Elena Baltacha offers British tennis an antidote

The antidote to the ills pervading British tennis was discovered in a far-off desert oasis last night. Elena Baltacha, who has been through so much and endured it all with a determination to make the most of her career, defeated a top ten player for the first time in her life.

Baltacha's 7-6, 2-6, 7-6 victory over Li Na of China, a semi-finalist at the Australian Open five weeks ago, was the finest she has produced and marked a moment for all of the game to cherish. Six days from the debacle of Lithuania, when the Davis Cup team was beaten and chastened, the British No 1 woman player produced a performance in keeping with the blue skies all around.

Into the third round of the BNP Paribas Masters, where she now meets the unseeded Alicia Molik of Australia who is putting her own career back together, Baltacha was rightly thrilled with her performance. From 5-1 down in the final set tie-break, she survived three match points to the No 7 seed and on Baltacha's first, the Chinese player laced a backhand into the sidelines. At no time did defeat cross Baltacha's mind; she never took a backward step. This was a victory that resonated with heart, determination and unquenchable belief. It was Li who double-faulted on her third match point; the nerves tightened, she struck a forehand into the net and then missed that last backhand.

One doubts that victory ever tasted sweeter for the 26-year-old Baltacha. From the moment she stepped out to play this year, at No 87 in the world, she has refused to look back and feel sorry for all the times when she might have been forced to stop playing altogether. She knows the list better than anyone - the severe illnesses, the aches and strains, the ankle and the back problems and it is as if the gifts she has deserved are being showered in her direction all at onceHaving qualified for this championship, she has gone on to win two matches in three sets, to become the first British player in 15 years to win back-to-back main draw matches in an event of this magnitude. The last time a British woman had beaten a top ten opponent was at Wimbledon in 1998 when Sam Smith defeated the 1994 champion Conchita Martinez in the third round (Martinez was in attendance at the tournament here yesterday, just to add a further touch of piquancy).

Li could have won the first set, but missed backhands on her two set points in the twelfth game and made two errors off the same flank in the tie-break that surrendered the initiative. At the end of the first set, Baltacha took the opportunity to call Nino Severino, her coach, onto court for a few words of wisdom. Li declined the chance to summon Thomas Hogstedt, the Swede, and when he shouted out a few words to her as she walked back to re-start, the umpire warned Li for coaching. You could not make it up.

When she stumbled her way through the second set, it did not look particularly encouraging for the British No 1 and, having lost her first service game in the third, a swift departure appeared the likeliest outcome. But Baltacha is a battler - she immediately recovered that break and gave as good as she got from the back of the court in a final set of real intensity and classic hitting as the sun dipped over the horizon and the lights flickered on.

The tie-break was Li's to win when she struck a couple of glorious backhand winners down the line to lead 5-1. Baltacha willed herself to hang in, she struck two passes herself and on Li's first match point, the depth she found, her refusal to take a step back, brought her back from the brink. It was a stunning victory, and her embrace with Severino at its end spoke volumes for the work he has done to help piece her career back together.

Baltacha said: "When I broke into the world's top 100 in September last year, I felt like I really belong, and that was a defining moment. I'm not struggling with anything major, I'm practising hard, I'm feeling confident and that all helps. When you are playing the better girls more often, you are seeing a more consistent, faster ball and unless you adapt to that, you aren't going to survive. I have stuck in there, I think playing three matches already in the event helped but I felt from 4-4 in the final set that I was the one in charge of the match. It took abut ten seconds for me to realise she had missed that last backhand but of course I'm elated. I'm playing as well as I've ever played and I'm really excited about my prospects."

Source:The Times

Superb Wigan give Hull and Long severe reality check

Any pretentions that Hull and Sean Long had of leapfrogging Wigan at the top of the Engage Super League were ruthlessly dashed by the unstoppable Warriors at the DW Stadium on Friday night.

Long, the former St Helens scrum half, whom Wigan had courted before Hull made him a two-year offer, was roundly booed each time he touched the ball; in truth, that was not often. Hull were denuded of possession through their indiscipline and Wigan inflicted the away side’s second defeat of the campaign with an eight-try romp.

