12 Monday 5th January, 2009 Murray beats Nadal in Abu Dhabi final ABU DHABI, United go up 5-3. Murray covered Arab Emirates (AP) — In a the court well, running down strong statement leading to every shot and breaking the Australian Open, Andy serve one more time. Murray has beaten Roger “He has carried his form Federer and Rafael Nadal on over the last four months and consecutive days. he has a good chance to win The Scotsman defeated in ,” Nadal said. the top-ranked Nadal 6-4, 5-7, Murray’s only previous 6-3 Saturday to capture the victory over Nadal in six Capitala World Tennis matches was at the U.S. Open Championship exhibition semifinals in September. The and $250,000 winner-take-all Spaniard played 111 matches prize. A day earlier in the in 2008 and pulled out of the semifinals, he topped the No. Davis Cup final against 2-ranked Federer 4-6, 6-2, 7-6 Argentina in November (6). because of an injured knee. The tournament, not part Andy Murray from Britain, left, seen with Roger Federer from Switzerland at Nadal called this an of the ATP Tour, included six a press conference during the first day of Capitala World Tennis “amazing three days” and Championship in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Thursday, Jan. 1, 2009. of the world’s top 10 players. insisted he played well Murray beat Federer and world number 1 Rafael Nadal to win the champi- Murray, who put on more despite the loss. onship. (AP Photo/Kamran Jebreili) muscle during the offseason, “For me it was a very is ranked No. 4 and has yet to before I go to Australia,” said victories over the past three good test,” he said. “Playing win a Grand Slam. He has a Murray, who will first defend days have given me confi- 2 hours, 45 minutes at the chance to change that at the his Qatar Open title in Doha. dence.” best level is good. I forgot Australian Open, which “I have never been past the In the final set, Murray about my knee and my starts Jan. 19. fourth round there. I trained broke after a long seventh injury. I am looking forward “This victory was good hard over the break and the game and then held serve to to the year.”

WBA reviewing 2008 tennis stories:

Valuev’s win The changing of the guard ’s Alize Cornet celebrates her 6-4, 6-4 win over Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-Wei during their singles by Jeremy Stone bombed in the French final, lost to Rafael match at the in , Australia, Saturday, Jan. 3, 2009. (AP Photo) Nadal at Wimbledon, lost short of the over Holyfield nly one player won more than one medal round in Beijing and was destined to lose his No. 1 ranking. A down year, for PANAMA CITY (AP) — The major title in 2008, and it wasn’t ORoger Federer. That alone made sure. But he hopped for joy when he final- WBA is reviewing Nikolai Valuev’s 2008 a year to remember in tennis. ly captured Olympic gold as he and win over Evander Holyfield by Federer and Rafael Nadal and maybe Stanislas Wawrinka won the doubles championship, and then he won a fifth majority decision in a Dec. 20 Novak Djokovic are poised for a spirited battle over the men’s No. 1 ranking in straight U.S. Open, without having to face heavyweight title bout. 2009. On the women’s side, the top spot Nadal. Next month in Melbourne, The organization says in a state- has been a revolving door, and nobody Federer gets his first chance to match ment on its Web site dated Monday seems likely to emerge in the next year to Pete Sampras’ 14 career Grand Slam titles. that it has ordered a panel of judges slam it shut. Gustavo Kuerten retired. Monica 6. Venus wins Wimbledon again: to study the video of the fight. The Seles finally retired. Justine Henin sud- Every time Venus Williams is too old or WBA says it “always cares about denly retired. Lindsay Davenport may too uninspired or too whatever to win and respects the fans’ and the retire next, now that she is pregnant for a anymore, she shows she isn’t finished. second time. Martina Hingis already had Seeded seventh at Wimbledon, Williams media’s opinion.” retired, but she was banned two years never lost a set in defending her title, edg- One judged scored the bout in anyway for testing positive for cocaine ing her sister Serena 7-5, 6-4 in the first Switzerland a draw while the others use. all-Williams Grand Slam final in five years. had Valuev winning 116-112 and 115- Fortunately, there was more to 2008 than rankings and retirements. Here are 5. Davydenko cleared in betting probe: 114. The 46-year-old Holyfield was our top 10 tennis stories of the year. Allegations of match fixing – or at least attempting to become the oldest 10. Del Potro wins 23 straight: After a that a lot of scoundrels are trying to con- heavyweight to win a major belt. second-round loss at Wimbledon, Juan vince players to throw matches – hound- ed the sport all year. In the highest-profile The 7-foot Valuev is the tallest and Martin Del Potro was 12-9 on the year, ranked 65th and on nobody’s watch list. case, Nikolay Davydenko was cleared of heaviest champion. Then he went on a two-month winning wrongdoing after a yearlong ATP investi- spree, capturing the next four tourneys gation into betting patterns on his sur- he entered and reaching the U.S. Open prising loss to Martin Vassallo Arguello quarterfinals. Del Potro ended the year in August 2007. But the