 | Azarenka reaches Qatar semis DOHA WORLD number one Victoria Azarenka registered her 15th straight win of the season in Doha on Friday to enter the semifinals of the WTA Qatar Open. The Belarusian star took just 67 minutes to ...
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| | Sri Lanka crushes Australia in ODI |  SYDNEY SRI LANKA posted its biggest-ever one-day international win over Australia in Sydney on Friday with a crushing eight-wicket triseries ODI victory with 101 balls to spare.
Sri Lanka bounced back into finals contention with a bonus-point victory on the Duckworth-Lewis method after skittling out Australia for 158 off 40.5 overs and rattling up a revised winning target of 152 for two in just 24.1 overs.
It was Sri Lanka's largest ODI win over Australia in terms of balls remaining.
The Sri Lankans, who were winless before Friday's game after being held to a tie in their previous match by leaders India, moved to within three points of the Indians after four games in the tournament.
Skipper Mahela Jayawardene steered his side to victory with an unbeaten knock of 61 off 67 balls with opener Tillakaratne Dilshan hitting 45 off 41.
"The intent was good, the aggression, the tempo... it was a good, clinical finish," Jayawardene said.
... | | | Juan Del Potro, Berdych win in Rotterdam |  ROTTERDAM TOMAS Berdych took his indoor record to an unblemished 8-0 this season as the Czech overpowered Italy's Andreas Seppi 6-3, 6-4 on Friday to reach the semi-finals of the ATP Rotterdam Open.
But the second-seeded perfectionist was slightly annoyed after losing serve for the only time in the match in the second set, a mistake which he quickly rectified to get the contest back on levelpegging.
"I played a good match but I'm not happy with that error," said the world number seven, who was unable to play his Rotterdam quarter-final a year ago after coming down with a fever. "I was trying to keep my level high and I did it to save that one game. But I still managed to win in two sets, so it's all okay at the end.
"Of course, I have hopes of winning the tournament but it is one match at a time for me," said the winner of the Montpellier title earlier this month.
Berdych completed his 67- minute victory over the 45thranked Seppi on a fifth ace of the afternoon at the Ahoy stadium, after breaking the Italian three times.
.... | | | Manchester clubs record victory in Ajax, Porto |  BERLIN MANCHESTER United and Manchester City raised their game in the second half to take a big step towards the round of 16 in the Europa League with victories on Thursday.
Ashley Young and Javier Hernandez were on target for the Premier League champions United in a 2-0 victory at Ajax Amsterdam in the first leg of the round of 32.
The Premiership leaders City prevailed 2-1 at title holders Porto as a 55th-minute own goal from Alvaro Pereira and a late strike from Sergio Aguero reversed the hosts' lead from Silvestre Varela. But the third English club Stoke City lost 1-0 at home against Valencia, and there was more joy for Spain when 2010 champions Atletico Madrid cruised 3-1 past Lazio in Rome.The return legs are next week.
The Champions League exit of the two Manchester sides was a major surprise but each side said they now aim to get the Europa League trophy on May 9 in Bucharest.
However, United didn't look like contenders early on in Amsterdam, and it took another super save of David de Gea against the blast of Siem de Jong to avoid a deficit.
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