21MONDAY 16 JANUARY 2017SPORTPakistan break 12-year jinx in Australia, level series Melbourne

AFP

Pakistan beat Australia by six wickets in the second one-day international at

the Melbourne Cricket Ground yesterday, their first ODI win against the hosts on their home soil in 12 years.

The win was also Pakistan's first ODI victory at the MCG since 1985 against Australia and lev-els the five-match series at 1-1.

Australian captain Steve Smith won the toss and chose to bat first on a flat-looking wicket, but Pakistan's opening pair Mohammad Amir (3-47) and Jun-aid Khan (2-40) bowled superbly to help restrict the home side to 220 all out.

They were backed up by left arm spinner Imad Wasim (2-37), whose 10-over spell in the mid-dle of the innings tied the batsmen down and slowed the scoring.

The modest total never looked enough once Pakistan captain Mohammad Hafeez (72) and fellow opener Sharjeel Khan (29) had put on 68 for the first wicket.

Babar Azam chipped in with 34 before Shoaib Malik (42 not out) and Umar Akmal (18 not out) guided the visitors home with 2.2 overs to spare.

"I think the bowlers did a

great job for us," said Hafeez, who was also named Man-of-the-Match.

"We wanted to get a total on the board that we were comfort-able with because the ball wasn't coming onto the bat.

"The bowlers took wickets at the right time and kept the pres-sure on."

Australia went into the match without a recognised spinner and were made to pay the price on a two-paced wicket that favoured the slower bowlers.

Their seam attack did its best to restrict the Pakistan batting, with Josh Hazelwood (0-32) the

most impressive despite not tak-ing a wicket, and James Faulkner (2-35) effective with his changes of pace. But the other bowlers were ineffective and expensive, with off-spinner Travis Head going for 23 runs off his 2.4 overs.

Amir and Junaid Khan set the tone early with their impressive opening spells.

Junaid, brought into the team in place of Wahab Riaz, induced an edge from the dangerous David Warner (16) to leave the Australians on 31-1.

Junaid soon added the scalp of Usman Khawaja when he edged to first slip Sharjeel Khan,

who took a fine catch low to his left. Australia promoted all-rounder Mitchell Marsh up the order but the experiment failed as he scooped the first ball he faced from Amir to Imad at cover to leave the home side 41 for three.

Head then joined Smith in the middle and hit five bounda-ries on his way to 29 before he edged Hasan Ali to Mohammad

Rizwan with Australia on 86 for four.

Smith (60) brought up a hard-fought 50 from 91 balls with only two boundaries and no sixes, but with eight overs to go he got an inside edge onto his pads and then stumps to give Imad his second wicket.

There was a steady proces-sion of wickets until Faulkner skied a ball to point off Amir to

leave Pakistan needing only 221 to level the series.

Smith said the Australians had paid the price for attacking too early and losing key wickets before the spinners came on to bowl.

"We were probably about 40 runs too short -- the bowlers did a pretty good job of trying to con-tain them, but we just weren't good enough," he said.

Bangladesh (I innings) ............ 595/8 decl. New Zealand (I innings) J Raval c Kayes b Rabbi ..........................................27

T Latham lbw b Al Hasan .....................................177

K Williamson c Kayes b Ahmed ...........................53

R Taylor c Mahmudullah b Rabbi ........................40

H Nicholls c M Hasan b Al Hasan .........................53

C de Grandhomme c Kayes b Roy ....................... 14

B Watling c Kayes b Mahmudullah ....................49

M Santner b Roy ......................................................73

T Southee lbw b Mahmudullah ...............................1

N Wagner c Kayes b Rabbi ....................................18

T Boult (not out) ........................................................4

Extras (B-10 LB-3 NB-1 W-16) .......................... 30

Total (all out) ........................................ 539Fall of wickets: 1-54, 2-131, 3-205, 4-347, 5-366,

6-398, 7-471, 8-473, 9-504, 10-539

Bowling: M Hasan 37 - 5 - 116 - 0(w-1); S Roy 26.2 -

6 - 89 - 2(nb-1); T Ahmed 29 - 4 - 141 - 1(w-2); K

Rabbi 26 - 4 - 87 - 3(w-1); S Al Hasan 27 - 2 - 78 - 2;

Mahmudullah 3 - 0 - 15 - 2

Bangladesh (II innings) T Iqbal b Santner ......................................................25

I Kayes retired hurt ................................................ 24

M Haque (not out) ...................................................10

Mahmudullah c Watling b Wagner .......................5

M Hasan run out (Santner) ......................................1

Extras (NB-1) .............................................................1

Total (for 3 wkts) .................................... 66Fall of wickets: 1-50 T Iqbal, 2-63 Mahmudul-

lah,3-66 M Hasan

To bat: S Al Hasan, M Rahim, S Rahman, T Ahmed, S

Roy, K Rabbi

Bowling: T Boult 4 - 0 - 21 - 0; T Southee 3 - 1 - 12

- 0; M Santner 6 - 0 - 19 - 1; N Wagner 5.3 - 1 - 14 -

1(nb-1)

SCOREBOARD

Pakistan bowler Imad Wasim (centre) celebrates with team-mates after dismissing Australia's batsman Genn Maxwell during their second ODI at the MCG in Melbourne, yesterday.