larger controver- ranked ninth. sy hasn’t gone away. Nishioka 9. Djokovic, Tsonga emerge Down 4. Serena back at No. 1: After losing to Under: Novak Djokovic kept Roger Venus Williams in the Wimbledon final, Federer out of a Grand Slam final for the the sisters somehow faced each other in keeps WBC first time since 2005 – and he was practi- the U.S. Open quarterfinals. Serena over- cally upstaged by the previously came 3-5 deficits in both sets, saving 10 unknown Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. The set points in all to win maybe the best all- title with unseeded Frenchman made it all the way Williams match ever. A win in the final to the final, roaring past Rafael Nadal in lifted her to the top ranking for the first the process. But Djokovic won the title, time in five years. TKO win sparking a big year for Serbian tennis. 3. Finally, a new No. 1: Roger Federer 8. Ivanovic wins big, then loses big: had been No. 1 for a year and a half Jelena Jankovic ended the year No. 1, but longer than anyone ever had. But his 237- over Garcia Ana Ivanovic put Serbia in the winner’s week run at the top finally ended on Aug. circle at a women’s Grand Slam, winning 18, when he switched spots with Rafael YOKOHAMA, Japan (AP) — the French Open to ascend to the top Nadal after the Spaniard’s record three- Toshiaki Nishioka of Japan beat ranking. But Ivanovic crumbled after year run at No. 2. Federer enters 2009 just that, losing to someone named Julie Coin 10 points ahead of No. 3 Novak Djokovic. Genaro Garcia of Mexico on a tech- to become the first top 2. Henin retires: She had been No. 1 nical knockout in the 12th round seed of the Open era to for 61 weeks in a row and was a heavy Saturday to retain his WBC super fall in the second favorite to win a fourth straight French Open. But Justine Henin never made it to bantamweight interim champion round at Flushing Meadows. Paris. The 25-year-old shocked everyone title. 7. Federer by suddenly retiring on May 14, saying Russia’s reacts after winning a point against ’s during their sin- It was Nishioka’s first success- gets his gold – she was “young in life, but starting to get gles tennis match at the Hopman Cup in Perth, Australia, Sunday, Jan. 4, 2009. Safina won the ful defense of the belt he won and his slam: old on the tour.” She won seven Grand match 7-5, 6-3. (AP Photo) Slam titles. Australian Open champ against Napapol Kiatisakchokchai Roger Federer lost in Maria Sharapova returned to No. 1 but of Thailand last September. Melbourne, held the top spot for only three weeks, With his sharp left hand, battled then hurt her shoulder in July and France beats Taiwan at Hopman Cup missed the rest of the year. Nishioka was a comfortable winner mononu- cleosis, 1. Best match ever?: It lasted 4 hours, over the tenacious 31-year-old PERTH, Australia (AP) — of each group play in the final next 48 minutes, not counting the rain delay Alize Cornet overcame fatigue and Friday. Mexican, who withstood a barrage at the start and the two interrup- French teammate over- Simon had problems closing out of punches in the final round. tions during the match. It ended came some rustiness to beat Taiwan the Taiwanese player in the second at 9:16 p.m. local time. It featured “I really wanted to beat him,” at the Hopman Cup on Saturday. set, allowing Lu to break his service Roger Federer rallying from two Cornet beat Hsieh Su-wei 6-4, 6-4 in the sixth game to get back into Nishioka said. “My boxing still sets down, fending off two cham- and Simon, who moved up in the the match and force a tiebreaker. needs a lot of improvement, but I pionship points in the fourth set rankings from No. 29 to 7 last year, Both Cornet and Hsieh had prob- am glad that I beat him in the end.” (before the last rain delay). It defeated Lu Yen-hsun 6-3, 7-6 (8). The lems with their serves in the open- snapped Federer’s 41-match winning The 32-year-old Nishioka two then combined to beat Hsieh and ing set, and Hsieh was 0-for-4 in her streak at Wimbledon and made Lu 6-4, 7-6 (9) in mixed doubles to breakpoint chances. Cornet succeed- improved to 33 wins with 20 KOs, Rafael Nadal the first man since complete France’s 3-0 win, saving ed once in five tries — in the ninth while Garcia dropped to 38-7. Bjorn Borg to win the French Open five set points in the tiebreaker. The game when she took a 5-4 lead—then and Wimbledon in the same year. Also Saturday, Paulus Moses of duo will play Italy on Tuesday. held serve and won the set with an The 2008 men’s Wimbledon final will The defending champion United ace. Namibia beat Yusuke Kobori of be remembered as the greatest States, represented by Meghann It was the only Saturday match Japan on points to win the WBA match of the era, if not ever. Shaughnessy and , takes at the mixed teams event. On lightweight champion title. Kobori, on on Monday. Sunday, Russia, featuring the broth- who slipped to 23-3, had taken the Martina Hingis already had The U.S, Australia, and er-sister combination of Marat Slovakia are playing in Group A Safin and Dinara Safina, plays title in May 2008. Moses improved retired, but she was banned two while Russia, France, Italy and Italy’s Flavia Pennetta and Simone to 24-0 with 17 KOs. years anyway for testing positive Taiwan are in Group B. The winners Bolelli. for cocaine use.