Croatian veteran Ivan Ljubicic ousted a weary world number two Novak Djokovic 7-5, 6-3 as defending champion Rafael Nadal booked his quarter-final berth at the BNP Paribas Open.

While third-seeded Nadal advanced on Wednesday with a 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 triumph over big-serving American John Isner, Djokovic couldn’t keep pace with the blistering serves and clean groundstrokes of Ljubicic, a former world number 3 now ranked 26th in the world.

World number four Andy Murray secured his quarter-final slot with ease as Spain’s Nicolas Almagro retired while trailing with an apparent left ankle injury. Murray led 6-2, 1-0 when Almagro called it quits after receiving treatment on court at the end of the first set.

The tournament has now lost its top two men’s seeds, after world number one Roger Federer was stunned by Marcos Baghdatis in the third round on Tuesday. That left Spain’s Nadal as the highest-ranked player to make it into the quarters as he withstood a barrage of 22 aces from the 24-year-old American Isner.

MELBOURNE : Defending champion and second seed Rafael Nadal wore down Australian Peter Luczak to begin his Australian Open campaign with a straight sets victory on Monday.

The Spanish world number two, bidding for his seventh Grand Slam title, overcame the 78th-ranked ranked Luczak 7-6 (7/0), 6-1, 6-4 in two hours 34 minutes.

Nadal, who is working his way back to full fitness after injuries blighted his last season, will next play either Argentina’s Leonardo Mayer or Slovakia’s Lukas Lacko with a potential quarter-final looming against Andy Murray.

Nadal, who beat Roger Federer in a gripping five-set final here last year, has not claimeda title since winning on the Barcelona clay last April.

He encountered a spirited opening from Luczak, cheered on him by his home crowd in Rod Laver Arena, and lost his service in the eighth game before breaking straight back in the next game.

The opening set went to a tiebreaker but Nadal stormed through without dropping a point to seize the initiative.

Luczak appeared to lose steam after the loss of the first set and Nadal broke him twice to wrap up the second set in 33 minutes and broke him again in the opening game of the third to control the match.

Nadal dominated the points, hitting 35 winners to Luczak’s 29 and broke the Australian’s service a total of four times to dropping his own serve just once in the first set.

Nadal Wins Capitala World Tennis Championship: Rafael Nadal got 2010 off to a winning start when he captured the Capitala World Tennis Championship in Abu Dhabi.
The world number two defeated Robin Soderling of Sweden in Saturday’s final, giving the Spaniard revenge of sorts after Soderling ended his run of success in the French Open last spring.
In a hard-fought contest, Nadal took the opening set on a tie-break and went a break up in the second before Soderling hit back to level at 4-4.
The Swede saved three match points in his next service game but was broken again in the 12th game as Nadal wrapped up victory 7-6 (7-3) 7-5.
Earlier, Roger Federer bounced back from a surprise defeat to Soderling with a 6-1 7-5 success against David Ferrer. Federer and Nadal now head to nearby Doha for the official curtain-raiser on the men’s tour with the Australian Open less than three weeks away.

MUMBAI: Katrina Kaif and Aamir Khan are the most downloaded Bollywood celebrities, according to Bahrti Airtel’s mobile phone usage survey.

The survey – Airtel Mobitude 2009 – captures the preference and choice of over 116 million mobile users located across India.

“Airtel Mobitude 2009 reflects the true choice of India. A mobile phone is considered by many as an intrinsic part of their daily life, be it a user in a small village or in a large town,” said Atul Bindal, President- Mobile Services, Bharti Airtel Ltd.

Katrina Kaif and Aamir Khan were the most downloaded celebrities on an Airtel mobile beating the likes of Kareena Kapoor, Salman and Shah Rukh Khan. Surprisingly, the survey also showcased that mobile users prefer to download a lot of Hollywood celebrities’ as much as Bollywood superstars.

Over 200 million music downloads were completed by Airtel users in 2009.

The Indian Cricket team still rules supreme in the popularity charts amongst (male) sports personalities. International tennis player Rafael Nadal completes the top five in this category. In the women sports category, Maria Sharapova was the most downloaded sports personality ahead of India’s Sania Mirza.

Roger Federer, Murray Win in ATP World Finals, Switzerland’s Roger Federer and Scot Andy Murray won their openers in Group A Competition at the eight-man ATP World Tour Finals in London.
Eight top tennis stars including Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal are participating in the ATP World Tour Finals. Federer, the French Open and Wimbledon champion, dropped the first set but battled back to defeat Spaniard Fernando Verdasco 4-6, 7-5, 6-1.
Murray jumped to a 5-0 lead in the first set, fell behind early in the second and took a 4-1 advantage in the third on the way to a 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 decision over Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina.
Play in Group B will begin today with Spain’s Rafael Nadal taking on Robin Soderling of Sweden and Serb Novak Djokovic meeting Nikolay Davydenko of Russia. The tournament ends the season on the ATP Tour.