Victory stretched Wigan’s lead in the table to two points and handsomely bolstered their scoring difference, thanks to two tries apiece by Darrell Goulding and Sam Tomkins, leaving Long to nurse wounded pride, as well as a head cut that necessitated the bizarre bandaging of his dreadlocks.

Wigan built on a 26-4 lead at the break, mindful that they let slip a 20-point half-time advantage against Bradford Bulls the previous FridayDesperation to atone for that first defeat of the season was characterised by the barnstorming contributions of Stuart Fielden and Mark Riddell. Hull’s difficulty containing Wigan’s front row was exacerbated by their vulnerability to the home team’s pace and precision out wide.

Pat Richards took his try tally to nine in six matches in collecting the ubiquitous Sean O’Loughlin’s looping pass for the first of Wigan’s four first-half tries. Darrell Goulding, one of the homegrown youngsters a more enlightened regime at the club is building the side around, turned on a sixpence in scooping up a loose pass and outmanoeuvring the Hull cover.

The “Black and Whites” struck back through Richard Whiting, who took advantage of Richard Horne’s break for a try, which the centre would have supplemented had he been expecting Craig Hall’s inside pass on the Wigan line. Instead, Hull succumbed twice in six minutes, first to Martin Gleeson’s exploitation of a sizeable gap, then to Amos Roberts seizing O’Loughlin’s intelligent kick into space.

Any chance of last week’s implosion being repeated was scotched by Wigan taking advantage of three successive penalties conceded by Hull for Goulding’s second try after more incisive work by O’Loughlin. The Warriors ensured no let-up, and when Sam Tomkins slipped Whiting’s leash, the England stand-off carved his way beneath the posts for the first of his tries, which Cameron Phelps added to.

Long scored in a belated three-try Hull revival but this was never going to be his night.

Scorers: Wigan Warriors: Tries: Richards, Goulding 2, Gleeson, Roberts, S Tomkins 2, Phelps. Goals: Richards 8. Hull: Tries:Whiting, Hall, Long, Horne. Goals: Tickle 4.
Wigan Warriors: C Phelps; A Roberts, M Gleeson, D Goulding, P Richards; S Tomkins, T Leuluai; S Fielden, M Riddell, A Coley, H Hansen, J Tomkins, S O’Loughlin. Interchange: P Prescott, P Bailey, E O’Carroll, L Mossop.
Hull: J Tansey; C Hall, R Whiting, K Yeaman, T Briscoe; R Horne, S Long; M O’Meley, S Berrigan, E Dowes, D Tickle, W Manu, C Fitzgibbon. Interchange: E Lauaki, P Cusack, L Radford, D Houghton.
Referee: T Alibert.

Source:The Times

Leading owner finds success par for the course on racetrack

Clive Smith, who owns outstanding chasers Kauto Star and Master Minded, talks to Alan Lee about life, horses and love.

A précis of Clive Smith's lifestyle could have every man in the land drooling with envy. He lives on an exclusive golf course and has the time and money to enjoy it. He has two vintage Lagondas in the garage. And for good measure he owns the two finest steeplechasers seen for a generation.

Misogynists might also delight that there is no wife intruding on this male hedonism but Smith, 67, is a reluctant bachelor. “I regret never marrying,” he admitted. “I was always trying to find the right one.”

It is probably why he found racing as an alternative focus, and why he bought Kauto Star - though that so nearly did not happen.

Whatever his other horses achieve - and Master Minded, the dual two-mile champion, has achieved plenty - Kauto Star will be Smith's racing legacy. On Friday, if he can conquer Denman, his stablemate, once more, he will emulate Arkle and Best Mate with a third Cheltenham Gold Cup. Yet Smith almost paid twice as much for an infinitely inferior horsePerched on a sofa in his ten-bedroom mansion on the Wentworth estate, Smith recalled the May day in 2004 when life could have taken a different course. Having had horses with Jenny Pitman, David Elsworth and Martin Pipe, he had switched to Paul Nicholls, who had gone to the Doncaster sales with the type of instructions trainers relish. “I told him I wanted fun out of racing. Rather than buy another house, or a boat, I would invest £1m in horses.”

