Djokovic, Kvitova advance; Stosur out in first round at Australian
U.S. Open champion Sam Stosur crashed out in the first round of the Australian Open in straight sets Tuesday in a crushing blow for local fans desperate to end a long drought at the national championship.
Sixth-seeded Stosur lost 7-6 (2), 6-3 to No. 59-ranked Sorana Cirstea of Romania to continue her terrible run on home soil since beating Serena Williams to capture her first Grand Slam title in New York last September.
Stosur has had one win in three tournaments on home soil in 2012.
She saved three match points while serving to stay in the match, but finally lost it when her looping forehand drifted over the baseline to hush the Rod Laver Arena crowd on the second day of the tournament.
No Australian has won the national title since Chris O'Neil in 1978.
Stosur's first-round loss mirrors that of Petra Kvitova, who went out in the first round of last year's U.S. Open after winning Wimbledon.
"I'm not sure if it's one of my biggest matches, but it feels like that now,'' said Cirstea, who had lost both her previous matches against Stosur.
"Probably the whole country hates me now.''
Novak Djokovic won the men's U.S. Open, one of his three Grand Slam titles in 2011. Anyone who didn't know it only had to look at his shoes on Tuesday -- if his emphatic first-round win wasn't evidence enough.
Djokovic started his Australian Open defense with a 6-2, 6-0, 6-0 win over Paolo Lorenzi of Italy, wearing a pair of red-white-and-blue shoes with images of his three major trophies on the sides and a Serbian flag on the heels.
He gave up an early break but immediately broke back at love as he won the next 17 games, saving a break point in the opening game of the second set.
"It was a great performance for (my) first official match of the 2012 season,'' said the top-ranked Djokovic, whose only lost at a Grand Slam tournament last year was in the French Open semifinals.
He changed his buildup for the Australian Open this year, deciding not to play any warmup tournaments. He was confident it wouldn't harm his chances.
"I'm nowadays a more complete player. I feel physically I'm stronger, I move better. I serve better,'' he said. "Especially having 2011 the way I had, this gives me more confidence.''
The 24-year-old Serb has won two Australian titles - including his first major in 2008 - and his game is well suited to the pace of the hard court. But he struggled at times with the heat at Melbourne Park before his breakthrough season last year and didn't always look comfortable against Lorenzi as the temperature hit 90 degrees in the first set.
It didn't stop him from entertaining his fans, though. He played a shot between his legs, with his back to the net, to set up a break point chance in the fourth game of the third set which brought the crowd to its feet.
In other men's action crowd favorite Jo-Wilfried Tsonga overcame a couple of stutters in his first-round match before beating Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan 6-4, 3-6, 6-2, 7-5 on Tuesday.
The sixth-seeded Tsonga dropped the second set and then seemed to have regained control of an entertaining match on Margaret Court Arena.
He had two match points at 5-2 in the fourth set, but Istomin saved both and broke back in the next game.
Tsonga finally closed out the win on his third match point.
The Frenchman lost the 2008 Australian Open final to Djokovic for his best Grand Slam result.
Also on the women's side, second-ranked Kvitova and No. 4 Maria Sharapova advanced with lopsided wins.
After surrendering her opening service game with a double-fault, Kvitova won 12 consecutive games in a 6-2, 6-0 win over Russia's Vera Dushevina.
Kvitova reached the quarterfinals here last year at the start of a season in which she surged up the rankings.
Last week, she missed a chance to overhaul Caroline Wozniacki's No. 1 ranking when she lost in the Sydney International semifinals. She needed to win the Sydney tournament to take the top ranking.
But she gets another chance at Melbourne Park, where she's one of six women who can finish No. 1.
Sharapova, a former Australian Open and Wimbledon champion, won the first eight games of a 6-0, 6-1 win over Gisela Dulko of Argentina in her first match since returning from an left ankle injury.
The 2008 champion needed just 58 minutes for the win and the only game she lost was on her own serve. She then saved three break points in the last game before serving out the match.
