Connect with us
study in Ukraine

Nigeria News

Tennis: Williams, Nadal win in Rome

Published

on

Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams underlined their French Open ambitions with convincing final victories in Rome on Sunday.

In what was his 30th meeting with Roger Federer, clay court king Nadal outclassed the Swiss 6-1, 6-3 as he continued his stunning comeback following a seven-month injury absence.

Williams, who will head to Paris next week hoping to avenge her stunning first round defeat to Frenchwoman Virginie Razzano last year, was in equally imperious form as she swept aside Victoria Azarenka 6-1, 6-3.

Serena Williams with her trophy in Rome. AFP

Serena Williams with her trophy in Rome. AFP

Nadal’s triumph means he now leads Federer 20-10 in their series, with 13 of his wins coming on clay.

He also now has 24 Masters titles in a career total of 56.

Ahead of his bid to extend his record run of seven victories in Paris, Nadal admitted he had never dreamed of such success — he now has 36 wins in 38 matches since his return to the tour in February.

“If you’d told me that four or five months ago I would have said you are crazy,” said fifth-seeded Nadal.

“So after eight tournaments, six victories, and two finals, it’s a dream for me.”

Federer, the second seed, had overcome French upstart Benoit Paire in a late semi-final on Saturday to make his first final of the season.

But despite winning the opening game on serve on Sunday the Swiss failed to really get a grip on the match.

In all, Federer finished with 32 unforced errors to Nadal’s eight.

Federer-Nadal in a handshake after the Rome final

Federer-Nadal in a handshake after the Rome final

“He played very aggressively from the start, he didn’t make too many mistakes and had a good match overall,” said Federer, who admitted the change in class from his previous challengers this week had been a factor.

“Rafa has much more top-spin than all the guys I played this week, so the change was quite a big one.

“I tried to play offensively, but unfortunately I didn’t have the best day. It didn’t go the way I was hoping it to go.”

Williams looked equally impressive on the red clay of centre court.

She broke Azarenka’s serve three times in a one-sided first set and despite a tighter second set the American prevailed to stretch her career-best winning streak to 24 matches.

It was Williams’s 51st career title and took her victory tally over Azarenka, who beat the American earlier this season in the final of the Doha hardcourt event, to 12-2 in their series.

Williams said the match was closer than the score suggested.

“It was very close, the first three games were over 20-25 minutes or so, so it wasn’t really easy out there. Nothing is really easy,” said the American.

“I just took the opportunities when I had them. I know she (Azarenka) did as well, but I came up with the good shots sometimes.”

Azarenka agreed the match had been closer than the score suggested but admitted: “She definitely showed some more incredible tennis today… she’s been playing her best tennis for the past year and a half or so.

“But today she played much better in the key moments of the match.”

It is Williams’s second title at Rome, having first won the event in 2002.

And after conceding defeat to Razzano in last year’s first round at Roland Garros, the American said she is taking a different approach this year.

“It’s definitely different. It has to be,” she said.

“I was feeling excellent last year and didn’t do great. This year I’m more cautious. I want to work hard and stay focused and win every point hard and not slack at all.”

——————————————————————————————————————————————-
Posted in Nigeria News. A DisNaija.Com network.

Source: PM News

DisNaija.Com publishes regular posts on Nigeria News, Nigerian Newspapers, Online Nigeria Gist.

Follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

Nigeria News


Your Opinion Counts. Be sure To Leave A Comment, If You Have Any.

Please Like, Share or Tweet. Your Support Is Appreciated.

Continue Reading
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Nigeria News

Kano Transfers Over 1,000 Almajiris To Different States Amidst COVID-19 Pandemic

Published

on

The Kano State Government on Saturday said it has transferred 1,098 ‘almajiris’ to different states of the country.

The commissioner for local government, Murtala Garo, disclosed this while presenting a report before the state’s task force on COVID-19 at the government house, Kano.

Almajiris are children who are supposed to be learning Islamic studies while living with their Islamic teachers. Majority of them, however, end up begging on the streets of Northern Nigeria. They constitute a large number of Nigeria’s over 10 million out-of-school children.

Mr Garo said the Kano government transported 419 almajiris to Katsina, 524 to Jigawa and 155 to Kaduna. He said all of them tested negative for coronavirus before leaving the Kano State.

Despite the coronavirus test done in Kano for the almajiris, the Jigawa government earlier said it would quarantine for two weeks all the almajiris that recently arrived from Kano.

Mr Garo said another 100 almajiris scheduled to be taken to Bauchi State also tested negative to COVID-19.

In a remark, Governor Abdullahi Ganduje said the COVID-19 situation in Kano was getting worse. He appealed for a collaborative effort to curtail the spread of the virus in the state.

Mr Ganduje, who commended residents for complying with the lockdown imposed in the state, said the decision was taken to halt the spread of the virus.

Kano State, as of Saturday night, has 77 coronavirus cases, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control.

The decision to transfer the Kano almajiris is part of the agreement reached between Northern governors that almajiris in each state be transferred to their states of origin.

