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WIMBLEDON: Returning to Grand Slam tennis after a year away with health problems, Serena Williams opened her Wimbledon title defense Tuesday by beating Aravane Rezai in three sets—then burst into tears on Centre Court.

After serving her 13th ace to close a 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 victory, Williams buried her face in her towel and sobbed from her courtside chair. She was still crying as she left the court, overcome with emotion after enduring a long layoff that included two foot operations and treatment for blood clots in her lungs.

"I usually don’t cry … but it’s just been so hard," the four-time Wimbledon champion said. "I never dreamt I would be here right now. And then to win. I just wanted to win at least one match here."

Source: MSN

France’s Virginie Razzano sent the Indian packing with a 7-6, 2-6, 6-3 win in the first round.

London: Sania Mirza’s struggle at Wimbledon continued as she crashed out of the prestigious tournament in the first round after losing to Virginie Razzano of France in the women’s singles here.

Sania, ranked 60th in the world, lost 6-7 6-2 3-6 to her opponent 36 places below her in WTA charts in a match that lasted 132 minutes. This was Sania’s third exit in the first round in seven appearances at the Wimbledon while she had progressed upto the second round on four occasions. She had lost in the first round last year also.

The Indian fell short of playing her best tennis on the day, committing as many as 31 unforced errors as compared to her opponent’s 15. Sania and Razzano did not give any inch to each other in the first set which went on serves. The first set could have gone either way but Razzano won it in tie break.

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New Delhi, Jun 16 (PTI) Saina Nehwal”s hopes of defending the Singapore Open title went up in smoke after the Indian lost to Chinese Taipei”s Shao Chieh Cheng in a thrilling three-game pre-quarterfinal here today.

The fourth seeded Indian blew a first game advantage to suffer a 21-8 10-21 19-21 defeat against world number 10 Shao in a 52-minute second round match at Singapore city today.

The 21-year-old from Hyderabad had won the Singapore Super Series in June last year but Saina failed to repeat her performance today at the Singapore Indoor complex.

The World No 4 Indian, who was knocked out of the Thailand Open Grand Prix Gold last week in the quarterfinals, relied on her power-puffed smashes but the Chinese Taipei girl caught her at the nets to reach the quarters.

Saina was at her dominating best in the first game as she indulged in smashes and also played better at the nets to march ahead in gaint strides and didn”t give any chance to Shao to narrow the gap and lead 1-0.

But Shao gave Saina a dose of her own medicine as she matched the Indian”s smashes but caught her at the nets to roar back into contention.

The decider turned out to a see-saw battle as the two fought tooth and nail but Saina blew a narrow two-point lead at 14-12 as Shao registered six straight points first and kept the Indian away to sneak into the quarterfinals.

Saina will now try to defend her title in the Djarum Indonesia Open which she had won last year.

Source: Yahoo

No matter where, she steals the thunder with great ease. Thanks to her dashing looks and oomph factor.

Actress Salma Hayek and husband Francois Henri Pinault spotted suring the French Open championships at Roland Garros.

Source: Yahoo

Paris: Li Na is back in a Grand Slam final, reaching her second straight major championship match by defeating Maria Sharapova 6-4, 7-5 Thursday in the French Open semifinals. Defending champion Francesca Schiavone also made it back to the French Open final, beating Marion Bartoli of France 6-3, 6-3 Thursday in the semifinals.

The Australian Open runner-up, who became the first Chinese player to reach a Grand Slam final this year in Melbourne, was able to chase down nearly everything Sharapova had to offer on Court Philippe Chatrier.

The wind was a factor yet again at Roland Garros, and Sharapova’s serve suffered because of it. The seventh-seeded Russian had 10 double-faults in the match, including on match point.

"She has a huge and big serve, so I was like: ‘Please, double-fault. That way I can win the match,’" Li said. "I never believe myself I can be in final in French Open. I wish I can do even better on Saturday."

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Paris: Lethargic at times and brooding at others, Andy Murray worked his way into the French Open quarterfinals by coming back to beat Victor Troicki 4-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 7-5 on Tuesday in a match that started a day earlier.

The three-time Grand Slam runner-up won the final five games of the fifth set despite injuring his right ankle in the previous round. The first four sets were played Monday before darkness suspended the match.

Later Tuesday, Roger Federer is set to face Gael Monfils for a spot in the semifinals. Also, defending women’s champion Francesca Schiavone is playing Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia.

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India’s Rohan Bopanna gained two positions for a career high doubles ranking of 14 in the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) rankings released Monday.

Bopanna’s Pakistani partner Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi, too, climbed two rungs to touch a career high doubles ranking of 17. The two reached the final of St. Petersburg Open and have moved up a place to be ranked sixth as a team.

India’s Mahesh Bhupathi have slipped a place to 15th position in the doubles. He and his Belarusian partner Max Mirnyi are at eighth place as a team and still have a chance to make the cut for the year end’s ATP World Tour finals in London.

Leander Paes, the only Indian to qualify for the London event so far, remains unchanged at fifth position.

In the men’s singles, India’s Somdev Devvarman has slid two places to 96th position.

In the women’s singles, Sania Mirza climbed a place to 165.

Bollywood babe Lara Dutta and Tennis star Mahesh Bhupati got engaged last week in New York. Bhupathi has made this announced on Twitter saying, "So Lara and me got engaged in NY last week".
19 Sep, 2010

Read the story: http://photogallery.indiatimes.com/articleshow/6583720.cms

Ace Indian Leander Paes and his Zimbabwean partner Cara Black suffered a straight-set defeat against Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Mark Knowles to bow out of the mixed doubles category of the US Open tennis tournament.Second seeds Paes and Black, who won the 2010 Wimbledon mixed doubles title, lost 3-6, 4-6 to the German-Bahamian pair in the quarterfinal.

Paes and Black had clinched the Australian Open mixed doubles title in January this year.India’s Rohan Bopanna and his Pakistani partner Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi are still in the race in men’s doubles category and would take on South African-Belgian combo of Wesley Moodie and Dick Norman in the quarterfinal.

The world’s top-ranked player, Federer was pushed past three sets for the first time in 25 opening-round Grand Slam matches by Igor Andreev,

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