"I've been here for 14 days getting used to the conditions,'' Sharapova said. "Back in the heat now, but it was like winter before. Different preparation, but sometimes it's just the way it goes.''
Other women advancing included No. 14 Sabine Lisicki, No. 17 Dominika Cibulkova, No. 27 Maria Kirilenko, Canada's Aleksandra Wozniak, Shahar Peer of Israel and 2000 Wimbledon semifinalist Jelena Dokic.
Men's No. 5 seed David Ferrer advanced in straight sets, 6-1, 6-4, 6-2, over Rui Machado of Portugal. No. 17 Richard Gasquet, No. 23 Milos Raonic of Canada, No. 24 Kei Nishikori of Japan and No. 32 Alex Bogomolov Jr., now representing Russia, also advanced. Germany's Philipp Petzschner routed Czech Republic's Lukas Rosol 6-0, 6-0, 6-2 to advance.
Serena Williams, a 13-time Grand Slam winner, will play a night match on Tuesday against Tamira Paszek. She didn't get to defend her title last year because of injury and comes into the season's first major with concern over her left ankle, which she twisted at a tuneup tournament in Brisbane earlier this month.
Rafael Nadal, who lost his No. 1 ranking and six finals to Djokovic last year, wondered if he'd even be able to play his first-round match at the Australian Open on Monday after his right knee cracked and cramped and caused him "unbelievable pain'' on the eve of the tournament.
He already had plenty on his mind going into the year's first Grand Slam tournament. There was his ailing shoulder and his rift with Roger Federer over player conditions on the tour, a rare clash between these respectful rivals that has since been smoothed over.
After hours of medical tests and treatment, Nadal decided to play but was "scared'' when he took the court against American qualifier Alex Kuznetsov. Judging by the scoreline, the outcome looked very matter of fact: Nadal won 6-4, 6-1, 6-1.
Third-seeded Federer started his bid for a 17th major title with a 7-5, 6-2, 6-2 win over Alexander Kudryavtsev of Russia, showing no signs of a back problem which forced him out of a Doha tournament earlier this month.
SI
FIFA "dishonest" over deals and can prove it: Warner
Ousted former FIFA vice-president Jack Warner said on Friday he had documented evidence to back his claim that he was gifted World Cup television rights in return for FIFA votes and accused the organisation of being "disingenuous and dishonest".
The Trinidadian, who had promised to unleash a "tsunami" against FIFA following his suspension from soccer's world governing body, said last month he was awarded the TV rights for seven World Cups at a minimal fee as a reward for securing votes for FIFA president Sepp Blatter in his election campaigns.
For the 1998 tournament, Warner said FIFA sold the rights to him, through a Mexican company, for just $1.
FIFA hit back last week saying Warner had been awarded TV rights for Trinidad since 1986 and that it was normal practice at the time for them to be provided for only a symbolic fee.
FIFA added that Warner's claims included "several inaccuracies and falsehoods" and that the television rights issue "had nothing to do with the 1998 or 2002 election campaigns, or with any other election campaign.
"To imply the contrary is completely false," it said in a statement.
Warner, who was CONCACAF president for 21 years, resigned from all his soccer positions in June last year after he was suspended by FIFA following allegations in a cash-for-votes scandal in the run-up to the presidential election.
Favorable deals
The former powerbroker in the Caribbean on Friday stood by his claims and said FIFA had ignored his comments about other favourable deals.
"To choose to respond only to the allegation that FIFA sold to me the FIFA World Cup Rights for Trinidad and Tobago for one dollar ($1.00) in 1998 and refuse to even comment on the other accusations that the FIFA World Cup Rights for 2002, 2006, 2010 and 2014 were also sold to me at a nominal fee is nothing more than deception," he said in a statement on Friday.
"All of these were given to me based on the critical roles I played in guaranteeing the FIFA Presidency to Sepp Blatter," Warner added.
"FIFA must be aware of the fact that I still have in my possession the contracts which were given to me, as well as personal notes which were handwritten and signed that will corroborate my accusations, and as such should be honest in its reporting to the international community".
Warner cited one handwritten note from FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke but the context of the note was not clear.
