Zaheer back, India choose to field

India chose to field on what appeared to be a good batting track in Hobart, their decision prompted by the aim to restrict Sri Lanka to a score they can scale down in 40 overs to secure a bonus point

Boys from Basel shock Bayern

Valentin Stocker scored a late winner to give Basel, who hit the woodwork twice during the first half, a famous 1-0 victory over Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League meeting.

Daytona 500: Rain, fire and laundry detergent gives win to Kenseth

NASCAR’s premier event, the Daytona 500, has had a difficult weekend and it was only made more difficult with a spectacular fire. After being rained out on Sunday (for the first time in the race’s 54-year history), the race was to be held Monday afternoon but like its predecessor, the rain was relentless all day.

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Paatelainen excited by Finland's future

Finland are back up to 79th spot in the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking, signalling a fresh start after the Jari Litmanen and Sami Hyypia era. FIFA.com spoke exclusively to coach Mixu Paatelainen about their recent progress.

Tomic Tops Former Champion Haas In Delray Beach

Australian Bernard Tomic, the No. 8 seed, dismissed former champion Tommy Haas 6-4, 6-3 on Monday at the Delray Beach International Tennis Championships.

[[More Tennis News on ATPWorldTour.com]]

Exclusive: Westphal – Truth in testing

Barber Motorsports Park Test Hey F1B readers!  I’m excited to be back sharing with you another look through my eyes in the Grand Am Continental Sports Car Challenge with Insight Racing in their BMW M3. This segment picks up where I left off in Daytona for the first race of the season, as the team

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Mayer Wins On Acapulco Debut

Fifth seed Florian Mayer of Germany advanced to the second round of the Abierto Mexicano Telcel with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Argentine qualifier Facundo Bagnis on Monday in Acapulco.

[[More Tennis News on ATPWorldTour.com]]

Formula1blog.com Podcast #252

Join Grace and me as we discuss Mercedes, Lotus, testing, Bahrain and more. We even share the secret to fresh wine and it involves an air-sucker-upper-thing. Fashion Award winner right here

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Rehhagel: Hertha are on a razor's edge

Hertha Berlin coach Otto Rehhagel has said he did not expect dramatic changes within the club in just two weeks, however, with just three months left to the Bundesliga season, is aware the club is teetering towards relegation.

Champions to the fore

FIFA.com’s weekly look at club action across Asia and Oceania reviews the latest from Yemen, Iraq, and Macau, as well as Australia and New Zealand, where the league’s elite have been in fine form.

All Hands On Deck In Acapulco

Gilles Simon, Juan Monaco and Santiago Gonzalez visited the Mexican Navy School Boat “Cuauhtémoc” in the Acapulco Bay on opening Monday of the Abierto Mexicano Telcel.

[[More Tennis News on ATPWorldTour.com]]

Remember that 4-cylinder turbo idea for F1? A peak at why it might have happened

I know none of us were exactly dumbfounded by why Formula 1 toyed with the idea of moving to a 4-cylinder turbo engine. Wait. Have I put that correctly? Let me be clear. We all were dumbfounded that F1 would do something so totally stupid as drop 4-cylinder engines — even turbos, and I love

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Quiney and Warner win awards

The Victoria batsman Rob Quiney has been rewarded for two strong seasons by being named Australia's Domestic Player of the Year at the Allan Border Medal night in Melbourne. And Australia's occasional vice-captain David Warner has taken home the Bradman Y

Denis dissects nine-man Roma

German Denis struck a fine hat-trick to hand Roma a heavy defeat in Bergamo as Atalanta ran out 4-1 winners over the capital side, who ended the game with nine men after Daniel Osvaldo and Marco Cassetti saw red.

Roddick hopes for turnaround at Delray Beach

DELRAY BEACH, Fla. (AP)â€"Andy Roddick is hoping to turn around a dismal season so far at the Delray Beach International Tennis Championships.

The fourth-seeded Roddick, who has slipped to No. 30 in the rankings, usually does well in the first couple of months of the year. He has traditionally fared well at the indoor tournaments in Februaryâ€"he’s won the Memphis and San Jose titles three times each.

But he’s battling injuries. A right hamstring injury forced him to abandon his Australian Open second round match, and a right ankle injury sustained during his opening match at San Jose two weeks ago.

Roddick will face Philipp Petzschner of Germany in a first round match at DelRay Beach on Tuesday night.

