Top seeds Roger Federer and Serena Williams took contrasting paths into the second round of the Australian Open tennis tournament Tuesday.
Three-time champion Federer overcame a spirited challenge from world No. 37 Russia's Igor Andreev in the men's grueling first round with a 4-6, 6-2, 7-6(2), 6-0 win.
The Swiss, who is seeking a record-extending 16th major championship in Melbourne, had to fight off three set points in the third set before winding up the match in two hours and 44 minutes.
Defending women's champion Williams, playing her first Grand Slam match since her outburst at the US Open, routed Polish teenager Urszula Radwanska 6-2, 6-1.
Radwanska, however, gave a tough fight to Williams keeping her on the court for 73 minutes.
With this, the 28-year-old American improved the record of not losing in any of the 41 Grand Slam first-round matches she played so far.
Her sister, sixth-seeded Venus Williams, too did not face much resistance in the first round match against Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic, winning in straight sets: 6-2, 6-2.
None of the other seeded women who took to the court Tuesday faced any upset. No. 8 Jelena Jankovic of Serbia, No. 11 Marion Bartoli of France, No. 13 Samantha Stosur of Australia, 19th seed Nadia Petrova of Russia, and No. 20 Ana Ivanovic of Serbia advanced to the next stage.
Three seeded players in the men's section were eliminated in the first round Tuesday.
Eighth-seeded Robin Soderling, who is also last year's French Open runner-up, became the highest men's seed to see an early exit, losing a five-set match. No.16 Tommy Robredo of Spain and 25th-seeded Sam Querrey of the US also crashed out of the major season opener.
In an extraordinarily well-played match on Rod Laver Arena, veteran Lleyton Hewitt of Australia eased past Brazilian Ricardo Hocevar 6-1, 6-2, 6-3 in the first round.
Nikolay Davydenko of Russia, Novak Djokovic of Serbia, Fernando Verdasco of Spain, Gael Monfils of France, and Marin Cilic of Croatia were the other prominent winners in the men's section.
Second round matches start Wednesday.
Source:rttnews.com/
Showing posts with label Local Serbs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Local Serbs. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Minister for Kosovo meets with local Serbs
RANILUG -- Minister for Kosovo Goran Bogdanović was on Wednesday touring several villages in the province's Kosovsko Pomoravlje district.
As he met with the local Serbs, he said that those of them who participated in the recently held Kosovo Albanian government-organized local elections, which Belgrade rejected, "did not lose faith in Belgrade for that reason".
Bogdanović said that the government supports a decentralization in Kosovo, but only under clear conditions. He also rejected reports coming from Priština about the number of Serbs that voted, and denied that their participation meant they were "turning their backs on Belgrade".
"If they had lost faith in us, then there would be a much higher turnout, instead of only five percent of Serbs participated in these elections. Unfortunately, that's yet another manipulation by Albanians and a part of the international community, who are saying that over 20 percent of Serbs voted. That is absolutely not clear because all of us who live here in Kosovo know how many Serbs voted," said the minister.
"There are 123,000 Serbs registered to vote, and how many have voted? Well, 7,000," Bogdanović was also reported as saying.
He traveled to the village of Ranilug, near Kosovska Kamenica, to ceremonially open a kindergarten there build from the government funds.
According to the Ahtisaari plan for Kosovo's supervised independence – which Belgrade rejected, and which was never confirmed by the UN – this village should be the seat of a new municipality.
Bogdanović reminded that Belgrade opposes the plan, drafted by former UN envoy Martti Ahtisaari, but said there was no opposition to the decentralization of the Serb areas.
"That's something that the Serb community needs, but not in this way. Can anyone here tell me, does anyone know the boundaries of Ranilug, which villages they encompass, which jurisdictions, competencies it has? That's the problem," the minister told the local Serbs.
He also called on them not to allow divisions based on participation in the elections and announced new government investments in Kosovo.
During 2009, some RSD 50mn were spent from the government funds in this district, mostly on infrastructure projects.
Source:b92.net/
As he met with the local Serbs, he said that those of them who participated in the recently held Kosovo Albanian government-organized local elections, which Belgrade rejected, "did not lose faith in Belgrade for that reason".
Bogdanović said that the government supports a decentralization in Kosovo, but only under clear conditions. He also rejected reports coming from Priština about the number of Serbs that voted, and denied that their participation meant they were "turning their backs on Belgrade".
"If they had lost faith in us, then there would be a much higher turnout, instead of only five percent of Serbs participated in these elections. Unfortunately, that's yet another manipulation by Albanians and a part of the international community, who are saying that over 20 percent of Serbs voted. That is absolutely not clear because all of us who live here in Kosovo know how many Serbs voted," said the minister.
"There are 123,000 Serbs registered to vote, and how many have voted? Well, 7,000," Bogdanović was also reported as saying.
He traveled to the village of Ranilug, near Kosovska Kamenica, to ceremonially open a kindergarten there build from the government funds.
According to the Ahtisaari plan for Kosovo's supervised independence – which Belgrade rejected, and which was never confirmed by the UN – this village should be the seat of a new municipality.
Bogdanović reminded that Belgrade opposes the plan, drafted by former UN envoy Martti Ahtisaari, but said there was no opposition to the decentralization of the Serb areas.
"That's something that the Serb community needs, but not in this way. Can anyone here tell me, does anyone know the boundaries of Ranilug, which villages they encompass, which jurisdictions, competencies it has? That's the problem," the minister told the local Serbs.
He also called on them not to allow divisions based on participation in the elections and announced new government investments in Kosovo.
During 2009, some RSD 50mn were spent from the government funds in this district, mostly on infrastructure projects.
Source:b92.net/
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