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Rafael Nadal struggled before overcoming Santiago Giraldo in the quarter-finals of the Japan Open

October 7th, 2011

Rafael Nadal won the match in straight sets but not before he had been taken to the tie-breaker of the first set, winning 7-6(6) 6-3 win over Giraldo.

So far in the tournament, Nadal has been able to defeat Go Soeda and Milos Raonic in easy straight set wins before finding a tough opponent in Giraldo.

Nadal had a couple of break points in the opening set but did not manage to break serve and then had to claw back from from 0-30 at 3-4 to win the set only in the tie-breaker. However, in the second set, things were different as Nadal broke his opposition early  in the second set.

His opponent came back strongly to break Nadal but lost another service game to go down 6-3 in the second set. Nadal will play his first really tough opponent in Mardy Fish who defeated Australian youngster Bernard Tomic in three sets, 6-7(5) 6-4 6-1.

Australia play South Africa in the third quarter-final of the Rugby World Cup

October 7th, 2011

The all-important game will be held at Wellington on October 9. This will be the first game of the evening and third of the four quarter-finals.

Australia have had a rough ride getting to the quarter-finals. They did beat the minnows, USA and Russia, had a small difficulty in defeating the Italians but it was interesting to note that they went down to the Ireland side in one of the games.

Ireland went on to win all their four games and that meant that Ireland topped the group whereas Australia came second, to take on South Africa who top their group.

South Africa could well have come second as well, as they defeated Wales in their opening game, but only just- winning it 17-16. Then there were wins over Fiji, Namibia and Samoa, to help them go to the top of the group.

Both sides have injury issues, but given that Australia had recently beaten South Africa twice, they will be favourites.

England will play France in Rugby World Cup quarter-final

October 6th, 2011

England will play France in a rather important Rugby World Cup quarter-final that will be played on October 8. This will be the second quarter-final after the first one to be played will be between Wales and Ireland. This game will be held at Eden Park in Auckland.

England, despite all their on and off the field controversies, won all their games in the group stage. They were against Argentine and Wales and won both these tough games, although it must be said that they huffed and puffed away to the win.

On the other hand, France has been struggling in the tournament. They become the only team to qualify for the quarter-finals, with two wins in the group stage, losing to both, New Zealand and Tonga. Fortunately for France, Tonga had earlier lost to the Canadians in an upset result and that meant that the side went through to the quarters without problems.

The biggest problem with the French side in the tournament has been that of coach Marc Lievremont not been in the best of terms with his wards which means that they have been struggling with the results.

Things have been so bad that Lievremont that he admitted that the players weren’t at the same wavelength as he was.

Mumbai Indians vs Somerset : CLT20 Semifinal

October 6th, 2011

The second semi finals of the Champions League T20 will see the Mumbai Indians play Somerset at Chennai. The game will be played on October 8 and will see the two sides trying to out baffle each other in a bid to get to the final.

Somerset have had some good form going for them in the tournament. Apart from losing to Bangalore, they have not lost a single game and that includes two wins in the qualifying and two in the main tournament.

Mumbai Indians, to be frank have been lucky to get to the semi finals. They have not looked good with the bat and hardly been a potent force with the ball either. This has meant that they have been here, after a win against Chennai which they should have never got and one against Trinidad and Tobago which was the foolishness of the opponents than their own stars.

They have a new opener in Sarul Kanwar, who the side will hope will go well against the Somerset side, after having given a good start against Cobras. That game was washed away.

Between the two, Somerset not only look favourites but also deserve a win.

 

Hashim Amla will lead the South African side for their series against Australia.

October 4th, 2011

Amla has been named the captain of the side for the T20Is and the ODIs. The reason for this is the injury to AB de Villiers, which he suffered while playing for the Bangalore side in the Champions League T20.

South Africa will take on Australia in two T20Is, three ODIs and that would be followed by a couple of Test matches as well, which should make things interesting.

For the test matches, Graeme Smith will still be the captain of the side, after he had given up on the captaincy of the ODIs and T20Is.Amla had earlier decided not to take up the role of captaincy but had to agree when de Villiers broke his finger in India.

Australia will be led by Cameron White for the T20Is and Michael Clarke will captain the side in the ODIs and Test matches.

Bangalore will play South Australia in CLT20

October 4th, 2011

The Royal Challengers Bangalore will go into their last game of the Champions League T20 knowing that they will need to only win the game against the South Australians to have a chance at qualifying for the knockouts.

The Bangalore side had gone into the tournament as one of the favourites, but started off with two losses from two games. This meant that the side was left with no option but to beat their opponents in the remaining two games.

Bangalore have now started off by defeating the Somerset side rather easily – by 51 runs – which means that the net run-rate has also improved for the side. However, now, if Bangalore do not defeat the South Australians in this last game, they will crash out.

Interestingly, the situation is the same for South Australia as well – they lose and they will have to fly back to Australia.

It is interesting to see how things go, but if Gayle get going, the side should go into the game as favourites.

Tottenham Hotspur beat Arsenal

October 3rd, 2011

Arsenal plummeted into more of a soup as their EPL campaign met another roadblock in Tottenham Hotspur. The Spurs beat Arsenal 2-1 to take the sixth spot with 12 points from six games, whereas Liverpool now have 13 from seven games, just a point ahead and having played a game extra.

However, the biggest news is that Arsenal now have only seven points from seven games and are staring at a relegation zone right now – placed at the 15th spot. They are only a couple of points away from the relegation.

The match saw Tottenham take the lead, through Rafael van der Vaart in the first half, before Aaron Ramsey ensured that he had got Arsenal the equaliser in the 51st minute of the game.

However, it was Kyle Walker who scored in the 73rd minute to ensure that the Hotspurs had the lead and went on to win the game 2-1.

Rugby World Cup 2011 quarter-finals decided

October 3rd, 2011

The quarter-final line-up for the Rugby World Cup 2011 has been decided. In the first quarter-final of the tournament, the two European sides, Ireland and Wales will play each other. This game will be played at Wellington.

In the second quarter-final, to be played at Eden Park in Auckland on the same day on October 8, England will take on France. This is a battle of two teams who have not had a great tournament, one way or the other, on and off the field.

Then, in the third quarter-final, there will be a game between two of the best sides in the competition, Australia and South Africa. Australia is second ranked in the world and were expected to top their group, but lost out to Ireland. South Africa is ranked third in the world according to the IRB rankings.

The last quarter-final, to be held on October 9 will see New Zealand take on Argentina. The game will be played at the Eden Park.

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