Tennis:Clijsters in semi finals of Australian Open

Kim Clijsters kept her Australian Open title defence on track by moving into the semi-finals with success over Caroline Wozniacki. The loss also stripped the Dane of her number one ranking in the process. Showing no signs of the ankle injury continued in her thrilling fourth-round win over Li Na - a match in which she had to save four match points - the Belgian had too much know-how for Wozniacki, whose search for a maiden grand slam title goes on.

It looked plain sailing for a uncontrolled Clijsters as she raced into a set and 5-2 lead only for Wozniacki to launch an inspiring fightback. But it proved in vain, Clijsters' greater experience shining through as she clinched a 6-3 7-6 (7/4) win and a last-four spot against Victoria Azarenka. "It definitely didn't feel like I was up a set and 5-2, Caroline is a very consistent player and a fighter and she became more aggressive," said Clijsters.

"I am happy to get through and not have to go to a three-setter as it's so hot." The result will add weight to the argument of those who believe Wozniacki was not worthy of top spot, with the legendary Martina Navratilova on Monday demanding the WTA revamp the current rankings system. The 22-year-old has been at the summit for 67 of the past 68 weeks but the door now opens for Petra Kvitova, Azarenka and Maria Sharapova with the individuality of the new number one determined by how the next few days in Melbourne pan out.

Djokovic moves to semis in Abu Dhabi

World No 1 Novak Djokovic saw off Gael Monfils to reach the semi-finals of the Mubadala World Tennis Championship in Abu Dhabi. The Serb defeated the forceful Frenchman 6-2 4-6 6-2 at the showing event to book a date with the man who ended his 43-match winning run in the summer, Roger Federer. Djokovic had ended the 2011 season with two tired losses at London's ATP World Tour Finals but the short rest seemed to have served him well, judging by what was a convincing, if low-tempo success.

"I was working on some things throughout the match," Djokovic said. "I was trying to find a good rhythm and I think I was playing really well for this stage. But I am not yet 100 per cent ready." David Ferrer like a three-set win over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. The Spaniard came from a set down to post a 2-6 7-6 (7/5) 6-2 win and will now meet compatriot Rafael Nadal in Friday's semi-finals.

After four closely-fought games, Tsonga reeled off four in a row to claim the first set. Ferrer broke serve for the first time to lead 3-2 in the second when the Frenchman netted a forehand, but Tsonga just broke straight back. A tie-break followed and Ferrer took it to square the match. Tsonga formed the shot of the match - a dazzling forehand pass on the run - to save the first set point, but Ferrer grabbed the second chance with both hands to set up a decider.

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Federer victorious at Paris Masters

Roger Federer ended Jo-Wilfried Tsonga's hopes of claiming the Paris Masters with a clinical show that saw him take a 69th career title with a 6-1 7-6 (7/3) win. Federer, who ended a 10-month wait for a tour success in Basle last week, continued to build drive ahead of the ATP World Tour finals in London later this month with a first win at a competition that has always eluded him in the past. He blew away his French rival away in winning the first set in just 30 minutes, before he coped with some much better tennis from Tsonga to edge the second on a tie-break.

Tsonga has twice beaten Federer this year and looked as though he could record a third upset when he forced two break points in the first game of the match. Federer did not lose his composure and clung on to go 1-0 up. Tsonga's own service game started with two strong deliveries but Federer soon found his feet and broke his opponent at the first attempt. Federer's serve was soon looking impassable and Tsonga made a handful of natural errors as 3-0 became 5-1, leaving the Swiss to serve for the set.

Tsonga managed to save one set point but could only delay the inevitable. The second set saw Tsonga give the home fans more to cheer as he tightened up on serve and put Federer under more pressure. The score reached 2-1 on serve before Tsonga unsuccessful to convert a good chance to make his first break in the fourth game. He went close again with the score at 4-3, a superb backhand giving him break point and a line judge's call stopping him going 5-3 in front. As it was the pair could not be praised separately and it reached a tie-break at 6-6.