"The FIFA's decision, therefore, to selectively respond to the accusations I have made against it and its President is both disingenuous and dishonest," added Warner.
He said he had also been promised the rights to the 2018 and 2022 World Cups in return for his support for Blatter in the 2011 election but this was later revoked.
FIFA declined to comment immediately on Warner's latest statement when contacted by Reuters on Friday.
Warner has been heavily critical of Blatter since resigning from CONCACAF after being accused of having organised a meeting where Mohammed Bin Hammam, the former Asian Football Confederation president from Qatar who was running against Blatter for the presidency, was alleged to have distributed $40,000 in brown envelopes to Caribbean soccer officials.
Bin Hammam, who like Warner has denied the allegations against him, was banned for life from all football-related activity.
Li Na gets ready for Australian Open
The first grand slam of the season is ready to begin in Melbourne. China’s superstar Li Na was among the top players from around the world making an early appearance on the court at the Melbourne Park Saturday, ahead of the start of the Australian Open.
The French Open champion took part in a traning session, accompanied by her husband and coach Jiang Shan, and physio coach Alex Stober. Li Na was also on the court with last year’s Wimbledon champion, Petra Kvitova from the Czech Republic.
Li is seeded fifth in the women’s draw, after losing in the final to Belgium’s Kim Cjlisters last year. The world number five says her winter training in Germany and China helped her save enough energy for the new season.
Li said, "At least there was a whole month for me to have proper winter training. It was a long season last year. And if I could not have proper winter training, there would not be enough energy for me to compete this year."
Michael Phelps swims to win at Austin Swimming Grand Prix
The road to London’s begun for one of swimming’s most dominant athletes. Michael Phelps started is journey toward London 2012 at the Austin Swimming Grand Prix Saturday.
Phelps took an early lead in the 400-metre individual medley final and never looked back, cruising to a win with a time of 4 minutes, 16.95 seconds, well off his world record time of 4:03.84 he set at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.
Conor Dwyer finished 2nd in 4:21.16, and Andrew Ford 3rd in 4:21.99.
16-year-old rising star Missy Franklin was outdueled by Allison Schmitt in the women’s 200-metre freestyle final. She passed Franklin over the final 50 metres to claim a win in 1:55.83.
Franklin finished second in 1:57.86 and Katie Hoff grabbed third place in 1:59.34.
Olympic star Ryan Lochte was well off his usual pace, only manging a fifth place in the 200-metre freestyle final and third in the 200-metre backstroke final.
Fears grow for Concordia missing
Rescue crews have blasted holes in a stricken cruise ship in order to gain easier access as hopes fade of finding survivors among the 29 people missing.
Six people are known to have died after the Costa Concordia crashed into rocks off Italy's west coast on Friday night.
The ship's owners have blamed the captain for Friday's crash, saying he changed course towards an island.
Capt Francesco Schettino has been detained on suspicion of manslaughter and is due to appear shortly in court.
Capt Schettino, 52, has also been accused of abandoning his vessel before all the passengers had been evacuated.
He is to answer questions from a magistrate who will decide if he is to remain in custody.
Italian Environment Minister Corrado Clini said liquid was leaking from the ship, but it was unclear if it was fuel.
He said the government would declare a state of emergency to release extra funding to help avoid a fuel spill causing an environmental disaster.
A man involved in the operation to remove fuel from the Costa Concordia told the BBC's Matthew Price that the ship was stable, and that some movement was normal.
He said there was no sign of fuel leaking and that they hoped to begin pumping oil from the ship by Thursday or Friday.
Meanwhile, Italian officials have denied a newspaper report that a seventh body had been found overnight on the vessel.
Captain 'in difficult position'
Shortly after daybreak on Tuesday rescue crews blasted several holes in the ship, now lying on its side metres from Giglio island, off the Tuscan coast, in order to gain access to areas they have not been able to search.
Italian coastguard officials said the number of people believed to be missing had jumped to 29 from the previous estimate of 16, but gave no reason for the change.
The missing are thought to include four crew members, as well as passengers from the US, Germany, France and Italy.