However, even before the latest agreement by the governors, the Kano government had been transferring almajiris to other states and neighbouring countries after it banned street begging in the state, most populous in Northern Nigeria.

Despite the transfers, however, no concrete step has been taken to ensure such children do not return to Kano streets as there is freedom of movement across Nigeria although interstate travel was recently banned to check the spread of the coronavirus.

 

Sourced From: Premium Times Nigeria

Continue Reading

Nigeria News

COVID-19: ‘Bakassi Boys’ Foil Attempt To Smuggle 24 Women Into Abia In Container

Published

on

By Ugochukwu Alaribe

Operatives of the Abia State Vigilante Service, AVS, popularly known as ‘Bakassi Boys’ have arrested 24 market women hidden in a container truck, at Ekwereazu Ngwa, the boundary community between Abia and Akwa Ibom states.

The market women, said to be  from Akwa Ibom State, were on their way to Aba, when they were arrested with the truck driver and two of his conductors for violating the lockdown order by the state government.

Driver of the truck, Moses Asuquo, claimed he was going to Aba to purchase stock fish, but decided to assist the market women, because they were stranded.

A vigilante source told Sunday Vanguard that the vehicle was impounded while the market women were sent back to Akwa Ibom State.

Commissioner for Home Land Security, Prince Dan Okoli, who confirmed the incident, said that  smuggling of people into the state poses great threat to the state government’s efforts to contain the spread of COVID- 19.

 

Sourced From: Vanguard News

Continue Reading

Nigeria News

Woman Kills Her Maid Over Salary Request

Published

on

Operatives of the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID), Yaba of the Lagos State police command have arrested one Mrs Nene Steve for allegedly killing her maid, Joy Adole

The maid was allegedly beaten to death by Nene for requesting for her salary at their residence located at 18, Ogundola Street, Bariga area in Lagos.

Narrating the incident, Philips Ejeh, an elder brother to the deceased said that he was sad when they informed him that his sister was beaten to death.

He explained that the deceased was an indigene of Benue State brought to Lagos through an agent and started working with her as a maid  in January 2020.

‘’She reported that her boss refused to pay her and anytime she asked for her salary she will start beating her.

She was making an attempt to leave the place but due to the total lockdown she remained there until Sunday when her boss said she caught her stealing noodles and this led to her serious beating and death,’’ Ejeh said.

He called on Lagos State Government and well- meaning people in the country to help them in getting justice for the victim.

The police spokesman, Bala Elkana, stated that the woman and her husband came to Bariga Police  Station to a report that their house girl had committed suicide.

Detectives were said to have visited the house and suspected foul play with the position of the rope and bruises all over the body which confirmed that the girl had been tortured to death and the boss decided to hang up the girl to make it look like suicide.

He said: “The police moved on with their investigation and found a lot of sign of violence on her body that she has been tortured before a rope was put on her neck.’’

He added that the police removed the corpse and deposited it in the mortuary for autopsy to further ascertain the cause of the death.

Elkana said the matter has been transferred from Bariga police station to Panti for further investigation while the couple have been arrested and will be charged to court.

Continue Reading

Tribune

Boko Haram Attacks: Buhari Summons Urgent Meeting Of Service Chiefs

Published

on

President Buhari and the Service Chiefs in a meeting. (File photo)

Ostensibly alarmed by the latest killings of dozens of soldiers by Boko Haram insurgents, President Muhammadu Buhari has summoned an urgent meeting of Service Chiefs to find ways to stop the trend. 

He has also dispatched the Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan Ali, to the neighbouring Republic of Chad for an urgent meeting with President Idris Deby and his defence counterpart. 

Knowledgeable sources said in Abuja on Friday that the president is worried by on the deterioration of security situation on the Nigeria – Chad Border that has led to the recently increased Boko Haram terrorism in the area.

The sources which did not want to be named in Abuja said: “Nigeria has a Chad  problem in the Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF) put together to secure the Lake Chad basin areas and repeal the Boko Haram terrorist attacks against all the countries neighbouring the Lake.”

The sources noted that Chad is believed to be having their own internal security challenges and this has reportedly led to their pulling away their own troops manning their own border around Lake Chad,  saying: “That lacuna is being exploited by the Boko Haram terrorists, who go in and out of Nigeria, Niger and Cameroon to launch terrorist acts.  This is a clear illustration of the fact that terrorism is beyond national borders.”

When contacted, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, confirmed that the Defence Minister is going to Chad but said he is unaware of the purpose. 

Meanwhile, the military authorities are said to be in the process of identifying the families of the latest victims with a view to making contact with them. 

Credible sources revealed that it is the reason the president is yet to make any pronouncement on the matter. 

“The President has called an urgent meeting with the Service Chiefs, as well as the fact that families of the latest victims of the Boko Haram are being identified and contacts made before a government pronouncement on the tragic attacks. This, it is understood, is the reason for the silence of the government over the incident,” the source said. 

 

Sourced From: Tribune

Continue Reading
Advertisement study in Ukraine

Politics

Popular Posts