No Djokovic, no problem as Serbia eye Spain’s Davis Cup title

PARIS: Serbia shrugged off the absence of Novak Djokovic to reach the Davis Cup last eight with the 2010 champions confidently setting their sights on dethroning Spain in November’s final.

Janko Tipsarevic secured an unassailable 3-1 lead over Sweden in the World Group first round tie in Nis with a 6-2, 7-6 (7/5), 7-5 win over Michael Ryderstedt.

Victory gave Serbia a quarter-final tie in April against the Czech Republic, but captain Bogdan Obradovic believes that with world number one Djokovic back in the side for that clash, his country can start dreaming of a second title.

“It’s never easy to play matches in which you are the odds-on favourite but the players dealt with the pressure really well against Sweden,” Obradovic told www.daviscup.com.

“With a bit of luck, we will reach this year’s final and hopefully take on Spain because we are confident that we can beat them on home soil.”

Tipsarevic had beaten Filip Prpic in straight sets in Friday’s opening rubber and had then played doubles on Saturday when Sweden had clawed their way back into the tie.

But despite those efforts, he had no problem in disposing of Ryderstedt.

“I want to thank my team for standing by me through the thick and thin and this is also the best home crowd we have ever played for,” said Tipsarevic.

“I hope some of these fans will be ale to make the trip with us to the Czech Republic because it will be a very open match.”

The United States, the 32-time champions, completed a 5-0 whitewash over Switzerland in Fribourg.

Ryan Harrison beat Michael Lammer 7-6 (7/0), 7-6 (7/4) and John Isner, who condemned Roger Federer to his first defeat in the tournament in nine years on Friday, saw off Marco Chiudinelli 6-3, 6-4.

The US will travel to France in the last eight. The French beat host Canada 4-1 with Jo-Wilfried Tsonga downing injury substitute Frank Dancevic 6-4, 6-4, 6-1 to clinch the tie and Gael Monfils then defeating Vasek Pospisil 6-4, 6-4.

Austria made the quarter-finals — where they will tackle Spain — for the first time in 17 years with a 3-2 win over two-time champions Russia in Wiener Neustadt.

Jurgen Melzer secured the vital point, beating debutant Alex Bogomolov 6-2, 6-4, 6-1.

“I think it was one-way traffic,” said Melzer.

“Giving Austria the chance to play a quarter-final against Spain, that was our goal.”

Spain, playing without Rafael Nadal, who is skipping the tournament this year, had already made sure of their sixth successive appearance in the quarter-finals by taking an unassailable 3-0 lead on Saturday against Kazakhstan in Oviedo.

On Sunday, they completed a 5-0 rout with singles wins for Nicolas Almagro and Marcel Granollers.

The Czech Republic wrapped up a 4-1 win over Italy in Ostrava while last year’s runners-up Argentina were also 4-1 winners over Germany in Bamberg.

Argentina will have a home tie against Croatia, who beat Japan 3-2.

Ivo Karlovic pulled off his third win of the week to beat Go Soeda and give Croatia victory in Hyogo.

Croatia’s number three, who defeated Japanese number one Kei Nishikori on the first day, notched a 7-6 (7/4), 6-1, 6-4 victory in the last of the best-of-five contest.

Earlier in the day, Australian Open quarter-finalist Nishikori evened the tie 2-2 beating Ivan Dodig 7-5, 7-6 (7/4), 6-3. AGENCIES

Lescott sends City back to the top

 

Manchester City moved back to the top of the Premier League as Joleon Lescott s goal clinched a hard-fought 1-0 win over Aston Villa on Sunday.

 

Roberto Mancini s side had surrendered pole position to Manchester United after their bitter rivals  2-1 win against Liverpool on Saturday, but City underlined their determination to wrestle the title from Old Trafford with a gritty victory in freezing temperatures at Villa Park.

 

Lescott struck midway through the second half to lift City two points clear of United, while Villa are down to 15th place after their fifth defeat in their last seven home matches.

 

City dominated for long spells and England winger Adam Johnson went closest to breaking the deadlock in the first half when his long range effort hit a post.

