It is inevitable that India’s tour to South Africa in November – December this year will be shortened. BCCI has organized a West Indies tour in between, mainly to facilitate Tendulkar’s 200th test in India and has given the green signal to the New Zealand tour. This entire saga means, Cricket South Africa is now certain to suffer a loss.

Earlier this year, everybody knew that Sachin’s 200th test would be in the African nation. As per the FTP, Team India was scheduled to travel to South Africa post the conclusion of the ODI series against Australia back home. However, BCCI decided to have Sachin’s 200th test in India which ultimately means BCCI rakes in the moolah. CSA would have earned a lot had Sachin’s 200th test taken place over there.

The larger chunk of the loss would be from TV broadcast rights. Ten Sports is the official rights holder to broadcast cricket from South Africa to the sub continent. So over here, STAR gains over Ten Sports as STAR gets to showcase an additional home series while Ten Sports will have to live with a shortened India series. The India series is the marquee event on Ten Sports and such series are the reason why broadcast companies bid big.

Another possible loss to the rainbow nation is the impending retirement of the Master. Many former greats and experts believe that Sachin’s 200th test may be his last hurrah on a cricket pitch. If this is so, then CSA will again have to start counting its debts. Sachin is one of the biggest crowd pullers around the world. Especially as Sachin only plays in Test Matches nowadays. So if Sachin does retire, then it won’t be just Indian fans who will be disappointed but also the CSA officials.

Media reports suggest that BCCI is undertaking such tactics as they are not in favor of Haroon Lorgat becoming the new CEO of CSA. Lorgat was one of the main stays during his ICC days to have issues with the BCCI. Now if the CSA decides to relieve Lorgat of his duties then this would be an embarrassing situation for the South African board as it would be seen as a decision made under the BCCI’s pressure.

With just a couple of months to go, the South African tour itinerary is still not been finalized. It’s highly unlikely that the tour will be cancelled, but the chance of the tour being shortened is 100%. So it’s BCCI’s gain and CSA’s loss!

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The final grand slam of the year culminated at Flushing Meadows with the Spaniard Rafael Nadal beating the top seed Novak Djokovic to win his 13th Grand Slam title. Serena Williams won the women’s singles title in a repeat of last year’s final beating Victoria Azarenka. Here’s a look back at the 2013 US Open:

Leander does it Again!

Leander Paes proved again why age is just a number. Leander with his doubles partner Radek Stepanek won the men’s doubles title. The Indo-Czech duo had lost in the finals of the same event last year. They beat Peya and Soares comprehensively in straight sets. The biggest match for the pair was in the semi finals though, where they were pitted against the mighty Bryan Brothers who were looking to win a Calendar slam. The win gave Leander his 8th men’s doubles title and 14th Grand Slam title overall. The only trophy missing from his cabinet is the mixed doubles title of the French Open. He came very close in 2005 when he reached the mixed doubles finals in Paris. At 40, Leander also became the oldest men’s player to win a Grand slam event. This is yet another accomplishment for Leander who seems to go on and on with his love for the game. In addition to these grand slam titles, he had also won a bronze medal in men’s singles at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. Leander Paes will surely go down in history as one of India’s best sportsman ever!

Mixed Results for other Indians

Mahesh Bhupathi was participating in his last US Open this year. He had a disappointing tournament as he lost in the first round of both the men’s doubles and mixed doubles events. Rohan Bopanna too had a disappointing tournament losing in the first round of the mixed doubles event. Rohan with his partner Edouard Roger-Vasselin ended their US Open men’s doubles campaign in round three. Apart from Leander, Bhupathi and Bopanna, India had another participant at the US Open men’s doubles event. Divij Sharan was partnering Yen-Hsun Lu of Chinese Taipei and the pair reached the third round where they were beaten by Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi and Jean-Julien Rojer in a tough match. Sania Mirza lost in the first round of the mixed doubles event. However, she redeemed herself in the women’s doubles event by reaching the last four.

Serena’s dominating performance

Serena Williams was in dominating form at this year’s US Open. She did not drop a set on her way to the finals. She, in fact, lost only 13 games till the finals. She did find it tough against Victoria Azarenka in the first two sets of the finals losing the second set in a tie breaker. But she came back to her best in the final set winning it 6-1. Serena also had a good outing in the women’s doubles event, partnering with her sister Venus; they reached the semi finals of the event losing to eventual winners Hlavackova and Hradecka.
With this win, Serena has now won 17 Grand Slam singles titles. She has won the Australian Open, Wimbledon and US Open five times each. In addition to this, she has also won 13 Grand Slam doubles titles. A gold medalist at the London Olympics last year in women’s singles, Serena has accomplished all the titles in tennis. Serena is now sixth in the list of most women singles Grand Slam titles with just one win away from equally Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert’s record of 18 titles. She will go down in history as one of the greatest of all time.

Rafa’s incredible comeback continues

Rafael Nadal struggled for the latter part of last year and slowly made a comeback from injury earlier this year. He won the French Open for an unprecedented 8 times but struggled at Wimbledon where he bowed out in the first round itself. Many believed that the ‘King of Clay’ will struggle at the US Open as well. However the Spaniard showed his class by winning his second US Open title triumphing over top seed Novak Djokovic. Djokovic has reached finals of three Grand Slams this year. He won the Australian Open but lost in the finals at Wimbledon to Andy Murray and now at the US Open to Rafael Nadal. Djokovic has retained his No. 1 ranking even though Nadal won the tournament. But Nadal will be looking to continue with the momentum and his eyes would now be set on becoming the Numero Uno of tennis once again.

Nadal now has 13 Grand Slam singles titles and stands third in the all time list with just one title win away of Pete Sampras’ 14 titles. Roger Federer leads the list with 17 Grand Slam titles. With age on his side, Nadal, in all likelihood will overtake Sampras soon. If Nadal can remain injury free, then he has a good chance to close in on Federer’s record as well but that’s easier said than done.

Upsets did happen at the US Open this year but the favorites were able to win it. With this, the Grand Slams of 2013 are over. Let’s see who finishes the year at No. 1 in both the men’s and women’s singles.

