Azarenka beats Serena to retain Qatar title

DOHA: Victoria Azarenka avenged the loss of her world number one ranking to Serena Williams by beating the American for only the second time in 13 attempts to successfully defend her Qatar Open title on Sunday.

The Belarusian's 7-6 (8/6), 2-6, 6-3 win over the legendary American also completed back-to-back title defences, as last month she also defended the Australian Open title in Melbourne.

She was helped by Williams making the worst of starts. She was twice break point down in her opening service game, but held on. She followed it with two double faults and two unforced errors to drop serve in her second service game.

Unforced errors continued to spray from Williams' racket, especially on the forehand, and by the fourth game she was showing signs of fretting, looking repeatedly at her camp and grimacing.

At that stage Azarenka had won 12 straight points and was hitting the ball well, with a clear game plan to strike as early and as far up the court as possible, often targeting the Williams forehand. Williams responded by ditching her racket.

The new one soon brought improvements but Azarenka had advanced to 4-2 before Williams broke back. She also complained to the umpire about Azarenka repeatedly putting her hand up before receiving serve, affecting her rhythm.

Williams' aura of frustration continued into the tie-break even though by then she was bombarding Azarenka far more heavily.

She came from 2-5 down to earn a set point at 6-5, only for Azarenka to save it with an excellent combination of a solid return and a heavy backhand drive.

When Azarenka immediately bettered it with a spectacular inside-out return of serve winner to reach 7-6, she converted her set point at once.

Nadal casts off injury woes to triumph in Brazil

SAO PAULO: Rafael Nadal showed he is back in business by clinching his first tournament title since ending a seven-month knee injury layoff, winning the Brazil Open here Sunday.

The Spanish former world number one, who has been complaining of nagging knee pain, beat Argentine David Nalbandian in straight sets 6-2, 6-3 in 78 minutes.

Currently the world number five, Nadal went on the attack from the start, breaking his opponent's service before racing to take the first set.

The 31-year-old Nalbandian, a former world number three who now languishes in 93rd place in the ATP rankings, fought back early in the second set but Nadal came from behind to win the match, sparking wild cheers from the crowd.

The Spaniard pocketed a check of $82,300 for his win and thanked the public for "the great support" he received throughout the tournament.

Nadal was the top seed in this $455,775 tournament, his second comeback event following his long absence.

He competed in the Vina del Mar Open in Chile earlier this month, losing the singles and doubles finals last Sunday.

Considered by many to be the best ever clay-court player, Nadal was back on the court in Chile for the first time since suffering a surprise second-round exit at Wimbledon in June.

Since then he has been sidelined by a torn tendon and inflammation in his left knee, with his return this year further delayed by a stomach virus.

The world number five, who has 11 Grand Slam titles under his belt, also won the Brazil Open in 2005, when it was held in Costa do Sauipe in eastern Bahia state.

Last year, the tournament, Brazil's premier tennis event, was moved to Sao Paulo.

Pakistan beaten again after giving tough fight to Proteas

CAPE TOWN: Pakistan lost the three-Test series after South Africa recorded their second consecutive win by four wickets here at the New Lands on Sunday.
Chasing 182, South Africa completed their victory before the end of the fourth day, losing six wickets.

For South Africa, Hashim Amla was the top scorer with 58 while AB de Villiers made 36 and captain Graeme Smith scored 36.
Off-break bowler Saeed Ajmal bagged four wickets for 51 runs finishing the match figures of ten for 147. This was his third ten-wicket haul in Test cricket.
However, South African Robin Peterson was adjudged the Man-of-the-Match for his allround performance as he made a valuable 84 in the first innings and five wickets in the match.
South Africa, who had won the first Test by a huge margin of 211 runs at Johannesburg last week, lead the series 2-0 with the third and final Test to be played at Centurion from February 22.

Case of Quetta tragedy lodged after 30-hour delay

QUETTA: The case of one of Pakistan's worst bomb blasts in Quetta has been registered 30 hours after the tragic incident, said police here on Sunday.

According to police, the FIR of the remote controlled bomb blast at Karani Road on Saturday has been registered.
It may be noted here that the massive explosion executed through a remote controlled devise killed 83 people including women and children and injured over 180 injured.

Quetta blast: Solidarity strike to be observed in Karachi

KARACHI: The Shia Ulema Council (SUC) has called a strike today (Monday) to express solidarity with Quetta's bereaved Hazara families, which lost 80 of their loved ones in one of the biggest bombings in the history of Pakistan, Geo News reported.

Several political, religious, social, transporters, and trade & business groups have confirmed full support for the strike called, which means major markets in the city will remain closed, while no transport will be available to commuters and public at large today.

Reportedly, private schools have also announced a holiday on Monday.

Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM), Pakistan Sunni Tehrik, Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Islam (Fazal), Karachi Transport Ittehad, All Karachi Tajir Ittehad, and Goods Transporters Association are among those groups which have put their weight behind the shutter-down wheel-jam strike.