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Current World number one Serena Williams was made to sweat by the Belgium’s Justin Henin- Hardenne to clinch her fifth Australian Open title(2003, 05, 07 and 09) held in Melbourne Park on Saturday. The match took nearly two hours and seven minutes which seemed to be an absolute entertainer for the crowd with both players fighting back with long rallies even from the starting set of the match as Serena finally overcame Henin 6-4, 3-6 and 6-2 to lift the trophy. The 2004 Australian Open Champion Justin Henin showed a tremendous fight back in only her second event after making a comeback from nearly 20 months of break from International tennis. Justin Henin showed a lot of character in the second set and took the set with 6-2. Decider set proved to be an absolute nail bitter as when both the players had equal game of 2-2, but Serena has just proved why she is a powerful tennis star as she raised her level to break the Henin’s serve and take the lead and trophy. This was the 12^th Grand Slam title for the American tennis star as she equaled the Billie Jean King record and she has to clinch 12 more Grand Slam titles to equal great Margaret Smith Court.

Australia U-19 team just like their senior team dominated in the finals and emerged victorious against the three time champions Pakistan by 25 runs to clinch the World Cup U19 title held in Sutcliffe Oval, Lincoln. Pakistan Captain Azeem Ghumman who had won the toss decided to field first as hethought that wicket might assist his seam bowlers in early part of the match.

Australians who batted first lost three quick wickets in just 4.2 overs at a score of 23 runs. Then the next five batsmen of Aussies U-19 team came up with some small contribution and that helped the team pose a total of 207 runs for the loss of 9 wickets in their full quota of 50 overs. KW Richardson top scored for his side with 44 runs in just 44 balls which included 3 fours and 2 sixes. Pakistan pace bowler Sarmad Bhatti led the Pakistani bowling attack as he took 3 wickets.

Pakistan U-19 team dream of getting the score easily and clinching their fourth title was shattered by the bowling attack of Hazlewood and late good bowling by Doran never allowed the Pakistan team to bounce back in the match. There were few contributions by all the batsmen, but none of the batsmen survived to take the team home to the total as they all dismissed in 46.4 overs at the score of 182 runs. Captain Ghumman alone gave the fightback as he scored 41 runs but fell to Floros. Hazlewood took 4 wickets while Doran took 3 wickets for his side. Hazlewood who bowled well at the starting of the Pakistan innings and took some crucial wickets at regular intervals was declared man of the match.

Rahul Dravid, The Wall of Indian test cricket, had undergone some minor corrective surgery on his injured left upper jaw. The surgery was due to the incident took place in thesecond and final test against the Bangladesh when he was hit by short pitch ball bowled by Shahadat Hossain. The ball went through the open part of the Helmet and got struck on the left upper jaw when he was batting at the score of 111 runs along with Sachin tendulkar. He was immediately taken to Hospital and was found a minor crack in the left upper jaw which made him sit in the dressing room for the rest of the match. Now, Rahul Dravid has under gone the surgery in Manipal Hospital on Friday and will be discharged from the hospital within 2 days. The Doctor also advised Rahul to keep away from sporting activities for 2-3 weeks. The squad for the first test has already been announced with Dravid being not picked up for the side because of this injury. The Doctor’s advice of two to three weeks rest would certainly keep the Rahul Dravid out of the action for the whole series against the South Africans. It is also sure that Indian top order will have a bit of set back with the absence of ”The Wall” in the Indian team clash against World number 2 test team.