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Quick Recap of Day 13

India’s pride Leander Paes won his third US Open men’s doubles title on Sunday becoming the oldest man in tennis to win a Grand Slam event. This is Paes’ 14^th Grand Slam and is the most successful Indian tennis player ever. Paes and Stepanek recorded a comprehensive win over Peya and Soares in straight sets 6-1 6-3. In the Women’s singles finals, Serena Williams retained her US Open crown by beating Victoria Azarenka 7-5 6-7(6) 6-1. This is Serena’s 5^th US Open singles title. Serena has now won Australian Open, Wimbledon and US Open five times each while she has won French Open twice. In all, Serena has now won 17 singles Grand slam titles and 13 doubles titles. A total of 30 Grand Slam titles!

Men’s Singles Finals

After missing on out on a Federer-Nadal clash and Murray’s early exit, fans have finally got a match that involves two of the big four. Top seed Novak Djokovic will face 2^nd seed Rafael Nadal in the finals of the US Open today. This is the only match scheduled on Monday. In head to head, Nadal leads with 21 wins while Djokovic is not far behind with 15 wins. Most of their battles have been either in the semi finals or the finals. On hard courts, Djokovic has won 9 matches while Nadal has beaten Nole only four times. However, their last encounter was on a hard court, which took place earlier this year in Montreal, where Nadal beat Djokovic in three sets.

In Grand Slams, Nadal has won 7 times while Djokovic has beaten Nadal thrice. At US Open, both have beaten each other once. Those two matches were the finals in 2010 and 2011 with Djokovic winning the latter. On the road to the semifinals, Djokovic did not drop a set until semi finals where he had to dig deep to beat the Swiss Stansislas Wawrinka. Nadal has dropped only one set on his road to the semi finals.

Both the players have been part of epic matches in the past. Their last clash at a Grand Slam event was in the semi finals of the French Open earlier this year which was a five set epic. Nadal won the match by winning the last set 9-7. Expect today’s final to go to five sets with both men trying to win the title. Both the players are looking to win their second US Open title. If Djokovic wins he will have 8 Grand slam titles under his name while Nadal will be looking to win his 13^th Grand Slam.

This one is too tough to call. Both players are exceptional and will go down in history as one of the greatest of all time. It’s 50:50 right now with both players holding the edge. The match is scheduled to start at 2.30 am IST.

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Quick Recap of Day 13

As expected, the first semifinal between top seed Novak Djokovic and 9^th seed Stanislas Wawrinka was a five set marathon. Wawrinka was going toe to toe with World No. 1 but Djokovic was able to dig deep and win the match in the fifth set. In the second semifinal, 2^nd seed Rafael Nadal cruised to the finals with straight sets win over 8^th seed Richard Gasquet. Apart from the second set, which went to a tie break, Nadal had an easy outing. This now results in a final showdown between Nole and Rafa. The match will be a fan’s delight. Watch out for the match preview tomorrow to know more!

Indian Presence – Men’s Doubles Finals                  

The veteran Indian Leander Paes and Czech Radek Stepanek will play their second final at the US Open in as many years today. The 4^th seed Indo-Czech pair faces 2^nd seed Alexander Peya and Bruno Soares. Leander Paes is looking to win his 3^rd US Open Men’s Doubles title and 14^th overall while Radek Stepanek is looking to win his first men’s doubles crown at Flushing Meadows. This is the first time Alexander Peya and Bruno Soares have reached the finals of any Grand Slam in the men’s doubles event. Peya has not won any Grand Slam event so far while Soares won the US Open mixed doubles title last year. Paes and Stepanek will be desperate to put last year’s disappointment behind them and win this one. I expect Paes and Stepanek to win this one with a three sets victory!

Women’s Finals

The day has arrived. The match that everyone wanted to see is about to happen. The top two seeds have made it to the finals of the women’s singles event. Top seed Serena Williams will face 2^nd seed Victoria Azarenka in a rematch of last year’s final. Serena had beat Azarenka in three sets last year. Azarenka was the top seed while Serena was seeded 4^th. This year they are the top two seeds and have had a good US Open so far.

Serena has dominated her way into the semi finals by not just beating them but bulldozing them. Not only has she not lost a set so far but she has lost only 16 games in the six matches. The American is in supreme form and on course to win her fifth US Open women’s singles crown. Azarenka, on the other hand, has dropped two sets so far, but has looked in good touch and will give Serena a good fight.

In head to head, Serena has an overwhelming lead of 13 wins and 3 losses. Most of their battles have been in the finals of the tournaments. In their last outing at the Cincinnati WTA event on hard court, Azarenka beat Serena in the finals. In finals, both have won 3 matches against each other. However, in grand slam events, Serena has beaten Azarenka in all the previous 7 encounters. Azarenka will have to break that jinx today if she wants to win her first US Open title and third overall.

It should be a good day at the Flushing Meadows today. Just sit back, relax and enjoy both the finals! The men’s doubles finals is scheduled to begin at 10 pm IST while the women’s singles finals will start at 2 am IST.

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Not so long ago, Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Yuvraj Singh and Zaheer Khan, were the names that used to be a regular feature in the Indian team line up. Two years back in 2011, all the four men were at the forefront during our World Cup triumph at home. Fast forward to 2013 and we see none of them feature in the team and if we go by the strategy that selectors have these days, they are unlikely to make a comeback anytime soon.

Fantastic Cricketers

All four men have contributed a lot to Indian cricket. Their contributions for Indian cricket will go down in history as one of the best. Sehwag and Gambhir have contributed a lot as openers for the team in all three formats. Sehwag, in particular, was pivotal for many years in the Test arena as well as ODI’s. We all know what Yuvraj Singh was capable of in the limited over’s version of the game. Zaheer was the main stay of our bowling attack post the retirement of Javagal Srinath. In fact, at one time MS Dhoni had said that Zaheer is the bowling captain of the team.
What went wrong?

The fall of Sehwag

Back in 2007, Sehwag was struggling with form and was on the verge of being dropped for the World Cup in the Caribbean. It was on the insistence of then captain Rahul Dravid that Sehwag was retained in the team. However, once Dhoni was made captain in the latter part of the same year, a rift between the two was apparent in the team. Dhoni excelled during his captaincy but Sehwag’s performance kept dropping. It is a known factor, that the way in which Sehwag bats, inconsistency is most likely to happen. However, Sehwag blossomed back to form under the guidance of former coach Gary Kirsten. Sehwag even thanked Kirsten in press conferences on more than once occasion. Post 2011 World Cup is when Sehwag’s form dipped a lot. Between May 2011 and May 2013 his Test average was 29.73 as compared to his overall career average of almost 50.