Sweeting Dismisses Young In Delray Beach

Ryan Sweeting needed just 52 minutes to defeat fellow American Donald Young 6-1, 6-1 on Monday at the Delray Beach International Tennis Championships.

[[More Tennis News on ATPWorldTour.com]]

Indycar episode IV- A New Hope?

Well just in case you’ve missed it, we here at F1b (well me and fellow DRS-hater Todd) haven’t been too enthusiastic about Indycar in recent years. It’s not born from our ever lasting love for all things F1 and snobbery to all things not. In fact I think it has more to do with how

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BREAKING: New post-race #F1Chat for 2012!

Over the last few months, many of you have been asking us to change the time and frequency of #F1Chat. We’ve listened to your feedback and requests, and today we have some exciting news to share with you as this season, we’ll be hosting an additional #F1Chat after each race! In recent months, #F1Chat has

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Khalfan: Qatar love a challenge

Qatar midfielder Ibrahim Khalfan speaks to FIFA.com about his side's bid to reach the fourth round of Asian Zone qualifiers for Brazil 2014, and the inspirational effect of Al Sadd's showing at the FIFA Club World Cup.

Webber: ‘Mercedes need to win races this year’

The official Formula 1 site has an exclusive Q&A up with Red Bull’s Mark Webber, but it isn’t anything he says about his home team that is the piece of news. It’s this: Q: When you look at your immediate competitors from last season there seem to be difficulties everywhere. Ferrari seem to be underperforming,

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Gul and Ajmal deny England at the death

England won the toss and decided to bowl in their first T20 encounter in World Cup year. Stuart Broad's side will hope to continue the excellent form from the ODI series and set a platform for their World T20 defence in October.

England can bounce back - Swann

A sense of frustration pervaded the England camp on Friday as they reflected on the one that got away. England feel they should have won the first T20I of the three-match series against Pakistan in the UAE, rather than stumble to an eight-run defeat

Your View: What is so ‘complex’ about the Ferrari?

While Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso has been described as ‘calm’ about the F2012 cat and the teams progress in testing, I did notice another labeling of the car as ‘complex’ by the two-time world champion in today’s Santander press conference. Alonso has been very matter-of-fact about the slow progress the team is having on developing

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Djokovic wins on return to action in Dubai

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP)â€"Novak Djokovic shook off the rust to beat Cedrik-Marcel Stebe 6-4, 6-2 at the Dubai Tennis Championships Monday in his first match since winning the Australian Open.
 
Sixth-seeded Mardy Fish also had an easy time against Andreas Beck of Germany, winning 6-1, 6-1 to join Djokovic in the second round.
 
The top-ranked Djokovic has not played a match in nearly four weeks and it showed at times. He broke the 72nd-ranked German to go up 1-0 but had to save two break points in the fourth game as he struggled with Stebe’s return game. Stebe pushed the set to 5-4 and deuce before Djokovic hit his first ace and another good serve which the German returned long.

Djokovic had an easier second set, breaking twice. He won the match with his third ace of the match and another serve that Stebe couldn’t return.
 
“He definitely played well. I was impressed with his game, especially in the first set,” Djokovic said of Stebe, who moved up nearly 300 ranking places in 2011 and took Lleyton Hewitt to four sets at the Australian Open last month.
 
“He was hanging in there. I thought I served well when I needed to,” Djokovic continued. “It could have gone a different way really, because he was returning well. He was very aggressive on the baseline. You could feel that even though he’s young and doesn’t have much experience playing on the big stage, he really didn’t care much.”
 
Djokovic, going for a fourth consecutive Dubai title, is now 8-0 this year after beating Stebe. He insisted that he was not concerned with matching his exploits in 2011, in which he won three Grand Slams and started the season with a 41-match winning streak.
 
“Well, you know, people talk about that obviously, and I’m expecting that. But to be honest, I’m not really comparing 2012 with 2011,” Djokovic said. “I want to have this positive mindset on the court that is going to kind of keep me away from unnecessary pressure that I already have as No. 1 in the world and as a top player, somebody that’s expected to win in most of the matches.
 
“The last year was amazing. Definitely best year of my career. If you ask me if I can repeat it, I don’t know. It’s going to be very, very hard obviously.”
 
A few hours before his match, Djokovic was courtside as his younger brother Marko lost his match to Andrey Golubev of Kazakhstan 6-3, 6-2. The 869th-ranked Djokovic was granted a wild card into the tournament.
 
