Sania Mirza books meeting with Venus in Charleston

CHARLESTON: Sania Mirza booked a second-round clash with second-seeded Venus Williams on Tuesday with a straight-sets victory in the one million-dollar Family Circle Cup.

Sania Mirza beat Sesil Karatantcheva of Kazakhstan 6-4, 6-4 to line up the marquee meeting with Williams, who will be launching her campaign on Wednesday afternoon after enjoying a first-round bye.

Top-seeded Russian Elena Dementieva, who rose to a career-high ranking of number three in the world last week, reached the third round with a dominant 6-0, 6-2 victory over American Julie Ditty.

"I don't feel any pressure being the number one seed here," Dementieva said. "Tonight was a good start to the tournament for me. I had never played Julie before so I really didn't want her to get into the match. It's easy to lose your concentration. I really stayed focused tonight."

Third-seeded Vera Zvonareva and number four Nadia Petrova, both of Russia, also reached the third round, as did sixth-seeded Marion Bartoli of France and seventh-seeded Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova.

Zvonareva cruised past Paraguay's Rossana de los Rios 6-3, 6-2.

"I felt pretty good for my first match of the year on clay," said Zvonareva, a finalist here last year. "I didn't expect myself to play my best, and it was a bit of a struggle at times because of the wind, but it was pretty good."

Fourth-seeded Petrova beat Austrian Patricia Mayr 6-1, 2-6, 6-2, Bartoli defeated Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia 6-1, 6-3 and Cibulkova downed Austrian Tamira Paszek 6-4, 6-0.

Source:http://sports.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Sania-books-meeting-with-Venus/articleshow/4403034.cms

Federer advances to 3rd round at Monte Carlo Masters

MONACO: Roger Federer made a successful season debut on clay Wednesday, beating Andreas Seppi of Italy 6-4, 6-4 on Wednesday to reach the third round of the Monte Carlo Masters.

Federer wobbled briefly when serving for the match, going 30-40 down. But the second-ranked player got a reprieve when Seppi's return bounced out and Federer clinched the match when another Seppi return sailed long. It was Federer's first match since getting married last weekend.

"I am very happy to have won my first match on clay," said Federer, who can equal Pete Sampras for 14 major titles if wins the French Open for the first time. "It takes some time to adjust to the surface, the rebounds and the sliding."

Federer's win sets up a match Thursday against the 13th-seeded Stanislas Wawrinka - his doubles partner at the Beijing Olympics - who outlasted Martin Vassallo Arguello of Argentina 2-6, 7-5, 6-2.

Later, top-ranked Rafael Nadal began his bid for a fifth straight Monte Carlo title with a match against Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina.

Federer saved two break points in a patchy first set but clinically took his first chance on Seppi's serve in the ninth game to move 5-4 ahead. He took the opening set with a crisp backhand down the line.

The Swiss star, who married his longtime girlfriend Mirka Vavrinec in a small ceremony in his hometown of Basel on Saturday, broke Seppi in the opening game of the second set with another clinical backhand pass.

Federer has beaten Seppi three times this year and improved to 5-0 overall without dropping a set against the big-serving Italian player.

In other second-round matches Wednesday, there were straight-sets wins for the seventh-seeded Fernando Verdasco of Spain, No. 8 Nikolay Davydenko of Russia, Simone Bolelli of Italy, and Albert Montanes of Spain.

Verdasco eased past Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany 6-3, 6-4; Daydenko beat Ivo Karlovic of Croatia 6-4, 6-3; Bolelli beat Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia 7-5, 6-3, and Montanes beat Jean-Rene Lisnard of Monaco 6-2, 6-4.

Source:http://sports.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Federer-advances-to-3rd-round-at-Monte-Carlo/articleshow/4406113.cms

Rajasthan Royals axe Mohammad Kaif

NEW DELHI: The Rajasthan Royals, which won last year's inaugural Indian Premier League (IPL) Twenty20 tournament, has axed former Test player and Uttar Pradesh captain Mohammad Kaif and seven other players from the squad that will do duty in the second edition.

They will now fly back to India. Kaif was purchased for a hefty $675,000 US at the auction last year, but didn't have much of a role during the victorious campaign.

Kaif had played all the matches last year, but could manage only 176 runs at an average of just 16. He didn't make a single half century, largely because he was shunted lower down the order. The 28-year-old Kaif has played 13 Tests and 125 One-dayers for India so far, reports said.

Source:http://ipl.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Rajasthan-Royals-axe-Mohammad-Kaif/articleshow/4405762.cms

Dempo, E Bengal to vie for fourth spot in I-League

Kolkata, Apr 15 (PTI) With the title out of their reach, defending champions Dempo SC and East Bengal will aim for the fourth spot in the ONGC I-League standings, locking horns at the Vidyasagar Krirangan here tomorrow.

But a positive result for the Goans will help them gain confidence when they take on Bahrain outfit Muharraq in the AFC Cup on April 21.

Occupying the pole position in Group E with seven points from three matches, Dempo are in line for a pre-quarterfinal berth in that championship.

Obviously, Armando Colaco's boys have AFC as the priority and would look to count the positives by winning against East Bengal ahead of their international outing in Goa.

With their ace striker Ranty Martins and midfielder Roberto Mendis Silva ruled out of the AFC Cup match due to double bookings, Colaco said they have to be vigilant in their last league match.

"I've told the boys to play their natural game but at the same time they should not do anything silly so that our side gets depleted in the AFC Cup home match," said Colaco who is expected to field a full side against the red-and-gold brigade.

PTI

Gagan Narang wins gold, fetches his second World Cup medal

New Delhi, Apr 15 (PTI) Gagan Narang today became first Indian ever to win two medals in a single ISSF World Cup when he claimed gold in the men's 50 metre rifle 3 position in Chongwon, Korea.

Narang, who earlier won the bronze in his pet 10 meter air rifle event, shot 1166 in the qualification round and 98 in the finals to aggregate maximum 1264 points.

The Hyderabad marksman, who reached the finals of all three events he participated here, is also the first Indian to climb the podium in the 50 mt range, according to the National Rifle Association of India.

He had narrowly missed a medal in the free rifle prone event.

Among other Indians in the fray, Sanjeev Rajput finished sixth with 1258.7 (1160+98.7) while Sushil Ghalay failed to make the finals, ending up 11th with qualification round scores of 1155.

The silver and bronze medals respectively went to Jinseop Han of Korea for his effort of 1261.9 (1165+96.9) and Alexei Kamenski of Russia for garnering 1261.7 (1167+94.7) points.
PTI