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Wozniacki beats Maria Sharapova in straight sets

The timing didn't bother Caroline Wozniacki, however, as the upstart Dane deposed the reigning glamour queen, Maria Sharapova, in straight sets.

The scoreline, 6-3, 6-4, was misleading. It looks like a straightforward win for Wozniacki, but taking down the imperious Russian is never comfortable.

As tightly contested as this match was, it was one in which numbers told the story: Sharapova was just one of nine on break-point opportunities, she hit nime shaky double faults, and committed 36 unforced errors, to just 10 for Wozniacki, who was steady as a Swiss watch.

Wozniacki, who lost but three games in her first three matches, quickly showed that she belonged on the biggest stage in tennis. Scrambling, she kept points long, while Sharapova looked for weak replies to tee off on.

"I think I'm a really tough player," said Wozniacki. "I never give up. Doesn't matter what the score is. And I think that makes me tough to beat."

"She's at the top of her game," said Sharapova afterwards, "playing the best tennis of her career." After her victory over Sharapova, it's unlikely that Wozniacki has many doubters.

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ICC's ACSU may question Hameed

ICC's ACSU may question Yasir Hameed over statements in the sting operation.

Merely disowning the match-fixing allegations he made against his Pakistan teammates would not be enough for Yasir Hameed as the opener could be questioned by the ICC's Anti-Corruption and Security Unit for his statements in a tabloid sting operation.

In the video of the sting operation carried out by a British tabloid, Hameed had alleged that his teammates were "fixing almost every match" but later backtracked claiming that he was tricked into making the statements and blackmailed to stand by them by the undercover reporter who spoke to him.

But just a denial would not be of much help as the ACSU could ask him to explain the comments in the video, according to a report 'The Daily Telegraph'.

"If Hameed is contacted by the ACSU he may have to face an independent commissioner who the ICC plan to appoint to head what will be the biggest ever probe into corruption in cricket," the newspaper reported.

But Hameed's reliability as a potential witness in the corruption scandal that has shaken the foundations of the game has been questioned by his own teammates.

Pakistan's ODI and Twenty20 captain Shahid Afridi has called him unreliable, saying,"He (Hameed) is 30-31 but mentally he is 15-16."

"I don't know who he was sitting with or in what situation he gave this message but we have known him for a long time. We know we can expect anything from him and he does this kind of thing. People know what type of character he is," he added.

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Kevin Pietersen was fined for Twitter tirade

Kevin Pietersen was fined an "undisclosed amount" for his foul-mouthed Twitter tirade after being dropped from the England squad, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) announced on Monday.

Pietersen, never before axed when fit from England duty in a four-year internatonal career, pre-empted last Tuesday's announcement by several hours that he'd been left out for the upcoming Twenty20 and limited overs matches against Pakistan with a post on social networking site Twitter.

The South Africa-born batsman would have been in trouble for that act alone.

But the 30-year-old Pietersen, man of the tournament during England's victorious World Twenty20 campaign in the Caribbean earlier this year, told his followers: "Done for rest of summer!! Man of the World Cup T20 and dropped from the T20 side too.

"It's a f*** up."

"Pietersen proffered an unreserved apology to ECB and the England team management for his actions."

"The hearing considered his comments to be prejudicial to the interests of Team England," the statement added.

"He has been fined an undisclosed sum in accordance with the terms and conditions of his England central contract."

Pietersen, struggling for runs at international level, was released back to on-loan county Surrey in a bid to regain form ahead of England's defence of the Ashes in Australia later this year.

It looked a good move as he hit a century for Surrey on Saturday in a 40-over match against Sussex.

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Players should be punished who made fixing:M.S.Dhoni

Speaking excusively to NDTV, Dhoni said that punishment should be given to players

found guilty of fixing and taking harsh decisions was the need of the hour.

He further said that these match-fixing allegations were bringing disrepute to the

game of cricket and soon people will start blaming the entire cricketing fraternity.

"At times there are low scoring games and people start thinking it may be a fixed

game."

"When you work so hard, go to the gym, the net sessions and the amount of pressure

that you take and then you after that you achieve something remarkable and people

come up with those kind of words. Then it can be really disheartening," the skipper

added.

Dhoni further said that all those who are associated with fixing allegations should

be kept as far away from cricket as possible

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Maria Sharapova latest pics at U.S.OPEN

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Rafael Nadal push through to the third round.

Rafael Nadal was only marginally better than Denis Istomin on Friday night, but he was always better when it mattered most in a 6-2, 7-6 (5), 7-5 victory that made him the last man to push through to the third round.

"That is pretty strange because I wasn't serving really very well, really until two days before the competition," Nadal said. "I changed a little bit the grip, about five or six inches up. I felt like when I didn't have free points and I needed that. So I tried to play a little bit more aggressive."
"I am not really thinking about winning this tournament because there are five matches to go," he said.

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