Bartoli reaches first Paris Open final

 

France s Marion Bartoli reached the WTA Paris Open final for the first time in her career by beating Czech Klara Zakopalova 7-6 (7/3), 6-0 at Stade Pierre de Coubertin on Saturday.

 

It is the first time in five attempts that 27-year-old Bartoli, the second seed, has reached the final in her home tournament.

 

She will face either German ninth seed Angelique Kerber, conqueror of Maria Sharapova on Friday, or unseeded Belgian Yanina Wickmayer in Sunday s final.

 

Having fought back from a set and 1-4 down in her quarter-final win over Italian seventh seed Roberta Vinci the day before, Bartoli displayed similar reserves of determination to overcome Zakopalova.

 

The Czech world number 51 led 5-2 and 40-15 in the first set but Bartoli saved two set points before storming back to win the set, with her opponent s resolve crumbling in a one-sided second set.

 

“I have troubled getting started” said Bartoli afterwards.

 

“But when I was able to save those set points and win the first set, things got much better afterwards. I m really happy.”

 

Bartoli reached the semi-finals at last year s French Open at nearby Roland Garros and is gunning for an eighth career title, her last having coming in Osaka last October.

 

She is also aiming to become the first French winner of the indoor tournament since Amelie Mauresmo in 2009.
 

Sharapova reaches Open GDF Suez quarters

 

Top-seeded Maria Sharapova beat Chanelle Scheepers of South Africa 6-3, 6-1 Wednesday to reach the quarterfinals of the Open GDF Suez.

 

Sharapova broke for a 4-3 lead in the first set and twice more in the second, clinching the victory when Scheepers netted a backhand.

 

In first-round matches, American qualifier Bethanie Mattek-Sands finished off Kristina Barrois of Germany with her 10th ace to secure a 7-6 (3), 6-2 win.

 

Barrois rallied from a 4-1 deficit to force a tiebreaker. But Mattek-Sands won six straight points to take the first set and then broke Barrois twice in the second.

 

Mattek-Sands will next play seventh-seeded Roberta Vinci, who beat Simona Halep of Romania 6-4, 6-4.

 

Klara Zakopalova of the Czech Republic and Monica Niculescu of Romania also advanced, along with French wild card Pauline Parmentier and American teenager Christina McHale.

 

Parmentier jumped out to 3-0 in the final set and hit a backhand cross-court winner to edge eighth-seeded Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain 2-6, 6-3, 6-3.

 

The Frenchwoman had 31 winners to only 15 for Medina Garrigues.

 

Niculescu outlasted Jarmila Gajdosova of Australia 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 in an erratic match of 14 service breaks.

 

Zakopalova cruised past French wild card Alize Cornet 6-3, 6-1 by winning eight straight games to lead 5-0 in the second set.

 

McHale beat lucky loser Varvara Lepchenko 6-4, 7-5 in an all-American match and will face Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium.

 

Wickmayer led 6-1 in her first-round match when American veteran Jill Craybas retired because of a right leg injury.
 

Kashmir Solidarity Day being observed today

 

The day began with special prayers and rich tributes paid to martyrs. All activities and transport will come to a standstill when one minute’s silence will be observed throughout the country at 10am.

 

President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani and President of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) Sardar Muhammad Yaqoob Khan have issued special messages in connection with the day.

 

President Zardari and Prime Minister Gilani will address the joint session of the AJK Legislative Assembly and the Council.
PM Gilani will also host a dinner in honour of prominent Kashmiri leaders.
 

Monfils to face Berdych in Open Sud final

 

Defending champion Gael Monfils saved a match point to edge second-seeded Gilles Simon 4-6, 7-6 (4), 6-4 and reach the Open Sud de France final on Saturday.

 

Monfils will meet top-seeded Tomas Berdych, who beat Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany 6-3, 6-4.

 

Simon rallied from a 3-0 deficit in the final set, leveling at 4-4, but he dropped serve again to lose the all-French match.

 

“It s not easy to outmaneuver Gilles,” Monfils told Sport Plus television. “I tried to be aggressive. I missed some shots in the beginning but that s what made a bit of the difference in the end.”

 

Monfils whipped a forehand winner to break for a 2-1 lead in the first set, but Simon broke back in the sixth game with a backhand return winner.

 

Simon put Monfils under pressure at 5-4 and took the first set when Monfils sent a forehand into the net.