Inconsistent Gambhir

Gautam Gambhir signed off the World Cup victory with a well paced 97 in the finals. But post the WC victory, Gambhir became a lot more inconsistent. As an opener, he failed to provide good starts for the team on a regular basis. His dismissals were even more frustrating to say the least. On the tours to England and Australia, Gambhir was caught at slips on a number of occasions. It seemed like he was struggling to shift between ODI’s and Tests. A nudge down to third man would provide runs in ODI’s and T20’s but not in Tests when the slip cordon is waiting to pounce on edges. Gambhir seemed reluctant to leave the deliveries outside the off stump and that led to his downfall on more than one occasion. Between May 2011 and May 2013, his test average was 28.10 as compared to his career average of 44.18.

Fitness Issues with Yuvraj and Zaheer

Unfortunately, post the WC victory, it was disclosed that Yuvraj was suffering from a rare germ cell cancer and had to travel abroad for his treatment. Yuvraj had won the Man of the Series award at the World Cup. Yuvi made a tremendous comeback in 2012 but sadly couldn’t perform to his best. He also got an opportunity to make a comeback in tests but was soon dropped. Zaheer has had fitness issues throughout his career. He was supposed to play a crucial role in the tests in England but he unfortunately suffered an injury during the first test itself. After making a comeback, Zak was never the same. Both Yuvraj and Zaheer were abroad recently to improve their fitness and if one looks at the picture shared by them on twitter, both do look much slimmer and fitter. Though, only time will tell if they are able to make a comeback.

Comeback won’t be easy

The openers slot has four contenders right now with Shikhar Dhawan leading the list. Rohit Sharma, Murali Vijay and Ajinkya Rahane are all there to grab the second opener’s role. Vijay and Dhawan seem to have sealed their place as test openers while Rohit and Dhawan are the openers for limited over’s format. Rahane is the next in line to be slotted in the team. This would suggest the comeback road for Sehwag and Gambhir are very difficult. In the middle order, Ravinder Jadeja has taken the role of Yuvraj Singh. In batting, Yuvraj may have achieved more than Jadeja but its Jadeja’s bowling that is doing the trick here. Yuvraj had improved his bowling to some extent, but Jadeja has been in a league of his own recently. His exploits in England during the Champions trophy have been nothing short of amazing. Unless Jadeja’s form dips, Yuvraj will not find a place in the squad. In the bowling department, Bhuvaneshwar Kumar has proved that he can bowl well in all formats of the game. Umesh Yadav and Ishant Sharma have played the role of supporting Bhuvi very well. Jaydev Unadkat, Shami Ahmed and Ishwar Pandey are waiting in the wings to make their presence known. In all of this, Zaheer’s chances of making a comeback to the team look very bleak.

Lapse in form and inconsistency has resulted in these men being dropped from the national team. In addition to all of this, none of the four players have played well in the IPL or in domestic season. Gambhir tried his luck at county cricket recently but failed miserably in the few matches he played for Essex. Other three have not featured in any of the domestic matches recently. It does seem that the time for these four veterans is over unless they make bucket load of runs in the domestic circuit.

IANS

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Quick Recap of Day 12

Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka have stormed into the Women’s singles finals with straight sets win over their opponents. Serena Williams continued with her devastating form as she thrashed Na Li 6-0 6-3 while Azarenka also had an easy outing against Flavia Pennetta beating her 6-4 6-2. The women’s singles finals will now be a rematch of last year’s final. Serena is the defending champion at US Open and looking to win her 17th Grand Slam in women’s singles.

Men’s Singles Semi Finals

In the first semifinal of the day, top seed Novak Djokovic will face 9th seed Stanislas Wawrinka. In head to head, Djokovic leads with 14 wins and only 2 loses. Djokovic has won the last 11 matches against Wawrinka. Djokovic has also beaten Wawrinka in all the 5 matches they have played on hard courts. Their last match was at the Australian Open this year, where Djokovic beat Wawrinka in a five set marathon. The fifth set was won by Djokovic 12-10. Wawrinka has shown stunning form at this year’s US Open by beating Tomas Berdych and defending champion Andy Murray on his road to the semi finals. I expect this one to be a five setter but Djokovic is the favorite to win the match and reach his fourth straight US Open final. The match is scheduled to start at 9.30 pm IST.

In the second semifinal, 2nd seed Rafael Nadal will face 8th seed Richard Gasquet. In head to head, Nadal leads with 10 wins and only 1 loss. Nadal has won the last 10 matches against Gasquet. Nadal has been is dominating form at the US Open having dropped only one set on the road to the semifinals. On hard courts, Nadal has won both the matches against the Frenchman. This is the first time Gasquet has reached the semi finals at the US Open. I expect Nadal to win this won and reach his third US Open final. The match is scheduled to start at 12.20 am IST.

These are the two big matches at US Open today. Djokovic and Nadal are favorites to reach the finals and slog it out for the title. Wawrinka and Gasquet will be looking to change that. Apart from this, the mixed doubles finals will also take place after the semi finals.

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Quick Recap of Day 11

Murray Ousted! Yes that’s right, Defending Champion Andy Murray has been stunned by Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka. The most astonishing thing about Murray’s loss was that his defeat was in straight sets without showing any signs of fight. Wawrinka has reached the last four in a grand slam event for the first time in his career. Novak Djokovic is through to the semis and will meet Wawrinka in the last four.

Bryan Brothers Juggernaut at Grand slam events in 2013 has been halted by our very own Leander Paes and his partner Radek Stepanek. With this win, Paes and Stepanek have now reached the finals of the US Open men’s doubles event. Leander Paes has already won two US Open men’s doubles titles. Last year Paes and Stepanek had lost in the finals of the US Open to the Bryan Brothers.

Sania Mirza and Jie Zheng have been knocked out of the US Open in the Semi finals. That leaves Paes as the only Indian left at the Flushing Meadows.

Women’s Singles Semi Finals on Day 12

In the first semifinal of the day, 2nd seed Victoria Azarenka will face the unseeded Flavia Pennetta. Interestingly, Pennetta leads their head to head with 2 wins and 1 loss. However, one of the victories was a walk over win over Azarenka earlier this year at Wimbledon as Azarenka had suffered an injury. On hard courts, Pennetta beat Azarenka in 2011 at the Dubai WTA event. Pennetta has been in unbelievable form at this year’s US Open. She has not dropped a set so far while Azarenka already had two matches that went to 3 sets. I would expect this one to be a three set match but Azarenka will be able to pull this one off and reach her second successive US Open final.