Australia:U Khawaja c Sh Khan b J Khan ............................. 17

D Warner c Rizwan b J Khan ................................16

S Smith b Wasim .....................................................60

M Marsh c Wasim b Amir ........................................0

T Head c Rizwan b H Ali ........................................ 29

G Maxwell b Wasim .................................................23

M Wade b Malik .......................................................35

J Faulkner c Shafiq b Amir .....................................19

M Starc run out (J Khan) ........................................... 3

P Cummins c Rizwan b Amir .................................. 0

J Hazlewood (not out) ...............................................0

Extras (LB-7 W-11) ................................................18

Total (all out) ........................................ 220Fall of wickets: 1-31, 2-40, 3-41, 4-86, 5-128, 6-193,

7-199, 8-207, 9-212, 10-220.

Bowling: M Amir 9.2 - 0 - 47 - 3(w-1); J Khan 8 - 0 - 40

- 2(w-3); I Wasim 10 - 0 - 37 - 2(w-2); H Ali 7 - 0 - 29 - 1

M Hafeez 10 - 0 - 45 - 0(w-1); S Malik 4 - 0 - 15 - 1

Pakistan:M Hafeez c Hazlewood b Faulkner ......................72

Sh Khan c Wade b Faulkner ................................. 29

B Azam c Hazlewood b Starc .............................. 34

A Shafiq c Wade b Starc ......................................... 13

S Malik (not out) ......................................................42

U Akmal (not out).....................................................18

Extras (LB-6 W-7) ................................................. 13

Total (for 4 wkts) ...................................221Fall of wickets: 1-68 Sh Khan, 2-140 B Azam, 3-142

M Hafeez, 4-195 A Shafiq

Did not bat: M Rizwan, I Wasim, M Amir, H Ali, J

Khan

Bowling: M Starc 10 - 1 - 45 - 2(w-2); J Hazlewood 10

- 2 - 32 - 0(w-1); P Cummins 10 - 1 - 48 - 0(w-1); J

Faulkner 9 - 0 - 35 - 2; T Head 2.4 - 0 - 23 - 0(w-1)

M Marsh 6 - 0 - 32 - 0(w-2)

SCOREBOARD

Gutsy India chase down 350 to draw first blood

Pune

Reuters

Virat Kohli and Kedar Jadhav hit centuries and combined in a 200-run stand to help India comfort-

ably chase down a steep target of 351 against England and win the first one-day international by three wickets yesterday.

India's chase seemed over when England reduced them to 63-4 in the 12th over but captain Kohli and local boy Jadhav turned the match on its head with the hosts reaching the tar-get with 11 balls to spare to take a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.

The touring side, who lost a five-match Test series 4-0 before returning home for Christmas, would have felt con-fident of victory after posting 350-7. Half-centuries from Jason Roy, Joe Root and Ben Stokes took England to their highest ODI total against India, who won the toss and opted to bowl first.

England lost Alex Hales early but opener Roy (73) and Root, who top-scored for his side with 78, added 69 for the second wicket to lay a solid foundation.

Roy was given out leg before on 18 off paceman Umesh Yadav but reviewed successfully to overturn the decision with replays showing the ball was missing the stumps.

Stokes provided the late assault with a 40-ball knock of

62, studded with two fours and five sixes, as India bled 105 runs in the last eight overs.

Left-arm seamer David Wil-ley gave England the ideal start with the ball by dismissing Indian openers Lokesh Rahul and Shikhar Dhawan inside the first six overs.

Yuvraj Singh, playing his first ODI in over three years, and former skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni did not last long either as India were left staring at a heavy defeat.

But Kohli, playing his first match as India's full-time cap-tain across all formats, and Jadhav then took the attack to the England bowlers.

Kohli, who was the highest scorer in the recent Test series, was stranded on 99 for three deliveries before he danced down the pitch to hit paceman Chris Woakes for a six and bring up his 27th ODI hundred, which came in 93 balls. Jadhav, who struggled with cramp towards the end of his knock, guided the same bowler to third man for a

boundary to bring up his second ton off 65 balls.

Stokes dismissed Kohli after a 105-ball 122, studded with eight fours and five sixes. Jad-hav was out after a 76-ball 120, with 12 fours and four sixes, to fast bowler Jake Ball, the most successful English bowler with

three for 67. Hardik Pandya, unbeaten on 40, and Ravichan-dran Ashwin (15 not out) combined in a crucial eighth-wicket stand of 38 at the end to take India home.

The second match of the series will be played on Thurs-day in Cuttack.

Bangladesh collapse gives NZ sniff of win Wellington

Reuters

New Zealand captured three late wickets yes-terday to g ive

themselves a sniff of an unlikely victory against Bangladesh in the first Test at the Basin Reserve.

The visitors were 66 for three in their second innings at the end of the fourth day's play, with an overall lead of 122 runs. Mominul Haque was on 10 while night watchman Mehedi Hasan was run out for one with three balls left of the penulti-mate day's play.

Mitchell Santner had started the collapse of three wickets for 16 when he bowled Tamim Iqbal for 25, before Neil Wag-ner had Mahmudullah caught by wicketkeeper BJ Watling for five.

Santner then ran Mehedi out with a direct hit to give his side confidence for the final day's play, with two of Bangla-desh's top-order batsmen under injury clouds.

Opening batsman Imrul Kayes retired hurt on 24 after he appeared to suffer a pulled muscle while taking a quick single.

Captain Mushfiqur Rahim did not field in New Zealand's innings of 539 due to suspected broken fingers, though he was seen padded up to bat if required today.