 

Monfils saved eight break points in the second set, including a match point at 6-5, to force a tiebreaker. He leveled at one set apiece on a forehand error from Simon.

 

Monfils will play in his second final this season after reaching the Qatar Open final last month.

 

Berdych broke Kohlschreiber once in each set and saved all five break points he faced.

 

The Czech clinched victory when Kohlschreiber netted a backhand.

 

Berdych will chase his first title since winning the China Open last October.
 

Czechs, Russia lead 2-0 in Fed Cup

 

Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova took more than two hours to put defending champion the Czech Republic in control of its Fed Cup tie with Germany, while Italy s Francesca Schiavone surprisingly lost to give Ukraine a boost on Saturday.

 

The Czechs led 2-0 in Stuttgart, Russia led Spain by the same score in Moscow, Italy and Ukraine were 1-1 in Biella, and Belgium and Serbia were 1-1 in Charleroi.

 

Germany was without its best player, an injured Andrea Petkovic, but pushed the Czechs hard in both singles.

 

Iveta Benesova overcame Sabine Lisicki 2-6, 6-4, 6-2, then Kvitova was, twice, two points from losing to Julia Goerges in the second set, but pulled through 3-6, 6-3, 10-8 in 2 hours, 21 minutes.

 

Goerges, who beat Kvitova in their only previous match, hit some superb service returns and twice broke back in the final set to put the pressure back on the Czech star.

 

She can clinch the Czechs a spot in the semifinals in April by winning the first reverse singles on Sunday against Lisicki.

 

In Biella, 2010 French Open champion Francesca Schiavone lost a home Fed Cup match on clay for the first time in seven years when she was picked apart by unheralded Lesia Tsurenko from Kiev 6-1, 6-2.

 

Tsurenko, ranked 110 spots below Schiavone at 121st, dominated with a strong serve and accurate volleys in just her third tie.

 

She evened the tie after Australian Open quarterfinalist Sara Errani beat Kateryna Bondarenko 6-2, 6-3.

 

In Moscow, Maria Sharapova and Svetlana Kuznetsova won their opening singles as expected and without trouble.

 

Sharapova accounted for Silvia Soler-Espinosa 6-2, 6-1 and Kuznetsova put away Carla Suarez Navarro 6-3, 6-1.

 

Sharapova was nervous because she lost her opening singles of her last tie in Moscow, last year against France. But Soler-Espinosa wasn t up to taking advantage of it. Sharapova can send Russia into a sixth successive semifinals in Sunday s first match against Suarez Navarro.

 

Belgium or Serbia will face the Russia-Spain winner in the semis, and the tie in Charleroi was evenly poised after the first day.

 

Former world No. 1 Jelena Jankovic first put Serbia in front by saving two set points in a 7-5, 7-5 win over Kirsten Flipkens, then Yanina Wickmayer hit back with 6-4, 6-4 defeat of Bojana Jovanovski, winning the last four games.

 

The minus-7 C temperature outside the Spiroudome almost overwhelmed the indoor heating, leaving the players and fans shivering. Jankovic joked she might turn out on Sunday in a coat and hat.
 

Big freeze grips Europe with 200 dead

LONDON: Temperatures have plunged to new lows in Europe where a week-long cold snap has now claimed more than 220 lives as forecasters warned that the big freeze would tighten its grip over the weekend.

A total of 223 people have died from the cold weather in the last seven days according to an AFP tally, with Ukraine suffering the heaviest toll.

People have been found dead on the streets in some countries, while thousands have been trapped in mountain villages in Serbia. In Italy, Venice’s canals started freezing over and even Rome was dusted in snow.

The lowest temperatures recorded in Europe were in the southwest of the Czech Republic, where the mercury dropped as low as minus 38.1 degrees Celsius (minus 36.5 Fahrenheit) overnight Thursday.

The EU executive said Friday that vital Russian gas deliveries had dropped in nine countries, with Russian giant Gazprom invoking flexibility clauses as it also braves a cold snap. Supplies fell 30 percent in Austria and 24 percent in Italy.

Ukraine’s emergencies ministry raised its death toll to 101 since the cold snap took hold, 64 of whom died on the streets.

Almost 1,600 people have sought medical attention for frostbite and hypothermia and thousands have flocked to temporary shelters.

The chilling temperatures killed eight more people over 24 hours in Poland, bringing the death toll to 37 since the deep freeze began a week ago, police said.