In the second semifinal, defending champion and top seed Serena Williams faces 5th seed Na Li of China. Serena Williams has been in an astonishing form this year at the US Open. She has bulldozed her opponents with authority. Not only has she not dropped a set, but she has lost only 13 games in her 5 matches so far. Now that’s what I call a dominating performance! Na Li has also had a good tournament having dropped only 1 set so far. In the ten matches played between the two players, Serena has an over whelming lead with 8 wins. Serena has won all the encounters on hard courts as well. Serena is looking to win her 17th Grand slam in women’s singles and looking at her current form, she may just win it.

Women’s doubles semi finals

The day does not end for Serena over there. She will take to court again, after sufficient rest of course, with her sister Venus Williams to face the Czech pair of Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka in the women’s doubles semi finals. Serena is looking to win her 14th Grand slam in women’s doubles. She is undoubtedly one of the greatest women’s players of all time!

We are now at the crucial stage of the tournament. One bad step and it could mean an exit as we saw with Murray on Thursday. As per current form and seedings, Serena and Azarenka should be able to pass through their opponents and set up a rematch of last year’s finals, let’s see if that is indeed what happens on Friday.

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Quick Recap of Day 10

Good News for Indian Fans! 10th Seeds Sania Mirza and Jie Zheng are through to the semi finals of the women’s doubles event. Richard Gasquet beat 4th seed David Ferrer in a five set marathon while Rafael Nadal thrashed Tommy Robredo in straight sets. Both Nadal and Gasquet have reached the top four. In women’s singles, Flavia Pennetta beat 10th seed Roberta Vinci to reach the semis while 2nd seed Victoria Azarenka is also through to the top four after beating Daniela Hantuchova.

Indian Presence on Day 11

Only Two Indian’s are left at the 2013 US Open and both of them will be in action today. 4th seeds Leander Paes and Radek Stepanek have an uphill task of facing the top seeds Bryan Brothers in the Semi final clash. Bryan Brothers have already won the three grand slam events this year and they are determined to win the US Open to make it four grand slams in a calendar year. Paes and Stepanek will have to play their best to beat the Bryan Brothers. In the women’s doubles semi finals, 10th seeds Sania Mirza and Jie Zheng will face 8th seeds from Australia, Ashleigh Barty and Casey Dellacqua. After beating the fourth seeds in the quarterfinals, Mirza and Zheng are the favorites to win this one and reach the finals.

Men’s Singles

Two Quarter final matches are scheduled today at the US Open. In the morning session at the Arthur Ashe stadium, defending champion and 3rd seed Andy Murray will face the 9th seed Stanislas Wawrinka. In 13 matches between the two, Andy Murray leads with 8 wins. Murray has faced Wawrinka seven times on hard courts winning five of them and losing only twice. Wawrinka beat Murray in their last encounter earlier this year at the Monte-Carlo Masters, but that was on clay. They have met once at the US Open before, in 2010, Wawrinka beat Murray in four sets. Murray has matured a lot since 2010 and one expects Murray to go through to the semis. But Wawrinka will surely not make it easy for the defending champion.

In the other quarterfinal match that will take place in the evening session at the Arthur Ashe stadium, top seed Novak Djokovic will face Mikhail Youzhny of Russia. Djokovic leads the head to head with 5 wins while the Russian has won thrice. On hard courts, Djokovic has won all the three matches between the two. This is the first time they will be facing each other at the US Open. Their last encounter was at the Monte-Carlo Masters earlier this year; Djokovic won that battle as well. Djokovic has not dropped a set so far at the US Open this year and expect the Serbian to sail through past Youzhny.

Women’s Singles

No Women’s singles are scheduled today. The semi finals will be played tomorrow.

Djokovic and Murray should be able to win today and set up a semi final clash. Sania Mirza and Jie Zheng are favorites to win as well. Leander Paes, though, will find it difficult to beat the rampaging Bryan Brothers.

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With another early exit from a Grand Slam event, the tongues have started wagging and the rumor mills are buzzing that the time is up for Roger Federer. Everybody seems to have a question in mind about whether the 32 year old Swiss Maestro will walk away from the game. If we go by what Federer has been saying in recent press conferences, he’s far from being over.

The Legend

Federer is undoubtedly one of the greatest, if not ‘the’ greatest, tennis players to have played the game. He has won almost everything that is there to achieve in Tennis. He has won all the major tournaments that are held in a calendar year. With 77 titles, Federer stands third in the all time list of title winners in the open era. The only thing that has been elusive to the Swiss master has been an Olympic gold in singles competition. He came very close in the 2012 London Olympics but fell short at the last hurdle against Murray and had to settle for a silver. He, however, had won a Gold medal in the men’s doubles event in the 2008 Athens Olympics.

Slump in form

Since 2010, Roger Federer has won only two grand slam events. He won the Australian Open in 2010 and Wimbledon in 2012. After successfully reaching in, at least, the quarterfinal stages of all Grand slam events since Wimbledon 2004, Federer has been struggling this year with a second round exit at his favorite slam Wimbledon and recently the fourth round exit at the US Open. This has resulted in many saying, including the former legends of the game that Federer may not be able to win any more Grand Slam events and thus, may retire soon. This is the second time since 2003, that Federer has not won at least one Grand Slam tournament in a calendar year. The other time was in 2011.

Retirement Voices getting louder

The average age for a tennis player to retire is around 32-33 years. Federer is already 32. The motive for a tennis player to continue playing is to keep winning tournaments and Grand Slams, Federer has been struggling to do so for some time now. He has slipped in the rankings to number seventh, which is his lowest ranking for over a decade.

Will He-Wont He

We, in India, have been chasing Sachin Tendulkar for some time now to know if he would retire soon but the master blaster has denied that he would retire in the immediate future. Same thing is happening in Federer’s case, we may dwell on the fact that the best is past him and he is on a downward spiral so he should retire, but at the end of the day it’s up to the player to decide whether he thinks the hunger to win is still there or not. Unlike cricket, tennis is an individual sport. In cricket, a player can be dropped for poor performance and that may result in a player (who is over 35 years of age) to call it quits from the game. Tennis is completely different, as the players decide their playing time unless it’s a competition like the Davis Cup or Olympics. So the ball is in Federer’s court to decide whether he still has the hunger to win big tournaments and carry ahead his legacy. He has already won a record number of 17 Grand Slams and is clearly one of the Greats of the game.

