Venus Williams

US OPEN
Venus into round of 16

NEW YORK, Sept 2: Third seed Venus Williams had been saving her ‘A’ game for the tougher players in the later rounds.....more

Corretja thriving
on the hard court

NEW YORK, Sept 2: Noted clay court artist Alex Corretja is not a fan of the slick hardcourt surfaces here at the U.S. Open, but the speedy........more

John McEnroe

Williams sisters ducking
the Mac challenge

NEW YORK, Sept 2: John McEnroe may be itching to get a shot at a Williams Sister on court, but the siblings seems to be having nothing.........more

Tennis postponed
due to rain

NEW YORK, Sept 2: The featured match between 15th-seeded Australian Mark Philippoussis and American Jan-Michael Gambill at the........more

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

RAJOURI, Sept 2: Ganiah Club won the inaugural match of the First A P Singh Memorial Volleyball Tournament organised by the Indian Youth Organisation (Rural) in collaboration with Department of Youth Services and Sports, here today..............more

Inter-school competitions
Host HSS Domana
dominates Wrestling
U-19 events

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Sept 2: Host Higher Secondary School, Domana dominated in the Wresting boys U-19 year events which held on the concluding day of the Inter-school competitions of Domana zone, here.............more

Rajinder Tickoo Memorial day-night Cricket
Laxmi Cricket Club win tie, advance in second round

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

JAMMU, Sept 2: Laxmi Cricket Club advanced into the second round of the Rajinder Tickoo Memorial day-night Cricket Tournament beating Prince Cricket Club, Shahidi Chowk by five runs in a close finish......more

MP HSS beat HSS,
Jawahar Nagar 1-0
in U-19 Football

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

SRINAGAR, Sept 2: The MP Higher Secondary School today defeated Higher Secondary School, Jawahar Nagar by a solitary goal in the final of the Inter-school competitions in U-19 year Football.......more

Students of the Hardeep Dancing Group, who won first prize in the group dance competition organised by the NAV Group at Abhinav Theatre, recently.

US OPEN
Venus into round of 16

NEW YORK, Sept 2: Third seed Venus Williams had been saving her ‘A’ game for the tougher players in the later rounds of the U.S. Open, but she was forced to break it out in the second set last night after a first-set scare at the hands 48th-ranked fellow American Meghann Shaughnessy.

He wimbledon champion lost her serve four times in the opening set and had to come back from two breaks down before pulling out a 7-6 (7-3) 6-1 third-round victory to improve to a perfect 8-0 in U.S. Open night matches.

"I think it was great that I had a tough match right now. It proves to me that I am playing well and I’m executing my shots a lot better than what I was in the first couple of rounds," he said.

Williams’s latest triumph extended her winning streak, which began at Wimbledon, to 22 matches, longest on the WTA tour this year.

Problems with serve.

In the first set Williams had all kinds of problems with her serve — usually her most potent weapon — and she ended up with just three ace and eight double faults.

The 21-year-old Shaughnessy was remarcably poised and showed no sign of nerves despite the electric atmosphere of a U.S. Open night crowd and an opponent known for mowing down the opposition.

"I’ve seen matches of hers where the other person has been completely intimidated. It’s easy — she’s much bigger, she’s much stronger, she hits the ball harder than just about everyone," the Scottsdale, Arizona, native said of Williams.

"But I know that playing well, I can stay with players like her."

Not only did she stay with Williams, she broke out in front of the hottest player in tennis, racing to a quick 3-0 lead as she teed off on Williams’s second serve to score the first of her four breaks.

She even played the crowd like a veteran, pumping her fist to fire up the fans after drilling a backhand down the line for a 4-2 lead. Another return winner off a Williams second serve made it 5-3 for the underdog.

While younger sister Serena Williams, the defending open champion, wore a worried expression in the stands, Venus insisted she was never concerned.

"I feel like everyone’s going to come out and play their best in a Grand Slam and I was ready for her to play very well. She hit some nice shots, had some nice strategy," Williams said.

"I expect everyone to come out and try to beat me and where’s the problem, because I love the competition," she added. "I never felt like I was going to lose the set."

Williams battled back to take a 6-5 lead, only to drop her serve yet again as Shaughnessy forced a tie-break in which neither player won a point on her own serve until the sixth point, when Williams took a 4-2 lead.

Williams had double faulted away her first two serves of the tie-break, but that was the end of shabby play from the woman who has never been stopped before the semifinals here. (UNI)

Corretja thriving on the hard court

NEW YORK, Sept 2: Noted clay court artist Alex Corretja is not a fan of the slick hardcourt surfaces here at the U.S. Open, but the speedy courts seem to be working in his favour as he regains his own form and confidence.

The talented eighth-seeded spaniard continued to move along in a personal comfort zone at the U.S. Open, capturing a 6-3 7-6 (7-4) 6-3 second-round victory over big-server Marc Rosset of Switzerland in oppressively humid conditions at the National Tennis Centre yesterday.

"It’s good to see I won in straight sets again," Corretja said.

"I was serving nice, pretty sweet. It seems that things were going pretty well for me today."

In the first-round, Corretja embarrassed Paradorn Srichaphan after their first set went to a tiebreaker, never letting the Thai native back on the scoreboard in a 7-6 (7-2) 6-0 6-0 victory.

Corretja joined Lleyton Hewitt, Thomas Enqvist and Gustavo Kuerten as the only men this year to win a Grand Slam match in straight sets, with two of the sets scores being at love.