Djokovic serves as a mentor of sorts for the 20-year-old Marko and said it was hard to see his brother struggling, admitting that can difficult for Marko and his other tennis-playing brother 16-year-old Djordje to always be compared to him.
 
“In the end, he has to face this, I guess, pressure in a way for having Djokovic surname,” Djokovic said of Marko. “All over the world where he plays tennis, I guess he has to face this pressure that is not necessary for him at this age. It’s his burden, and he’s very committed. He wants to succeed in tennis.”
 
Fish, meanwhile, broke Beck twice in the first set to lead 4-0. In the second, he broke three times before closing it out in 57 minutes.
 
The American has had a mixed year so far, crashing out in the second round of the Australian Open and losing to 388th-ranked Albano Olivetti in the Marseille quarterfinals last week. He did, however, help the United States rout Switzerland 5-0 in the Davis Cup.
 
“Obviously it’s nice to get through quickly early in the tournaments, but it gets tough from here on out for sure,” Fish said. ” I’ve never played him (Beck) before. I assume he’s played better matches for sure. But these courts suit me very well.”
 
Fish, who replaced Andy Roddick as the American No. 1 last year, admitted there is a lot of “responsibility” “that comes with that role and he felt it last week in Marseille.
 
“It certainly is different than my past being the third or fourth or 10th American at times,” he said. “The match that I played last week in Marseille bugs you a lot more than it used to because you don’t want those guys to have that over you. You don’t want those guys to beat you. You don’t want to give players and your colleagues the idea that you’re vulnerable as well.”
 
Fish was not satisfied with a 3-2 start in 2012, but relished his Davis Cup experience.
 
“I haven’t had the best start to the year individually, but I must say Davis Cup in Switzerland certainly made up for the disappointment in Australia. There’s no doubt about that,” he said. “Winning that tie and being a part of that with the guys, with captain (Jim) Courier, certainly doesn’t feel like a bad start.”

Marko Djokovic: Players try harder against me

Novak Djokovic’s younger brother Marko says that being the sibling of the world No. 1 has its advantages and disadvantages.

"They're trying more," the 869th-ranked Marko told reporters after his 6-3 6-2 loss to Andrey Golubev in Dubai. "I played qualifiers and Futures and was coming back from the injury, and it was really tough. I had to fight for every point. So this is the big difference when they play against me and then when I see them playing against somebody else. Maybe sometimes I have an advantage because maybe they get scared. You know, Novak's brother. I have to beat him. Like Golubev today, he started so-so in the beginning."

The 20-year-old Marko injured his wrist at the start of 2011 and did not play for 10 months.

"A brother like that is a privilege. He's helping me a lot," Marko said of brother Novak. "He knows a lot about tennis, and he's trying to push me to go more and more, to improve, to not make mistakes that he made in that stage of his life. But we cannot compare. There have been a lot of positive and negative things being his brother. It's a lot positive. Financially I have all the needs and I can get all the coaches and all the practice. But negative things, there is a lot of pressure. Everybody expects, which is really tough to achieve. But I'm trying. I'm doing my best."

France picks Monte Carlo clay to face U.S.

France has chosen the Monte Carlo Country Club as the site of the Davis Cup quarterfinal between France and the United States, April 6-8. It’s the first time that France has chosen to play a Davis Cup tie at the venue, which also hosts an outdoor red clay court Masters-1000 event there later that month.

The U.S. leads its head to head with  France 8-7 and won their last tie at home in 2008. However, the last time they played in France on clay â€" at Roland Garros in 2002 in the semifinals â€" France came way with the victory.

Captain Jim Courier’s U.S. squad recently upset Switzerland on indoor red clay. France defeated Canada on indoor hardcourts in Vancouver.

Neither Courier nor French captain Guy Forget have picked their squads yet, but it's possible that Courier will stick with his two singles players who performed well against Switzerland â€" Mardy Fish and John Isner â€" as well as doubles player Mike Bryan, and likely his twin brother Bob, who did win Roland Garros together once on dirt. Ryan Harrison, who won a dead rubber against Switzerland, is also a possibility. Andy Roddick has said that he will not play unless someone gets injured as he thinks it would be unfair to the rest of the team.

France’s injured Gael Monfils recently said that he is prioritizing the tie over the tournament in Miami, which occurs the two weeks before. Top Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga does not consider clay his best surface, but has reached the fourth round of Roland Garros twice before. Michael Llodra and Julien Benneteau, who played doubles together against Canada, are also possibilities, as is No. 13 ranked Gilles Simon. â€" Matt Cronin

Djokovic, Fish Advance In Dubai

Playing his first match since winning the Australian Open title in January, World No. 1 Novak Djokovic swept into the second round of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Cedrik-Marcel Stebe on Monday evening.

