SUNDAY, JANUARY 5, 2014 SPORTS World number one Serena showcases her credentials

BRISBANE: World number one Serena Melbourne. I look forward to it.” Williams Williams stamped herself as favorite for the warned that the win over Azarenka in Australian Open when she beat Victoria Brisbane would count for little if they were Azarenka in the final of the Brisbane to meet in the Australian Open final. “I feel International yesterday. In what could be a like if I were to play Victoria in the final, if I dress rehearsal for the Melbourne decider, get to the final, it’s a new match,” she said. Williams won a close first set then edged “Obviously I’ll have a little confidence, but at Azarenka in the second to win 6-4, 7-5 in 98 the same time, we both start at zero?zero.” minutes. Azarenka conceded afterwards that she had Williams, the defending champion in been outplayed on the key points. “I think it Brisbane, just shaded Azarenka throughout, was a pretty solid match,” she said. with her powerful serve proving the main “There was a little bit, you know, a few difference between the world’s two top errors in important moments. “But Serena players. Williams broke Azarenka once in played a great match. She was better today the first set. Although she lost her serve in the important moments, and she took her twice in the second, she broke Azarenka chance.” Azarenka said she would take a lot three times to seal a victory. The win was of positives into the Australian Open, where Williams’ 14th over Azarenka in 17 meet- she is the defending champion. “I’m a per- ings, and stamps her as the player to beat in fectionist. I want to play better, I want to Melbourne later this month. win,” she said. “I can’t say I’m satisfied today, The world number one had four testing but I want to take the positive, what I’ve matches in Brisbane, against Andrea done today, and build from here towards Petkovic, Dominika Cibulkova, Maria the next week. Sharapova and Azarenka, and said the tour- “This is the first week where you really nament was perfect preparation for the test yourself, where your game is at, and BRISBANE: Roger Federer of Switzerland chases a return to Jeremy Chardy of France in their semi-final match at the Brisbane Australian Open. “It was a great test, it from here you can take the positives and International tennis tournament yesterday. —AFP showed me where my level was, and I feel the things that you have to work on and like I definitely have some room for really go after that.” Williams, who didn’t improvement and things that I want to drop a set on the way to the final, lost only improve on going into Melbourne, and four matches in 2011 on her way to win- Federer survives scare things I have to improve on if I want to win,” ning 11 titles, including two Grand Slams. she said. “I’m happy I was able to play both She regained her number one ranking Maria and Victoria, because they brought eight weeks into 2013 in a year that also their A games against me. included a winning streak of 34 consecu- Federer, Hewitt set up final showdown “I know now what I need to do for tive matches. —AFP

BRISBANE: Swiss tennis legend Roger Federer Chardy when he broke the Frenchman’s the Queensland Tennis Centre reached 41 survived a massive scare from Frenchman opening service game to jump out to a 2-0 lead. degrees Celsius during their match, the 32-year- Jeremy Chardy yesterday to reach the final of the But Chardy recovered from that setback to work old Hewitt finished stronger than Nishikori, a Brisbane International. Federer was outplayed his way into the match and he began to look player eight years his junior. Nishikori had been for large parts of the match but lifted when it increasingly comfortable against the 17-time the better player for the first set-and-a-half, pres- mattered to beat the eighth seeded Chardy in Grand Slam winner. Federer grabbed the first set suring Hewitt’s serve while holding his own with three sets 6-3, 6-7 (3/7), 6-3. The one hour, 55 after 33 minutes but Chardy’s booming forehand ease. He broke Hewitt late in the first set and had minute win puts Federer into Sunday’s final began to hit home and the Frenchman started chances of an early break in the second before against local hero Lleyton Hewitt, who took 35 to dominate. the Australian began to gain the ascendancy. minutes longer to beat Japan’s second seeded Chardy raced through the tiebreak to level Hewitt broke Nishikori at 5-4 to take the sec- Kei Nishikori 5-7, 6-4, 6-3. the match and an upset looked possible against ond set then broke again at the start of the third, Federer, who at 32 is the same age as Hewitt, an at-times frustrated Federer. However, serving holding on to take the match in two-and-a-half admitted he found it difficult to like the at 3-4 in the third set Chardy cracked, sending hours. “I don’t know, I keep putting myself Australian at the start of their careers but said down two double faults and making two fore- through it-must like punishment,” Hewitt said of they had both mellowed as they grew older and hand errors to hand Federer the vital break. The