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World number one Roger Federer believes younger players like Andy Murray are bringing the best out of him.

The 28-year-old lifted his 16th Grand Slam trophy at the Australian Open after a straight-sets win over world number four Murray.

“Guys like Murray have made me a better player,” he said after a 6-3 6-4 7-6 (13-11) win on Sunday.

“I think this has been one of my finest performances in a long time, you know, or maybe forever.”

Federer’s win makes him the fifth man in history to win four titles in Melbourne.

The Swiss has also won Wimbledon six times, the US Open five times and the French Open once.

With the first major of the year under his belt, the calendar Grand Slam is now within his reach, but Federer claims it is not a target.

“I try to give my best everywhere I go to, because I think there’s not only the Grand Slams,” he said.

“I won’t just put the entire season just around trying to win the calendar Grand Slam. I mean, it’s something if it happens, if it does, it’s great; but it’s not something that’s like my number one goal. Not at all.

“It’s the same as I haven’t put a number on how many Grand Slams I want to try to win. Whatever happens, happens.

“I really want to try to enjoy the end to my career, because I’ve reached already so many goals I thought were never possible. I really want to just enjoy the tour, and that’s what I’m doing at the moment.”

Federer ended last year’s final in tears after an agonising five-set defeat by Rafael Nadal in the Australian Open final that left him stranded on 13 Grand Slam titles, one short of Peter Sampras’ all-time record.

However, with Nadal injured, Federer secured an emotional first win at the French Open to draw level with Sampras before he broke the record at Wimbledon.

Federer’s win in Melbourne underlined his dominance of the men’s game, and the 28-year-old has not yet started to consider retirement.

“I know this is an incredible trip I’m on,” he said on Sunday. “We’ll see where it ends. I hope not any time soon.

“My game is not as taxing as other players’ games. I also think I have a very relaxed mind when it comes to the game of tennis.

“Off the court, it’s a matter of relaxing and enjoying it, seeing friends and family. There’s more important things than tennis after all.

“I think that’s something I’ve always had a clear vision of how my life is. I think that’s also helped me to go through tougher phases.”

Australia completed a 5-0 series sweep over Pakistan with a nail-biting two-wicket victory in the final one-dayer at the WACA in Perth.

Michael Hussey hit an unbeaten 40 the help the hosts reach their target of 213 with four balls to spare in the final over of a low-scoring thriller.

Skipper Ricky Ponting contributed 55 but a much-changed Australia team were pegged back by the dual spin threat of Shahid Afridi and Shoaib Malik.

Pakistan’s bowlers wouldn’t have had much to bowl at had it not been for contrasting half-centuries from Umar Akmal and Fawid Alam.
Having chosen to bat first, the tourists crumbled to 16-3 in the first powerplay, openers Salman Butt and Khalid Latif both failing to trouble the scorers while former skipper Younus Khan managed to make just three.

However Akmal led the recovery mission, his patient innings of 67, which included two fours and a six, coming off 102 balls.

He shared a stand of 60 with Shoaib Malik, who was run out by the returning Mitchell Johnson for 36, before Alam helped pick up the pace during an 82-run alliance for the fifth wicket.

Stand-in skipper Afridi managed just a single before falling to the in-form Ryan Harris (3-44), though Clint Mackay was the pick of the home attack with excellent figures of 4-35.

The Victorian seamer dismissed Iftikhar Anjum (16 off eight deliveries) and then Alam with successive balls in the 50th over - the latter the final wicket to fall - having made a sparkling 63 from 70 deliveries.

Attempting to chase down a modest total, Australia lost wickets at regular intervals to make sure the game remained in the balance.
Ponting top-scored with a half-century before becoming one of two wickets to fall to the off-spin of Malik, the other being that of Adam Voges for 24.

Afridi played his part with the ball too, bowling the dangerous Cameron White for 13 and then getting James Hopes caught out for six as the tension grew.

Hussey, though, proved to the thorn in Pakistan’s side. The left-hander took few risks during his 46-ball knock, though he relied on some help from the tail.

Mitchell Johnson chipped in with 13 while Nathan Hauritz hit 18 before number 10 Harris came out in the final over to help see Australia over the line, the winning run coming courtesy of a hip-high no-ball from seamer Iftikhar Anjum.