The 26-year-old Corretja, who won the hardcourt title at Washington over Andre Agassi two weeks ago, has seen his serve become a weapon here.

"It’s like a rocket," 1998 French Open runner-up Corretja said about the speed of the courts. "I mean, even me, I can serve 15 aces per match, which usually I don’t do that."

Actually, Corretja only served 14 aces against Rosset, but that number was impressive enough.

Although Corretja was forced to retire in a second-round match at long island last week because of a bad stomach, he has been posting strong results this summer.

After boycotting Wimbledon when the Grand Slam failed to seed him according to his ranking, Corretja has won 18 of his last 19 matches, taking the titles at Gstaad, Kitzbuhel and Washington.

Corretja, who also won the Indian wells trophy in March, is rebounding after a bad season last year when a virus caused him to constantly feel listless and fatigued.

Attaining the number three ranking in 1998, Corretja struggled throughout 1999, ending the year out of the top 20 for the first time in three years.

"I was always thinking that I was a good player even if I was having some small problems," Corretja said. "I knew I would come back. If you are a good player, all of a sudden it’s like you don’t forget to play tennis after two days.

"I was thinking I was going to be back at the top of the game because I know that I have really good potential." (REUTERS)

Williams sisters ducking the Mac challenge

NEW YORK, Sept 2: John McEnroe may be itching to get a shot at a Williams Sister on court, but the siblings seems to be having nothing of it.

Mcenroe said in a recently published magazine article that any decent male college player or senior star could easily beat with wimbledon winner venus or U.S. Open holder Serena, the most powerful hitting pair in the women’s game, Mac as occasionally mentioned his challenge during television broadcasts this week.

But the Williams Sisters aren’t acting keen to take up the challenge. "You want a piece of me," Serena joked in the language of the Californian Ghettos where the family first lived in the early 1980s when the Sisters were born.

"He can throw down (fight) if he wants."

Shyness among the Williams sisters is something not usually seen from a pair who are not far from the days when they were predicting exactly when they would be duelling for number 1 status.

At the Australian Open in 1998, the pair actually asked the men’s ATP tour to arrange a practice match for them against a male. One candidate was German Karsten Braasch, then ranked outside the top 200 after a modest career which once took him to 38th in the world.

Given his laid-back personality and odd habits which once included having a smoke during changeovers some years ago until asked to curtail the habit, Braasch might have made the perfect opponent. Like most Germans, he was fond of a beer.

But the battle of the sexes never took place due to rain, begging the point that McEnroe raised.

"Who knows? it would be interesting to see where we stand," said Serena, who refused again during a television interview to commit to a challenge against a man.

"Men are stronger than women, in general, hands down. If I can keep him out there, running, sweating, running side to side, who knows what will happen."

Venus, the third seed, also deftly ducked the subject of a challenge: "I don’t know if I could fit him into my schedule, I’m booked solid through April."

She added: "If I’m playing a guy on serve, he may be stronger, but off the ground I can play very well. But Thisis not important, I have a career and it’s very successful."

In the most famous match between a man and woman, Billie Jean King beat Bobby Riggs, several decades her senior much like the 41-year- old McEnroe is to the 18-year-old Serena, on Sept. 20, 1973 at the Houston Astrodome in a match watched by 90 million television viewers. (DPA)

Tennis postponed due to rain

NEW YORK, Sept 2: The featured match between 15th-seeded Australian Mark Philippoussis and American Jan-Michael Gambill at the U.S. Open was postponed due to steady rain at the National Tennis Centre.

The second-round yesterday night clash was to immediately follow Venus Williams’s third-round victory over fellow American Meghann Shaughnessy, but rain began to fall just as Philippoussis and Gambill were preparing to take the court in Arthur Ashe stadium.

Officials, after waiting about an hour and a half, called off the match. No make-up time was immediately announced but it was likely to be played today afternoon. (REUTERS)

AP Singh Memorial Volleyball Tourney begins
Ganiah Club wins opening tie

Excelsior Sports Correspondent

RAJOURI, Sept 2: Ganiah Club won the inaugural match of the First A P Singh Memorial Volleyball Tournament organised by the Indian Youth Organisation (Rural) in collaboration with Department of Youth Services and Sports, here today.

Ganiah Club defeated Bhawani Volleyball Club in straight sets of 25-11, 25-13. In another match of the day, Higher Secondary School, Rajouri Club outplayed Lamberi Volleyball Club 25-15, 26-24. In third match, Nonial Club outplayed Seri Volleyball Club in straight sets.

Messrs Wali Mohd, Sita Ram Choudhary, Sunit Choudhary, Rakesh Choudhary and Rajesh Choudhary officiated today’s matches.

Earlier, the tournament was declared open by Mrs Nirmal Kumar, Principal, Higher Secondary School, Nowshera. While’s Mr Viplav Kumar, SDPO, Nowshera presided over the inaugural function.

Prominent among those who were present on the occasion included Kesar Singh, father of Late A P Singh, Raghubir Singh, vice-president Gurdwara Parbhandak Committee, Mahesh Kumar Bali, president of the Indian Youth Organisation, Ravi Kant Gupta, Anil Choudhary, Rajesh Sharma.

Tomorrow’s fixture: Pintoo Club, Rajouri V/s Ganiah Club; Sunderbani Club V/s Nowshera Police; Nowshera Club V/s Sunderbani Police.