 

Mancini s men had won just one of their last six away games, but they ended that barren sequence thanks to Lescott s predatory effort in the 63rd minute.

 

Former Villa midfielder Gareth Barry headed David Silva s corner back across goal from the far post towards England defender Lescott, who kept his balance to direct his hooked shot past Villa goalkeeper Shay Given.
 

Serbia into Davis Cup quarter-finals

 

Serbia reached the Davis Cup quarter-finals here on Sunday when Janko Tipsarevic defeated Michael Ryderstedt 6-2, 7-6 (7/5), 7-5 to secure an unbeatable 3-1 lead over Sweden.

 

The Serbs, playing without world number one Novak Djokovic, won both opening rubbers on Friday but Sweden stayed alive by winning the doubles on Saturday.
 

Kerber upstages Bartoli to win Paris Open

 

Angelique Kerber of Germany won the WTA Paris Open on Sunday by defeating France s Marion Bartoli 7-6 (7/3), 5-7, 6-3 in the final.

 

The world number 27, who conquered top seed Maria Sharapova in Friday s quarter-finals, became the first German champion at the event since Steffi Graf in 1995.

 

It was the 24-year-old s first win on the main WTA circuit, her previous best being a runner-up finish in Bogota in 2010.

 

Prior to coming to Paris, she had never beaten a top-10 player.

 

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

 

“It s incredible,” said Kerber. “I don t know what to say. The match was so tough but I fought on all the big points. It s been a fantastic week.”

 

Bartoli was in tears by the time of the post-match presentations.

 

“I pushed myself all the way but it was not enough,” she said after the 2hr 39min final.
 

Holders Spain ease into Davis Cup quarter-finals

 

Defending champions Spain reached the Davis Cup quarter-finals for a sixth successive year on Saturday when they secured an unassailable 3-0 lead over Kazakhstan in their World Group first round tie.

 

Marcel Granollers and Marc Lopez defeated Evgeny Korolev and Yuriy Schukin 6-2, 6-3, 6-1 in the doubles to put Spain, playing without Rafael Nadal, into a last eight clash against either Austria or Russia.

 

In Friday s opening singles, Juan Carlos Ferrero had beaten Mikhail Kukushkin 6-1, 4-6, 7-6 (7/2), 4-6, 6-4 whole Nicolas Almagro saw off Andrey Golubev 6-3, 4-6, 6-1, 6-1.
 

Great painter Sadequain’s anniversary today

TrendPK.com
KARACHI: Syed Sadequain Ahmed Naqvi, who is also often referred to as Sadequain Naqqash, or just Sadequain is being remembered on his death anniversary today (Friday).

The great painter of Pakistan, Sadequain was born in 1930 in Amroha, UP, India. At the age of 31, his work won recognition at the 1961 Paris Biennale.

Sadequain had a prolific career and much of his work is displayed in public places. During his life, Sadequain became a cult figure with a large following from all walks of life. The content of his work has wider appeal, and the early works addressed social evils. In the later decades, Sadequain used the unifying spirit of calligraphy to appeal to the masses.

Sadequain was responsible for the renaissance of Islamic Calligraphy in Pakistan. He was one of the greatest calligraphers of his time who transformed the art of calligraphy into eye-catching expressionist paintings.

In Pakistan, the art of calligraphy was relegated to a second class status until Sadequain adapted this medium in the late nineteen sixties.

Sadequain also painted in bold form the poetic verses of Ghalib, Iqbal and Faiz, which illustrate his love for classical literature. He belonged to the school of thought, which enriched realism with lyricism.

Sadequain wrote thousand of quartets and published them. Sadequain is the only painter who has been copied openly and widely by many painters and even the copies fetch large sums to the copiers, an irony since the artist himself hardly ever sold his works in spite of offers coming from the royals and the common public. As an example his masterpiece rendition of Sureh-e-Rehman has been copied widely by many known painters of the modern era.

The brush strokes stopped on February 10, 1987 in Karachi, when the greatest of the painters and calligraphists was just 57. Many have imitated his work since then, but he remains to this date a very class of his own, which cannot be imitated, copied or reproduced. TrendPK

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Canadian festival buys fake snow

 

The usually frigid Canadian city of Winnipeg – often nicknamed Winterpeg – has been so mild and dry this winter that a popular snow-sculpting competition has been forced to truck in 200 loads of fake flakes for this year s annual event.