As if another defeat Down Under wasn’t bad enough for Pakistan, though, Afridi could find himself in hot water after television cameras pictured the all-rounder appearing to bite the ball whilst in the field.

The third umpire reported the incident to the on-field officials, who immediately ordered the ball be replaced.

There was further controversy later on when a spectator ran onto the field and rugby tackled Latif, who was not hurt in the incident, near the boundary’s edge.
Sky Sports

Roger Federer has claimed the Australian Open title after beating Andy Murray 6-3 6-4 7-6 (13-11) in Melbourne.

The 28-year-old Swiss won his 16th Grand Slam title and fourth at Melbourne Park in two hours and 41 minutes under the lights at the Rod Laver Arena.

Sunday’s result means that Murray, who also lost to Federer in the final of the US Open in 2008, will have to wait if he’s to become Britain’s first Grand Slam winner since Fred Perry in 1936.

He never really recovered from an anxious start, allowing Federer to assume control in the opening two sets. The Scot initially battled back in the third set and could have won it after grabbing a break of serve.

However, he soon relinquished his advantage and after an enthralling tie-break, during Murray failed to convert five set points, his challenge was ended.

The 22-year-old came into the match playing arguably the best tennis of his career after dropping just one set and also beating defending champion Rafael Nadal en route.

But for all Murray’s endeavour during the past fortnight, he simply could not compete and if Sunday’s performance was anything to go by, he could find it difficult to topple the world number one so long as Federer remains at or near his peak.
Neither player’s serve was completely convincing in the opening set and Murray also showed early nerves with a double fault in his opening game as he was easily broken.

The fifth seed responded immediately to break back by pushing a running backhand past an advancing Federer before following it with a forehand passing shot.

As the muggy conditions, caused by afternoon showers in Melbourne, slowed up the speed of the balls, both players were content to play long rallies.

Murray’s counterpunching style suffered as a result and he was broken again in the eighth game after Federer hit a forehand winner before holding serve to clinch the opener.

He really started to take control of the match in the second set and broke Murray to love in the third game. Federer asserted himself with a whipped forehand cross-court winner - a shot which left Murray standing with his head bowed.

The Scot was feeling the pressure, missing a couple of routine groundstrokes, but fending off two break points in his next service game to cling on.

Federer was pulling all the strings thanks to some perfectly angled shots which left the latter running this way and that. The Swiss failed to convert four further break point chances but Murray could not achieve a break back to lose the second set 6-4.
However Murray finally began to show the sort of style which guided him to the final in the third set.

He broke Federer in the sixth game, converting with his third break-point chance - an angled forehand across court - after twice failing to make the passing shot.

The hitherto subdued crowd came to life as they sensed a revival from the Scot - Murray giving them a familiar roar of celebration in return.

But the comeback proved a false dawn as he was broken in the very next game with a timid volley, allowing Federer to take the set to a tie-break.

The decider proved enthralling as Murray battled to stay alive.

He passed up five set points before Federer won the match on his third championship point, the celebrations getting underway when his opponent blasted a backhand into the net.
Sky Sports

Serena Williams ended Justine Henin’s fairytale run in Melbourne as she claimed a 6-4 3-6 6-2 win to successfully defend her Australian Open title.

The world number one was pushed all the way by the unseeded Belgian who was playing in just her 12th competitive match following her return from an 18-month retirement.

A see-saw encounter looked to be turning Henin’s way as she hit a purple patch to take the second set, but Williams responded in characteristic style.

The American proved just too powerful in the decider as she raised her level and closed out victory to claim a fifth win at the tournament.

The triumph means Williams has now notched up 12 Grand Slam titles, drawing level with the great Billie-Jean King.

Both players made a rather nervy start to the contest, but Williams fought off a couple of break points to hold serve after an error-strewn opening game that featured four deuces.

It was to end up proving a familiar story for Henin who converted only five of 16 break points in the match, ultimately costing her dear.

Williams survived break points in her next two service games, but in between broke her opponent to love to forge into a 4-1 lead.

But cheered on by the crowd, Henin fought her way back into the encounter and a flashing forehand winner finally saw her break the Williams serve to get back to 4-3.
Having held to love the Belgian looked to be getting up a head of steam, only for Williams to then reassume control.