BEIJING: Rafael Nadal polished his game at the expense of retiring Marat Safin with the top-seeded Spaniard inflicting a 6-3, 6-1 quarter-final defeat on the retiring Russian.

With Safin set to quit the sport next month at Paris Bercy, the countdown to the end is on for the 29-year-old double grand slam champion.

“I played a really good match, both yesterday and today,” said Nadal. “I’m feeling better now than during the American season.

“We’ll see if I’m playing at my best level during the rest of the tournament.”

Marat Safin returns a shot to Rafael Nadal in the quarter-final of the China Open in Beijing yesterday. Nadal 6-3, 6-1. — AFPpic

Marat Safin returns a shot to Rafael Nadal in the quarter-final of the China Open in Beijing yesterday. Nadal 6-3, 6-1.

Top seed Nadal took his second win in their series to reach a semi-final with Croatian Marin Cilic.

SAN JOSE: Brazilian Rene Simoes will coach Costa Rica in the last leg of World Cup qualifying.

Simoes was appointed on Wednesday, a day after Rodrigo Kenton was fired following three straight losses in qualifying.

Simoes resigned last month after only two weeks as coach of second-division Portuguesa in Brazil, after saying armed men threatened the players in the locker room after a loss. He also coached Jamaica at the 1998 World Cup and Brazil’s women’s team.

Costa Rica, which once led the North and Central American and Caribbean region, is fourth with 12 points following losses to Honduras, Mexico and El Salvador. The United States leads with 16 points, one ahead of Mexico and three in front of Honduras.

The top three teams qualify and the No. 4 team faces a playoff with the fifth-place team in South America.

Costa Rica has two qualifiers left, hosting Trinidad and Tobago on Oct. 10, then closing four days later in the United States.

Simoes said he believes Costa Rica still has a good chance of qualifying.

“A team that has 12 points in five games has to be strong,” he said. “South Africa 2010 is possible because Costa Rica has a strong team.”

He expressed his “great admiration for the team and the country” and asked fans to be patient with his Spanish.

NEW YORK: World number one Roger Federer began the US Open fortnight with a new top rival for his tennis throne in Andy Murray and ended the year’s last Grand Slam with yet another formidable challenger.

Juan Martin Del Potro joined the No. 1 conversation with a shocking 3-6, 7-6 (7/5), 4-6, 7-6 (7/4), 6-2 victory over the Swiss star in Monday’s US Open final, the 1.98 metre Argentine giant snapping Federer’s five-year title run.

Del Potro, who turns 21 next week, jumped into fifth in the latest ATP rankings by winning his Grand Slam final debut.

Federer remained first despite the loss with Spain’s injury-hampered Rafael Nadal moving back into second on the list past Murray, who stumbled badly in a fourth-round loss to Croatia’s Marin Cilic, and Novak Djokovic placed fourth.

“I have very good players from me to the No. 1,” Del Potro said. “For sure, Roger, Rafa, Murray, they are two or three steps more than me. I’m working hard every day hard to be like them.

“But if I play for many years in this level, then they are going to retire and I’m going to be much better.”

Time is not all that is on the South American’s side.

His formidable forehand and improved fitness caught the eye of 15-time Grand Slam winner Federer when he was forced to rally from two sets down to beat him in a French Open semi-final.

“Every month he was getting better,” Federer said. “He was hitting his serves better, from the baseline he was getting more confident. He knows much more now what he needs to do on the tennis court.

“Whereas maybe in the beginning, because he’s so tall, he needs to figure out his game, I think he did that in the last six months.”

Del Potro sees himself as far from a finished product, but it’s bad news for every rival if he can only get better.

“I have everything to learn,” Del Potro said. “I want to be a good player in the future. I want to be like them. I’m very happy I’m on my way.”

With Nadal nursing strained stomach muscles and already out two months with sore knees and Murray turning in a miserable showing to help clear Del Potro’s path to the trophy, the door is open for the big man to climb up the rankings.

Del Potro had lost all six prior meetings with Federer, including a five-set thriller in the French Open semi-finals, but became the only man other than Nadal to defeat Federer in a Grand Slam final.

“I just go my way and try to improve every day my game,” Del Potro said. “Of course I’m living much better than two years ago, maybe 12 months ago. But I’m in good shape. I’m physically feeling good with my tennis. That’s important.”