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Verdasco advances to the second round

Fernando Verdasco had to come from behind to advance to the second round of the Paris Masters with a 3-6 6-2 6-3 victory over Marin Cilic. The Spaniard will now face fifth-seeded Czech Tomas Berdych after coming through opening clash, with Berdych one of some players here combating for a place in the season-ending ATP World Tour finals in London. Third-seeded Roger Federer will face Adrian Mannarino in the second round after the French wild-card saw off Russia's Dmitry Tursunov 6-2, 6-2.

But Nikolay Davydenko, Gilles Muller and Radek Stepanek are all out at the first hurdle. Davydenko lost 7-6 (7-2) 7-5 to Andreas Seppi, Muller went down 6-3 4-6 6-4 to Kevin Anderson and Stepanek fell victim to Germany's Florian Mayer, 7-5 6-3. Nicolas Mahut beat Spain's Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-2 6-3 to set up a second-round meeting with fourth-seeded David Ferrer. Also advancing were Philipp Kohlschreiber, Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, Julien Benneteau, and Alex Bogomolov Jr.

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Mardy Fish may miss ATP World Tour

Mardy Fish's hopes of qualifying for the ATP World Tour Finals later this month took a massive hit after he suffered a hamstring injury at the Swiss Indoors. The American was compulsory to retire hurt just 11 minutes into his first-round clash with James Blake in Basle.

The 29-year-old is now eighth in the race for the season finale in London finale, with the final three places in the best eight-man field still to be decided. The line-up for London will be finalised next week, with Fish expected to drop out of the top eight if his injury keeps him out of action.

Fish recently replaced Andy Roddick as the top-ranked American player after a dazzling run of form, winning 20 of his 26 matches since July. Spaniard Nicolas Almagro is presently ninth in the world rankings, just 500 points behind Fish, while Janko Tipsarevic is a further 65 points adrift. Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray, Roger Federer and David Ferrer have already booked their places.

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Kvitova successful in Linz final

Petra Kvitova claimed her fifth title of the year on Sunday with a straight-sets success over Dominika Cibulkova in the final of the WTA Generali Ladies Linz.Top seed Petra Kvitova claimed her fifth title of the year this afternoon with a straight-sets win over Dominika Cibulkova in the final of the WTA Generali Ladies Linz. The 21-year-old Czech top seed broke the Slovakian seventh seed's serve six times en route to a 6-4 6-1 triumph in just under 90 minutes in Austria.

The result kept the Wimbledon champion unbeaten in four meetings with 22-year-old Cibulkova, who had been seeking her first WTA Tour crown. Kvitova was excited with the form she showed on the fast indoor courts in Austria after under pressure since winning her maiden grand slam at SW19 in July."I was fighting for every point this week," the world number four told ".The semi-final with Jelena was tough, but it was very nice tennis from both of us.

"I played my best at the end of it - it was a very good match."I played very well on the big points."Every game was so close today. Of course I'm very happy I won."Kvitova will now have a week off before title to Istanbul for the TEB BNP Paribas WTA Championships."I'm going to go home and have one week of training," she added. "Then I'm going to Istanbul on Saturday."I'm just going to practice. I'm really looking forward to my first Championships and going to Istanbul."

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Djokovic to end 2011 as high

Novak Djokovic will end the year as world number one, it has been confirmed. The Australian Open, Wimbledon and US Open champion has been the leading player of 2011 and another honour will now be added to his CV. A third-round defeat for Rafael Nadal at the Shanghai Masters on Thursday - he lost to Florian Mayer - means Djokovic, who hit the peak for the first time in his career following his Wimbledon success in July, can no longer be fixed at the top of the rankings.

The Serb will end the season as top dog for the first time after an excellent campaign which has so far seen him lose only three matches - and two of those have come via injury retirements. After starting the year with 41 consecutive match wins, Djokovic presently holds a win-loss record of 64-3 for the season, a run which has brought him 10 titles in total. Djokovic will receive his year-end number one trophy during the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London next month - providing he has recovered from a back injury by then.

