Roger Federer wins Australian Open 2010 Men's Final

Federer won his fourth Australian Open and 16th Grand Slam title to deny Andy Murray's quest for British tennis history on Sunday.

Federer's remarkable level of consistency continued when he mastered the Scottish fifth seed in straight sets, 6-3, 6-4, 7-6 (13/11) in two hours 41 minutes on Rod Laver Arena.

The world number one clinched victory in a gripping tie-breaker, 13 points to 11, when Murray frittered five set points and the Swiss claimed it on his third match point.

The victory came when Murray netted a forehand to climax a draining match.

It was Murray's second Grand Slam loss to Federer following his defeat to the him in the 2008 US Open final and continued Britain's frustrating chase for a first male Grand Slam winner since Fred Perry last won 74 years ago.

It is now 279 Grand Slam tournaments since Perry beat American Donald Budge in the 1936 US Open final.

Federer has now won 16 Grand Slams in the span of 27 majors and has lost only six finals in that time.

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Paes-Black pair win Australian Open mixed doubles title

Leander Paes and his Zimbabwean partner Cara Black clinched the Australian Open mixed doubles Championship with a straight-set win at Melbourne on Sunday. Leander equalled the record for most Grand Slam title triumphs by an Indian. With this, Paes has equalled one-time doubles' partner Mahesh Bhupathi's tally.

Top seeds and favourites, the 36-year-old Paes and the 30-year-old Black beat 10th seeds Ekaterina Makarova of Russia and Jaroslav Levinsky of Czechoslovakia 7-5 6-3 in just about one and a half hour.

The triumph gave the Indian his 11th overall and fifth mixed doubles title.

The last couple of times they reached a Grand Slam final, Paes and Black ended up on the losing side and eager to make amends for that, they were dominant from the word go on Sunday.

They broke their rivals as early as in the third game and save for a couple of breaks lost on Black's serve, the Indo-Zimbabwean pair seemed hardly troubled by Makarova and Levinsky, who committed far too many unforced errors.

This is Paes and Black's second title together, the first being the 2008 US Open.

Paes has been a former mixed doubles' champions at Melbourne Park and that triumph came in 2003 when he was partnering American legend Martina Navratilova

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Serena Williams beats Henin to win Australian Open

Defending champion and top seed Serena Williams powered to her fifth Australian Open title and 12th Grand Slam when she beat a brave Justine Henin 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 on Saturday.

Williams took a tight first set then had to hold off a charging Henin to deny the Belgian a fairytale ending to her tennis comeback in a thrilling two hours seven minutes final on Rod Laver Arena.

The American claimed her 12th Grand Slam with the win, putting her alongside fellow American Billie Jean King on the list of all time major winners.

Williams was made to work hard by the tenacious Henin, playing only her second tournament since coming out of an 18-month retirement and needing a wildcard to enter.

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Australian Open Final: Federer to meet Murray

Roger Federer was at his imperious best on Friday, demolishing world number 10 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 to advance to the Australian Open final.

The world number one will meet Britain's Andy Murray in Sunday's final in a rematch of the 2008 US Open final, which Federer won.

Federer, who was never troubled by the athletic Tsonga, advanced to his eighth successive grand slam final and 22nd in his career. He has won 15 of the previous 21.

The Swiss maestro never gave his French opponent a sniff, using a clever variation of deft touches, angles and change of pace as he raced past the 2008 Australian Open finalist in 88 minutes.

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Paes-Black in final of Australian Open mixed doubles

Leander Paes earned a chance to equal the record for most Grand Slam title wins by an Indian after reaching the final of the Australian Open mixed doubles event with partner Cara Black, following a hard fought semifinal win in Melbourne on Friday.

Paes has so far won 10 Grand Slam titles, including six men's doubles trophies.

Paes' estranged partner Mahesh Bhupathi has won the highest number of Grand Slam of titles -- 11 -- for India with seven mixed doubles and four men's doubles trophies.

The top seeded Indo-Zimbawean pair came from behind to edge past seventh seeds Lisa Raymond and Wesley Moodie 6-7 7-6 (5) 10-7 at Melbourne Park.

American Raymond and South African Davis Cupper Moody pushed the top seeds to limit but could not stop them from going into the title clash.

Paes and Black will take on 10th seeds Ekaterina Makarova of Russia and Jaroslav Levinsky of Czechoslovakia, who beat seventh seeds Flavia Pennetta of Italy and Marcelo Melo of Brazil 6-0 4-6 10-8 in their semifinal match.

Paes won the mixed doubles title at the Australian Open in 2003 with Czech-American legend Martina Navratilova and finished runner-up the following year.

