ADB President: A/H1N1 flu could derail Asias economic recovery

Special Report:World tackles A/H1N1 flu


Special Report:Global Financial Crisis

The President of the Asian Development Bank says the A/H1N1 flu has the potential to set back Asia's fragile economic recovery if it takes hold in the region.

ThePresidentoftheAsianDevelopmentBanksaystheA/H1N1
fluhasthepotentialtosetbackAsia'sfragileeconomic
recoveryifittakesholdintheregion.

Haruhiko Kuroda says an influenza pandemic would hit the region's tourism and aviation industries first. But he remains confident that Asian governments are well prepared.

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Tennis: Davydenko to meet Blake in semifinal

Second-seeded Nikolay Davydenko of Russia beat Mardy Fish 6-4, 6-3 on Friday at the Estoril Open. The 2003 champion will now play fourth seed James Blake in the semi-finals, after Blake defeated Florent Serra of France.

NikolayDavydenkoofRussiaeyestheball
duringhisEstorilTennisOpenmatchagainst
MardyFishoftheU.S.,inLisbonMay8,
2009.REUTERS/HugoCorreia

Davydenko took the favorites' role against the sixth-seeded Fish, who was making his Estoril debut.

It was only Davydenko's fifth tournament of the year after a two-month lay-off due to a heel injury. But he started strongly, taking the opener 6-4. The Russian broke Fish's serve again in the second set. A sharp backhand winner down the line gave the Russian a 6-4, 6-3 victory.

James Blake looked to earn the right to face Davydenko in the semi-finals. The American fourth seed, playing against Florent Serra, was soon 3-1 down in the first set. But he quickly fought back, winning eight consecutive games to take the set 6-4.

Safina comes from behind to beat Sanchez

World number one Dinara Safina took on the unseeded Spaniard Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, who created problems for Safina from the start, mixing her game up with drop-shots and crisp volleys.

Safina double-faulted seven times and after six deuces, Sanchez reached a likely Safina backhand net-cord winner at the net, and pulled off a great recovery with a forehand winner to reach break point before taking the opening set 6-4.

But the 23-year-old Russian then rallied to come from 3-1 down in the second set to level the match. In the third set, Safina saved three break points and reeled off 11 games in a row to close out the match, 4-6, 6-3, 6-0.

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Ivanovic bows to Radwanska in Rome Masters

ROME, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Ana Ivanovic's suffered a setback on way to French Open on Wednesday when she was ruled out of the third round in Rome Masters with a 6-1 3-6 6-4 loss to Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska.

The Serbian fifth seed, yet to win a title this year, looked on the way to victory when 4-0 up in the final set, after having fought back from set down. But she shockly lost the following six games.

Ivanovic had tidied up her act in the second set of the match at the Rome tournament, which is played on clay like the French Open, after making an inept start and losing the first set in just23 minutes.

Radwanska, seeded 10th, will take on the winner of the match between American fourth seed Venus Williams and Russia's Anna Chakvetadze in the quarter-finals.

Seventh seed Svetlana Kuznetsova ended Italy's hopes of a localchampion when she battled to a 6-3 3-6 6-0 victory over Flavia Pennetta.

Kuznetsova set up a meeting with champion Jelena Jankovic who eased through when Ukrainian Kateryna Bondarenko retired ill from their third round match with the Serb leading 6-1 1-0.

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Nalbandian suffers exit in Estoril Open first round

LISBON, May 5 (Xinhua) -- Estoril Open twice champion David Nalbandian, fifth-seeded, suffered early brake after losing 6-2, 6-2 in the first round to Paul Capdeville of Chile in Estoril of Portugual on Monday.

Nalbandian, the 2002 and 2006 champion, was broken once in each set to lose in 52 minutes.

The Argentine, who won the Sydney International in January, had injured a hip at the Barcelona Open last month..

Top-seeded Gilles Simon beat American Robert Kendrick 6-3, 7-6 (7) Monday in the first round.

Simon was twice broken in the first set but recovered to break his opponent three times.

The Frenchman started strongly in the second set, breaking Kendrick's serve in the opening game, but the American broke back in the sixth before Simon took the tie-break 9-7.

Simon, a semifinalist at the Open 13 in Marseille and the Dubai Tennis Championships, fired four aces in the match while Kendrick had four double faults.

