World number one Roger Federer, in search of his first title of 2008, took no chances on Sunday as he moved smoothly into the third round of the Indian Wells Masters Series. The top-seeded Swiss, who enjoyed a first-round bye, defeated Spain’s Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-3, 6-2 in his first ATP outing since a first-round ouster at Dubai last week.
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/ 25 January 2008
Defeat in the final of the 2007 French Open has not left a seed of doubt in the mind of Australian Open finalist Ana Ivanovic — quite the opposite. That painful loss to Justine Henin has in fact helped the 20-year-old Serb prepare for Saturday’s Melbourne Park showdown, Ivanovic told reporters on Friday.
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/ 24 January 2008
Serbian fourth seed Ana Ivanovic staged a barnstorming comeback to down Slovak ninth seed Daniela Hantuchova 0-6, 6-3, 6-4 on Thursday and set up an Australian Open final against Maria Sharapova. Ivanovic looked like wilting in humid conditions with the roof of the Rod Laver Arena closed due to rain.
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/ 24 January 2008
Russian fifth seed Maria Sharapova crushed injured Serbian third seed Jelena Jankovic 6-3, 6-1 in a one-sided semifinal on Thursday to reach her second successive Australian Open final. It means Sharapova, a losing finalist here last year, will meet either Serbian third seed Ana Ivanovic or Slovak ninth seed Daniela Hantuchova in Saturday’s title decider.
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/ 23 January 2008
Roger Federer was at his dominant best on Wednesday to book a place in the Australian Open semifinals as Ana Ivanovic brought Venus Williams’s tournament to a juddering halt. The Swiss ace kept his cool in two close-fought sets against 12th seeded American James Blake before running away a 7-5, 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 winner.
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/ 23 January 2008
Europe tightened its stranglehold on the Australian Open when America’s sole survivor in the women’s singles, Venus Williams, was blasted out of the quarterfinals on Wednesday. Venus went the way of sister Serena, battered by a Serb baseliner, losing 7-6 6-4 to fourth seed Ana Ivanovic.
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/ 21 January 2008
It was back to business as usual for Roger Federer on Monday as he clinically moved into an Australian Open quarterfinal against James Blake, with Venus Williams also working up a head of steam. The world number one rebounded from his uncharacteristic five-set scare in the third round to resume his sprint towards a 13th Grand Slam title.
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/ 29 October 2007
Maria Sharapova clinched the final place at the season-ending WTA Championships on Sunday. She has qualified every year since winning on her debut in 2004. ”This has been a very frustrating year for me physically but I’m a big competitor and am determined to compete at the WTA Championships,” Sharapova said.