Germany, Italy surge on as France are frustrated

Italy's Giampaolo Pazzini (2nd R) celebrates with teammates after scoring against Estonia. -Reuters Photo

LONDON: Germany broke Austrian hearts with a last-gasp win in Vienna on Friday, extending their perfect start to Euro 2012 qualifying on a night of far more serene progress for Italy and frustration for France.

Germany returned to the scene of their reverse in the Euro 2008 final to dole out their customary defeat to Austria but only just, Mario Gomez scoring his second goal in the dying seconds to make it 2-1 and secure a sixth win from six Group A games.

Italy produced less drama in a fluent 3-0 win over Estonia, goals from Giuseppe Rossi, Antonio Cassano and Giampaolo Pazzini keeping the Group C leaders five points clear of Slovenia, who were similarly untroubled in a 2-0 triumph over Faroe Islands.

The heavyweights from those two sections are well on their way to securing qualification as group winners, as are France despite being held 1-1 by Belarus in Minsk.

France went into the game seeking revenge for a 1-0 defeat in their opening qualifier in Belarus but Eric Abidal, who lifted the Champions League trophy for Barcelona on Saturday, came back to earth by scoring an own goal.

Despite an equaliser that came almost immediately through Florent Malouda, the twice former champions could not complete a comeback victory.

As it is, France remain four points clear of Belarus at the top of Group D. Romania are up to third on eight points thanks to a 3-0 win over Bosnia, Ciprian Marica getting two of the goals.

If any side can be relied upon to rouse themselves for an heroic effort after the domestic season is over it is Germany who made it six successive wins over neighbours Austria on their return to the Ernst Happel Stadium.

The German goals came at the end of each half, with Gomez scrambling the ball in from a corner in the 44th minute and sending in a bullet header for the second after an Arne Friedrich own-goal had looked like giving the Austrians a point.

Germany are almost certain to win the group but second spot, and a chance of reaching the finals in Poland and Ukraine via the playoffs, is wide open.

Belgium held on to second position as they ground out a 1-1 draw with Turkey who are a point behind them in third.

The hosts opened the scoring after four minutes, Marvin Ogunjimi grabbing his fourth goal in six matches, before a Turkey side managed by Guus Hiddink hit back midway through the first half through a Burak Yilmaz tap-in.

ELMANDER DOUBLE

Sweden gave their chances of taking second place in Group E a huge boost as they won 4-1 in Moldova, with two goals from Johan Elmander helping them on their way.

The Dutch lead that group with a perfect 18 points from six matches, with Sweden second on a healthy 12 points from five games.

Lower down the table Finland won 1-0 at San Marino to move up to six points from five games, still in with an outside chance of joining the battle for second.

Croatia went top of Group F with 13 points from six matches, a come-from-behind 2-1 win over Georgia in Split ending a 16-year wait for a victory at the Poljud stadium.

Nikola Kalinic, a local favourite after coming through the ranks at Hajduk Split, sent the crowd into raptures when he turned in Eduardo’s low cross for the winner 12 minutes from time.

Greece, who entertain Malta on Saturday, are second with 11 points from five games while Israel occupy third spot on 10 points from six matches pending their visit to Latvia on Saturday.

A total of nine qualifiers are being played on Saturday, with the Group H clash between second-placed Portugal and leaders Norway among the highlights.

Group G leaders England play Switzerland at Wembley and in a tight Group B leaders Ireland travel to Macedonia while second-placed Russia host Armenia and third-placed Slovakia are at home to Andorra.

Djokovic out of Queen’s, Murray a doubt

Queen's Club tournament organisers issued a statement saying Djokovic had withdrawn because of patellar tendinitis. -AP Photo

PARIS: World number two Novak Djokovic pulled out of the pre-Wimbledon Queen’s Club tournament in the wake of his epic 7-6 6-3 3-6 7-6 defeat by Roger Federer in the French Open semi-finals on Friday.

“I’ve pulled out from Queen’s and I will take a rest before Wimbledon,” Serbian Djokovic told a news conference ahead of the London grass court tournament, which starts on Monday.

Later Queen’s Club tournament organisers issued a statement saying Djokovic had withdrawn because of patellar tendinitis, which affects the tendon connecting the kneecap to the shinbone.

Earlier on Friday, Briton Andy Murray, who lost to Rafa Nadal in the other Roland Garros semi-final, said he was not sure whether he would take part in the London grasscourt tournament, which starts on Monday.

An ankle injury suffered in Paris means he wants to see how he reacts to coming off anti-inflammatory pills. “I’m not 100 percent sure if I’ll play there,” said the 24-year-old.

World number one Nadal, who faces Federer in the Sunday’s French Open final, four-time Queen’s winner Andy Roddick and 2009 US Open champion Juan Martin Del Potro are all due to take part in the Wimbledon warm-up tournament.

