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/ 1 June 2008

No sweat for top seeds at French Open

Top seeds Roger Federer and Maria Sharapova both moved smoothly into the last 16 at the French Open on Saturday. Federer outplayed close friend Mario Ancic of Croatia, winning 6-3, 6-4 6-2 in cool, rainy, evening conditions on the Philippe Chatrier Centre Court. Earlier in the day, Sharapova defeated Italy’s Karin Knapp 7-6 (7/4), 6-0.

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/ 30 May 2008

Henin: The queen has abdicated

The queen has abdicated. The throne is bare and the pretenders are circling at the French Open, which began on Sunday, with expectations high for an unusually large number of women players who feel they have been handed the rarest of opportunities. For the first time in almost a decade, winning at Roland Garros will not mean having to beat Justine Henin.

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/ 28 May 2008

Rain brings chaos to French Open

Torrential rain brought chaos to the French Open on Tuesday, with six hours of play lost and title favourites Maria Sharapova and Rafael Nadal amongst the victims of the deluge. Only 13 of the day’s planned 72 ties were finished in the three hours of play possible between the downpours, leaving 59 of 128 first-round meetings still to be completed.

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/ 2 April 2008

Holder Serena crushes Henin in Miami quarters

Champion Serena Williams made world number one Justine Henin look like a mere novice as she pulled off a stunning 6-2 6-0 victory to reach the semifinals of the Sony Ericsson Open on Tuesday. Williams barely put a foot wrong and reeled off the last nine games to book a last-four date with either her sister Venus or third seed Svetlana Kuznetsova.

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/ 17 March 2008

Federer finds his feet as Haas halts red-hot Roddick

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

The Aussie Open’s Serbian darling

Wimbledon crowds could learn a lot from the Australian Open. Like the British, the Australians have no players to speak of, so they do the next best thing and adopt a few for the purposes of the fortnight. They fell in love with Martina Hingis. Then it was Kimmy Clijsters, the Belgian obliging by getting engaged to Lleyton Hewitt. Now it’s Aussie Ana.

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/ 20 January 2008

Federer rattled at Australian Open

A rattled Roger Federer was given a major scare in a five-set epic at the Australian Open on Saturday, but he avoided the fate of number-two seed Svetlana Kuznetsova who skidded out of the tournament. Other casualties included women’s sixth seed Anna Chakvetadze and men’s seventh seed Fernando Gonzalez.

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/ 17 January 2008

Fed Express steams on as Venus stutters

Roger Federer stepped up his unrelenting charge towards a third successive Australian Open title with an emphatic win on Thursday, but Venus Williams had to dig deep to reach the third round. The Fed Express, chasing a 13th Grand Slam title, crushed wily Frenchman Fabrice Santoro, playing in a record 62nd Major tournament, 6-1, 6-2, 6-0.

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/ 17 January 2008

Federer bamboozles court magician

Roger Federer’s sleight of hand proved too bamboozling for court magician Fabrice Santoro as Melbourne Park was treated to a masterclass on Thursday. Svetlana Kuznetsova, Venus Williams, Novak Djokovic, David Ferrer and Lleyton Hewitt also reached the Australian Open third round but none could match the mastery of Swiss top seed Federer.

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/ 9 January 2008

Henin hot favourite after inspired 2007

World number one Justine Henin goes into the Australian Open as the overwhelming favourite after an inspired 2007, but there is no shortage of challengers. Among them is superstar defending champion Serena Williams, who stunned the tennis world by winning the title last year in her comeback event following an injury-plagued 2006.

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/ 16 September 2007

Kuznetsova powers Russia to third Fed Cup title

Svetlana Kuznetsova saved two match points in the second set tiebreaker before beating Francesca Schiavone 4-6 7-6 7-5 in the first reverse singles on Sunday to give Russia their third Fed Cup title in four years. Kuznetsova’s victory gave the home team an unassailable 3-0 lead over last year’s surprise winners Italy in the final at Moscow’s Luzhniki arena.

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/ 9 September 2007

Kuznetsova admits she wasn’t at her best

Svetlana Kuznetsova said she must work on rising to the big occasion following her 6-1 6-3 defeat by world number one Justine Henin in the US Open final on Saturday. ”I think the match was much closer than the score, for sure,” the 22-year-old Russian, who won the 2004 US Open title, told reporters.

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/ 8 September 2007

Henin beats Venus to reach US Open final

Venus Williams left the US Open the same way Serena Williams did, undone by all those big shots off the racket of little Justine Henin. Henin became only the second woman to beat both Williams sisters at the same Grand Slam tournament, reaching the final at Flushing Meadows with a 7-6 (2), 6-4 victory over Venus on Friday.

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/ 8 September 2007

Kuznetsova beats Chakvetadze to reach Open final

Svetlana Kuznetsova got off to a horrible start in her US Open semifinal on Friday. How horrible? Her opponent, Anna Chakvetadze, won the first set despite hitting only one winner. And then, slowly but surely, 2004 champion Kuznetsova began keeping the ball between the lines, and Chakvetadze began missing shots short, long and wide.

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/ 31 August 2007

No mercy from Sharapova as Blake struggles

Maria Sharapova produced another display of fearsome big hitting to roll into the US Open third round on Thursday, while top American hopes Andy Roddick and James Blake struggled to stay on course. The 20-year-old Russian glamour girl opened her shoulders to blast past overmatched Australian Casey Dellaqua 6-1, 6-0 in just 51 minutes.

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/ 29 August 2007

Sharapova lets fly at US Open

Maria Sharapova opened the defence of her United States Open crown in commanding style on Tuesday by overpowering Italy’s Roberta Vinci 6-0, 6-1 in less than an hour. There were wins also for two former New York champions, Martina Hingis and Svetlana Kuznetsova, and for Andy Roddick, among others.