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/ 27 January 2005
Serena Williams and Lindsay Davenport set up an Australian Open showdown in Melbourne on Thursday after fighting back from the brink of defeat in two epic semifinal duels. Former world number one Williams pulled off an extraordinary escape to defeat fourth-seeded Russian teenager Maria Sharapova.
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/ 27 January 2005
Former world number one Serena Williams fought back from the brink of defeat to beat teenage prodigy Maria Sharapova and reach the final of the Australian Open on Thursday. The seventh-seeded six-time grand slam title winner now faces either top seed Lindsay Davenport or French 19th seed Nathalie Dechy in Saturday’s final.
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/ 26 January 2005
World number one Lindsay Davenport shattered Alicia Molik’s dream of becoming the first home-grown Australian Open champion since 1978, winning an epic quarterfinal in three sets on Wednesday. Melbourne-based Molik refused to be downcast at the end of a campaign that has helped propel her into the top 10.
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/ 26 January 2005
Andre Agassi has praised Roger Federer’s innate ability to make the court look smaller after his astonishing demolition of the four-times Australian Open winner on Tuesday. The world number one, bidding for his third straight grand slam triumph, crushed eighth-seeded Agassi 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 in their quarterfinal match.
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/ 25 January 2005
Roger Federer sent out a chilling warning to his title rivals with a straight-sets demolition of Andre Agassi to charge into the semifinals of the Australian Open on Tuesday. The world number one stretched his unbeaten match streak to 26 as he put the four-times winner and eighth seed to the sword, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 in one hour and 39 minutes.
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/ 25 January 2005
Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova overcame furnace-like conditions to reach the Australian Open semifinals as sizzling temperatures forced play indoors to help men’s fourth seed Marat Safin into the last four on Tuesday. Williams revelled in blistering conditions to overwhelm French second seed Amelie Mauresmo.
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/ 25 January 2005
Russian Marat Safin cashed in as the Australian Open went indoors on Tuesday, crushing Slovakian practice partner Dominik Hrbaty to power into the semifinals. He cantered to an easier-than-expected straight-sets victory, 6-2, 6-4, 6-2 in just one hour and 30 minutes, in a match played under a closed roof amid sweltering temperatures.
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/ 24 January 2005
Lleyton Hewitt and Alicia Molik gave home fans something to savour for the first time in 17 years on Monday after sweeping into the quarterfinals of the Australian Open. World number three Hewitt reached the last eight after a thrilling five-set duel with unseeded Spaniard Rafael Nadal.
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/ 24 January 2005
American second seed Andy Roddick served his way into a third straight Australian Open tennis quarterfinal with a straight-sets victory over German Philipp Kohlschreiber on Monday. Roddick, the 2003 US Open champion, countered stiff resistance in the second set, which went to a tiebreaker before skating away in the final.
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/ 24 January 2005
Russia’s Nikolay Davydenko fought through the pain barrier to reach his first grand slam quarterfinal with victory over Argentine 12th seed Guillermo Canas on Monday. The impressive 26th seed, who is yet to lose a set in the tournament, wasted no time in dispatching a disappointing Canas.
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/ 21 January 2005
Four-times champion Andre Agassi steamed into the last 16 of the Australian Open tennis after taming the serve-volley power of American compatriot Taylor Dent in Melbourne on Friday. The 34-year-old eighth seed extinguished 29th-seeded Dent’s hopes with a 7-5, 7-6 (7/3), 6-1 win in one hour and 52 minutes on Rod Laver Arena.
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/ 20 January 2005
Roger Federer’s credentials as one of the greatest tennis players of all time is still an open book. But his place among the sport’s elite is already established. When Federer plays Jarkko Nieminen of Finland in the third round at the Australian Open on Friday, the 23-year-old Federer will be looking for his 24th match win in a row — all on hard courts.
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/ 19 January 2005
Svetlana Kuznetsova shrugged off the drug controversy raging around her to claim a place alongside other top seeds in the Australian Open third round on Wednesday. In the men’s draw, four-time former champion Andre Agassi and last year’s beaten finalist Marat Safin of Russia both swept through in straight sets.
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/ 18 January 2005
West Indian cricketing superstar Brian Lara offered Australia’s premier pace-bowler, Glenn McGrath, some friendly advice in Brisbane on Tuesday — think twice about playing in the 2007 World Cup. Lara said McGrath is a champion bowler but his age — he will be 35 next month — could count against him.
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/ 18 January 2005
A bitter drugs controversy embroiling Russian tennis star Svetlana Kuznetsova loomed over the Australian Open on Tuesday as the big guns eased through in early-round matches. Former US Open champion Andy Roddick and reigning French Open champion Anastasia Myskina led the way into the second round of the men’s and women’s draws.
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/ 18 January 2005
The son of Libyan leader Moammar Gadaffi is to captain his country’s soccer team on a two-match tour of Australia next month, Australian officials said on Tuesday. New South Wales Soccer spokesperson Kyle Patterson said the 31-year-old midfielder’s friendship with Perugia and Australian national team goalkeeper Zeljko Kalac, a former Sydney United player, had helped bring about the tour.