So is it time for Roger Federer to pack his back and retire or is there a comeback still left in the Swiss Maestro. Only time will tell as we can only wait and watch.

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Quick Recap of Day 9

Tomas Berdych was the big casualty on Day 9. The 5th seed Czech lost to Stanislas Wawrinka in a four set encounter. Lleyton Hewitt’s dream run at the US Open also came to an end. The Australian lost to 21st seed Mikhail Youzhny in a five set marathon. But there was some good news for the Indian fans as Leander Paes is through to the Semi Finals of men’s doubles at Flushing Meadows. Victoria Azarenka, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray are through to the quarterfinals while Na Li and Serena Williams are through to the Semi Finals.

Indian Presence on Day 10

10th seeds Sania Mirza and Jie Zheng will take to court today to play their quarter final match in the women’s doubles against 4th seeds Su-Wei Hsieh and Shuai Peng. Facing a higher ranked team is always a difficult task. The Indo-Chinese pair may find it tough to advance to the semi finals.

Men’s Singles

Two Men’s Singles Quarterfinals are scheduled today. In the morning session, 8th seed Richard Gasquet of France takes on the 4th seed David Ferrer of Spain. They both have faced each other nine times; David Ferrer has won 8 of them. The only time Gasquet beat the Spaniard was back in 2008. David Ferrer has been in good form this year and one would expect Ferrer to win this tie and advance to the semi finals.

In the second quarterfinal, which will be played in the evening session, 2nd seed Rafael Nadal faces 19th seed Tommy Robredo. This is the first time that Robredo has reached the last eight at the US Open. This match was billed as a Federer-Nadal clash; however Robredo had other plans as he beat the Swiss Maestro in straight sets in the previous round. Nadal, on the other hand, has reached his sixth US Open quarterfinal. Robredo has never beaten Nadal in any of the previous encounters. Robredo will not be worried about that stat as he had never beaten Federer as well, that is before the fourth round match. This could be an interesting match between the two Spaniards.

Women’s Singles

Two Quarter finals would take place in women’s singles as well. In the first one, 10th seed Roberta Vinci faces Flavia Pennetta in an all Italian clash. In head to head, both have won four matches against each other. Vinci beat Pennetta in their only battle on hard court in Tokyo, Japan in 2009. In an interesting stat, both players have played eight times against each other but have won on an alternate basis. Both players have never been able to beat each other twice in a row. So, if we go by that stat, Vinci is the favorite to win as Pennetta won their last encounter.

In the second quarterfinal, 2nd seed Victoria Azarenka faces Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia. After reaching the final last year, Azarenka is on a mission to win the US Open this year. Azarenka had won the Australian Open earlier in the year. On the other hand, Hantuchova has reached the quarterfinals of the US Open for the first time since 2002. Though the head to head is tied at two a piece, my bet is on Azarenka to win this one. Azarenka beat Hantuchova in both the previous two encounters including a win on a hard court earlier in the year.
We are in the business part of the US Open now. This is where it gets tough to know who the favorite to win is. It’s going to be a fan’s delight!

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It was confirmed on Sunday, that India would host West Indies for a two tests series in November this year. This means that Sachin Tendulkar will, in all likelihood, play his 200th test on home soil. And if everything goes as per plan, the 200th test may just take place on his home ground at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. Many, including former legends, believe that Sachin may call it quits after the landmark test. Everybody expected that to happen in South Africa as the tour to the African nation was on track as per the ICC’s Future Tours Programme (FTP). However, BCCI has now negotiated with the West Indies Cricket Board and the West Indies series in November is definitely happening.
Many parties would be happy with this decision of the BCCI. Here’s a look at who all will benefit largely by this series.

Home Fans

First and foremost, Sachin Tendulkar is one of the greatest cricketers to have played for India. Since his debut in 1989, Tendulkar has been a fan favorite. In the history of Indian cricket, no other cricketer has shared such a fan following as much as Sachin Tendulkar has. So it’s only fitting for those fans to witness a landmark that may never be repeated again in the history of the game. Playing 100 tests is considered a massive achievement but with Sachin’s 200th test on the horizon, fans will be trying their best to be part of the mega achievement.

Broadcasters – Biggest Gainers

Star India acquired the broadcasting rights for matches in India in 2012 for a whopping amount. They have showcased a number of series held in India since then. However, the latter part of 2013 and 2014 were the years that India was supposed to play lesser number of home games and rather travel more abroad. The impromptu arrangement of the West Indies series gives an opportunity for STAR to earn some good ad sales revenue. Also, the occasion of having Sachin’s 200th test beamed live and exclusive on STAR will have its additional benefits. Exclusivity is the term that needs to be emphasized here. All the rights owners had to share feed with the national broadcaster Doordarshan for a minimal amount which resulted in monetary impact to the rights owners. However, Doordarshan only shows ODI’s and T20’s. This being a test match, STAR will have the sole ownership to broadcast the match. This presents a great opportunity for STAR to cash in the mega event.

BCCI – Increased Revenues

A new series means additional revenues. BCCI stands to receive the broadcast revenue from STAR and also a rise in-stadia advertising on the occasion of Sachin’s monumental feet. There is no doubt that sponsors will be lining up to highlight their brands during the series and that would only result in higher monetary gains for the board.

Big Losers – CSA, Ten Sports

In all of this, Cricket South Africa is the biggest loser and so is Ten Sports. The additional series with West Indies means that India won’t have a proper fully fledged series in South Africa. Also, South Africa won’t be able to host Sachin’s 200th test and it could get worse, if the Master does not turn up at all for the South African safari by retiring at the end of the West Indies series. This would directly impact Ten Sports as well, as it holds the rights to broadcast matches from South Africa to the Indian sub continent and thus loses a large chunk of revenue.
CSA and Ten Sports loss is BCCI and STAR India’s gain. Apart from the on field excitement and benefits from Sachin’s monumentous feet, it’s the off field benefits that will has a larger bearing on all parties involved.