the conditions. “It was tough conditions, really became fathers, and now they sometimes prac- world number six closed out the match to love, tough to play out there for both of us today. It ticed together. “We go back 17 years, our coach- finishing Chardy off with a pair of aces, his 19th turned into a mental battle.” Federer and Hewitt es back in the day were best friends,” Federer and 20th of the match. Earlier, Hewitt drew on all have played 26 times in their senior careers, with said. “It’s amazing we have a chance to play in his trademark fighting qualities to upset Federer leading 18-8. “It will be good (to play Australia, our first time in a final here I think. “I Nishikori. against him),” Hewitt said. “You want to play struggled a lot against him in the early stages of Hewitt recovered from losing the first set to against the best players, and obviously Roger my career.” overhaul Nishikori and maintain his record of and I have a good history and a lot of tough Federer looked as though he was headed for never having lost an ATP semi-final on Australian matches in the past in Slams and Davis Cups and a straightforward win against soil in nine appearances. As the temperature at everything.” —AFP Ivanovic outlasts Venus

AUCKLAND: Ana Ivanovic outlasted Venus Williams to win the clash of the two former world number ones 6-2, 5-7, 6- 4 in a marathon Auckland Classic final yesterday. It is the 12th title for the 26-year-old Serb and second seed but her first success since victory in Bali in 2011. What started as a one-sided affair, with Ivanovic racing to a 5-1 lead in the first set, took two hours 19 minutes to complete as seven- times Grand Slam winner Williams fought her way back into the contest. “It was very tough. Venus showed once again what a great sport she has been over the past years and I hope for many more years to come,” said Ivanovic, a former French Open winner. “At the end of the second set I made a few errors that I didn’t make up to that point. I really tried to still play, enjoy it, move forward and be aggressive.” Williams acknowledged she had been beaten by the better player. “I just kept fighting, despite the odds. She was play- ing so well,” she said. In the tournament, which serves as a warm-up for this month’s Australian Open, Williams faced championship point in the second set when serving at 30-40 and down 3- 5 before her big serve kept her hopes alive. She held serve then broke Ivanovic twice to send the final into a deciding third set. Ivanovic broke the American early in the decider to lead 2-0 and never relinquished control, surviving two BRISBANE: Serena Williams of the US holds the trophy after defeating break points when serving for the match to take the title. It Victoria Azarenka of Belarus in the women’s final at the Brisbane AUCKLAND: Ana Ivanovic of Serbia (right) and Venus Williams of the US pose was only the second time in 10 attempts that Ivanovic has International tennis tournament yesterday. —AFP with their trophies after Ivanovic’s win in the singles final at the ASB Classic beaten the 33-year-old Williams, who has not won a title tennis tournament in Auckland yesterday. —AFP since October 2012. —AFP Monfils fights for his future DOHA: Gael Monfils’ brilliant run through to chal- remember how he amused them at the Qatar Wawrinka, Roger-Vasselin lenge Rafael Nadal in the final of the Qatar Open Open in 2007 when he lost to Roger Federer in a has underlined he is still perhaps the most talent- fine final. ed, and most popular, under-achiever on the ATP That year he challenged a coach to a crazy set for Chennai Open final World Tour. The revival of the likeable but enig- sprint race among the vehicles in the stadium car matic Guadeloupe-born Swiss-resident park and distinguished himself with a worryingly CHENNAI: Top seed Stanislas Wawrinka sailed into the ATP Chennai Open final yester- Frenchman has once again raised hopes that he flexible limbo dance in which he contorted him- day after Vasek Pospisil of Canada retired with a back injury, setting up a title clash might yet conquer the injury and motivational self under a very low bar at the player party the with Frenchman Edouard Roger-Vasselin. The Swiss world number eight, who won the problems which have frustrated his special talents. night before the final. Shackling his unique title in 2011, was leading 6-4, 5-5 when a hobbling Pospisil conceded the semi-final at Monfils has had knee, back and wrist ailments expressiveness would be unwise, but time is nev- the Nungambakkam Tennis Stadium. The 23-year-old Canadian was the sixth player to which not only cost him form and fitness but ertheless growing short for the player who won be sidelined with injury during the $450,000 season opener in the past week, a list sapped his morale and motivation. These caused three of the four junior Grand Slam titles and that included second seed Mikhail Youzhny of Russia and third seeded Fabio Fognini him to fall from his highest ranking of world num- became the ATP Newcomer of the Year soon of Italy. ber seven in 2011 to a spell outside the top 100 