Temperatures plunged to minus 35 Celsius in some areas of Poland Friday.

In Bulgaria parts of the River Danube froze over, while another six people were found dead from the cold, bringing the overall tally to 16 in the last week, according to local media.

Most of the dead in the European Union’s poorest country were villagers found frozen to death on the side of the road or in their unheated homes, the reports said.

More than 1,000 Bulgarian schools remained closed for a third day amid fresh snowfalls and piercing winds in the northeast.

In neighbouring Romania two more people died, bringing the overall toll to 24, and hundreds of schools remained closed.

In Rome, residents experienced only their second day of snow in 15 years, with white flakes covering palm trees, ancient Roman ruins and Baroque churches across the capital.

Up to five centimetres (two inches) of snow fell in some districts and ancient monuments like the Colosseum were closed to visitors for fear of damage to the structure.

Canals in Venice, where temperatures fell as low as minus 5 Celsius, started freezing. However trains resumed normal service across the country except in and around Bologna and on a local line near Rome after days of delays.

Three people have died due to the extreme weather in recent days, including a homeless man found in Milan on Thursday.

An Italian ferry with over 300 people aboard got into difficulties off the port of Civitavecchia, north of Rome late Friday, hitting a harbour wall and ripping the side of the ship, port authorities said.

Two tugs managed to bring the “Sharden” safely in with all passengers and crew safe and sound.

In Estonia, a man was found frozen to death on a street in Tallinn, the first reported death there.

France also reported its first death after an 82-year-old man suffering from Alzheimer’s wandered out of his home in his pyjamas in the eastern French village of Lemberg and died of hypothermia.

One person died in Serbia, but teams of workers ploughed through snowdrifts to get food, supplies and aid to thousands of residents of mountain villages cut off by the weather.

“To help a woman who needed to reach a hospital we were breaking through two-metre (six-foot) snow drifts, which lasted for two and a half hours,” said Vedran Taskovic, a rescuer in the southeastern town of Vranje.

The cold snap has also killed people in the Baltic countries of Latvia and Lithuania, as well as Austria and Greece.

Swathes of Britain were bracing for snow after temperatures plunged to minus 11 degrees Celsius overnight in some areas, with authorities warning that the cold could catch people off-guard after a warmer-than-normal winter so far.

Further north, about 40 people were injured in about 100 road accidents caused by powdery snow and icy conditions, police said.

The first snows to hit Belgium caused more than 1,100 kilometres (700 miles) of traffic jams on roads and highways, said automobile associations. The last record was 948 kilometres registered in February 2010.

Algerian officials announced they had cancelled ferry services to the southern French port of Marseille because of the conditions. AGENCIES

Berdych, Simon, Monfils reach Open Sud semis

 

Tomas Berdych finished off Nicolas Mahut of France with his 14th ace in a 6-3, 6-4 victory Friday to reach the semifinals of the Open Sud de France.

 

The top-seeded Czech outplayed Mahut in the first set, hitting 18 winners and making only two unforced errors.
Mahut fought back in the second but double-faulted to give the 2010 Wimbledon finalist a 4-3 lead.

 

Berdych will next face Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany, who edged fourth-seeded Richard Gasquet 6-2, 3-6, 6-3.

 

Kohlschreiber hit 18 aces, taking a 3-0 lead in the final set to play his second semifinal this season after reaching the last four of the Heineken Open in Auckland, New Zealand, last month.

 

Meanwhile, second-seeded Gilles Simon outlasted French wild card Guillaume Rufin 7-6 (5), 6-7 (2), 6-2, and will meet compatriot and defending champion Gael Monfils, who cruised past Jarkko Nieminen of Finland 6-3, 6-3.

 

Simon won the all-French match when a backhand from Rufin sailed long.

 

Rufin was let down by his serve in the final set, double-faulting five times and landing only 38 percent of his first attempts.

 

Simon took the first-set tiebreaker on a forehand error from Rufin.

 

Rufin hit two consecutive forehand winners to lead 6-2 in the second tiebreaker and leveled at one set apiece when Simon netted a backhand.

 

The third-seeded Monfils broke serve twice to win the first set when Nieminen sent a backhand volley into the net.

 

Nieminen, who won the Sydney International last month, hit a forehand wide to trail 3-1 in the second set.

 

Monfils did not face any break points and clinched victory when Nieminen netted a backhand return.
 