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Quick Recap of Day 8

The big news coming out of Day 8 at the US Open is that five times US Open Champion Roger Federer has been stunned by Tommy Robredo in straight sets. This is the first time since 2002 that Federer won’t be in a Grand slam final in a calendar year. Rafael Nadal, David Ferrer and Richard Gasquet are through to the quarterfinals. In women’s singles, Roberta Vinci, Flavia Pennetta and Daniela Hantuchova are through to the last 8’s as well. The big match between Ana Ivanovic and Victoria Azarenka was cancelled due to rain. Bad news for India as Divij Sharan is knocked out of the men’s doubles third round.

Indian Presence on Day 9

In men’s doubles quarterfinals, 4th seeds Leander Paes and Radek Stepanek will face the 5th seeds Aisam Ul-Haq Qureshi and Jean-Julien Rojer. The pair of Qureshi and Rojer had beaten Divij Sharan on Monday.

Men’s Singles

In last of the round four matches of the men’s singles, top seed Novak Djokovic will face Marcel Granollers of Spain. Djokovic beat Granollers at the Australian Open in 2011, this was their only previous encounter. In the evening session at the Arthur Ashe stadium, defending champion Andy Murray faces Denis Istomin. Murray beat Istomin at the Brisbane ATP event earlier this year. Expect Djokovic and Murry to sail through to the quarterfinals.

The comeback man, Australian Lleyton Hewitt faces Mikhail Youzhny of Russia. Hewitt has been on a roll at Flushing Meadows this year. Hewitt leads the head to head with six wins and only one loss against the Russian. The Australian will look to carry on with the winning momentum and storm in the quarterfinals. In a mouth watering clash, 9th seed Stanislas Wawrinka faces 5th seed Tomas Berdych. Wawrinka has a slight edge over the Czech in head to head with six wins and five losses. On hard courts, Wawrinka leads with three wins and only one loss. Expect this one to be a cliffhanger.

Women’s Singles.

Only three matches are scheduled for Women’s singles on Tuesday. The first match of the day is between former World No. 1 Ana Ivanovic and 2nd seed Victoria Azarenka. This round four encounter was cancelled on Monday due to rain and will take place later today. Azarenka leads with four wins and two loses in head to head.

Two quarterfinal matches are scheduled for Tuesday. In the morning session, 5th seed Na Li of China faces Ekaterina Makarova in the first of the quarters. Na Li has won all the previous three matches against Makarova. In the second quarterfinal that will be played in the evening session, top seed Serena Williams faces Carla Suarez Navarro. Serena beat Navarro on both occasions in their previous two matches.

We are at the business end of the US Open where anything can happen. Unfortunately, Federer’s loss means we won’t have a Federer-Nadal clash in the quarters. Let’s see how the favorites fare today at the Flushing Meadows.

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After the entire hullabaloo over the last few weeks, it’s finally official. Gareth Bale is now a Real Madrid player! The deal is said to be worth 100 million Euros, which is now a World Record for transfer fee. The news became official after the conclusion of last night’s North London Derby between Arsenal and Tottenham. Tottenham Manager Andres Villas Boas disclosed the news. Real Madrid also shared it on their website.

Tottenham’s chairman Daniel Levy is known to be a hard bargainer when it comes to player transfers and this time it was no different. There were reports last week that the player was getting increasingly frustrated due to the delay of the deal. Everybody knew the transfer to Los Blancos was imminent but nobody knew when and for how much it would happen. However, on Sunday all the talk was put to rest and the Welshman has made the move to Spain.

Now Bale’s move to Madrid will have a domino effect on the team as Real Madrid will see to offload few players to ease Bale’s financial deal. Kaka and Ozil are the most likely to be transferred to other clubs. Kaka in all likelihood will go back to AC Milan while Ozil may move to a Premier League team. Arsenal is the front runner to land the German with Manchester United lurking in the background.

Bale will be unveiled as a Real Madrid player on Monday at around 3.30 pm IST to the Madrid faithful. A large stage was erected at the Bernabeu last week leading to speculation that it was for Bale’s unveiling however nothing happened. The Real Madrid fans would be the happiest fans right now as they will have both Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale in their team.

The news that came from Tottenham was that it was Gareth Bale’s desire to move to Madrid that pushed Tottenham for the deal. Also an opportunity to play in the Champions League with one of the most valuable teams in the world would have tempted Bale to move. It would be interesting to see how the pairing of Ronaldo and Bale works magic for Madrid. But it’s safe to say that the stock of Madrid just went a notch higher after the acquisition of Gareth Bale.

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India’s Asia Cup journey came to a disappointing end after losing to South Korea in the finals. The Asia Cup was literally a World Cup Qualifying tournament for the Indian team. An Asia Cup triumph would have guaranteed the team a berth in the next year’s World Cup. However, even after the loss, thanks to the results that took place earlier in the tournament, India is now almost virtually through to the World Cup.

The reason I said virtually is because India will now have to wait for either Australia or New Zealand to win the Oceania title to sneak through. With Fiji and Samoa being the other two teams in Oceania, India are virtually through as second reserves, but it will become official only in November. In fact, after the first semifinal where South Korea beat Pakistan, India’s position to World Cup qualification became stronger as Malaysia and South Korea had already qualified for the World Cup. The semi final win over Malaysia consolidated our entry for the World Cup even more.

A world Cup berth will be an incredible achievement by the hockey team as it was looking more and more unlikely to happen. Now with a strong showing at the Asia Cup, there is renewed interest in the team and that bodes well for the sport in the country. Regular participation in the big tournaments is always going to be good for any sport. Hockey is no exception.

After the sacking of Coach Michael Nobbs earlier this year, many feared that this may play a big impact the hockey team’s preparation for the big event. However, under new management the team has performed well. Credit must be given to the new chief coach Roelant Oltmans. After the disappointing performance at the London Olympics last year, fans would be hoping to see a better outing by the team at the World Cup next year. It would be official only in November of Indian teams qualification for the World Cup, but rest assured India will be there at the Kyocera Stadium in The Hague, Netherlands next year on 31st May.

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Quick Recap of Day 7

4th seeds Leander Paes and Radek Stepanek are through to the quarterfinals in the men’s doubles. However, Rohan Bopanna has lost in the third round of men’s doubles. 10th seeds Sania Mirza and Jie Zheng beat 6th seeds Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Kveta Peschke in straight sets to storm into the quarterfinals of the women’s doubles event. Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic, Stanislas Wawrinka, Thomas Berdych and Lleyton Hewitt won their respective matches and are through to Round four of men’s singles. In women’s singles, Serena Williams and Na Li are through to the quarterfinals. Three of the top 10 seeds were knocked out of the US Open on Sunday. Jelena Jankovic, Angelique Kerber and third seed Agnieszka Radwanska all lost their matches.

