Colm Boohig

By Jess Fagan

The top two seeds will face off against each other in the women’s final at the Australian Open, after Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova both won their semi-finals.

Serena is through to her sixth final at Melbourne Park after she managed to dismiss rising American star, Madison Keys, 7-6 6-2. It was a spirited performance from 19-year-old Keys, who broke in the very first game and finished with 12 aces and 27 winners.  Williams admitted that her younger opponent pushed her and she had to dig deep mentally to get through the first set. She even tipped Keys to win the Australia Open very soon.

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By Colm Boohig

For the second Asian Cup in a row Australia will appear in the final, courtesy of a 2-0 win over the United Arab Emirates in Newcastle. Within a quarter of an hour Australia were two goals up thanks to defenders Trent Sainsbury and Jason Davidson – their first goals for the Socceroos. After that, the result was never really in doubt as, for the second time in this tournament, Australia and South Korea will come face-to-face, this time in the showdown.

The hosts could not have dreamt of a better start when with just three minutes on the clock, Sainsbury headed in the opening goal. The defender jumped totally unopposed from Massimo Luongo’s corner to head into the unguarded far corner of the net. The UAE responded admirably and in the 10^th minute they created their best chance of the match. Sanqour skipped past the challenge of Davidson on the right before squaring to Ahmed Khalil, whose first time shot hit the left post.

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By Colm Boohig

The Socceroos are on track to where they want to be, just not how they imagined it would happen. A semi-final destination was expected but the venue and opposition was not. The United Arab Emirates provided the shock of the Asian Cup so far by beating the defending champions Japan on penalties in the quarter-final. Couple this with Australia losing top spot in their final Group A game defeat to South Korea and a pre-tournament semi-final prediction in Sydney against Japan now becomes Newcastle and the UAE.

Australia are firm favourites here to progress to the final with a chance of winning a maiden Asian Cup crown. The squad is strengthened too by the return of key defender Matthew Spiranovic, who missed the last eight victory over China due to suspension. Ivan Franjic and Mathew Leckie sat out a part of a recent training session as precaution, but coach Ange Postecoglou is confident with the options available to him for this encounter.

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By Brian O’ Connell

The pick of the fourth round in the women’s draw was the tie between former champion Viktoria Azarenka and Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia. The diminutive Slovakian was fired up for this one and was able for everything the Belarussian threw at her. She looked to have the edge over Azarenka from the start as she had her opponent running all over the court, dictating the majority of the points in the first set, which she won 6-2. What the 5ft 3 inch Slovakian lacks in size, she makes up for in power, as she consistently overpowered Azarenka in rallies that often hit double figures in shots played.

Although the Belarussian clawed her way back into the match, winning the second set 6-3, Cibulkova showed she had the hunger to win, and after two hours of play, she closed out the final set 6-3. The huge smile on her face at the end was evidence of how important the match was in her quest to go one step further than last year’s runner’s up place. She’ll need to recover fast in order to be ready for the number one seed in the quarter-finals. Serena Williams has a 4-0 record against her and they last met in Brisbane only a short couple of weeks ago, where the American won out in two sets, 6-3, 6-3.

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By Barney Gumble

Pro wrestling fans can be some of the hardest to please. On one hand we crave change, while on the other we desire to experience the same people and things we have seen before. It seems we as fans are never content with the present. We are constantly focused on the good times of the past or attempting to project our own opinion of the future onto any ear that will listen. Last night at the Royal Rumble, the WWE made a decision on their future and frankly the fans didn’t seem to enjoy it.

The match had an interesting start with The Miz lining up against one of his former tag team partners in R-Truth. However, things got quite exciting next when Bubba Ray Dudley entered and after a flurry of nostalgic moves eliminated both men. Over the next three entrants we saw the former members of the Wyatt family reunite and collide – this is where the Rumble’s base was truly established in Bray Wyatt. Wyatt dominated the Rumble’s early moments having entered in at #5. He eliminated The Boogeyman, Sin Cara and Zack Ryder, among others, before being faced by an old foe and fan favourite in Daniel Bryan – who entered at the #10 spot.

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By Brian O’ Connell

The highlight of the second round of matches was arguably the match between Rafael Nadal and US qualifier Tim Smyczek. Conditions were tough and the tennis was top notch as fans were treated to a five-set thriller on the Rod Laver Arena. You could have been forgiven for thinking it would be a uniform win for Nadal after he took the first set 6-2. As we would find out later, from that point on, the third seed was not only battling the opponent on the other side of the net, he was also in a titanic struggle against his own limited fitness.

Nadal made no secret of his physical condition before the tournament started but it wasn’t clear just how much it had deteriorated before this stage. Even for Rafa, the amount of sweat pouring out of him at the end of every point was strange to see. After it looked like he had expended every ounce of energy he had left, Nadal came through to win the fifth set 7-5. He had come from two sets down and it had taken over four hours of tennis to do so.

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By Colm Boohig

The Socceroos delighted the home faithful by defeating China 2-0 at the Suncorp Stadium and progressing through to the semi-final of this year’s Asian Cup. Tim Cahill was the match winner with two magical second half moments, the first of which is a serious contender for goal of the tournament. A meeting with Japan or the United Arab Emirates now awaits, with a repeat of the 2011 final on the cards should the Japanese win.

The match started tamely and for the first 25 minutes China was the better side, controlling the pace and tempo against a nervous looking Australian team. Mark Bresciano earned his first start of the campaign, while key men Jedinak, Cahill and Kruse all returned. However, the Chinese initially had the better of it with Wu Lei, in particular, causing the hosts serious problems on the break.

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By Colm Boohig

Australia faces China tonight at the Suncorp Stadium in the quarter-final of the AFC Asian Cup. The defeat to South Korea in the last game of Group A means that the Aussies now face the more difficult task of usurping the Group B winners, who have beaten the Socceroos in their last two meetings.

The match in Brisbane could potentially be the most viewed football game in Australian history thanks to the massive Chinese support. At one stage in their recent contest with North Korea over 50 million Chinese nationals tuned in. Add to that the couple of million Aussies guaranteed to catch this tie and suddenly the players will never have a greater stage to showcase their talents. This truly is an exciting evening in store.

Ange Postecoglou’s men are expected to recall some key players for this evening’s showdown. The likes of Tim Cahill, Robbie Kruse and Mathew Leckie can all anticipate a start, while captain Mile Jedinak is expected to return from the injury he sustained in the opening win of the tournament against Kuwait. The manager has a decision to make at centre-half, with Matt Spiranovic suspended for this encounter. Alex Wilkinson is touted to deputise.

The Australian camp has been speaking positively ahead of the contest. Swindon Town midfielder, and arguably Australia’s player of the tournament so far, Massimo Luongo is raring to go and has also been quick to dismiss the much publicised criticism that the Brisbane surface has received.

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By Brian O’ Connell

There were few upsets to report after the first round of the men’s draw came to a close on Tuesday night. All of the top ten seeds cruised into the second round with straight sets wins being the order of the day.

Roger Federer defeated Yen-Hsun Lu 6-4 6-2 7-5 in what was a relatively easy contest for the 17-time Grand Slam winner. Federer will next face Simone Bolelli of Italy in the second round.

Novak Djokovic also coasted through to the second round with a win over the Slovenian Aljaz Bedene. Up next for the Serb is Russia’s Andrey Kuznetsov.

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