Witness against Narendra Modi arrested

A senior Indian police officer who accused Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi of complicity in the massacre of Muslims during the 2002 riots was arrested on Friday, his lawyer said.

Sanjeev Bhatt, who has been locked in a confrontation with Modi, was arrested in state capital Gandhinagar following a complaint against him by a junior police constable.

Constable K.D. Pant accused Bhatt of forcing him to sign an affidavit that the senior officer was present at a meeting where Modi allegedly asked police officers to be “indifferent” to the killing of Muslims.

Bhatt s lawyer said the arrest of his client was an attempt to silence the allegations of brutality against Modi.
“This is an attempt to intimidate a witness (Bhatt) who has deposed against the Modi government in connection with the 2002 riots,” Bhatt s lawyer I.H. Syed said. “This action of the government is to prevent the truth from coming out.”

The Gujarat government suspended Bhatt in August, accusing him of taking unauthorised leave from duty.
Modi, a prominent member of the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party and touted as a future prime minister, has long been accused by human rights groups of turning a blind eye to the violence that killed around 2,000 Muslims.He has always denied any wrongdoing in connection with the riots.

The riots erupted after 59 Hindu pilgrims perished in a blaze at a railway station in Gujarat, sparking an anti-Muslim backlash that resulted in some of India s worst religious violence since independence from Britain in 1947.

Soha Ali Khan plays deaf girl in official remake of It’s All Gone Pete Tong

Soha Ali Khan would be seen as a deaf girl in Soundtrack, a Hindi film which is an official remake of a Canadian film It’s All Gone Pete Tong. The Hindi version is being backed by SaReGaMa who have bought the rights for the remake.

Confirms Soha, “Yes, I am playing a deaf girl in the film. I have just started shooting for the film and trust me; it is a completely different experience for me. I can’t imagine myself in a world where I can’t hear anything. I converse so much with people in real life and to be put in a situation like this, it has been a challenge for me.”

The film is based on the true story of a popular Czech DJ Kristov Masalin who lost his hearing due to excessive noise levels at various venues at which he played. However, Kristov’s career did not end with his total loss of hearing and used various methods to keep his music career alive. The Canadian take (It’s All Gone Pete Tong) on this true story had Paul Kaye playing the DJ under the direction of Michael Dowse. The Hindi version though has Rajeev Khandelwal putting on the gears of a DJ.

Meanwhile, post the debacle of Tum Mile, Soha Ali Khan is now seeing a fresh lease to her career with multiple films lined up in near future.

“Yes, Tum Mile not doing well was a disappointment. However, there was no conscious effort to take a break. It’s just that Tera Kya Hoga Johnny is now releasing after all the issues it had to face due to YouTube leak earlier this year. It was unfortunate”, sighs Soha.

She is excited about 2011 though. “There is another film called Chemistry which I have done with Shreyas Talpade. It is my first ever out and out comedy. And then of course there is Soundtrack which should turn out to be a superb human drama. These are the kind of films that excite me. I am anyways not dreaming of pot loads of money. As long as there is something which is experimental yet saleable, I am fine not being a part of hardcore mainstream brigade”, she signs off.

Pakistan Ranks 34th in Global Corruption Index

Pakistan Ranks 34th in Global Corruption Index, War-torn states are still seen as being the most corrupt in the world, according to a new report from Transparency International. Pakistan dropped to 34th from 42nd in the ranking of global corruption index.

Denmark, New Zealand and Singapore maintained their top position on the list with scores of 9.3. They were followed by Finland, Sweden, Canada and the Netherlands while Afghanistan, Myanmar and Somalia came last with scores as low as 1.1. The US ranked 22nd on the list, down from 19th last year, with a score of 7.1 out of 10, compared with 7.5 in 2009, the Berlin-based corruption watchdog group showed in its Corruption Perceptions Index published today. Meanwhile, emerging economic powerhouse China is in 78th place.

Countries that improved their rankings included Chile, Kuwait, Qatar, Ecuador, Jamaica and Haiti. The Czech Republic, Hungary, Madagascar and Niger also saw their scores decline on the index.
This years index, which measures the perception of corruption in the public sector, showed that 132 of the 180 nations reviewed scored below five on a 0-to-10 scale, with 10 indicating the least corrupt, Transparency said.
The index has become a benchmark gauge of perceptions of a countrys corruption, an assessment of risks for investors. Its an aggregate indicator that combines data from as many as 13 surveys and assessments from 10 independent institutions, including country experts and business leaders.

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