[[More Tennis News on ATPWorldTour.com]]

Tidy India keep Australia to 252

Australia posted an unconvincing 9 for 252 against India in the triangular series ODI at the SCG, and might not have made it that far without a decision to rule David Hussey not out when he appeared to obstruct the field - or handle the ball - early in an

Ferrer rallies to beat Almagro, win Copa Claro

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP)â€"David Ferrer won the Copa Claro on Sunday, downing defending champion Nicolas Almagro 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 in an all-Spanish final.

The fifth-ranked Ferrer earned his 13th ATP tour title.

Ferrer opened the second set with a break and held serve to send the match to a third set.

The second-seeded Almagro had a couple of chances to break in the second game of the final set, but Ferrer held and broke in the next game and again at 3-1.

Dokic, Martic reach second round in Kuala Lumpur

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP)â€"Seeded players Petra Martic of Croatia and defending champion Jelena Dokic of Australia won first-round matches at the Malaysian Open on Monday.

The fifth-seeded Martic rallied to defeat Erika Sema of Japan 4-6, 6-4, 7-5 after nearly two and a half hours at Bukit Kiara Equestrian and Country Resort. The seventh-seeded Dokic beat Kristina Mladenovic of France 6-3, 6-1.

Olivia Rogowska of Australia also advanced, downing Elitsa Kostova of Bulgaria 6-4, 6-0.

Two Japanese players reached the second round. Misaki Doi fended off Olga Puchkova of Russia 4-6, 6-1, 6-2, and Kurumi Nara topped Thailand’s Noppawan Lertcheewakarn 6-4, 6-3.

Fish routs Beck to advance to Dubai second round

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP)â€"Mardy Fish eased into the second round of the Dubai Tennis Championships, beating Andreas Beck of Germany 6-1, 6-1 on Monday.

The American has had a mixed year so far, losing in the second round of the Australian Open and beaten by 388th-ranked Albano Olivetti in the Marseille quarterfinals last week. He did, however, help the United States rout Switzerland 5-0 in the Davis Cup.

On Monday, Fish broke Beck twice in the first set to lead 4-0. In the second, he broke three times before closing the match in 57 minutes.

Fish Wins On Dubai Debut

World No. 8 Mardy Fish made his Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships debut with a 6-1, 6-1 dismissal of Andreas Beck on Monday at the ATP World Tour 500 hard-court tennis tournament.

[[More Tennis News on ATPWorldTour.com]]

Berdych, Stepanek To Compete For Czech Republic In Dusseldorf

World No. 7 Tomas Berdych will compete for the Czech Republic at the Power Horse World Team Cup at the Rochusclub in Dusseldorf from 20-26 May.

[[More Tennis News on ATPWorldTour.com]]

Monday Briefing - Dubai, Acapulco, Delray Beach

Media notes for the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, the Abierto Mexicano Telcel in Acapulco and the Delray Beach International Tennis Championships.

[[More Tennis News on ATPWorldTour.com]]

HRT might make the last pre-season test. Maybe.

HRT reportedly has finally, after a few tries, passed its FIA safety tests. Failure to do so has kept the team out of the pre-season tests thus far. Autosport is reporting the team passed the final crash test last Friday. The trouble now is getting everything together to get to Barcelona by midweek when the

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Bahrain 2012 - now on sale

The 2012 Formula 1 Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix takes place on April 20-22 and tickets are now available on Formula1.com. Making its eighth appearance on the F1 calendar, Bahrain provides a race-going experience like no other. For a unique insight into the only island state in the Arab world and its spectacular Sakhir circuit

Petkovic says back injury healing

Andrea Petkovic tells DPA that the stress fracture in her back is healing and she could be back on tour in a month. "I'm really happy that my little spell of leave paid off and the bone has almost completely grown together again," the 10th-ranked Petkovic said.