Imrul took the gloves in

Mushfiqur's absence and snared five catches, a record for a stand-in wicketkeeper, in New Zealand's innings that was anchored by Tom Latham's career-best 177.

Latham, whose previous best was 137 against Pakistan in 2014, had resumed on 119 with Henry Nicholls, who was on 35 and the hosts on 292 for three.

Both were untroubled as they took New Zealand to 347 runs for three before Nicholls was caught at leg slip by Mehedi from the bowling of Shakib Al Hasan for 53.

Watling and centurion Latham then took New Zealand past the follow-on target of 395 but the opener was trapped in front by Shakib shortly after, just when a double century was on offer.

Part-time off-spinner Mah-mudullah then took two wickets in one over, the first from a wide long hop that Watling shaped to smash to bring up his 13th Test half cen-tury but succeeded only in nicking to Imrul.

Watling trudged off for 49 and was quickly followed by Tim Southee, who was trapped in front for one just four balls later.

Santner then made a career-best 73 before he was the last man out, bowled by Subashis Roy.

It was his second Test half century of his career.

India's Kedar Jadhav (right) celebrates with captain Virat Kohli after scoring a century during the first one-day international against England at the MCA International Cricket Stadium in Pune, yesterday.

India win in Pune

Kohli scores a century in his first ODI as captain, Jadhav also hits a ton

The duo puts on 200 runs for the 4th wicket, India 1-0 up in three-match series

England:J Roy st Dhoni b Jadeja ..........................................73

A Hales run out (Bumrah) .......................................9

J Root c H Pandya b Bumrah .................................78

E Morgan c Dhoni b H Pandya ............................. 28

J Buttler c S Dhawan b H Pandya ......................... 31

B Stokes c U Yadav b Bumrah ............................. 62

M Ali b U Yadav ....................................................... 28

C Woakes (not out) ...................................................9

D Willey (not out) ...................................................10

Extras (B-1 LB-11 NB-4 W-6) ............................. 22

Total (for 7 wkts) .................................. 350Fall of wickets: 1-39, 2-108, 3-157, 4-220, 5-244,

6-317, 7-336

Did not bat: A Rashid, J Ball

Bowling: U Yadav 7 - 0 - 63 - 1(nb-1 w-3); H Pandya 9

- 0 - 46 - 2; J Bumrah 10 - 0 - 79 - 2(nb-3 w-1)

R Jadeja 10 - 0 - 50 - 1; R Ashwin 8 - 0 - 63 - 0(w-2)

K Jadhav 4 - 0 - 23 - 0; Y Singh 2 - 0 - 14 - 0

India:L Rahul b Willey .........................................................8

S Dhawan c Ali b Willey .............................................1

V Kohli c Willey b Stokes ..................................... 122

Y Singh c Buttler b Stokes ..................................... 15

M Dhoni c Willey b Ball ............................................6

K Jadhav c Stokes b Ball ..................................... 120

H Pandya (not out) .................................................40

R Jadeja c Rashid b Ball ......................................... 13

R Ashwin (not out) .................................................. 15

Extras (B-1 LB-4 W-11) .........................................16

Total (for 7 wickets, 48.1 overs) .......... 356Fall of wickets: 1-13, 2-24, 3-56, 4-63, 5-263, 6-291,

7-318

Did not bat: J Bumrah, U Yadav

Bowling: C Woakes 8 - 0 - 44 - 0(w-2); D Willey 6 - 0

- 47 - 2(w-3); J Ball 10 - 0 - 67 - 3(w-4); B Stokes 10 - 0

- 73 - 2(w-2); A Rashid 5 - 0 - 50 - 0; M Ali 6.1 - 0 - 48 -

0; J Root 3 - 0 - 22 - 0

SCOREBOARD

22 MONDAY 16 JANUARY 2017SPORT

Qatar 2022 high on Oscar's wish listArmstrong VasThe Peninsula

Shanghai SIPG record sign-ing midfielder Oscar says a return to Qatar for the FIFA

2022 World Cup with the Bra-zilian team is a possibility and is he working hard to make it happen.

The 25-year-old former Chelsea midfielder, who moved to the Chinese club for record fee of £60m, said he was also looking to come back for the second FIFA World Cup in Asia in six years’ time.

“I hope that I will be here in 2022, playing for Brazil. I am trying my best to come back to the Brazil national team, and if I am in good form I will try to make the Brazil team in Qatar,” Oscar said while speaking to www.sc.qa.

Oscar played in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil but did not get any match for the national team last year on account of injury.

Oscar was on his first visit to Doha as the Chinese side prepare for the season ahead. The Brazil international penned a huge £400,000-a-week contract and has linked up with his country-man Hulk at Shanghai SIPG.

“My first impression of Qatar is amazing, the hotel is fantas-tic and the pitches are ideal for playing football. Not just me but the club really love to do the pre-season here,” Oscar.

“I think the people here in Qatar are excited, because the World Cup is one of the biggest events in the world,” he said.

“In Brazil it was an out-standing experience, and here I believe it can be the same.

“It is great that everything is within a short distance here in Qatar, in Brazil there is a very big country with sometimes two hours of flight time. Here it is a small country with no travel which gives us players more time to recover.”

Oscar is happy that he has set in motion a trend of some high profile players moving to the Chinese league which he

says will bring forward the development of Asian football.

“I am one of the pioneers, along with those players who went before me, and I’m com-ing to China to help the league and help more players get to know this league,” Oscar said.

