Melbourne

David Nalbandian has urged a review of the Australian Open’s extreme-heat policy after winning the match against wilting opponent Janko Tipsarevic in scorching heat on Tuesday. The Argentine eighth seed reached the second round when the world number 64 Serbian, labouring in the intense heat, called a halt early in the fifth set.

Police ejected about 150 spectators from the Australian Open on Monday after an ugly brawl broke out between Serbian and Croatian fans inside the ground. Fans wearing the national colours of the bitter Balkan rivals clashed in the Rod Laver Arena after taunting and hurling insults at each other.

Andy Roddick notched only his second career victory over arch-nemesis Roger Federer by winning the Kooyong Classic 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 on Saturday. The victory in one hour, 20 minutes at the eight-man special event snapped an eight-match losing streak against the Swiss world number one going back to 2003.

Australia beat England by eight wickets in the first one-day tri-series match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Friday. Set a target of 243, Australia chased down the total with 4.4 overs to spare after opener Adam Gilchrist struck a rapid 60 and skipper Ricky Ponting a steady unbeaten 82 in front of a boisterous home crowd.

Roger Federer honed his razor-sharp tennis to near-perfection on Thursday as he stormed into the final of the Kooyong Classic with a 6-3, 7-6 (7/2) defeat of Russian rival Marat Safin. The contest, which lasted just over an hour, was a sharp contrast to the laboured victory the world number one earned just 24 hours earlier.

Australian coach John Buchanan has ensured the Ashes series won’t peter out by accusing England star batsman Kevin Pietersen of selfishness. Buchanan claimed Pietersen has distanced himself from his teammates and dictated where he bats in the order.

Shane Warne — roared on by an Ashes record crowd — created Test history by becoming the first bowler to claim 700 wickets as dispirited England collapsed on the opening day of the fourth Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Tuesday. The master leg-spinner captured 5-39 off 17.2 overs.

Shane Warne captured his 700th Test wicket to roaring home-town acclaim as Australia took a grip on the fourth Ashes Test against England on the opening day at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Tuesday. The master leg-spinner bowled opener Andrew Strauss for 50 to become the first bowler in Test history to take 700 wickets.

Australia go into the fourth Ashes Test beginning on Tuesday seeking to remain on track for a series whitewash that would be a fitting farewell to retiring bowlers Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath. Both Warne (37), Test cricket’s greatest wicket-taker, and McGrath (36) announced last week that they would retire from Test cricket at the end of the current Ashes series.

Shane Warne will retire from international and Australian domestic cricket after the fifth Ashes Test against England next month. The 37-year-old leg-spinner, Test cricket’s leading wicket taker with 699 dismissals, made the announcement on Thursday at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

Residents of at least three small Australian towns braced for disaster on Wednesday as bushfires that have ravaged an area twice the size of Mauritius roared towards them. Prime Minister John Howard was set to visit fire battle zones in the island state of Tasmania and in Victoria, where the worst of the blazes is raging.

Disgraced sprinter Ben Johnson has claimed superstar rival Carl Lewis played a part in a conspiracy to sabotage his drug sample at the 1988 Seoul Olympics, costing him his 100m gold medal. Johnson set a world record of 9,79 seconds to win the 100m at Seoul but was stripped of his gold medal and world record when he tested positive for the banned steroid stanozolol.

Fijian-born rugby player Jone Tawake has had a finger amputated in the hope of ensuring his fitness for next year’s World Cup in France. The 24-year-old ACT Brumbies number eight, capped by Australia at under-19 and under-21 level, had the ring finger on his right hand removed in an operation in Canberra last week, Australian media reported on Tuesday.

The Australian Formula One Grand Prix made a loss of Aus-million (,6-million) in 2006, due partly to Melbourne’s staging of the Commonwealth Games earlier the same month. Ticket sales were down and the cost of staging the race at Melbourne’s Albert Park increased because part of the venue was used during the Commonwealth Games.

Australia coach John Connolly expects a more confrontational South Africa side in Sydney on Saturday than the team that was thrashed 49-0 in their first Tri-Nations encounter in Brisbane last month. With Australia licking their wounds after last week’s 13-9 loss to New Zealand resigned them to a fourth straight Bledisloe Cup defeat and further lost ground in the Tri-Nations, Connolly said the Wallabies must step up a gear.

George Gregan will start on the reserves bench for the first time in 10 years and Stirling Mortlock will captain Australia against England in their second rugby Test on Saturday. Coach John Connolly made three changes on Wednesday for the Telstra Dome Test in Melbourne following Australia’s 34-3 win last Sunday in the first Cook Cup match at Sydney.

They have long been viewed as a symbol of fidelity and everlasting love. But swans are in fact cheating philanderers who regularly flee the nest for extramarital sex, Australian researchers revealed on Wednesday. DNA testing has shown that one in six cygnets is the product of an illicit encounter, smashing the monogamous image of the birds.

Former Manchester United star Jesper Olsen is in a Melbourne hospital after collapsing with a brain haemorrhage. A statement from Olsen’s company, Proactive Sports Management Australia, said he was admitted to hospital on Thursday last week after suffering a sub-arachnoid haemorrhage.

Australian cricketer Shane Warne may be called to give evidence in the trial of a taxi driver charged with the murder of a teenage passenger, the Melbourne Magistrate’s Court heard on Wednesday. Rajbinder Singh Shahi (28) is charged with murdering 17-year-old Xavier Salmon by running him down with his taxi after a dispute in December last year.

Spain’s Fernando Alonso won the Australian Grand Prix in a dominating drive in Melbourne on Sunday as the Renault world drivers’ champion led for all but a couple of laps. McLaren’s Kimi Raikkonen was behind him 1,8 seconds off the pace with Toyota’s Ralf Schumacher third a further 22,9 seconds back.