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Williams sisters crowned doubles champions at Australian Open

Defending champions Venus and Serena Williams have won their fourth Australian Open women's doubles title, beating Cara Black and Liezel Huber 6-4, 6-3 at Rod Laver Arena on Friday, maintaining the partnership's perfect record in grand slam finals.

The Williams sisters won the Australian title for the first time in 2001 and added championships in 2003 and last year. Black, of Zimbabwe, and Huber, a South African-born American citizen, won the Australian Open doubles title in 2007 and were the top-seeded team in the tournament this year.

The Williams sisters have now beaten the top-ranked pair in all three of their meetings, including the US Open final last year.

Serena will clash with Justine Henin for the women's singles title on Saturday.

Top seeded Leander Paes and partner Cara Black are playing against rivals seventh seeded Liza Raymond and Wesley Moody in the semi final of mixed doubles.

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Henin to play against Serena in Australian Open final

Justine Henin entered into the Australian Open final on Thursday. She will meet the imposing Serena Williams gunning for her fifth title.

Henin is playing her first Grand Slam since coming out of an 18-month retirement and kept her historic run going with a 6-1, 6-0 demolition of unseeded Chinese Zheng Jie.

Williams also had to negotiate Chinese opposition and was made to work hard by 16th seed Li Na before grinding her down 7-6 (7/4), 7-6 (7/1) under a hot sun on the Rod Laver Arena to set up an enticing decider on Saturday.

Henin has negotiated some tough opposition to get this far, including fifth seed Elena Dementieva, 19th seed Nadia Petrova and talented Belgian Yanina Wickmayer.

But the biggest test of her comeback will come in the form of Williams, who is angling for a 12th Grand Slam title to put her alongside Billie Jean King.

She saw off Li in just over two hours, with the rising Chinese star saving four match points before a delighted Williams clinched the win with an ace.

The world number one, who came back from the brink of defeat in a gruelling quarter-final against Victoria Azarenka, is also hoping to become the first player to successfully defend her title since American Jennifer Capriati in 2002.

But Williams was made to fight hard against a determined Li, who was not overawed playing in her first Grand Slam semi-final.

She pushed Williams all the way and learned a lot from playing such a high-profile game.

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Manchester United in League Cup final

Defending champion Manchester United reach the League Cup final.

Wayne Rooney's 21st goal of the season in stoppage time prevented the Manchester derby going into extra time, and clinched a 3-1 victory at Old Trafford to send United through 4-3 on aggregate.

United will play Aston Villa in the Feb. 28 final. Big-spending City has not contested a final since 1981.

Second-half goals from Paul Scholes and Michael Carrick looked to have clinched a spot in the final for Ferguson's side after overturning the 2-1 first-leg deficit.

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Venus Williams out of the Australian Open

On Wednesday, Venus Williams was beaten 2-6 7-6 7-5 by Li Na of the Australian Open. Li Na who advanced to her first grand slam semi-final.

The 16th seed's upset victory in Melbourne also guaranteed China will have two players in the last four of a major for the first time.

In a match dotted with service breaks, Li held her nerve at 6-5 in a pulsating final set, sealing a famous win with a cracking forehand winner on her third match point.

Li will next play either Serena Williams or Victoria Azarenka, while compatriot Zheng Jie is set to play Justine Henin, offering the astonishing possibility of an all-Chinese final.

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India's Test squad against S.Africa announced

India today infused fresh blood into its Test squad by naming Karnataka pacer Abhimanyu Mithun and Bengal wicketkeeper Wriddhiman Saha for the first Test against South Africa beginning in Nagpur on 6th February.

Experienced batsman Rahul Dravid and Yuvraj Singh ruled out of the series because of injuries, the selectors recalled Tamil Nadu middle-order batsman S Badrinath in the team and dropped wicketkeeper batsman Dinesh Karthik.

Mithun was rewarded for his splendid show in the domestic circuit by emerging as the highest wicket taker in the Ranji Trophy season, the inclusion of the diminutive Saha came as a surprise.

Apart from Mithun and Saha's inclusion, there were no other suprises in the squad announced by BCCI secretary N Srinivasan after a meeting of the selection committee in Mumbai.

Indian Team for the First Test: Virender Sehwag, Gautam Gambhir, Murali Vijay, Sachin Tendulkar, VVS Laxman, S Badrinath, Mahendra Singh Dhoni (C), Harbhajan Singh, Zaheer Khan, Ishant Sharma, Amit Mishra, Sudeep Tyagi, Pragyan Ojha, Abhimanyu Mithun, Wriddhiman Saha.

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