At 5-4, she went on to force a break point on Henin’s delivery at 30-40 and, while she survived that one, Henin came up with two errors, the second a back-hand that clipped the net and dropped wide, to gift her opponent the set.

But it was the Belgian who made the first move in the second set, the 27-year-old breaking to love with a running back-hand winner to edge 2-1 ahead.

She could not confirm the break, though, and dumped a forehand into the net to allow Williams back on terms.

At 3-3 on Williams’ serve, Henin fought back from 30-0 down and clinched another break after a deuce and that signalled her best period of the match.

She went on to reel off 15 unanswered points to clinch the set with a second break and, having held to love in the opening game of the decider, appeared to cut the more composed figure.

But having stopped the rot and levelled at 1-1, Williams found new reserves and earned herself a break to pull 2-1 ahead as Henin netted a volley.

The topsy-turvy encounter quickly swung again as three inexplicable errors from the American allowed Henin another chance to break, which she did after pouncing on a weak second serve with a booming forehand.

However, that was as good as things got for Henin and after firing a forehand wide in her next service game to fall behind again, she quickly found herself 5-2 down as Williams came on strong to force a double-break.

With that insurance in hand, the number one seed crossed the finishing line in some style, racing 40-0 up with some powerful serves before ending the contest on her second match point with a raking cross-court backhand winner.
Sky Sports

Twitter’s co-founder and the head of Google addressed on Friday concerns about Internet censorship in China, speaking at the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland.

Google’s chief told the meeting that censorship in China has to change but that the internet search giant wanted to stay in the Asian giant despite being the target of cyber attacks from inside China.

When asked about reports of China’s attempts to block Twitter, the co-founder of the microblogging phenomenon, Evan Williams said he had been told about them but the company had no confirmation.

“That’s what I’ve been told,” he told AFP.

“I have heard reports on that,” he added on the sidelines of the Davos forum, but said the company did not have direct confirmation.

Williams said China can use a firewall to block the microblogging service used by millions around the world, but that Twitter was not “actively” looking for ways to get around any block.

“There are ways for users to get around it, but I’m not an expert on that.”

When asked about media reports that Twitter was developing ways to get around the firewall, Williams said he had been “misquoted.”

“We’re not actively developing any way to get around it,” he said, although he stressed that “we’re for the free exchange of information.”

Asked if his company had noticed cyber attacks, such as those launched against Google from inside China, he said none had been detected.

Google has threatened to pull out of China over the attacks as well as over censorship in China which it opposed.

Google’s chairman and chief executive Eric Schmidt stressed during a Davos panel session that it “does not then follow that we want to not be in China.”

“We would very much like to stay in China, we would very much like the censorship which we oppose to not be in China,” he stressed.

“What we don’t like is the censorship. What we hope is that that will change.”

The internet giant’s threat to close Google.cn over the attacks and censorship had sparked a full-blown diplomatic row which saw the United States questioning Beijing’s vast system of web censorship.

On Thursday, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she raised the issue with Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi in “very open and candid” talks in London on the sidelines of an international conference on Afghanistan.
Saama News

KARACHI: With just over a year to go before the start of World Cup 2011, Pakistan’s chief selector Iqbal Qasim must have experienced that sinking feeling after watching his team getting hammered by Australia in the current one-day series.

Pakistan are fancying their chances of winning a second world title next year but their current form suggests that the Greenshirts have a long way to go before they are treated as serious contenders for the World Cup to be jointly hosted by India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

Iqbal Qasim, the man who has been entrusted with the job to find a dependable pool of players for the World Cup, admits that his is an uphill task.

“It will certainly need a lot of effort, lot of hard work for us to put our team on the right track for the World Cup,” Iqbal told ‘The News’ in an interview on Friday. “Preparing for the World Cup is definitely our biggest task and hopefully with a combined effort, we will send a strong team for the tournament,” he added.

Pakistan have suffered huge blows in their ongoing one-day series against Australia. They have lost all four games so far with the latest defeat coming in Perth where Pakistan crashed to a 135-run loss.