Forced to miss the Shanghai tournament due to the problem, Djokovic is currently scheduled to return to the court in Basel at the start of next month, while he is also due to play the Paris Masters before heading to London. The Serb becomes the 16th player to end the season as world number one since the introduction of the ranking system in 1973. He also ends the seven-year domination of the year-end top ranking by Nadal and Roger Federer.

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Azarenka out of China Open

Only one top-10 player remains in the China Open women's singles draw after second seed Victoria Azarenka pulled out of her third round match against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova with injury on Thursday."It's unsatisfactory to have to withdraw this morning," Belarussian Azarenka, who has a foot injury, said."I'm sorry to the fans. I was hoping my foot would be okay, but it has been bothering me since Tokyo.

I'm not sure about revival time but I will continue to consult my doctor. I hope to be back for Luxembourg."The world number three had been the probable opponent for world number one Caroline Wozniacki in the final. The Dane was in action later against Kaia Kanepi. Organisers have been hit with pull-outs from top players such as Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova while home favourite Li Na's first round exit was also a blow.

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Early exit for Roddick

Andy Roddick has been neglected out in the first round of the ATP China Open in Beijing to timely further questions over his future. Currently ranked 15th in the world, any opinion of appearing at the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals are disappearing after a 6-4 7-5 defeat to Kevin Anderson on Monday. The sixth seed managed to deal with the South African's vast serve.

"If I break twice and don't win a set that says my serve isn't on," Roddick said."It's unacceptable."When asked by a Chinese reporter if retirement was on the cards, the sensitive Roddick responded; "I think you should retire."Other results saw Spain's Fernando Verdasco overcome Frenchman Michael Llodra 6-2 6-4 to progress to round two. Qualifier Flavio Cipolla beat Alexandr Dolgopolov 6-1 1-6 6-0 while Croatian Marin Cilic eased past Di Wu 6-2 6-3.

Germany's Florian Mayer beat Albert Ramos 6-2 6-4 while Feliciano Lopez defeated Turkey's Marsel Ilhan thanks to a second set tie-break, 6-2 7-6(6).Temporarily, Gael Monfils has withdrawn from this event and next week's Shanghai Masters with a knee injury. The Frenchman was due to start as second seed this week, lost in the semi-finals in Bangkok last week.

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Tipsarevic wins maiden title in Malaysia

Janko Tipsarevic claimed his first ATP Tour title on Sunday with a straight-sets success over Marcos Baghdatis in the Malaysian Open final. The 27-year-old Serbian edged past the Cypriot wild card 6-4 7-5 in Kuala Lumpur to shake off the tag of being the highest-ranked player in the world - 17th - without a Tour victory to his name. World number 60 Baghdatis ousted second seed Viktor Troicki in the semi-final yesterday, but his hopes of clinching the title were crushed as third seed Tipsarevic emerged successful in two hours six minutes.

Tipsarevic, who had before lost in four ATP Tour finals, made a slow start in the Malaysian capital, and soon found him trailing 0-3. However, he stormed back with two breaks of serve en way to clinching the set and then raced into a 4-1 lead in the second. Baghdatis rallied to level at 5-5 but Tipsarevic motivated up a gear again to close out the match. Baghdatis had been seeking his first title of the season, but accepted he had been second best.

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Somdev falls in ATP rankings

India's singles star, Somdev Devvarman, who will return to action this week, has suffered a steep slide of 19 places to 89 in the ATP rankings issued on Monday. Somdev, who was advised two weeks' rest after suffering a shoulder strain in India's recent Davis Cup tie against Japan, will battle in the Malaysian Open. He will open his campaign against a qualifier.

Another out-of-action player, Sania Mirza, has gained two places to be 86. Sania's doubles ranking was unchanged at number 10 and there was no modify in her team ranking with Elena Vesnina, as they stand at number four. In the ATP doubles rankings, Mahesh Bhupathi (6), Leander Paes (8) and Rohan Bopanna (14) also maintained their individual positions.