afterwards. Monfils is now 27. A seventh player, defending champion Janko Tipsarevic, had withdrawn before the last year. The plunge threatened not only his He is now more aware then anyone of the tournament began due to a heel injury. Pospisil, who made it to the semi-finals with- career but his entire well-being, confounding need for clear purpose and steady discipline and out dropping his serve, was broken by Wawrinka in the fifth game of the first set and many excellent judges of tennis, including the leg- of the size of the challenge in maintaining good again in the seventh game of the second set. He broke back in the eighth but was endary Pete Sampras, who believed he has mental shape. Some analysts think he needs a clearly in discomfort, having already called for the trainer towards the end of the first enough ability to reach the later stages of Grand better balance between attack and defence in his set and then again midway through the second. Slam events. game, both of which he has tended to employ in “It feels good to be in the final, but I feel sorry for my opponent,” Wawrinka said. “He Monfils’ four emphatic wins this week - includ- spectacular extremes, and may benefit from a was playing well. I hope he is OK because this is the start of the season and it is impor- ing one over compatriot Richard Gasquet, the less self-distracting on court persona. Last year, tant to be ready physically. “It was a tough match before the final. I did not serve well defending champion - have revealed him as still after Monfils split with coach Patrick Chamagne, but I was aggressive from the baseline and moved well on court. I will go into the final one of the tour’s fastest movers, possessed also of French tennis legend Henri Leconte apparently tomorrow with a lot of confidence.” Meanwhile, Roger-Vasselin reached his second ATP a great first serve and improving mental abilities. suggested that Monfils was depressed and con- World Tour final after a tough three-set win over Marcel Granollers of Spain in the first He should climb back to a ranking not far outside sidering premature retirement. “Gael is complete- semi-final. the top 20. However his predicament has been ly lost and doesn’t know what to do,” he is report- The 52nd-ranked Frenchman fought off a spirited challenge from world number 38 complicated by his having been without a coach ed as having said. “When you’re hurt so long, you Granollers before winning 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 in a two-hour centre court battle. Roger- for more than a year, which gives him freedom he can quickly go into depression. He gives the Vasselin, who trailed 2-0 in the final set, reeled off five games in a row to make it 5-2 enjoys but makes great demands of his will-pow- impression of a wounded animal. But it is the before holding serve in the ninth game to clinch the match. The Frenchman revealed er and self-discipline. turning point in his life.” that at 5-2 he was reminded of compatriot Benoit Paire’s loss to Granollers on Friday “It’s a positive and negative,” Monfils admitted. Chamagne apparently believed Monfils had night despite being 5-1 up in the decider and was determined not to allow a repeat. “I “It makes me do things on my own. It makes me been affected by the pressure from a succession must admit I did think of that and did not want another Frenchman to lose to the same believe in my motivation and believe I can beat of injuries, and allegedly said: “I would not be sur- guy two days in a row,” Roger-Vasselin said. “But it worked out for me. top players. “It’s not easy every day to run and go prised if it was a return to hell.” Since then Monfils “To be in the final is the best possible start I could have had. I lost my only other to the gym. It shows I have got more maturity. It is has been bolstered by a win over Federer in final a year ago, so the goal obviously is to win at least one title this year, hopefully this not easy because sometimes I feel lonely and Shanghai in October and by his preparation for one. “Having come this far and with one match to go, I have to take advantage of the then it is difficult. And there is no-one to give me 2014, conducted in Los Angeles, Paris, and his CHENNAI: Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland pre- tips before I play a match.” Monfils’ popularity is home near Geneva, which seems to have got him place I am in and try and win.” Granollers admitted he was tired after the bruising quar- pares to serve to Canada’s Vasek Pospisil in the ter-final against Paire, but acknowledged that Roger-Vasselin played better than him. enhanced by an extrovert personality which pro- in decent shape. “I have a couple of high goals in “It was a tough match,” the Spaniard said. “I had my chances, I was a break up in the men’s singles semifinal match at the ATP Chennai duces light-hearted moments off court and my mind and I will try to manage to do it,” he said third set, but he was aggressive and played a solid game.” —AFP Open 2014 in Chennai, India yesterday. —AP showboating moments on it. Some people here on Friday. —AFP