“It is good for football that the game grows in new areas of the world. China has invested a lot of money in the league and every team now has good play-ers. This will help raise the level of the league and football in the country.

“I haven’t stayed there a long time yet, just two days in Shanghai, but the impressions were great, the buildings are amazing and it is a very nice city. My priority is to win the league this season.”

Meanwhile, the skillful mid-fielder said there is a possibility he might return to Stanford Bridge.

"The club (Shanghai SIPG) was very happy with my arrival here. Everyone was very happy… I left Chelsea with the doors open.

"It was good for me, it was good for Chelsea, and all the parties were happy," Oscar said.

"Shanghai was happy too,” he added.

Date with 2022

The 25-year-old former Chelsea midfielder is looking to come back to Qatar for the second FIFA World Cup in Asia in six years’ time.

Brazilian international Oscar (centre) is escorted as he arrives at Shanghai airport in China in this January 3 file picture.

Guardiola rocked as Everton crush CityLiverpool

AFP

Pep Guardiola suffered the largest league defeat of his managerial career as Man-

chester City slumped to a 4-0 loss against Everton yesterday.

Romelu Lukaku and Kevin Mirallas put Everton in control at Goodison Park before teen-ager Tom Davies scored his first goal for the club and debutant Ademola Lookman completed the rout after coming on as an 89th minute substitute.

It was another chastening experience for City boss Guar-diola, who wasn't used to such humiliation in his trophy-laden spells at Barcelona and Bayern Munich.

The defeat was City's fourth in their last eight league games and left them 10 points behind leaders Chelsea.

Lukaku's 12th goal of the season continued his rich vein of form and the Belgian striker was too hot for City's error-prone defence to handle through a torrid afternoon for Guardiola and company.

As has been the case so often this season, Lukaku's opener in the 34th minute showed up frail-ties in City's defence and goalkeeping as Davies inter-cepted a Gael Clichy pass just inside the visitors' half and found Mirallas sprinting into the City area.

With Yaya Toure slow to respond to the runner, and Nico-las Otamendi playing Everton on side from a deep position, Mirallas was able to pick out Lukaku, who finished with a clinical left-foot strike.

The opening goal had drawn an instant response from Guar-diola's team as Sergio Aguero came within a whisker of con-necting with Kevin De Bruyne's low cross just six yards from goal.

And Raheem Sterling, from a cleared City corner, just missed the home goal with a powerful half-volley from outside the area. Although the game had been finally balanced, City had enjoyed the better chances, even before the opening goal.

After 11 minutes, Sterling failed with a strong penalty appeal after he went down under slight contact from goal-keeper Joel Robles as he appeared poised to score from another perfect cross from the excellent De Bruyne.

And the Everton keeper was again forced into action, with a strong block to thwart David Silva as the Spaniard looked set to convert yet another decisive pass from De Bruyne.

In first half stoppage-time, City almost snatched what would have been a deserved equaliser after Clichy's left-wing cross found Bacary Sagna whose athletic leap allows him to

power a goal bound header which was nodded off the line by Davies.

Better was to come for Ever-ton a minute into the second half when Lukaku sparked the move that led to the second goal, his through ball being touched by City defender John Stones into the path of Ross Barkley.

The England midfielder pro-duced a superb pass for Mirallas whose equally excellent shot from 15 yards flew beyond the dive of Bravo. As City struggled to gain a foothold, Silva's free-kick found ex-Everton defender Stones, booed by his former sup-porters with every touch, who headed directly at Robles.

But for all their possession, City struggled to place Robles under pressure. On a rare occa-sion that the home defence allowed Aguero too much space on the edge of their area, the Argentinian's low shot was turned behind expertly by Robles.

Any lingering hope of a comeback evaporated in the 78th minute when Davies capped a brilliant midfield dis-play with a deserved goal, his first for the club - the move hav-ing been started when he collected the ball in his own half.

Davies carried the ball half the length of the field, exchanged passes with Barkley and then lifted the ball over Bravo, with Lukaku ensuring the ball crept over the line.

Everton's Tom Davies celebrates scoring their third goal with Ross Barkley against Manchester City in their English Premier League match at the Goodison Park yesterday.

QSL CEO meets with Chapecoense delegationThe Peninsula

The Qatar Stars League wel-comed a delegation from Brazilian side Chapecoense

to Al Bidda tower yesterday. The club tragically lost

members of their playing and coaching staff in an airplane disaster that took the lives of 77 people aboard in late November including head coach Caio Junior and striker Bruno Rangel who had enjoyed time playing and coaching in Qatar.

In Qatar, Junior won the national league title with Al-Gharafa in 2009-10 and won the Sheikh Tamim's Cup and Qatar Stars Cup, also in 2009.

Junior also spent his 14-year professional career in Brazil and Portugal.

Júnior started working as a manager in 2002, going on to be in charge of a host of clubs.

Hani Ballan, CEO of the Qatar Stars League met with Plínio David de Nes Filho the President of Chapecoense to dis-cuss a range of issues of mutual interest, including ways of future calibration between the two parties.

The Brazilian side’s delega-tion had been invited to Qatar at the request of the head of Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa bin Ahmed Al Thani, President of Qatar Football Association and Qatar Stars League.

Guinea Bissau stun Gabbon in Nations CupLibreville

Reuters

Guinea Bissau stunned hosts Gabon by hold-ing them to a draw on

the opening day of the Afri-can Nations Cup finals as they continued to create shocks as the tournament got underway.