Indian Presence on Day 8

The only Indian to play on Monday will be Divij Sharan in the men’s doubles event. The Indian with partner Yen-Hsun Lu of Chinese Taipei to face the 5th seeds Aisam Ul-Haq Qureshi and Jean-Julien Roger in the third round.

Men’s Singles

There are only four matches of Men’s singles scheduled today. All are fourth round matches. In the morning session at the Arthur Ashe stadium, Roger Federer will face Tommy Robredo. In head to head, Roger Federer has beaten Robredo ten times and has never lost. In the first match of the evening session, 2nd seed Rafael Nadal will face Philipp Kohlschreiber. Nadal has beaten Kohlschreiber ten times in the past and has lost only once. Federer and Nadal are just one win away from meeting each other in the quarter finals.
4th seed David Ferrer will face the big serving Serbian Janko Tispsarevic. Ferrer leads head to head with five wins and only one loss. In the last of the round four encounters, 8th seed Richard Gasquet faces 10th seed Milos Raonic. They both have met only once before and Raonic won that battle. Expect this won to be a cracker.

Women’s Singles

Similar to the men’s singles, there are only four matches of Women’s singles today. All are fourth round matches. In the first match of the day, Alison Riske faces Daniela Hantuchova. Hantuchova has won both the previews two encounters. In an interesting match, 13th seed Ana Ivanovic faces 2nd seed Victoria Azarenka. Azarenka leads head to head by 4-2. Azarenka is the favorite to go through. 

Simona Halep takes on Flavia Pennetta while in an all Italian clash Camila Giorgi faces 10th seed Roberta Vinci in round four matches.

Expect the seeds to go through to the next round today. Two matches, Ana Ivanovic Vs Victoria Azarenka and Richard Gasquet Vs Milos Raonic, are the tricky encounters to watch out.

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Quick Recap of Day 6

A good day for the Indian players on Saturday, Divij Sharan, Leander Paes and Rohan Bopanna all won their matches and are through to round three of men’s doubles. 10th seeds Sania Mirza and Jie Zheng are also through to the third round of the women’s doubles. Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer showed clinical performances in their respective matches and are through to the fourth round. Both the players are just one win away from facing each other in the Quarterfinals. Two big seeds lost on Saturday, Caroline Wozniacki and Petra Kvitova. In other matches, Ana Ivanovic, Victoria Azarenka and David Ferrer are through to the next round as well.

Indian Presence on Day 7

Three Indians will take to court today and all of them have tough matches. 4th seeds Leander Paes and Radek Stepanek will face the 14th seeds Michael Llodra and Nicolas Mahut while 6th seeds Rohan Bopanna and Edouard Roger-Vasselin face 12th seeds Colin Fleming and Jonathan Marray. In women’s doubles round three, 10th seeds Sania Mirza and Jie Zheng will face 6th seeds Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Kveta Peschke.

Men’s Singles

It’s round three matches in men’s singles today. At the Arthur Ashe stadium, in the morning session 3rd seed Andy Murray faces Florian Mayer while in the evening session; top seed Novak Djokovic faces Joao Sousa. In the first match of the day, Stanislas Wawrinka faces Marcos Baghdatis. Wawrinka has beaten Baghdatis in all the three previous meetings between the two. Tommy Haas faces Mikhail Youzhny and Julien Benneteau faces 5th seed Thomas Berdych. After knocking Del Potro out of US Open, Lleyton Hewitt will look to continue the winning momentum when he faces Evgeny Donskoy.

Women’s Singles

In round four encounters in women’s singles today, top seed Serena Williams will face fellow American Sloane Stephens, in what should be an interesting match and Jelena Jankovic faces Na Li of China. In head to head, Jankovic and Li are tied at 4-4. But Jankovic has the upper hand here as she has beaten Na Li in their last three matches. 3rd seed Agnieszka Radwanska faces 24th seed Ekaterina Makarova and 8th seed Angelique Kerber faces 18th seed Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain.
A lot of good matches are on offer on Sunday. Let’s see which is the next big seed to tumble on Day 7 at Flushing Meadows.

IANS

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Two big matches will be played on Sunday in the Barclay’s Premier League. The first one is a battle between the traditional arch-rivals of the Premier League while the other is the North London Derby. All the four teams will be looking to prove a point with their performances today. The first match is Liverpool Vs Manchester United and the second of the night is Arsenal Vs Tottenham Hotspur. Though it’s early in the 2013/14 EPL campaign, the results will still be important.

Liverpool Vs Manchester United at Anfield

The match is billed as the biggest match in English Football. Liverpool has started the season with two wins and will be looking to add another one and top the table. However, in the last seven league meetings, Liverpool has beaten Manchester United only once. Liverpool has struggled in the last few seasons but with the start the Reds have had so far, they will give a good fight to United.

Moyes will be looking to salvage a win in this one especially after a goal less draw against Chelsea at home on Monday. Rooney is a doubtful starter for the Red Devils after suffering a head injury in training. Rooney was spectacular in the last match against Chelsea. Liverpool, on the other hand, will be hoping for some more magic from their inform player Daniel Sturridge. Moyes has never won at Anfield when he was the manager of Everton. Manchester United has superstars so let’s see how Moyes’ men fare today. Moyes’ has a good chance to get his first win at Anfield today. The match starts at 6 pm IST.

Key stats

-In the previews 187 meetings, Manchester United hold the edge with 74 wins

-Manchester United won both meetings between the two teams last season

Arsenal Vs Tottenham Hotspur at the Emirates Stadium

Other than Liverpool, Tottenham are the only team to have won both their matches this season. With Gareth Bale’s transfer to Real Madrid making the news for some time now, Andres Villas Boas will be looking prove a point to win the game against the Gunners and continue the momentum. Arsenal, on the other hand, has displayed some good form in the last few games. After a horrific loss on the opening day of the new season, Arsenal has come back strongly. The gunners will be hoping Aaron Ramsey continues with his goal scoring form against Tottenham as well.
Tottenham have won four of their last eight games against The Gunners, with Arsenal winning three. However, Arsenal has won 5-2 in the last two North London derbies at The Emirates. Tottenham have failed to concede a goal this season and look a more solid team. This will be a good match but a draw seems to be the most likely result here. The match starts at 8.30 pm IST

Key Stats

-There have been 30 goals in the last 5 North London derbies at The Emirates.