 

While Europe shivers through a severe cold snap that has killed hundreds of people, Winnipeg has enjoyed its third-mildest January in more than a century, with the average temperature a relatively balmy -10.8 Celsius (12.6 Fahrenheit).

 

It s been the same story across much of Canada. Toronto, the country s biggest city, was forecast to climb well above the freezing mark on Thursday, while Berlin will be at -11 C going into the weekend and Paris and London will hover around -6 C.

 

“People refer to Winnipeg as Winterpeg so they expect it to be really cold, but everyone is really happy about the warm weather,” said Emili Bellefleur, spokeswoman for Festival du Voyageur, which includes snow carvings of wolves, bison and cultural symbols around the city of 700,000.

 

“We re going to take it, you know?”

 

With supplies of natural snow skimpy, the festival is trucking in artificially made snow from a winter recreation area, similar to the machine-made snow used on ski hills.

 

Bellefleur said she knows of only one other year that the 43-year-old festival had to buy artificial snow.

 

Winnipeggers and others in Western Canada can thank a flip-flop in air pressure patterns for the mild winter, which has funneled warmer southwest air across the Prairies, said Natalie Hasell, meteorologist at Environment Canada.
Normally, the La Nina weather phenomenon off the Pacific Coast of North America would leave the Prairies digging out of frigid, snowier than usual conditions.

 

But this winter it s been much milder, and bone dry. Nearly all of the country s main grain-growing region has received below-normal precipitation since November 5.

 

While Winnipeggers have happily put away their snow shovels, a dozen of the Festival du Voyageur s snow sculptors, coming from as far away as Switzerland, the Netherlands and evenMexico have been shocked by the mild weather.

 

Usually, “the worst part for them when they come from Mexico is dealing with the cold itself,” Bellefleur said. “Not necessarily the (lack of) snow.”
 

Mansoor for memo testimony anywhere outside Pakistan

Mansoor Ijaz has submitted his rejoinder to the Memo Commission on a plea regarding cancellation of his witness right.

 

In his reply, submitted through Akram Sheikh Advocate, Mansoor Ijaz said that commission’s investigation could not be completed unless his statement was not recorded because he has some important evidence in this case.

 

Mansoor also said that people living outside Pakistan cannot be called in personal capacity for witness. However, Mansoor refuted the allegation that he deliberately avoiding coming to Pakistan.

 

I am ready to record my statement from anywhere outside Pakistan, he said.

 

Earlier, counsel for Hussain Haqqani filed an application in memo commission to cancel witness right of Mansoor Ijaz.
 

Punjab Govt shames itself with fake case against Mian Amir

 

News Trends Bureau Chief Salman Ghani revealed that the case has been registered to keep News Trends from reporting the truth. He said the FIR has been based on an accident that took place a month ago. He said investigation of that incident has been completed under the FIR that was registered after the incident. Salman said that it is for the first time in the history of Pakistan that two FIRs have been registered for one incident.

 

Meanwhile, Azam Chaudhry, Secretary General Lahore Press Club, said that a fabricated case, invoking section 302, has been registered against News Trends Chief Executive Mian Amir Mehmood in the Gulberg police station.

 

 

Mubashar Luqman given life threats by Punjab Govt

 

Mubashar said that he has been warned of dire consequences for exposing the true face of Punjab Government earlier in his talk with News Trends. He however expressed determination that neither him nor any staff member of News Trends would succumb to pressure tactics of the dictatorial rulers of Punjab. He said he would continue to uphold truth as per motto of News Trends and its management and would continue to raise voice for the rights of the people.

 

Revealing the extent of threats, Mubashar Luqman had earlier told News Trends said that anchors and staff have been warned that their whereabouts and addresses had been listed and anything could happen if ruffling truth about Punjab government’s performance was reported further. He said that the callers would even say that they knew the exact addresses of the schools the kids of News Trends management go to.
 

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