However, Djokovic has been joined on the sidelines by Mardy Fish (abdominal injury), and Richard Gasquet (leg injury).

Nadal and Federer excel to seal dream final

Reuters

Federer returns the ball to Djokovic. – AP Photo

PARIS: Roger Federer stunned Novak Djokovic and Rafa Nadal beat Andy Murray as the four musketeers put on swashbuckling displays on Friday, with a classic duel still to come in Sunday’s French Open final.

Five-times winner Nadal will take on old nemesis and 16-times grand slam champion Federer after the Swiss pulled off a 7-6 6-3 3-6 7-6 win over Djokovic to inflict the Serbian’s first loss in 42 matches and stop him becoming world number one.

That honour will stay with Spanish birthday boy Nadal, who swished and swaggered his way into the final with a 6-4 7-5 6-4 victory over fourth seed Murray on a windy but sunny Court Philippe Chatrier.

“Always in these kind of matches, it is small things but I started playing the match fantastically,” Nadal told reporters.

The Briton went down fighting, showing the same tenacious spirit which has carried him through a sprained ankle and some tough matches in the Roland Garros fortnight.

In the end, Nadal, who has lost only once on the Paris clay in singles, was just too good but the high quality of tennis in both semi-finals showed the men’s game is in the rudest health it has ever been, in contrast to the women’s.

China’s Li Na faces defending champion Francesca Schiavone in Saturday’s women’s final but the duo will have to go some way to match the gripping drama that the men provided on Friday.

It was not long before third seed Federer and second seed Djokovic were unleashing stunning winners and duelling in extraordinary rallies.

“The first set was awesome and we were a bit tired for the second and third set,” Federer said after reaching his first grand slam final in more than a year as dusk almost descended.

“It will be a very difficult final.”

Two breaks of serve each in the first set led to a tight tiebreak which the 2009 winner edged 7-5 when his rival, who had not played since Sunday, netted.

BOUNCED RACKET

With the noisy crowd firmly behind Federer, Djokovic bounced his racket off the ground before the Swiss won the second set after surging 3-1 up when a net cord went his way.

Australian Open champion Djokovic was not going to give up lightly and he roared back in the third set, breaking early and putting an extra flourish into his forehand to hit back.

Federer was not be outdone though and nervously sealed the fourth-set tiebreak as Djokovic failed in his quest to win a first French title and beat John McEnroe’s 1984 record of 42 wins since the start of the season.

“I think I had a good first set and I was really unfortunate to lose that set,” Djokovic told a news conference.

“I think I played well. I congratulate him for a great performance. We were part of a really good match.”

Nadal, who made a slow start to his favourite tournament before regaining his form, was made to work for every point as he continued his bid to equal Bjorn Borg’s record of six French Open titles.

The Mallorcan, celebrating his 25th birthday, broke serve for 2-1 in the first set with a passing shot down the line and after Murray missed three break points to hit back straight away, Nadal powered 4-1 ahead.

As women in the packed stands fanned their faces in the heat and superb rallies went on and on, Scot Murray brought the score back to 5-3 but he missed two more break points as Nadal closed out the first set.

The second set had a similar feel but Murray, who kept shouting to himself to keep focus, surrendered his serve for 6-5 having been 5-4 ahead and Nadal triumphed again after more electric tennis.

Nadal used his trademark open-bodied crosscourt forehand to huge effect, somehow finding a split second to come all the way round the ball in the high-powered encounter while Murray used his quickening serve, drop shots and slices exquisitely.

“It’s been by far the best claycourt season for me in terms of the way I’ve actually played on this surface,” Murray said.

“I’ve had decent results before, but I feel like I played a lot better.”

All the pair had in common in the third set was their blue shirts as Nadal ended Murray’s hopes of becoming the first British man in a Roland Garros final since Bunny Austin in 1937.

Farhan moves up in international squash rankings

With three places up in international rankings, Farhan has moved ahead of Aamir Atlas Khan. -AFP/File photo

KARACHI: Farhan Mehboob leaped three places up and has now become the top ranked Pakistani player in the Professional Squash Association (PSA) international rankings.

With three places up in international rankings, Farhan has moved ahead of Aamir Atlas Khan who was previously the top ranked Pakistani player in international rankings until last month.

Farhan has attained 28th place in this month’s rankings, while Aamir is static at 29th place. However, the upward movement of Farhan is not due to his good performance during the last month.

“Few of my points were not counted due to the fact that I hadn’t played enough matches to make average ranking points. So now my rankings points have been added, which helped improve my ranking,” Farhan Mehboob told PPI.

Meanwhile, Danish Atlas has bettered his rankings by two places and he now occupies 87th spot. Lahore based Yasir Butt leapfrogged 40 places to occupy 93rd place.

The former World No 40 has won PSA recognized tournaments at home, which helped him find a place among elite top-100 players of the world.