In the doubles race to year-end championship also, Paes and Bhupathi held on to their fourth rank and the Indo-Pak pair of Bopanna and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi were also still at number seven.

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Kirilenko in Semi Finals at Guangzhou International Open

Maria Kirilenko eased into the semi-finals of the Guangzhou International Open in China with straight-sets win over Tetiana Luzhanska. The 6-1 7-5 triumph took Kirilenko, the world number 28 from Russia, one step nearer to her sixth WTA title and fourth on Asian soil. China's Zheng Jie beaten Croatia's Petra Martic in three sets when she fought back to beat the fourth seed 1-6 6-4 6-3.

South Africa's Chanelle Scheepers also took three sets to beat Poland's Urszula Radwanska, finally winning 4-6 7-6 (8/6) 6-3 in a tough match. In the final match, second-seeded Australian Jarmila Gajdosova was beaten 6-4 6-3 by Slovakia's Magdalena Rybarikova.Kirilenko will now play Scheepers while Zheng will face Rybarikova.

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Santon undergoes knee treatment

Newcastle full-back Davide Santon was in London on Monday to have fluid exhausted from his injured knee in an effort to avoid surgery. The 20-year-old Italian, who had been in line to make his first-team debut for the club at Aston Villa on Saturday, smashed his right knee is training last week, and there were fears that he could be missing for a month.

However, manager Alan Pardew is charge his fingers crossed that he could return to training within days. He said: "He has gone to London and will have his knee exhausted of a little bit of fluid that's on it, and then we are hoping that he will train.”If that doesn't work, most likely at some stage, we will have to look at some keyhole surgery in there to make sure that this fluid doesn't appear again."

Santon's absence is a blow for Pardew, who signed him from Inter Milan to replace Jose Enrique following the Spaniard's move to Liverpool. Utility man Ryan Taylor has been substantial in at left-back, but it remains to be seen whether he gets a rest for Tuesday night's Carling Cup third-round trip to Nottingham Forest. Frenchman Hatem Ben Arfa, who has not played a spirited game for the club in almost a year, will figure at the City ground.

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Davis Cup : Japan take lead over India

Yuichi Sugita and Kei Nishikori helped Japan to a superior 2-0 lead against India in the Davis Cup World Group Play-Off tie in Tokyo on Friday. Sugita upset the Indian No.1, Somdev Devvarman 6-3, 6-4, 7-5 in the opening singles before Nishikori, Japan's top singles player, expectedly got the better of Rohan Bopanna 6-3, 6-2, 6-2

Sugita, the Japanese No.2, thrashed Somdev to draw first blood for Japan. Somdev, India's top singles player at No. 64, was probable to steamroll over the 174th-ranked Japanese. However, the opposite happened with Somdev, who won back-to-back gold medals at the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games last year, unsuccessful to get into any rhythm against the unheralded Sugita. While Somdev's tame surrender came in as a surprise for the visitors, Bopanna's loss was a predictable one.

The doubles expert seemed impractical against Nishikori and caved in just 98 minutes. Veteran Mahesh Bhupathi and his young partner Vishnu Vardhan will have to win their doubles clash against Nishikori and Go Soeda on Saturday to keep the Indian dare alive. With Leander Paes missing the tie with an injury, the untested pair has its task cut out.

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Pervak stay alive at Tashkent Open

Ksenia Pervak cruised through to the quarter-finals of the Tashkent Open in Uzbekistan. However, shock results away mean only one other seed will join her in the last eight. The 20-year-old Russian required one hour and 22 minutes to dispatch local wild card Sabina Sharipova 6-3 6-3 and book a quarter-final meeting with French qualifier Victoria Larriere, who stunned fifth seed Magdalena Rybarikova 6-4 6-4.

The only other seed to advance was sixth seed Alla Kudryavtseva, the Russian proving too strong for her compatriot Vitalia Diatchenko and triumphing 6-1 2-6 6-3 in just fewer than two hours. Other seeds to fall were seventh seed Elena Rodina, who went down 6-7 (7-4) 6-4 6-1 to Eva Birnerova, and Anastasija Sevastova, who was beaten 7-5 3-6 6-3 by Valeria Savinykh.