Before the series against the Aussies, Pakistan suffered a disappointing 1-2 series defeat against New Zealand in Abu Dhabi last November. That shock came after the Kiwis stunned Pakistan in the Champions Trophy semifinals in South Africa.

This losing streak is quite surprising for Iqbal, who believes that he and fellow selectors had picked quite a formidable one-day squad for those assignments.

“I still believe that we have a very good one-day team,” said Iqbal, a former Pakistan Test spinner. “It seems that the problem is that they haven’t played to their potential.”

On paper, Pakistan do appear to be a strong side with top performers like Shahid Afridi, Mohammad Yousuf, Younis Khan, Shoaib Malik, Umar Akmal, Mohammad Asif, Mohammad Aamer and Kamran Akmal in their side.

Iqbal stressed that Pakistan will need to carry out a comprehensive postmortem soon after the conclusion of the tour of Australia before resuming what he described as a “rebuilding stage” ahead of the World Cup.

“A Postmortem is needed because we have to find out the causes behind such a pathetic performance of our team in Australia,” said Iqbal.

“The reports from the team manager and coach will be very important. Then we will have to sit down with the captain and listen to his views. That will help us find what really went wrong in Australia.”

Pakistan’s immediate task is to get ready for a title defense in the ICC World Twenty20 championship in the Caribbean this May but Iqbal is confident about that assignment, saying that Pakistan are pretty clear about their Twenty20 picture.

“Our Twenty20 team is pretty much in order,” he said adding that he and fellow selectors will sit down with Shahid Afridi, Pakistan’s Twenty20 captain, to decide the line-up for the tournament.

“But the World Cup (2011) is a different matter. It won’t be that easy to prepare a good team for it.”

Intikhab Alam, the Pakistan coach, has stressed the need for the infusion of young blood in the team. He told ‘The News’ in Sydney last Sunday that Pakistan can do well in the World Cup but only by bringing in a few more fresh faces in their team.

In response, Iqbal said that the national selection committee is open to all options. “The idea is to have a team that is capable of doing well in the World Cup and we will take all possible steps to make such a team.”
Geo Super

LINCOLN: Pakistan colts in a hard-fought final of the ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup were beaten by 25 runs against Australia boys with 20 balls remaining here on Saturday.

Both teams were running to win the title for the third time in the history of Under-19 Cricket World Cup.

Chasing a moderate target of 208 runs, Pakistan batsmen batted well against sea winds and accurate Aussie bowlers but could make182 runs in 46.4 overs.

Captain Azeem Ghumman was the top-scorer with 41. He batted with calm and caution hitting only one four in 90 balls.

However, Hammad Azam, the most prolific scorer who has been unbeaten throughout the tournament could not maintain his record and was dismissed for a nought, caught behind by Triffitt off Hazlewood. His early ouster made a panic in the Pakistan team’s dressing room.

Earlier, Pakistan winning the toss decided to send Kangaroos first and kept their grip tight over the match.

Sarmad Bhatti grabbed three wickets and Fayyaz Butt claimed two as the Aussies were 207-9 in 50 overs in the final counter of tournament.

Though Pakistani pacers successfully claiming wickets on regular intervals but they failed in keeping run rate down while the Aussies persistently collected ones, twos, three and certain times boundaries and out of the park.

The leading run scorers from Australian side were JS Floros (35), TJ Armstrong (37) and KW Richardson (44).
Geo Super

Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand is considering whether to appeal against the increase to his ban for violent conduct.

The 31-year-old lost his original appeal against a three-match suspension for an altercation with Craig Fagan during Saturday’s 4-0 win over Hull.

The Football Association labelled the appeal “frivolous” and increased his ban to four games.

United have until Monday to contest the additional one-game suspension.

The FA told BBC Sport that Manchester United can appeal against the increase but have yet to hear from the reigning Premier League champions.

United were unavailable to confirm to BBC Sport what their next move would be, but manager Sir Alex Ferguson revealed his displeasure with the disciplinary processes being used by the game’s governing body.

“We have to decide whether to appeal because there are conflicting ways in how these decisions are being viewed,” he said.