A last-gasp goal for the small west African nation, making their finals debut, secured a 1-1 draw on Satur-day a week after preparations were disrupted by a players' strike over money.

Juary's goal on the stroke of full-time was a hammer blow to the hosts, who face a struggle to stay alive in Group A while one of Africa's poor-est countries kept up their amazing run.

Guinea Bissau's lack of cash meant they were unable to organise any friendlies after qualifying in September and their players reached their limit last week over unfulfilled promises of the payment of monies outstand-ing from the campaign.

It was only after a dele-gation went to see the country's president that the players were paid on the eve of their departure to the tour-nament. But there were no ill effects from the fractious preparations as they secured a point with a gutsy showing.

"We are very, very happy. Now we have the motivation to go as far as possible," said coach Baciro Cande.

Cameroon and Burkina Faso also drew 1-1 in the sec-ond Group A game at the Stade l'Amitie to leave the section wide open. Benjamin Moukandjo put Cameroon ahead with a superb 34th minute free kick and they had two more gilt-edged chances to secure the victory. But the Indomitable Lions failed to take them and paid the price as Issoufou Dayo equalised in the 72nd minute.

"It's very difficult to win the first match in these tour-naments. For the next match we have to fight tooth and nail," said Gabon coach Jose Antonio Camacho.

Hani Ballan (right), CEO of the Qatar Stars League along with Plínio David de Nes Filho the President of Chapecoense club.

23MONDAY 16 JANUARY 2017 SPORT

Murray takes aim at Australian Open jinx

Federer, Kerber in the spotlight on day one in Melbourne Melbourne

Reuters

Roger Federer takes the spotlight on his return to Grand Slam

tennis on the opening day of the Australian Open today but those looking for title contenders might be wise to cast their gaze elsewhere.

Seeded 17th after six months away from the sport nursing a knee injury, Federer's first round match

against Austrian qualifier Juergen Melzer has never-theless been awarded the prime spot of the final match on Rod Laver Arena.

The 35-year-old won the last of his four titles at Melbourne Park in 2010 and half a year out of the game combined with the tricky draw that comes with the lowly ranking, makes a fifth crown a bit of a long shot, even for the Swiss Master.

Andy Murray embarks

on his first Grand Slam campaign as world number one with much stronger title credentials, even if he has lost five finals at Mel-bourne Park, four of them to the man he usurped in the rankings, Novak Djokovic.

The British top seed takes on Ilya Marchenko in the last match of the after-noon session on Rod Laver Arena and will have to con-tend with temperatures in excess of 30 degrees

Celsius as well as the Ukrainian.

Stan Wawrinka, the 2014 champion, also begins his quest for a third Grand Slam crown, against Slova-kia's Martin Klizan, while Japan's fifth seed Kei Nishikori renews his cru-sade to give Asia its first men's champion against Andrey Kuznetsov.

Women's top seed Angelique Kerber opens the night session on the main showcourt as she begins her

a first Grand Slam title defence against Ukraine's Lesia Tsurenko, who pulled out of a warm-up tourna-ment in Hobart last week with a virus.

Simona Halep, Garbine Muguruza and Svetlana Kuznetsova are the other top 10 women's seeds in action on day one and they will be glad to be early starters with temperatures forecast to soar when the bottom half of the draw plays tomorrow.

© GRAPHIC NEWS

2016 win-loss2016 titlesCareer titles (total)

Grand Slams

PLAYER RECORD

Djokovic

Recentmeetings:

All-time meetings:Djokovic v Murray

6-3, 5-7, 6-4 Doha, Qatar

Murray 6-3, 6-4 ATP Tour Finals

Djokovic 3-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 Roland Garros

Murray 6-3, 6-3 Rome

Djokovic 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 Madrid

Djokovic 6-1, 7-5. 7-6 Australian Open

Murray Djokovic Raonic Wawrinka

New world No.1aiming to end runof five defeats inAustralian Openfinal, four of themto Djokovic

Six-time championlooks to be backon top form as heaims for recordseventh title inMelbourne

At career-highranking. Hasappointed newcoach RichardKrajicek in bidto win first major

2014 championhas suffered frominconsistent formsince winning thirdGrand Slam at2016 U.S. Open

Andy Murray Novak Djokovic Milos Raonic Stan Wawrinka

78-9

9

44

3

65-9

7

67

12

52-17

1

8

0

46-18

4

15

3

JANUARY 16-29

FIRST CLASS RIVALRYNew season promises to bedominated by rivalry betweenDjokovic and Murray as theybattle for World No.1 supremacy

Source: ATP Pictures: Getty Images

© GRAPHIC NEWSSource: WTA Pictures: Getty Images

2016 win-loss2016 titlesCareer titles (total)

Grand Slams

PLAYER RECORD Kerber Williams Radwanska Konta

Hopes to defendtitle in Melbournedespite early exitsin Brisbane andSydney warm-uptournaments

Still seekinghistoric 23rdGrand Slam titleafter persistentshoulder injuryplagued 2016

Yet to win elusivefirst major butAustralian Openoffers perhapsbest chance forGrand Slam title

Aiming to buildon impressivebreakthroughseason that led tofirst WTA title andTop 10 ranking

Angelique Kerber Serena Williams Agnieszka Radwanska Johanna Konta

63-18

3

10

2

38-6

2

71

22

43-12

3

20

0

46-22

1

1

0

JANUARY 16-29

RECENT AUSTRALIAN OPEN FINALSYear’s first Grand Slam often produces newchampions, with both Kerber and Azarenkaclaiming maiden major titles in Melbourne

2016

2015

2014

2013

2012

Angelique Kerber GERSerena Williams USA

Serena Williams USAMaria Sharapova RUS

Li Na CHNDominika Cibulkova SVK

Victoria Azarenka BLRLi Na CHN

Victoria Azarenka BLRMaria Sharapova RUS

6-4, 3-6, 6-4

6-3, 7-6

7-6, 6-0

4-6, 6-4, 6-3

6-3, 6-0

Melbourne

AFP

Andy Murray sets out today to end a record run of Aus-tralian Open final defeats as his great

rival Novak Djokovic vies to become the tournament's great-est champion of all-time.