-Both teams have scored in the last 7 games between these sides. 

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Quick Recap of Day 5

The biggest upset of Day 5 was the loss of 6^th seed Juan Martin Del Potro to Lleyton Hewitt in a five set match. It was a disappointing day for the Indian players as well. Somdev Devvarman lost to the 20^th seed Andreas Seppi in straight sets while Mahesh Bhupathi and Martina Hingis lost in the mixed doubles first round as well. With this loss, Mahesh Bhupathi’s campaign at the US Open 2013 comes to an end. It was a mixed day for Rohan Bopanna as he lost in the mixed doubles first round but is through to the second round of men’s doubles. Sania Mirza lost in the first round of the mixed doubles event as well. Novak Djokovic, Serena Williams, Andy Murray and Na Li are all through to the next round.

Indian Presence on Day 6

Four Indians are scheduled to play today. In the first match on court no. 13, India’s Divij Sharan and Yen-Hsun Lu will face Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram in the second round of men’s doubles. In other second round encounters, Leander Paes and Radek Stepanek face Daniel Brands and Philipp Oswald while Rohan Bopanna and Edouard Roger-Vasselin face Nikolay Davydenko and Mikhail Elgin. In women’s doubles, 10^th seed Sania Mirza and Jie Zheng face Katalin Marosi and Megan Moulton-Levy in round two today.

Men’s Singles

In the morning session at the Arthur Ashe stadium, 2^nd seed Rafael Nadal faces the Croatian Ivan Dodig in a third round clash. Its 1-1 in head to head, their last meeting was in 2011 while in the evening session, Roger Federer faces Adrian Mannarino. 4^th seed David Ferrer will face Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan later today.

In other matches, John Isner, Tommy Robredo, Richard Gasquet and Janko Tipsarevic are all scheduled to play their third round matches today.

Women’s Singles

In women’s singles third round matches on Saturday, Ana Ivanovic faces Christina McHale while 6^th seed Caroline Wozniacki faces Camila Giorgi in the evening session. 2^nd seed Victoria Azarenka will face the 26^th seed Alize Cornet of France. Azarenka has beaten Cornet in both the previous two encounters. 7^th seed Petra Kvitova will face Alison Riske and 10^th seed Roberta Vinci will face Karin Knapp in an all Italian clash.

In other matches, Maria Kirilenko, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Daniela Hantuchova are also scheduled to play their third round matches.

In the last two days, two big seeds Sara Errani and Juan Martin Del Potro have lost; let’s see if there is a big upset that takes place at the Flushing Meadows today.

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Bayern Munich’s Frank Ribery won the UEFA Best Player in Europe award for the 2012/13 season. Ribery won the voting ahead of favorites Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. The award function took place on Thursday at Monaco. The draws for the Champions’ League group stages were drawn earlier in the night.

Ribery won the Champions League, Bundesliga and the German Cup with Bayern Munich last season. He was instrumental in all the three cup victories. Winning the award was a big achievement by the French International as over the last few years Messi and Ronaldo have dominated this award.
In a glittering ceremony at Monaco, Messi and Ribery were both present for the award function. Ribery scored 10 goals in 27 Bundesliga appearances and also set up Arjen Robben’s decisive goal in the 2-1 Champions League final win over Borussia Dortmund.

Ribery earned 36 votes in the poll of journalists from across Europe — 23 more than four-time reigning world player of the year Messi. Real Madrid forward Ronaldo won three votes. The three-man shortlist was selected by a panel of 53 journalists drawn from each of UEFA’s member nations. The same journalists then voted for the winner. UEFA created the award after France Football magazine combined its traditional European accolade with FIFA’s world player prize. Messi won the inaugural prize in 2011 but was beaten by Barcelona teammate Andres Iniesta last year.

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Quick Recap of Day 4

Unfortunately, Mahesh Bhupathi’s campaign in the men’s doubles came to an end in the first round itself while Leander Paes and Divij Sharan are through to round two with their respective partners. Sania Mirza is also through to round two of women’s doubles with a straight sets win with partner Jie Zheng. The biggest upset on Day 4 was the loss of no. 4 seed Sara Errani to fellow Italian Flavia Pennetta in round two of women’s singles. Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka are all through to round three at Flushing Meadows.

Indian presence on Day 5

There are a total of 5 matches featuring Indian players today at the US Open. In men’s singles, Somdev Devvarman faces twentieth seed Andreas Seppi of Italy in round two. This will be a tough match for Somdev to get through. Mahesh Bhupathi will take court today in the mixed doubles first round with Martina Hingis. The Indo-Swiss pair will face Yung-Jan Chan and Robert Lindstedt. Rohan Bopanna has two matches today. His first is the men’s doubles first round with partner Edouard Roger-Vasselin and then the mixed doubles first round match partnering Julia Georges. Bopanna has been seeded sixth in men’s doubles and third in mixed doubles. And finally, Sania Mirza and Horia Tecau face the number eight seeds Liezel Huber and Marcelo Melo in the first round of mixed doubles.

Men’s Singles

In round two matches of the men’s singles today, World No. 1 Novak Djokovic faces Benjamin Becker of Germany while Andy Murray faces Leonardo Mayer of Argentina. In the first match of the evening session, Lleyton Hewitt will face sixth seed Juan Martin Del Potro. In head to head, Hewitt leads 3-2. Both have played twice this year and Hewitt beat Potro both the occasions. This should be an interesting match.
Thomas Berdych, Tommy Haas and Mikhail Youzhny are all scheduled to play their round two matches today as well. Apart from Hewitt – Potro match, another match to watch out for today is Stanislas Wawrinka against the big serving Ivo Karlovic. In head to head, Wawrinka leads 2-1 over the Croatian. This one could be a 5 set thriller.

Women’s Singles

In round three matches in women’s singles today, Na Li will face Laura Robson in the first match of the day and Sloane Stephens faces Jamie Hampton, while in the evening session, Serena Williams faces Yaroslava Shvedova. In the first match at the Louis Armstrong stadium, third seed Agnieszka Radwanska faces Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia. Wimbledon runner up Sabine Lisiciki will face Ekaterina Makarova and Jelena Jankovic faces Kurumi Nara of Japan.
Jie Zheng and Angelique Kerber are also scheduled to play in round three today.

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