Smith was in Cambridgeshire, supervising the Lagonda Classic golf tournament that he created in 1975, when Nicholls called. He was trying to buy a horse called Garde Champetre. “I stayed on the mobile and kept bidding. My last bid was 490,000 guineas before J.P.McManus came in with the knockout.”

Garde Champetre will be at Cheltenham defending a title, but in the niche sphere of cross-country chasing. As a Gold Cup prospect, he flopped. Two weeks after narrowly failing to spend half his budget, Smith paid £280,000 for a promising French horse. The rest is history.

Smith seems an outrageously lucky owner. Even his first horse, Hawthorn Hill Lad, bolted up by 20 lengths on his debut in 1987, then won at Cheltenham. “A journalist came to me that day and said it would be all downhill from then on,” he recalled. “Whatever you pay for a horse, there has to be a big element of luck. But I've always felt something guiding me to do the right things.”

This might fancifully be ascribed to his birth in Jerusalem, where his father, an Army officer, “swam out to the middle of the river Jordan to fetch the waters to have me baptised”. Still, he took a few diversions before discovering his lifetime path.

There was the young love of an Irish nurse that “interrupted my studies”, and the year spent “dabbling in stockbroking”. Then, after accountancy training, a business degree at Loughborough and a spell with Chrysler, Smith was ready. “I decided I didn't like company life and I was more of an entrepreneur,” he said.

Golf had been his game since caddying on the Surrey circuit - he still has a carefully compiled book of his clients and their payments - and Smith now had a vision. “I felt there was a gap in the market for ordinary chaps to play, so I advertised in Farmers' Weekly for 50 acres of land to build a public course,” he said.

This was groundbreaking in the mid-1970s. It was also brave. “I sold my house, my car and some shares and borrowed money from the bank,” he said. “I was £70,000 in debt. But we opened a nine-hole course near Woking in May 1978. I had a caravan as the clubhouse and I sat there taking the green fees. It was extraordinary how it took off.”

Two more courses followed, one on a disused racecourse near Maidenhead, and he has since sold both fruitfully. His pride is justified. “My parents didn't have any money and all I had was a bit of drive,” he said. “I'm a grammar school boy who saw a lot of snobbishness in golf. I felt I cracked it open.”

A snap decision in August 2003 has brought fame to go with his fortune. “I just decided to drop in on Paul Nicholls,” he said. “I didn't know him but I saw him as the man on the way up. I walked into a deserted yard that Sunday morning and called out, ‘Is anyone home?' Paul put his head out of the office window and, in the next hour, I sensed he had an enthusiasm to match mine. He's streets ahead of other trainers.”

On the day Kauto Star won his first race at Newbury, Nicholls told Smith that someone was willing to give him a 100 per cent profit to take the horse. He refused. “I often wondered if it was J.P.McManus, or even Paul Barber. But I knew Paul wouldn't tell me,” he said.

Thanks to that decision, Smith will be surrounded by 108 friends in a private marquee on Friday, a single man in his element. “Last year, we had a dinner after Kauto won and three of the ladies told me it was the greatest day of their lives,” he said. “I said they must rank it behind their wedding days but they said, 'Oh no, it was much better than that.'”

Source:The Times

Paramedics suspected Tiger Woods’s wife had beaten him up, new records suggest

Paramedics barred Tiger Woods’ wife from riding in the ambulance with him on the night of his car crash because they suspected she had beaten him up, it emerged last night.

Newly released records from the Florida Highway Patrol show that when paramedics collected Woods “one of the crew stated that (his) wife could not go in the ambulance because this was a domestic”.

The early morning incident in November in which Woods hit a hedge, fire hydrant and tree while leaving his mansion triggered a series of revelations of affairs by the world’s No 1 golfer.