Elena Danilidou and Sorana Cirstea also advanced while Urszula Radwanska had to beat both the loss of the first set and the home crowd to defeat Uzbek hope Akgul Amanmuradova 6-7 (7-2) 6-4 6-3.

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Watson beat Kremer in Quebec

Britain's Heather Watson was along with the winners on day one of the Bell Challenge in Quebec. The 19-year-old from Guernsey beat Luxembourg's Anne Kremer 6-2 6-4 in the first round, although the score did completely reflect a tough opening set in particular. Watson broke her challenger three times but also had to save seven on the eight break points she faced to get the upper hand.

Elsewhere in the first round, Hungary's Melinda Czink beat Germany's Kathrin Woerle 6-4 1-6 6-3, while Canadian fourth seed Rebecca Marino beat compatriot Stephanie Dubois 6-2 6-4.Seventh seed Irina Falconi beat fellow American Alison Riske in straight sets and Michaella Krajicek thrash Canada's Marie-Eve Pelletier 7-6 (7/1) 6-3.

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US Open 2011:Roger Federer vs Juan Monaco

Federer will have a possibility to make it to the final eight for the eight successive times when he face Monaco in tonight’s game. The Swiss entered into the final 16 by demolishing Marin Cilic in a 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2. Though many experts consider that the match was so tough for Federer to win because he dropped the second set.

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Tsonga reaches Quareter Finals of US Open

In-form Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga came back from two sets to beat American Mardy Fish 6-4 6-7 (5-7) 3-6 6-4 6-2 and reach his first US Open quarter-final. Eighth seed Fish, the revelation of the season, had looked the favourite after dominating the third set but a break of serve in the ninth game of the fourth turned the match in Tsonga's favour.

The American received raucous backing from the crowd on Arthur Ashe Stadium but, after treatment for a groin problem. In the last eight the Frenchman is likely to meet Roger Federer, who he has beaten in their last two matches, including coming back from two sets to love down in the quarter-finals at Wimbledon.Tsonga felt his physical and mental strength pulled him through and compared the victory to beating the likes of Federer and Rafael Nadal.

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Bopanna in quarterfinal at US Open

The India-Pakistan pair of Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-Ul-Haq-Qureshi moved into the quarterfinals of the US Open with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Paul Hanley and Dick Norman in a third round men's doubles match on Sunday.

Sania Mirza, however, had to feel defeat with her Russian partner Elena Vesnina. The sixth seed pair arched out of the contest after losing to the Czech duo of Iveta Benesova and Barbora Zahlavova Strycova 6-7, 6-7 in the third of the women's doubles.

Bopanna-Qureshi, last year's finalists and seeded fifth in the present edition, got the better of the Australian-Belgian join of Hanley and Norman in 60 minutes. They next meet Britan's Colin Fleming and Ross Hutchins, who got a walkover from 13th seed pair of Marcel Granollers and Marc Lopez.

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Venus beat Vesna Dolonts in US opener

Venus Williams began her US Open battle with a comfortable 6-4 6-3 victory over Russia's Vesna Dolonts in the night session on Arthur Ashe Stadium. The 31-year-old has played only three tournaments since getting the semi-finals at Flushing Meadows 12 months ago, and she has not played at all since losing to Tsvetana Pironkova in the fourth round of Wimbledon in June.

The American, the champion in New York in 2000 and 2001, looked a slight rusty to start with and was broken by Dolonts, the world number 91, in the fifth game. But that seemed to spark Williams into life and she broke directly back before overriding her opponent to take the set with a decisive break in the 10th game.

Having started slowly in the first set, the American was not about to make the same mistake in the second, and she broke at the first chance before sealing victory with a service winner. Williams, who is unseeded this year after dropping to 49th in the rankings, is expected to face Wimbledon semi-finalist Sabine Lisicki in round two.

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