Tennis

BRISBANE: Russia´s Maria Sharapova won her semi-final at the Brisbane International on Friday to set up a highly-anticipated final against Ana Ivanovic. Sharapova beat the talented Ukrainian Elina Svitolina 6-1 6-3 to reach the final without dropping a set. Sharapova has dropped just nine games in her three matches to ...

AUCKLAND: Venus Williams became one of the oldest players to win a WTA title when she beat Caroline Wozniacki in the final of the Auckland Classic on Saturday. The 34-year-old Williams took a little while to get going but managed to overcome the blustery conditions and a fired up Wozniacki ...

PERTH (AFP) – The United States pairing of Serena Williams and John Isner snuck into the Hopman Cup final with a 3-0 win over the Czech Republic at the Perth Arena on Thursday. The pre-tournament favourites had to complete a clean sweep of the Czech combination of Lucie Safarova and ...

DOHA (AFP) – World number one Novak Djokovic was buried by 21 aces as big-serving Croatian Ivo Karlovic clinched a 6-7 (2/7), 7-6 (8/6), 6-4 victory to reach the Qatar Open semi-finals on Thursday. Top seed Djokovic appeared affected by a steady breeze in the Qatari capital, which did not ...

MELBOURNE (AFP) – Australian Open organisers said Friday they had raised the prize money for the year s first Grand Slam to a record Aus$40 million (US$32 million), with the singles winners taking home Aus$3.1 million each. The increase in the cash pool was meant to compensate for the decline in ...

CHENNAI (AFP) – World number four Stanislas Wawrinka on Monday played down expectations of repeating his sensational form of last season in the new year, saying he was not taking success at the top for granted. The 29-year-old enjoyed a memorable run in 2014, which began with victory in the ...

DOHA (AFP) – Novak Djokovic is adopting a different approach to a season in which a new wave of top players is emerging to challenge the established elite. The world number one from Serbia discussed this new threat after recovering from a fever which forced his withdrawal two days ago ...

BEIJING, (AFP) – Former world number two Vera Zvonareva, who has plummeted to 250 in the rankings, took her first steps in a 2015 comeback attempt by ousting home favourite and number three seed Peng Shuai at the Shenzhen Open on Monday. The 30-year-old was a finalist at both Wimbledon ...