World number one Murray is looking to avoid becoming the first man in the post-1968 Open era to lose six Grand Slam finals at the same major.

His coach Ivan Lendl lost five finals at the US Open before he broke through in New York in 1985.

Murray, who opens his cam-paign with a match against Ukraine's Illya Marchenko on Rod Laver Arena, says he's in a better position this time to finally break through for his maiden Australian Open.

"I obviously feel pretty con-fident after the way the last season finished," Murray said.

"I do love it here. I love the conditions. I have played really well here over the years, and I just haven't managed to get over the final hurdle. But I think I'm in a decent position to do it. I think I have a chance to win here."

Murray is coming off a

magnificent 2016 which included a second Wimbledon crown, a successful Olympic title defence and knocking Djokovic off the top spot to become world number one for the first time.

Murray is drawn to meet Japanese fifth seed Nishikori or Swiss legend Roger Federer in the quarters and 2014 winner Wawrinka in the semis.

He has Lendl back in his team and is conscious he has to keep improving to keep his rivals at bay to hold on to the world's top ranking.

"The reality is, in sport, that things keep moving on, the game will get better. I'll obvi-ously get older, the young guys will continue to improve, and also Novak and Roger (Federer) and Stan (Wawrinka) and Rafa (Nadal) and all the guys at the top are still going to be wanting to get there," he said.

Murray knows that Djoko-vic will be gunning for him in the year's first Grand Slam where he has a fantastic record of six finals and six victories going back to 2008.

The 12-time Grand Slam champion can take outright ownership of the record for Aus-tralian titles if he wins for a seventh time in Melbourne.

The Serb is currently tied with Australia's Roy Emerson on six Australian titles.

Djokovic faces a potential banana-skin in the first round against experienced Spaniard Fernando Verdasco.

Verdasco, ranked 40, has beaten Djokovic four times in their 13 encounters and the Serb had to save five match points in beating him earlier this month in the semi-finals in Doha.

Last year, Verdasco knocked out compatriot Rafael Nadal in a five-setter first round thriller in Melbourne.

Should Djokovic get off to a winning start he is seeded to face Brisbane International win-ner Gr igor Dimitrov in the fourth round,

powerful Austrian eighth seed Dominic Thiem in the quarters and Canada's big-serving third seed Milos Raonic in the semi-finals.

Outside the top two, the main hopes rest with reigning US Open champion Stan Wawrinka, who won in Mel-bourne in 2014, Raonic and Japanese hope Kei Nishikori.

Grand Slam war-riors Federer and Nadal should also be in the mix, but they lack match time and their rankings have slipped.

S e v e n -

teen-time Grand Slam great Federer, who at 17 is out of the top 10 for the first time since late 2002, is easing his way back after six months out with a knee injury, while 14-time Grand Slam winner Nadal is coming off another injury-hit season.

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Serena chasesrecord Slam Melbourne

AFP

Serena Williams has vowed to make life diffi-cult for top seed

Angelique Kerber and a host of dangerous players out to derail her at the Australian Open, warning she is in Mel-bourne to win.

The American gets her quest for an Open-era record 23rd Grand Slam title under-way in a difficult first-round clash against Switzerland's Belinda Bencic in forecast sweltering heat tomorrow.

It will be one the few matches she has played after a four-month lay-off.

But the 35-year-old, seeded two, is in fighting mood despite being bundled out in the second round of her only warm-up tournament, the Auckland Classic.

"I didn't come here to lose in the first round, or the sec-ond round, or at all," she said on Saturday. "If I can play the way I've been practising, it will be fine.

"I've been spending so much time on the court. It feels really good to be back, just hit-ting on Rod Laver (Arena), hitting on all the stadiums, it's a good feeling. I love it here."

If she gets past Bencic, Williams could then encoun-ter either in-form Briton Johanna Konta or sixth seed Dominika Cibulkova in the quarter-finals.

And then there's Germa-ny's Kerber, who is scheduled to meet her in the final as the newly-engaged Williams looks to better Steffi Graf's 22 Grand Slam singles titles by winning her seventh Austral-ian crown. Kerber stunned the tennis great at Melbourne Park last year, upsetting her in the decider for her first major title before later replacing her as the world number one.

That win sparked a mem-orable season for Kerber, who followed it up by claiming the US Open, where Williams crashed in the semi-finals and has barely played since.

Kerber gets her campaign started against Ukraine's Lesia Tsurenko on this evening's centre court clash.

But she has not had a good start to 2017, falling to Ukraine's Elina Svitolina in the Brisbane International quar-ter-finals, then slumping out in round two of the Sydney International to Russian teen-ager Darya Kasatkina.