Lotus forced to abandon Barcelona for the week

Lotus will not run for the remainder of this week's second pre-season test at Barcelona following the issue experienced with the team's second E20 chassis when it was shaken down for the first time by Romain Grosjean on Tuesday morning. After discovering the problem, Lotus had initially planned to bring the first E20 chassis - which successfully completed the first Jerez test

Blomqvist joins McLaren's driver development programme

McLaren have announced on Wednesday that British teenager Tom Blomqvist, son of 1984 world rally champion Stig Blomqvist, has joined the select group of young talent on their driver development programme. Â"I'm thrilled to get this opportunity with Vodafone McLaren Mercedes,Â" said Blomqvist. Â"The competition gets fiercer every time you step up a category, and having this level of support will really improve my strength and confidence.Â"

Weekly Snapshot: Djokovic, Federer Take Flight In Dubai

In this latest Weekly Snapshot, we look at the week ahead in Dubai, Acapulco, and Delray Beach, and past week in review at Memphis, Marseille and Buenos Aires.

[[More Tennis News on ATPWorldTour.com]]

Pirelli satisfied with Barcelona performance

Formula One tyre suppliers Pirelli have reported performance and degradation levels in line with expectations following last week's Barcelona test, where for the first time this year the teams tried out the full range of the Italian company's 2012-spec rubber, with the hard, medium, soft and super-soft compounds all being used. Several drivers carried out full race simulations on the new tyres and plenty of work was performed using the medium compound in particular

Mr Hudson to DJ at Melbourne's F1 Rocks™ The Afterparty

F1 Rocks™ have announced that renowned international DJ Mr Hudson will perform at F1 Rocks™ The Afterparty during the weekend of the 2012 Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix, which takes place in Melbourne from March 16-18. The star-studded party, which will also feature Australian DJ Havana Brown, will get underway on Sunday evening following the Australian race at EVE nightclub, which is located in the city's prestigious Southbank suburb.

Tata Communications signs F1 global technology association

Tata Communications, a leading provider of The New World of Communications, announced on Thursday a multi-year technology service and marketing agreement with Formula One Management. The agreement will see Tata Communications delivering world-class connectivity to all 20 Formula One race locations over its global network, the largest in the world. It will also provide hosting and content delivery services to Formula1.com, which is accessed by tens of millions of fans around the globe

Mercedes present the F1 W03 in Barcelona

Mercedes officially launched their 2012 car on Tuesday morning as the F1 W03 was unveiled by drivers Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher in the Barcelona pit lane, immediately ahead of this week's pre-season test at the Circuit de Catalunya. The new Silver Arrow has undergone an intensive programme of simulation testing at the team's UK technical bases in Brackley and Brixworth. This was followed by a filming day limited to 100 kilometres at Silverstone on February 16

Barcelona day four - Kobayashi leads final day

Sauber's Kamui Kobayashi set the pace in Barcelona on Friday as this week's test at the Circuit de Catalunya drew to a close. The Japanese driver was two-tenths quicker than Thursday leader Pastor Maldonado, who had another encouraging session for Williams. Paul di Resta was third fastest for Force India, followed by McLaren's Jenson Button, Ferrari's Felipe Massa and Red Bull's Mark Webber. The Toro Rosso of Jean-Eric Vergne, Nico Rosberg's Mercedes and Heikki Kovalainen's Caterham completed the timesheet

Despite broken toe, Melzer in Memphis final

Jurgen Melzer broke the big toe on his right foot just before the start of Memphis when he tripped on a bedspread that had fallen to the floor in his hotel room. Melzer still has managed to reach the final. "Of course it still hurts in extreme positions," Melzer told reporters. "It's a broken toe. You cannot just (heal) it somehow, (but) I'd break my toe any week playing like that."

Pirelli reveal tyre choices for opening three rounds

Pirelli, official tyre suppliers to the FIA Formula One World Championship, have announced the compound allocations of their dry-weather P Zero tyres for the first three rounds of the 2012 season. For the season-opening Australian event, at Melbourne's Albert Park from March 16-18, the teams will be provided with the Italian manufacturer's medium and soft rubber. Pirelli will then take their hard and medium compounds to the Malaysian race a week later, before switching back to the medium and soft tyres for April's Chinese round.

Barcelona day one - Vettel sets the pace for Red Bull

Defending world champion Sebastian Vettel topped the timesheets for Red Bull as this week's four-day test got underway at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya on Tuesday. Vettel's best, a 1m 23.265s, was over a tenth of a second faster than the quickest lap from second-placed runner Nico Hulkenberg in the Force India. The opening day of the second official pre-season test saw 11 teams in action, with only HRT missing. McLaren's Lewis Hamilton was third fastest, ahead of Toro Rosso's Daniel Ricciardo and Ferrari's Fernando Alonso.