Toronto: Eight weeks into her comeback, Serena Williams captured the Rogers Cup in commanding fashion on Monday, dispatching 10th-seed Samantha Stosur of Australia 6-4, 6-2 for her first Canadian crown since 2001.
The victory was just the latest step in a remarkable comeback from injury and illness that has seen her win two of the four tournaments she's played since being sidelined for 49 weeks. Novak Djokovic stopped American Mardy Fish 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 to win the men’s title, capping his competitive debut as world No. 1 with a record-setting title.
Tennis rankings
Calcutta: Sania Mirza and Somdev Dev Varman improved their singles ranking by a few places although their poor run just got extended as they failed to make the main draw of the Cincinnati WTA and ATP events.
Sania gained a place to be 64 while Somdev moved two places up to 63 in the latest rankings, issued on Monday.
In the ATP doubles table, senior pro Mahesh Bhupathi dropped out of top-5 to be in sixth position but Rohan Bopanna re-entered top-10 to be ninth after gaining two positions. Leander Paes remained unchanged at eighth position.
Rankings: Men: 1. (1) Novak Djokovic (Srb) 13500 points; 2. (2) Rafael Nadal (Esp) 11420; 3. (3) Roger Federer (Sui) 9200; 4. (4) Andy Murray (GBR) 5715; 5. (5) Robin Soderling (Swe) 4235; 6. (6) David Ferrer (Esp) 4200; 7. (8) Mardy Fish (US) 3060; 8. (7) Gael Monfils (Fra) 2995; 9. (9) Tomas Berdych (Cze Rep) 2420; 10. (16) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (Fra) 2305.
Women: 1. (1) Caroline Wozniacki (Den) 9915 points; 2. (3) Vera Zvonareva (Rus) 7045; 3. (2) Kim Clijsters (Bel) 6726; 4. (4) Victoria Azarenka (Blr) 6390; 5. (6) Li Na (Chn) 5671; 6. (7) Petra Kvitova (Cze Rep) 5561; 7. (5) Maria Sharapova (Rus) 5446; 8. (8) Francesca Schiavone (Ita) 4955; 9. (9) Marion Bartoli (Fra) 4325; 10. (11) Samantha Stosur (Aus) 3775.
Arsenal’s big loss
London: Arsenal have lost a “world class player” with the departure of Cesc Fabregas to Barcelona, manager Arsene Wenger said on Monday at the same time his former club captain was speaking to the media in Spain.
Fabregas, who joined Arsenal as a 16-year-old from Barcelona in 2003, moved back to his boyhood club on Monday.
“We have lost a world class player and we are sad about it, we did try to keep him,” Wenger said.
World junior chess
Chennai: Poland’s Grandmaster Swiercz Dariusz and Peruvian WGM Cori T Deysi won the titles in the World Junior Open and Girls’ chess championships, respectively, while Delhi’s Sahaj Grover bagged the bronze with a GM norm to his credit here on Monday.
Dariusz scored a 92-move win over Vladislav Kovalev of Belarus, while Robert Hovhannisyan of Armenia was held to a draw by Vasif Durarbeyli of Azerbaijan.
With the wins, both these GMs accrued championship points of 10.5 each, forcing a tie for the top two places, but Dariusz pipped the Armenian on progressive score.
Rahil ends 32nd
Springfield: Rahil Gangjee fired a string of birdies on the front nine, including four in first seven holes, to turn in a brilliant five-under 67 in the final round of the Price Cutter Charity Championship here. His best card of the week helped Gangjee to finish tied 32nd from overnight 51st. Steve Freisen won the event with an eight-under 64 and grab his first career title.
Misbah view
Lahore: Pakistan captain Misbah-ul Haq has said that the upcoming tour of Zimbabwe will mark the beginning of the tough season ahead, which will see the national team taking on the likes of Sri Lanka, England and India in all three formats of the game. Misbah said that the Zimbabwe series will be a big challenge for him as a captain personally and would also signal the start of a hectic international calender for next six to eight months.
(Agencies)