Aside from Kerber, Polish world number three Agnieszka Radwanska, who lost to Williams in last year's semi-finals, Romanian pocket-rocket Simona Halep and Spain's Garbine Muguruza all pose a threat.

ROD LAVER ARENA

4-Simona Halep (Romania)

vs Shelby Rogers (US)

Kateryna Kozlova (Ukraine)

vs 13-Venus Williams (US)

1-Andy Murray (Britain)

vs Illya Marchenko (Ukraine)

Not before 0800 GMT:

1-Angelique Kerber (Germany)

vs Lesia Tsurenko (Ukraine)

Jurgen Melzer (Austria)

vs 17-Roger Federer (Switzerland)

MARGARET COURT ARENA

Marina Erakovic (New Zealand)

vs 7-Garbine Muguruza (Spain)

27-Bernard Tomic (Australia)

vs Thomaz Bellucci (Brazil)

Coco Vandeweghe (US)

vs 15-Roberta Vinci (Italy)

Not before 0800 GMT:

4-Stan Wawrinka (Switzerland)

vs Martin Klizan (Slovakia)

Louisa Chirico (U.S.) vs

Eugenie Bouchard (Canada)

HISENSE ARENA

Andrey Kuznetsov (Russia)

vs 5-Kei Nishikori (Japan)

Ashleigh Barty (Australia) vs

Annika Beck (Germany)

Mariana Duque-Marino (Colom-

bia) vs 8-Svetlana Kuznetsova

(Russia)

Not before 0730 GMT:

Gastao Elias (Portugal) vs

14-Nick Kyrgios (Australia)

AUSTRALIAN OPEN

TODAY'S ORDER OF PLAY

World Number one Andy Murray of Great Britain

Angelique KerberRoger Federer

Monday 16 January 2017

SPORTMurray takes aim at Australia Open jinx

PAGE | 21 PAGE | 23

Gutsy India chase down 350 to

draw first blood

Cabrera-Bello continues quest for victory in Doha The Peninsula

Ryder Cup star Rafa Cabrera-Bello (pictured) will attempt to become the third Spanish winner of the Commercial Bank

Qatar Masters when he competes in the landmark 20th edition of the European Tour event at Doha Golf Club from January 26 to 29.

Cabrera-Bello enjoyed arguably his best-ever year in 2016, finishing eighth on The Race to Dubai Rank-ings presented by Rolex – despite not adding to his two European Tour titles – and shone on his debut at both the Olympic Games and The Ryder Cup.

As well as securing seven top-five finishes on the European Tour and PGA TOUR last year, the Span-iard tied for fifth in the Olympics in Rio in August, was undefeated at September’s Ryder Cup in the USA and led Spain to eighth place at November’s ISPA HANDA World Cup of Golf in Australia.

This month, the 32 year old will compete in the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters for an eighth straight year as he endeavours to emulate compatriots Sergio Garcia (2014) and

Alvaro Quiros (2009) by lifting the Mother of Pearl Trophy.

Cabrera-Bello has already come close on three occasions, finishing joint runner-up last January after tie-ing for third in 2011 and 2014, the year he missed out on the playoff between Garcia and Mikko Ilonen by one shot.

“I definitely feel like I can win the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters, I have been very close in the past. I really like the course at Doha Golf Club and I know I can play well on it,” said Cabrera-Bello, who last month teed off his 2017 European Tour season by finishing runner-up at the UBS Hong Kong Open, after leading for the first three days.

“I’m always comfortable playing in Qatar as the weather is so similar to the Canary Islands where I come

from. It’s sunny, there’s usually a nice breeze and it’s quite cool, so I really feel at home. The fans are nice and there’s always a relaxed atmosphere.”

After his tie for second in Qatar last January, Cabrera-Bello fol-lowed up with another joint

runner-up finish in Dubai the fol-lowing week. In April, he broke into the top 30 of the Official World Golf Ranking after the Masters Tourna-ment and has since remained around that mark, ending 2016 as World Number 27.

Cabrera-Bello represented Spain alongside Garcia at the Rio Olympics before partnering his famed compatriot in the Ryder Cup at Hazeltine National, recording a win and a draw before he beat Jimmy Walker in last Sunday’s singles.

Cabrera-Bello then took on the senior role at the World Cup where he partnered rookie Jon Rahm and gave Spain the first-round lead with a birdie putt on 18.

However, as he looks to add to victories in 2009 and 2012, Cabrera-Bello has had enough of fast starts and close finishes, having amassed seven runner-up finishes and seven thirds on the European Tour.

Hassan Al Naimi, President of the Qatar Golf Association, said: “Rafa Cabrera-Bello has been one of the most consistent performers at the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters in recent years and is always popular because of his friendly nature and rapport with the fans.

Ibrahimovic goalrescues United in Liverpool drawManchester

AFP

Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored an 84th-minute header as Manchester United prevented Liv-erpool from recapturing second place in the

Premier League table in a 1-1 draw yesterday. Paul Pogba stood to be United's fall guy at Old

Trafford after conceding a soft first-half penalty for handball, which James Milner converted, only for Ibrahimovic to save his blushes.

Ibrahimovic's 19th goal of the season extended United's unbeaten league run to seven games, but after winning the previous six, momentum has been lost.

Jose Mourinho's side remain sixth, four points off the Champions League places, while Liverpool rose one place to third.

After draws against Sunderland and Plymouth Argyle and a defeat at Southampton, Liverpool have gone four games without victory at the start of a calendar year for the first time since 1993.