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/ 17 January 2005
Top-ranked Roger Federer ripped 54 winners past Fabrice Santoro on Monday, opening his Australian Open title defence with a 6-1, 6-1, 6-2 victory. In women’s first-round matches, Serena Williams had more trouble with her shoes than she did with Camille Pin, winning 6-1, 6-1 in the opening match on centre court.
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/ 17 January 2005
Four-time winner Andre Agassi fought through the pain barrier at the Australian Open on Monday for a comfortable straight-sets win over German qualifier Dieter Kindlmann in the first round. The American tennis great, using anti-inflammatories for a sore hip, erased doubts over his fitness during a 6-4, 6-3, 6-0 win over Kindlmann.
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/ 17 January 2005
Spaniard Carlos Moya became the highest-profile first-round casualty at the Australian Open in Melbourne on Monday after being bundled out by unheralded compatriot Guillermo Garcia-Lopez. Fifth-seeded Moya never got going against his rising Davis Cup hitting partner Garcia-Lopez, ranked 106th in the world.
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/ 14 January 2005
The West Indies wilted in the face of intense pressure from world champions Australia, collapsing 116 runs short of victory in their opening Tri-series one-day cricket international in Melbourne on Friday. After being dismissed off just 46,2 overs, the tourists mustered a paltry 185 runs in reply to Australia’s 301 for four.
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/ 12 January 2005
An Australian woman with a blood alcohol level nearly nine times the legal limit when she crashed her car has set a national record for a female, a Melbourne court was told on Wednesday. Leanne Bartelson (44), beat the 0,05% limit with a blood alcohol concentration of 0,448% when she was tested on the morning of May 14 last year.
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/ 11 January 2005
At least eight people, including two children, died as bushfires fanned by searing temperatures and high winds raged through parts of South Australia state on Tuesday, threatening towns and destroying properties. Police said eight people have been confirmed killed, but a number of others are still unaccounted for and the toll could rise.
Chronic gambler Dennis Telford had his hand in the till. Both hands, in fact. Over the years, the 44-year-old family man took Aus-million (about R100-million) from the Adelaide trucking firm where he was company secretary. Telford, who pleaded guilty to 63 fraud charges, got hooked on horse races early in life.
An Australian man who was hailed a hero for allegedly saving more than a dozen lives in Thailand during the tsunami disaster has been arrested by local police on outstanding assault and burglary charges. Thomas David Connell was handcuffed and arrested after he stepped off the plane at Brisbane International airport on Monday.
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/ 23 December 2004
People who marry drink less — perhaps because they socialise less or are less likely to drown their cares with alcohol. But heavy drinking is more likely to help you find a partner — which, in turn, will help you cut down on your drinking. These are the findings of Australian National University researcher Bryan Rodgers.
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/ 16 December 2004
Two great white sharks attacked and killed a teenage boy on a surfboard off a packed Australian beach as his horrified friends looked on Thursday, in the country’s second fatal shark attack in five days. The 18-year-old was being towed on a surfboard behind a speedboat off a beach in Adelaide when the giant man-eaters struck.
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/ 13 December 2004
A groundbreaking trial of random roadside saliva testing for illegal drugs turned up trumps in Australia on Monday with one in eight of the first batch of drivers turning in a swab that contained traces of cannabis. In the year-long trial, the first of its kind in the world, Victoria police Victoria expect to check the ”gob swabs” of 9 000 drivers.
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/ 13 December 2004
Severe storms with hail the size of golf balls lashed Sydney on Monday, closing the airport, grounding aircraft and disrupting the travel plans of thousands of people, emergency services said. The storms also closed a major rail line, brought down trees and caused damage to homes around the city.
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/ 10 December 2004
Australian companies were warned on Friday that unruly office parties could bring an expensive post-Christmas hangover. The party-giver could end up in court in duty-of-care cases involving sexual harassment, fist-fighting or drunken driving, Queensland business leader Graham Heilbronn cautioned.
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/ 9 December 2004
An Australian company launched a drug on Thursday that eliminates the need to castrate dogs, with what it claims is the world’s first pet contraceptive. Peptech said the drug suprelorin releases a hormone into a male dog’s bloodstream that reduces testosterone levels and renders it infertile.
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/ 9 December 2004
Australian police said on Thursday they have smashed a gang of rogue hairdressing-industry workers that staged a string of firebombings aimed at a rival in Sydney’s hair-products supply market. Police arrested three men in a series of raids late on Wednesday and charged them over 12 arson attacks on hair-product warehouses.
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/ 6 December 2004
South African-based Metcash Trading announced on Monday it intended to make an Aus-million dollars (-million) off-market takeover offer for the Australian operations of Foodland Associated. Metcash said that they would acquire only the Australian business of the Perth-based wholesaling and retailing group and Foodland shareholders would retain ownership of Foodland New Zealand.