On Monday, the Costa Concordia's owners, Costa Cruises, said Capt Schettino hit the rocks because he deliberately steered the ship towards Giglio Island.
Prosecutors also claim that he was responsible for the disaster. They say the captain wanted to make a close pass of Giglio in order to "salute" a crew member's family who live there.
"The captain is in a very difficult position because we are sure enough that he abandoned the ship when many passengers were still waiting to be evacuated," said prosecutor Francesco Verusio.
A transcript purportedly of conversations between the captain and the coastguard has emerged in the Italian media - apparently drawn from one of the ship's black box recorders - which appears to corroborate the claims that the captain left the ship before all the passengers escaped.
Capt Schettino has denied wrongdoing and says the rocks were not on his charts. He has insisted that he and his crew were the last people to leave the vessel.
His lawyer, Bruno Leporatti, said his client was "overcome and wants to express his greatest condolences to the victims", adding that the captain had carried out a dangerous manoeuvre that had actually saved lives.
Conditions 'disastrous'
The ship, carrying 4,200 passengers and crew, had its hull ripped through when it hit rocks late on Friday.
Wikipedia joins web blackout in Sopa Act protest
Wikipedia plans to take its English-language site offline on Wednesday as part of protests against proposed anti-piracy laws in the US.
The user-generated news site Reddit and the blog Boing Boing have also said they will take part in the "blackout".
The sites' webmasters are opposed to the Stop Online Piracy Act (Sopa) and Protect Intellectual Property Act (Pipa) being debated by Congress.
However, Twitter has declined to take part in the shutdown.
Wikipedia's founder, Jimmy Wales, told the BBC: "Proponents of Sopa have characterised the opposition as being people who want to enable piracy or defend piracy.
"But that's not really the point. The point is the bill is so over broad and so badly written that it's going to impact all kinds of things that, you know, don't have anything to do with stopping piracy."
Veto hint
Sopa's supporters in the House of Representatives say the legislation is designed to stop revenue flowing to "rogue websites".
It would give content owners and the US government the power to request court orders to shut down sites associated with piracy.
It could also force US-based internet service providers, search engines, payment processors and advertising networks to stop doing business or offering links to foreign sites suspected of involvement with the illegal activity.
A similar law, Pipa, is making its way through the US Senate.
On Saturday the White House issued a statement that appeared to side with critics of the Acts.
It said: "While we believe that online piracy by foreign websites is a serious problem that requires a serious legislative response, we will not support legislation that reduces freedom of expression, increases cybersecurity risk, or undermines the dynamic, innovative global internet."
'Broader problem'
Despite the hint of a presidential veto, Wikipedia said that the English site's administrators had decided to stage its first ever public protest because the bills "would be devastating to the free and open web".
It added: "We don't think Sopa is going away, and Pipa is still quite active. Moreover, Sopa and Pipa are just indicators of a much broader problem. All around the world, we're seeing the development of legislation intended to fight online piracy, and regulate the internet in other ways, that hurt online freedoms."
However, when asked whether Twitter would join the blackout, its chief executive, Dick Costolo, tweeted: "Closing a global business in reaction to single-issue national politics is foolish."
In a Twitter conversation with Wikipedia's founder Jimmy Wales, Mr Costolo later clarified that his comment was not meant to be read as a "value judgement" about other organisations involvement in the action.
The anti-piracy legislation still has high profile supporters including News Corporation's chairman, Rupert Murdoch.
Over the weekend he tweeted: "So Obama has thrown in his lot with Silicon Valley paymasters who threaten all software creators with piracy, plain thievery."
He later added: "Seems like universal anger with POTUS [President of the United States] from all sorts of normal supporters... Whole entertainment industry employs 2.2 million [on] average salary $65,000. Good jobs and expanding foreign earnings. Made in America, too!"
Sites taking part in the shutdown plan to go offline for 24 hours from midnight Eastern Standard Time (05:00 GMT) on Wednesday.
Clinton Meets With Ivory Coast President
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has held talks with Ivory Coast President Alassane Ouattara about challenges that remain in the country following its disputed presidential election.
