6-4, 9-7 and reach the last eight of the French Open. It was a courageous effort from the 20-year-old Russian who is still feeling the effects of a shoulder injury.
Nicole Castrale chased down the world’s number one player for her first United States LPGA Tour victory, beating Lorena Ochoa with a par on the first hole of a play-off Sunday in the Ginn Tribute. Castrale closed with a one-under 71 to match Ochoa (74) at nine-under 279 on the River Towne Country Club course.
Striking public-sector workers in South Africa warned on Monday that government threats to sack health workers would derail efforts to resolve an increasingly bitter pay dispute. Fikile Majola, secretary general of the National Education Health and Allied Workers’ Union said negotiations would resume on Monday.
Valentino Rossi won the Italian Grand Prix for the sixth consecutive time on Sunday and moved within nine points of MotoGP series leader Casey Stoner. It was the second victory this season for Rossi, who also won the Spanish GP in March. Riding a Yamaha, Rossi timed 42 minutes, 42,385 seconds over 23 laps on the Mugello circuit.
Twenty-two people, most of them Togolese sports officials, were killed when a passenger helicopter exploded and crashed on Sunday at Sierra Leone’s main international airport. The helicopter was operated by Paramount Airlines, which shuttles passengers between Freetown and Lungi airport.
Australia coach John Connolly is set to rest players for Saturday’s test against Fiji in Perth, keeping his powder dry before the opening Tri-Nations clash with the Springboks. Connolly sees the game against in-form South Africa in Cape Town on June 16 as the first genuine test of the year for the Wallabies.
British artist who last week ate a meal of meatballs made from a dead corgi dog in a protest against animal cruelty said on Sunday his next project involved being buried in a box under a mountain of mashed potato. Performance artist Mark McGowan (37) said the corgi, which died from natural causes, tasted terrible.
President Thabo Mbeki on Sunday called for enhanced legitimacy through representation and accountability as well as recapitalisation of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). He said low-income countries would continue to draw heavily on a wide range of macro- and micro-economic policy advice linked to financing needs.
A Somali Islamist group on Monday claimed responsibility for a suicide bombing that targeted the Horn of Africa country’s prime minister. Prime Minister Ali Mohamed Gedi has accused al-Qaeda of being behind Sunday’s suicide bombing that killed seven people outside his home in Mogadishu.
The trial of Charles Taylor — the former president of Liberia and the first former African leader to face an international court — opens in The Hague on Monday where he is accused of war crimes during the diamond-fuelled conflict in neighbouring Sierra Leone. The prosecutor will open the trial, which is expected to last for a year, by detailing 11 war crimes charges against Taylor.