Last month, in his first public appearance since his fall from grace, Woods apologised to family and fans for cheating on his wife, Elin Nordegren, and said that he was undergoing therapy. But he denied there had been any physical violence between him and his wife“It angers me that people would fabricate a story like that. She never hit me that night or any other night. There has never been an episode of domestic violence in our marriage. Ever.”

The police records also confirmed previous media reports that Woods had been on prescription drugs at the time of the incident. They record that his wife handed paramedics two pill bottles before they drove her husband away, telling them that he had taken some of them. One of the bottles contained the painkiller Vicodin.

They also show that state troopers immediately set about looking for evidence that Woods was drunk at the time of the accident.

The golfer was later charged with careless driving and fined $164.

The police records show that they found no evidence of domestic violence but reveal that their inquiries into whether Woods was sober were thwarted by workers at Health Central Hospital in nearby Ocoee, who found excuses not to provide them with medical paperwork.

Source:The Times

Michael Schumacher put in the shade by young pretender

So first blood to the young pretender. On a day when all eyes were on Michael Schumacher’s comeback to Formula One after three years in retirement, it was his team-mate who stole the show in practice for the Bahrain Grand Prix.

Nico Rosberg emerged from Schumacher’s shadow to post the fastest time of the day in what is becoming an intriguing national contest between England and Germany. Rosberg, with Schumacher in third place, in their Mercedes cars ahead of the McLarens of Lewis Hamilton, in second and 0.445 seconds off Rosberg’s pace, and Jenson Button, who was fourth.

Schumacher admitted he had felt rusty on his return to the grid and conceded he needed to "raise his game" if he was to compete with Rosberg. "The car felt much better in the second session although I've got to raise my game a bit and I'm sure I'm able to," he said. "I certainly feel a little bit rusty, certainly on the one-lap issue I can do better. On long runs and consistent runs things are pretty good, I'm quite happy. I will just use the rest of the weekend in order to tweak out the little bits."

Sebastian Vettel rounded off the top five for Red Bull, but there was little sign during the day of the twin Ferraris of Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa. They could be playing a waiting game but it was strange to see the expected big names gradually rise to the top of the timesheets as the two practice sessions progressed while Massa, who finished seventh, and Alonso, ninth, showed no signs of the pre-season pace that had them marked down as title favourites.

Alonso admitted Ferrari needed to make some changes before tomorrow's qualifying session but said he was still hopeful of getting on pole. "It's still completely unknown," he said. "For sure, out of the four big teams, any can be on pole. And there could be a surprise like Force India, who seem very quick on this type of circuit. We are in a position to attack 100 per cent. We are confident with the car - we need to make changes to improve the grip but there is nothing wrong."

Inevitably, on the first day of any Formula One season, there was one technical issue to cause some minor explosions among the teams. This time it was McLaren’s controversial new wing assembly, said to be controlled by the drivers altering the airflow through the car cockpit, which is then directed onto the rear wing. That means they can control the amount of drag over the wing and potentially lift the speed of the car by up to six mph on the straights.

The FIA, the governing body, has declared the wing design legal and the sound and fury was dying out last night with teams resigned to having to replicate the McLaren innovation.

That is unlikely to apply to the three new teams on the grid, who had a mixed start to their careers in Formula One. The Lotus Cosworths of Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli look as though they have a chance of improving, but Virgin Racing’s two cars could be struggling, while HRT, the new Spanish team, were so far off the pace, they might be quicker calling a taxi for qualifying tomorrow.

Only Bruno Senna managed to get in some running, finishing a mighty 11.559 seconds off Rosberg’s fastest time, while Kanun Chandhok, the rookie who has never driven a Formula One car, will have to wait a little longer for his big moment. Mechanics had still not finished building his car by the end of practice, raising the prospect that the Indian will have to do his first runs in qualifying on Saturday afternoon – if he is allowed to run at all this weekend.