“I watched the game between Leyton Orient and Charlton on Monday and there was an elbow on the Charlton player three times as he was running with the ball.
“Ferdinand got what he deserved - an extended ban of 4 matches for a frivolous appeal”
“But nothing has happened with that. There is a lot of confusion there, although we accept that for (Saturday), Rio is banned.”

Ferdinand only returned to action at Old Trafford at the weekend for the first time in three months after recovering from a calf injury.

But after appearing to swing an arm at Hull striker Fagan, the England centre-half picked up a three-match ban, which was then extended to four after the Football Association rejected the defender’s appeal as “frivolous”.

Because of the appeal, Ferdinand, who has made only 10 appearances for his club so far this season, was able to play in Wednesday’s Carling Cup win over Manchester City, but he faces a further suspension if he fails to overturn the ban on the fourth game.

While he is definitely banned for the next three games, at Arsenal on Sunday and then the following Premier League matches against Portsmouth and Aston Villa, the Red Devils could succeed in having their centre-half available at Everton on 20 February.

If Ferdinand received a five-match suspension on the back of another appeal, he would be ruled out of the Carling Cup final against Aston Villa on 28 February at Wembley.
BBC News

BEIJING: China has signaled that it wants to establish military bases overseas, following US steps.

”It is baseless to say that we will not set up any military bases in future because we have never sent troops abroad,” said an article posted on a Chinese government website. ” It is our right,” the article said, suggesting it would be done in the neighborhood, possibly Pakistan.

The article posted on the website said that China should be capable of counter attacking its enemy countries from the country as well as from neighboring countries. “We should also be able to put pressure on the potential enemies’ overseas interests,” said the posting by well-known columnist Shen Dingli. SAMAA

DAVOS: China, the United States and Russia are among 20 countries locked in a cyberspace arms race and gearing up for possible Internet hostilities, according to the head of web security firm McAfee.

Dave DeWalt, chief executive and president of the US firm said the traditional defensive stance of government computer infrastructures has shifted in recent years.

“This movement from a defensive posture to a more offensive posture is just very obvious,” he said on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

McAfee said it has identified at least five countries with cyber weapons, including the United States, China, Russia, Israel and France.

“We’re now seeing 20 plus countries, governments arm themselves for cyber warfare, cyber espionage, cyber offensive capabilities,” said DeWalt.

“There’s an arms race going on in cyberspace,” he told AFP.

DeWalt is not the first to sound alarm bells about cyber warfare. The UN telecommunications agency chief Hamadoun Toure warned in October that the next world war could take place in cyberspace.

Pointing to the recent attack on Google, DeWalt noted that it illustrated a shift from espionage and attacks on government infrastructure to an offensive on structure that is “commercial in nature.”

Google had threatened to pull out of China due to cyber attacks which it claimed originated in the Asian giant. The complaint has escalated into a major diplomatic row.

DeWalt said the attack on Google was “really one of the first government on commercial, and potentially highly sophisticated cyber espionage really focusing in on highly intellectual property companies like Google, Adobe.”

The attack, dubbed Operation Aurora, has hit over 30 companies and the number of victim firms could still grow, said DeWalt.

But it was just one of “a series of highly escalated attacks in the last 12 months.”

McAfee has seen a “more than 500 percent increase in net new malware” — harmful software such as spyware, viruses or trojans — in the past 12 months.

“That’s more malware than we have seen in the past five years combined,” said DeWalt.

McAfee’s latest report compiling a survey of some 600 IT security executives found that 60 percent of those who responded believe representatives of foreign governments were involved in infiltrations of their infrastructure.

Some 36 percent said the United States posed the biggest threat to their infrastructure while 33 percent named China.

The survey also found that attacks are costing 6.3 million dollars a day, or 1.75 billion dollars a year, around the world.

Service outages brought about by attacks on web infrastructure are most costly for the oil and gas sector.

“As nation states and very sophisticated criminal organisations have piled into cyberspace to engage in activities designed to steal secrets or interrupt services, the private sector is increasingly caught in the crossfire,” said Stewart Baker, who authored the report.

Despite the potential damage, governments appeared to be lagging behind in taking measures to get private sector to protect their web infrastructure.

Only China appeared to be “developing a relationship with their industry… in getting companies to adopt particular security standards,” said Baker, who is a visiting fellow at the Centre for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. AGENCIES
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