Clinton met with Mr. Ouattara Tuesday at the presidential palace in Abidjan during the first visit to Ivory Coast by a U.S. secretary of state in more than 25 years.
The trip is part of a four-nation tour of Africa that began Monday in Liberia. Clinton is also scheduled to visit Togo and Cape Verde.
Mr. Ouattara won the November 2010 election, but former president Laurent Gbagbo refused to cede authority. The resulting power struggle ignited a firestorm of violence that left at least 3,000 people dead.
President Ouattara took office in April of last year after pro-Ouattara forces backed by U.N. and French troops forcibly removed Mr. Gbagbo from power.
Samsung to invest record 41.7 bln USD in 2012
South Korea's largest conglomerate Samsung Group said Tuesday that it planned to invest a record 47.8 trillion won (41.7 billion U.S. dollars) this year in a bid to secure new growth engines.
Samsung Group, which controls tech giant Samsung Electronics, planned to invest in facility investment, research and development (R&D) and capital investment, the company said in an e-mailed statement.
The figure was the largest in the company's history, up 12 percent from the previous record of 42.8 trillion won in 2011.
The company's facility investment will reach 31 trillion won in 2012, up 11 percent from a year earlier, while R&D investment will expand 13 percent on-year to 13.6 trillion won this year. The remaining 3.2 trillion won will be spent on capital investment.
Meanwhile, Samsung planned to hire a record 26,000 new employees in 2012, up 4 percent from the previous high of 25,000 jobs created in 2011.
Eurozone Sees Drop In December Inflation Rate
The eurozone saw a slightly larger than expected drop in the December inflation rate, down to 2.7 percent.
Eurostat, the European Union's statistics office, predicted the December rate would drop to 2.8 percent from November's rate of 3 percent for the 17 eurozone member nations.
The Eurozone Central Bank has a target of less than 2 percent inflation. The ECB maintained its benchmark interest rate at just 1 percent.
Meanwhile, Germany's investor confidence rose in January, suggesting the German economy remains strong and economic activity should stabilize in the first half of 2012.
Britain – which is not a part of the eurozone – had it's rate of inflation fall in December by the largest margin since 2009. Economic statistics released Tuesday indicated a drop from November's 4.8 percent down to 4.2 percent.
China GDP Grows at Slowest Rate Since 2009
China's economy grew at its slowest pace in two-and-a-half years during the final quarter of 2011, as Beijing fought chronically high inflation and faced weakened demand for its exports.
The growth of China's gross domestic product in the fourth quarter slowed to 8.9 percent – the slowest expansion since the second quarter of 2009. But the figure still exceeded many analysts' expectations, suggesting a soft landing for the world's second largest economy.
Overall, China's economy grew 9.2 percent in 2011. That is down from the previous year's figure of 10.4 percent. While growth is slowing, many experts say that China's economy is showing surprising resiliency to the global economic downturn.
National Statistics Bureau Chairman Ma Jiantang said the slowdown was in line with government plans to cool China's overheated economy. But he also warned that growth was likely to slow further, as Beijing prepared for “unexpected situations” in 2012.
“All the circumstances, including the domestic and international environment, increase many uncertainties in China's economic operation in 2012.”
Many analysts also predict that China's economy will continue to slow during the first six months of 2012.
But some say the stronger than expected fourth quarter growth may give Chinese policy makers the ability to delay any further moves to ease monetary policy.
Meanwhile, Ma said figures released Tuesday indicate China's urban population has surpassed the number of those living in rural areas for the first time.
“The portion of urban population to rural population rose to 51.27 percent, which for the first time put the urban population over 50 percent…this was 1.32 percentage points higher than that of the previous year.”
Formerly an agrarian society, China has experienced rapid urbanization as farmers continue to leave their fields and factory jobs in search of higher salaries in the city.
Official figures suggest that China's rural population fell by 14.6 million in 2011.
China, which has the world's largest population, is now faced with providing jobs, supplies and infrastructure and for its rapidly expanding number of city dwellers.