Miami: World No. 1 Roger Federer’s 12-match winning streak ended when he went down 3-6, 3-6 to 17-year-old Spaniard Rafael Nadal in the third round of the Miami Masters on Sunday.
Before he ran into Nadal, the Swiss player had won 28 of his last 29 matches stretching back to the Masters Cup last November, including his Australian Open victory and back-to-back titles in Dubai and Indian Wells.
Former world No.1s Lleyton Hewitt and Jennifer Capriati were also shown the door. Hewitt suffered a 4-6, 5-7 defeat by Romania’s Andrei Pavel, while women’s fourth seed Capriati was stunned 2-6, 4-6 by Greece’s Eleni Daniilidou.
Second seed Venus Williams was let off the hook in her match with Daniela Hantuchova surviving a tie-break to go on to win 7-6 (7-0), 6-2. Her sister Serena, the top seed, overcame Russian Elena Likhovtseva 6-1, 4-6, 6-3.
Archana advances, Sonal ousted
Mumbai: Sixth seed Sonal Phadke of India lost in the first round of the $10,000 women's ITF Futures meet on Monday, going down 2-6, 0-6 to Jie Hao of China. Unseeded Archana Venkataraman, however, advanced to the next round beating qualifier Jenny Broughall of Great Britain 6-2, 6-4.
In other matches, Kumiko Iijima of Japan beat Ji Sun Ha of South Korea 6-1, 6-1, while China’s Yan Chong Chen ousted Diana Julianto o Indonesia 6-1, 6-2.
Irish U-19 player died of heart failure
Durban: Irish under-19 rugby player John McCall, who collapsed on the pitch on Saturday, died of heart failure, the International Rugby Board (IRB) said on Monday.
McCall, 18, fell to the ground midway through the first half of a match against New Zealand and did not regain consciousness. He was declared dead several hours later.
“Following the post mortem into the death of John McCall on Saturday 27th March 2004 at the IRB Under-19 World Championship in Durban, the pathologist has confirmed that the cause of death was cardiac failure,” a statement from the IRB said.
Earlier in the day the team announced it was withdrawing from the meet. There was no comment and it was unclear whether the arrival of McCall’s father, Ian, had any bearing on the team’s decision.
Chennai: India’s driving ace Narain Karthikeyan had mixed results in the first race of the Nissan World Series 2004 championship held in Jarama.
Driving his new Tata RC Motorsport car, Narain lost a chance to clinch pole position for Race I, when Juan Cruz Alvarez spun in front of him, and the cars collided. Despite starting the first race from the tenth, Narain went full throttle in wet conditions. However, in the sub-zero temperature, he could not push hard and slipped back to finish fifth, a press release here said on Monday.
Narain had set the fourth fastest lap in qualifying for the Race II, but his best lap came just as the session was red flagged which meant his time did not count and he had to start from 11th.
Enrique Bernoldi of GD Racing won both the races. The next round is in Belgium. After Monday’s first race, Narain is in seventh place in the drivers’ championship standings with eight points.
Rio de Janeiro: Romario ended an eight-week goal drought by scoring twice in Fluminense’s 3-1 win over Americano at the weekend. The 38-year-old opened his account midway the second half of the Carioca championship game with an angled shot and tapped the ball into an open goal for his second with two minutes left. Central defender Odvan had put Fluminense ahead in the first half of the second stage, semi-final tie. Substitute Cristiano scored Americano’s consolation.
Sport on Screen
Cricket, South Africa vs New Zealand: Third Test, Day V, second session live from 6.30 am on STAR Sports
Cricket, India vs Pakistan: First Test, Day III, live from 10.30 am on TEN Sports
Soccer, Premier League: Highlights from 8.00 pm on STAR Sports
Diving: FIna Grand Prix meet, from 2.00 pm on STAR Sports