Bahrain Grand Prix: Second free practice session
1 Rosberg Mercedes 1m55.409s
2 Hamilton Mclaren 1m55.854s
3 Schumacher Mercedes 1m55.903s
4 Button Mclaren 1m56.076s
5 Vettel Red Bull 1m56.459s
6 Hulkenberg Williams 1m56.501s
7 Massa Ferrari 1m56.555s
8 Petrov Renault 1m56.750s
9 Alonso Ferrari 1m57.140s
10 De La Rosa Sauber 1m57.255s
11 Kobayashi Sauber 1m57.352s
12 Sutil Force India 1m57.361s
13 Barrichello Williams 1m57.452s
14 Liuzzi Force India 1m57.833s
15 Kubica Renault 1m58.155s
16 Alguersuari Toro Rosso 1m59.799s
17 Webber Red Bull 2m00.444s
18 Kovalainen Lotus 2m00.873s
19 Trulli Lotus 2m00.990s
20 Glock Virgin 2m02.037s
21 Di Grassi Virgin 2m02.188s
22 Senna Hrt 2m06.968s
23 Buemi Toro Rosso No Time
24 Chandhok Hrt No Time

Source:The Times

England power ahead against Bangladesh

Paul Collingwood followed captain Alastair Cook's example with an untroubled century as England declared on 599 for six on the second afternoon of the first Test against Bangladesh.

Cook's was the only wicket to fall in the morning session, departing for a career-best 173, then Collingwood scored 145 to register his tenth Test century.

His fifth-wicket partner Ian Bell came close to a hundred himself, but was caught out for 84, and the declaration followed immediately afterwards.

Despite earlier questions over his fitness, Stuart Broad proved that he is certainly strong enough to be in the side, removing Kayes and Siddique in the seven overs Bangladesh had at the crease before teaGraeme Swann came on at the start of the evening session and continued his uncanny habit of striking in his first over, removing Aftab Ahmed, who was caught by Bell at short leg for one.

Yet Mahmudullah was going well in support of the opener Tamim Iqbal and hit one of the shots of the day to heave Swann back over his head for six, and clubbed Tim Bresnan for successive boundaries as the fourth-wicket pair scored at pace.

But Swann had him for 51, with a suggestion of glove as the ball floated to Collingwood at slip.

Shakib looked set to reach stumps alongside Tamim but lost his off stump to Swann attempting a rash shot.

Nightwatchman Shahadat almost followed but the third umpire turned down England's appeal for caught at silly point.

Bangladesh: first innings
Iqbal not out 81
Kayes c Prior b Broad 4
Siddique c & b Broad 7
Aftab Ahmed c Bell b Swann 1
Shakib Al Hasan b Swann 1
Shahadat Hossain not out 0
Extras (lb7 w1 nb1) 9
Total 5 wkts (39 overs) 154
Fall of wickets: 1-13 2-27 3-51 4-145 5-149
Mushfiqur Rahim, Naeem Islam, Abdur Razzak, Rubel Hossain to bat
Bowling: Broad 10-1-30-2; Bresnan 10-1-47-0; Swann 14-5-40-3; Finn 5-1-30-0.

England: first innings (overnight 374-3)
Alastair Cook c and b Mahmudullah 173
Michael Carberry lbw b Mahmudullah 30
Jonathan Trott c Rahim b Rubel 39
Kevin Pietersen b Razzak 99
Paul Collingwood c Tamim b Razzak 145
Ian Bell c Rubel b Shakib 84
Matt Prior not out 0
Extras (b6, lb9, nb11, w3) 29
Total (for 6 wickets decl; 138.3 overs) 599
Fall of wickets: 1-72 (Carberry), 2-149 (Trott), 3-319 (Pietersen), 4-412 (Cook), 5-596 (Collingwood), 6-599 (Bell).
Bowling: Shahadat 17-2-73-0 (nb4, w2), Rubel 19-0-97-1 (nb6), Shakib 34.3-4-133-1, Naeem 12-1-42-0, Mahmudullah 23-1-78-2 (nb1, w1), Razzak 31-1-157-2, Ahmed 1-0-2-0, Tamim 1-0-2-0.

Source:The Times