Friday, January 18, 2013 CYPRUS MAIL
32
Sport
LeBron James youngest to reach 20,000 NBA points 28
Fergie lauds ‘incredible’ Giggs as Allardyce left fuming 31
Robson stuns Kvitova in late night thriller British teen through to Melbourne third round By Jon Fisher
Laura Robson’s victory yesterday marks the first time since the 1991 US Open that Britain has two women in the last 32 of a grand slam event
L Unpopular: Rafa Benitez was booed by Chelsea supporters on the final whistle, and also when he substituted Frank Lampard for the misfiring Fernando Torres
Benitez frustrated by Chelsea home blues By Alex Lowe RAFAEL Benitez was left feeling homesick once again after his Chelsea side threw away a two-goal lead to Southampton at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday night. The Blues led at half-time courtesy of goals from Demba Ba and Eden Hazard and they appeared to be cruising to a first home win since December 23. But Rickie Lambert pulled Southampton back into the game with a header three minutes after coming off the bench and Jason Puncheon equalised with a brilliant volley. Since their 8-0 rout of Aston Villa, Chelsea have lost at home to QPR and Swansea and now drawn with the relegationbattling Saints. Benitez, booed by supporters on the final whistle, admitted Chelsea had thrown away the chance of victory by failing to kill off the game. “We should have won,” Benitez said. “We didn’t take our chances when we had them. I said we would have to be more clinical and it was the same against Southampton. “We had situations where we could score. We didn’t and they broke on a counter-attack. We gave them hope they could score and they did it. “I was talking to the team at half-time, trying to say ‘we have to score a third goal’. “I think for us we cannot be happy drawing at home. I am disappointed. When you know your players and what they can do it is disappointing.
“We have to think how we can improve for the next one.” On top of their frustration at Chelsea drawing, the Stamford Bridge faithful were also taking in the news that Pep Guardiola was bound for Bayern Munich not the Kings Road. Benitez, though, had little to say on the matter. “It is fine for him because he decides to go there,” Benitez said. Asked if it was a surprise, he added: “No. “My job is to get three points against Arsenal.” Chelsea beat Southampton 5-1 in the FA Cup less than two weeks ago but the Saints arrived at Stamford Bridge with a different game-plan. Manager Nigel Adkins urged them not to panic at the interval and the Saints delivered, with a draw moving them three points clear of the relegation zone. “We know Chelsea are a good side. We knew if we opened up the space they have players who can hurt you,” Adkins said. “We came with a gameplan to be compact and frustrate the opposition. At half-time it was 2-0 and I said ‘stick to the game-plan’. “If we had gone and chased it there was every chance we could have ended up with a scoreline like Aston Villa, who conceded eight here. “We stuck at it. Rickie came on and scored the goal and what a fantastic goal it was for the second one. “Not many teams will come back from two goals down against Chelsea.”
aura Robson displayed nerves of steel to progress to the third round of the Australian Open yesterday after outlasting eighth seed Petra Kvitova in an “ugly” threehour marathon that only ended at 12.30am local time. The 18-year-old overcame a woeful first set to grow into the match. And after failing to serve it out at 6-5 in the decider she got the job done when the chance next arose to go through 2-6 6-3 11-9 in exactly three hours. With Heather Watson advancing on Wednesday, it is the first time since the 1991 US Open that Britain has two women in the last 32 of a grand slam event. It certainly was not pretty, but Robson, who reached the fourth round in New York last year with stunning wins over Kim Clijsters and Li Na, again displayed a bloodymindedness which allied to her natural talent bodes well for the future. She next plays another rising star, American Sloane Stephens, who beat her in Hobart last week. Although happy with a victory she described as “her toughest”, the British number two admitted it had been a patchy encounter. “I thought it was pretty ugly but in terms of how tough it was to close it out at the end it was right up there with my best wins,” she said. Kvitova, the 2011 Wimbledon champion has been struggling for confidence in recent months - she has not won consecutive matches since the US Open - and suffered early-round defeats at the warm-up events in Brisbane and Sydney. And she again appeared mentally fragile, especially in the deciding set, as Robson held her nerve rather than the more experienced Czech. The first two sets were forgettable with both players making a catalogue of errors as the momentum swung one way and then the other. Kvitova had the better of the opener with Robson appearing to be hamstrung by nerves in her first night session appearance on a show court at a major. “In the first set it was just
too up and down,” said Robson. “At the start of the second I knew I had to play with more consistency.” And she did exactly that to hit back, aided admittedly by Kvitova’s inability to keep the ball in court. Most of the drama was reserved, though, for the deciding set, after Kvitova had surged into a 3-0 lead. Robson held and then got the break back as, from nowhere, Kvitova threw in three double faults in an awful game to lose the advantage. Robson promptly handed it back, more serving woe compounded by a netted backhand on break point. And so it continued, Robson breaking again to change ends at 3-4 down. There was eventually a hold as the teenager made it 4-4. As the match reached its crucial stages, Robson profited from yet another Kvitova meltdown to break for a 6-5 lead. She could not serve it out, however, being broken to 15 as nerves got to the younger woman.
Two holds followed before a disputed line call at 7-7, 30-30 unsettled Kvitova but, she came through to again pile the pressure on Robson. She held firm as the match, remarkably, then went into a spell of being dominated by serve until Robson broke for 10-9. And this time Kvitova had no reply as Robson served it out to go through with the match finishing well after midnight. “I was pretty disappointed at how I tried to serve it out at 6-5, I gave her too much time on the ball so to come out with a win is pretty pleasing,” Robson added. MURRAY AND SERENA ON THE UP AS MELBOURNE SWELTERS PAGE 29