Nadal wins record 4th Rome Masters title

ROME: Rafael Nadal won his record fourth Rome Masters title Sunday, beating defending champion Novak Djokovic 7-6 (2), 6-2.

It's the third clay-court title in three weeks for the top-ranked Spaniard, following victories at the Monte Carlo Masters and the Barcelona Open.

Nadal extended his winning streak on clay to 30 matches, stretching back to an opening-round loss to Juan Carlos Ferrero in Rome last year.

By failing to defend his title, Djokovic will lose the No. 3 ranking to Andy Murray on May 11, when last year's points drop out. The 21-year-old Serb has been No. 3 since August 2007.

Nadal broke an Open Era tie with Thomas Muster, who won three Rome titles in 1990, 1995 and 1996. Jaroslav Drobny and Martin Mulligan also each won three titles before the Open Era.

Chris Evert holds the women's record at the Foro Italico with five titles.

Rome is a key warmup for the French Open, which begins in three weeks with Nadal the four-time defending champion.

Nadal broke serve in the opening game of the match but Djokovic had his chances in the first set before losing control for good in the tiebreaker, sending a weak backhand drop-shot attempt into the net on Nadal's third set point.

Djokovic then double faulted to hand Nadal a 4-2 lead in the second set.

The match was a far cry from the Monte Carlo final two weeks ago, when Djokovic became the only player to take a set from Nadal on clay this year.

The match was played in alternating conditions, with wind swirling around inside the stadium when the sun disappeared for periods behind clouds.

Djokovic started off with a series of errors as he tried to flatten out his groundstrokes and go for winners to end rallies early. As the match wore on, he waited longer in rallies before going for winners with approach shots to the corners.

Still, Djokovic appeared unsure of his tactics at times. On one occasion in the first set, he attempted a serve-and-volley, but then retreated and watched Nadal's winner sail by him, out of reach.

Nadal uncharacteristically missed a few forehands at the end of the first set to let Djokovic pull even at 5-5, but Djokovic then missed a routine backhand into the net to drop his serve again and smashed his racket onto the clay, drawing a racket abuse warning from the chair umpire.

Nadal improved his Rome record to 22-1. His won his first two titles at the Foro Italico in 2005 and 2006 with epic 5-hour victories over Guillermo Coria and Roger Federer, respectively, then beat Fernando Gonzalez in straight sets in 2007.

Nadal improved his tour-best record to 38-3 this year, winning five of the eight tournaments he's entered.

It was Nadal's 15th Masters Series title, one more than Roger Federer and two shy of Andre Agassi's record of 17.

Source:TOI

Karthikeyan 2nd in sprint, ends championships at 12th spot

Brands Hatch (Great Britain), May 3 (PTI) Team India's Narain Karthikeyan finished second in the sprint race but had to pull out of the feature race with a crash to finish the A1GP World Cup of Motorsports at the 12th position with 19 points here today.

It was a bitter sweet day for Karthikeyan in the final race of the championship after the Mexico City leg was cancelled due to swine flu scare.

He registered his first and only podium finish this season with the second place finish in the sprint but was unlucky to be involved in a crash in the feature category.

Karthikeyan bagged eight points for his second place finish in the morning behind championships winner Team Ireland's Adam Carroll, the highest in the 12 of the 14 races he took part this season.

The former Formula One Indian driver could have improved his championships position had he not involved in a three-way crash in the first lap of the feature race in the afternoon with cars of United States and China, which eventually resulted to his retirement from the longer race.

PTI

Bangladesh pick two rookies for World T20

Bangladesh on Monday selected two uncapped top-order batsmen and recalled three bowlers for the World Twenty20 championships in England next month.

Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) chief selector Rafiqul Alam said Shamsur Rahman, 20, and Mohammad Mithun, 18, had been rewarded for their good batting form in domestic cricket.

"Shamsur has been batting tremendously in recent years," said Alam. "He can bat at number three which has been a weak link in our batting. He is also a brilliant fielder.

"Mithun also scored heavily in the leagues. He is a hard-hitting batsman and can also double up as wicketkeeper," he said.

The selectors recalled experienced left-arm spinner Abdur Razzak, who was reported for a suspect bowling action in November and suspended by the International Cricket Council (ICC).

Razzak, 26, reworked his action and was cleared to play international cricket in March.

"Razzak is our top spinner and has got a lot of wickets. He is an obvious choice in the team," said Alam of the bowler, who has 111 wickets in 81 one-day internationals and seven wickets in five Tests.

Seamers Shahdat Hossain and Syed Rasel were also recalled, while frontline batsman Mohammad Ashraful was retained as captain.

Bangladesh are drawn with Ireland and India in the preliminary round of next month's event which will be played in London and Nottingham from June 5-21.

Bangladesh's squad:

Mohammad Ashraful (capt), Mashrafe Mortaza, Tamim Iqbal, Junaid Siddique, Raqibul Hasan, Shakib Al Hasan, Mushfiqur Rahim, Naeem Islam, Abdur Razzak, Shahadat Hossain, Syed Rasel, Mohammad Mahmudullah, Rubel Hossain, Shamsur Rahman and Mohammad Mithun.

Coach: Jamie Siddons (AUS)

Sorce:cricbuzz