Cairns drags Modi to court

Cairns drags Modi to court

WELLINGTON, May 23: Former New Zealand all-rounder Chris Cairns has finally acted on his threat to sue Lalit Modi and has initiated legal action against the suspended IPL commissioner for suggesting that he was involved in match-fixing.

Cairns’ name was taken off the list of players auctioned in January for the third Indian Premier League and Modi, on his twitter page, had stated that the Kiwi was removed “due to his past record in match fixing.”

Furious with Modi, the all-rounder had threatened legal action at that time but has initiated it only now.

“We are trying to have Modi served with papers. We’re going through that process in India but it takes time to get through the court system. We’re waiting for him, though,” the 39-year-old told New Zealand Herald.

Kuznetsova eases into French Open second round

Kuznetsova eases into French Open second round

PARIS, May 23: Defending champion Svetlana Kuznetsova reeled off 11 of the last 12 games to move into the French Open second round with a 6-3, 6-1 win against Romania’s Sorana Cirstea on Sunday.

The 24-year-old Kuznetsova arrived in Paris having won just one claycourt match this season and was in trouble early on against her 20-year-old opponent who made the quarter-finals last year.

Kuznetsova was 1-3 down as Cirstea, the world number 34 who just missed out on a seeding, quickly settled into her rhythm on a sweltering spring day in Paris.

But the Russian, who had won the pair’s only other clash in the second round of the 2008 US Open, rattled off the next five games to claim the opener after 38 minutes on Court Philippe Chatrier.