But with United five points below them, Jurgen Klopp's men remain the more likely champions.

An abdominal injury to Nathaniel Clyne saw Liverpool's 18-year-old right-back Trent Alexan-der-Arnold given a full league debut and he had the onerous task of handling the livewire Anthony Martial. Martial scored a memorable goal against Liverpool on his United debut last season and he fashioned the first opening with a deep cross for the leaping Ibrahimovic, who could only volley wide.

Ibrahimovic gave the visiting fans a heart-in-mouth moment when he chased down Dejan Lovren's weak back-pass, with Simon Mignolet's clearance striking him and looping onto the roof of the net.Divock Origi saw a shot deflected wide, a missed header by Jones allowed substitute Philippe Coutinho to slip in Firmino, obliging De Gea to block, and Georginio Wijnaldum headed Emre Can's cross over.

It was left to Ibrahimovic to ride to United's rescue, the Swede steering a fine header over Mig-nolet from Antonio Valencia's cross after Marouane Fellaini's header came back off the post.

Fossati names squad for friendly against Moldova The Peninsula

Qatar coach Jorge Fossati yesterday named a 23-member squad that will be on call for national duty against

Moldova in an international friendly tomorrow.

According to details released by Qatar Football Association (QFA), Fossati included Al Rayyan duo of Sebastian Soria and Rod-rigo Tabata for the clash set to take place at Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium.

Qatar are resuming their training for remaining 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying games against Iran in Doha (March 23) and Uzbekistan in Tashkent (March 28).

The Qatar squad has assembled for a three-day training camp that began on Jan-uary 14.

The players will return to their Qatar Stars League (QSL) clashes on January 17 before resuming training again.

Abdul Rahman Al-Harazi, Abdul Majid, Omar Barry,

Sebastian Soria, Rodrigo Tabata, Abdul Hamid, Ibra-

him Majid, Pedro Miguel, Hamid Ismail, Ali Salem

Al-Hajri, Ali Saad, Mohammed Kasola, Boualem

Khoukhy, Ahmed Khalfan Saleh, Rami Fayez, Karim

Boudiaf, Louis Martin, Mohammed Musa Ali, Ahmed

Abdel Maqsood, Yasser Abu Bakr Issa and Said Haj

Issa. Coach: Jorge Fossati

QATAR SQUAD FOR MOLDOVA FRIENDLY

Abu Issa happy with Dakar Rally performanceThe Peninsula

Qatar's Mohamed Abu Issa surpassed expectations and finished his debut in the car category of the Dakar Rally 2017,

delivering an impressive 10th place finish. As a cross discipline off-road racer who moved from quad bikes to cars as recently as Sep-tember 2016, Abu Issa’s ranking is particularly impressive, given that this year’s edition took place on one of the harshest courses in the history of the race.

Having tackled the massive challenge from behind the wheel of an X-Raid Mini All4, Abu Issa and his co-driver Xavier Panseri overcame a flood of challenges ranging from unforgiving weather to a punishing circuit that pushed the limits of sheer skill and extreme endurance in the category which was even-tually won by French driver Stephane Peterhansel (R) and co-driver Jean Paul Cottret.

Racing on a course with 7 selective sec-tions over 400 kilometres and one of more than 500 kilometres the X-Raid duo also spent 6 days at more than 3,000 meters racing above sea level. Such conditions proved beyond doubt that in addition to their racing

prowess, Abu Issa and his teammate also sur-vived some of the most physically exacting conditions in their quest to finish the race while delivering a significant result.

Expressing his joy at his achievement, Abu Issa said, “We set out with a goal of finishing within the top 15. To have crossed the finish line in 10th place was an absolute delight. I was keenly aware that this was my first out-ing as a driver at Dakar and the learning curve for me was steep."

"But as always, the hunger to not just fin-ish the race but to finish it well was raging within me. I wanted to do well for Mini, for Red Bull and particularly for my country Qatar! And here we are – bringing home an amazing Top 10 finish for Qatar and for my team. I am absolutely thrilled.”

The 26-year-old thanked his sponsors Mini X Raid, Red Bull, OX Fitness Lab, mak-ing special mention of the State of Qatar and the Qatar Motor & Motorcycle Federation who unreservedly backed his bid to secure a top spot at Dakar as a first time car category con-tender. Adding a touch of national pride and saluting local talent Abu Issa opted to have his car design and kit designed by The Crea-tive Union and Qatari artist Noor Abu Issa.

Qatar Masters

Ryder Cup star Rafa Cabrera-Bello will compete in the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters for an eighth straight year as he endeavours to emulate compa-triots Sergio Garcia (2014) and Alvaro Quiros (2009) by lifting the Mother of Pearl Trophy.

Ali Al Hitmi, President of Qatar Gymnastics Federation (centre) poses for a photograph with the participants of the FIGInternational Judges Course and FIG officials in Doha yesterday. The two-day course saw 45 judges from Jordan, Egypt, Syria, Tunisia, Singapore, China, India, North Korea, Hungary and hosts Qatar taking part. Picture: Abdul Basit/The Peninsula

Qatar Gymnastics holds FIG International Judges Course

Qatari rally driver Mohammed Abu Issa (right) and his co-driver Xavier Panseri celebrate during the presentation ceremony after finishing 10th overall in the 2017 Rally Dakar in Buenos Aires, Argentina on Saturday.

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