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Zheng Jie beat Dechy to 2nd round in Tennis Rome

China's Zheng Jie has advanced to the 2nd round in Rome after beating French opponent Natalie Dechy in straight sets. The victory came as a much needed boost of confidence for Zheng, who had earlier been knocked out in the first round last week in Stuttgart.

With Li Na and Peng Shuai already eliminated from the Rome competition, Zheng was the only remaining Chinese player to compete. This obviously gave the 14th seed added motivation against her opponent, 30-year-old Dechy from France. Zheng used her baseline skills and quick running steps to control the first set, also volleying whenever there was an opportunity.

As a result Zheng took the first set 6-1 with ease. Dechy fought back bravely in the second set. Zheng also made several errors in critical points, allowing the set to go to a tiebreak. But Zheng gained the upper hand, eventually winning it 7-4 and with it the match. She'll next meet Elena Vesnina of Russia.

On the doubles side, Peng Shuai and Chinese Taipei's Hsieh Shu-wei defeated a Ukrainian/Belarussian pair in 2 close sets to enter the last 16.

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Venus starts Rome Masters with a hard win

ROME, May 5 (Xinhua) -- Venus Williams was taken to three sets in her opener on Monday at the Rome Masters but managed to beat Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic 6-2, 4-6, 6-2.

The 28-year-old American, who won the clay court event in 1999, said she didn't mind the extra effort.

Williams appeared in control of the match in the first set, firing eight aces and as many winners in 28 minutes. But as her service level dropped Safarova started playing deep powerful ground strokes and broke Williams in the third game of the second set. Williams was unable to break back and Safarova served out the set 6-4.

In the decider, the fourth-seeded Williams held serve in a crucial third game after saving four break points. She went on to break in the following game, as a forehand by the 22-year-old Czech player went wide, and then again to close out the match.

In the end, Williams had 22 winners, the same as Safarova, and 26 unforced errors to Safarova's 33.

The match was a second-round encounter as the top eight seeded players all have first-round byes in this warm up for the French Open, which begins in three weeks' time.

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Nadal defeats Djokovic for record 4th Rome Masters title

ROME, May 4 (Xinhua) -- World number one Rafael Nadal beat defending champion Novak Djokovic to claim a record fourth Rome Masters title with a 7-6, 6-2 win on Sunday.

The Spaniard took the first set in a tiebreak before breaking the Serbian third seed twice in the second set to bag his fifth title of the year, his third on clay, and continue his dominance.

"Winning in Rome is a big title. I now have 15 Masters Series in my career, so that's a lot, and I'm very happy for that," said Nadal.

Sunday's victory lifted Nadal to the top of the Rome league, surpassing the record of three titles he had shared with Austrian Thomas Muster, Australian Martin Mulligan and Czech Jaroslav Drobny.

The Spaniard looked unstoppable and had a set point in the ninth game on Djokovic's serve but let his advantage slip. Nadal dropped serve in the next game with some uncharacteristic loose forehands, allowing the Serb to level at 5-5.

Djokovic smashed up a racket up for the second time this week when he immediately conceded serve again.

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Nadal takes fourth Rome title

Rafael Nadal's red-hot streak on clay continued, and no one can stop him.Spaniard picked up the fourth Masters crown. This is also the third title on the surface in three weeks.

RafaelNadalofSpaincelebrateswithhistrophyafter
beatingNovakDjokovicofSerbiaduringtheirATPTennis
OpenmatchinRome.NadalwonarecordfourthATPRome
Mastersclaycourttitle,beatingreigningchampionDjokovic
7-6(7/2),6-2inthefinal.(AFP/TizianaFabi)

Standing in his way is world number three Novak Djokovic. The Serb looks realy upset when he losing odd battle on his own temper.

Djokovic fought back. But still lost first set anyway by another unforced error proved critical. Nadal gunning first set 7-2.

Rome is a key warm-up for the French Open. Nadal on the way to a record fourth Rome title. Djokovic beaten Roger Federer in the semis. but the form couldn't rally here.

A double-fault handed Nadal a 6-2 win on the second set. Nadal improving his tour-best record to 38-3 this year. he also in the process making it five wins from the eight tournaments he's entered.

Tennis legends set for China stop

Eight former tennis greats will visit Chengdu, capital city of southwestern China's Sichuan Province, later this year.

Chengdu will welcome Grand Slam champions, including John McEnroe, Bjorn Borg and Michael Chang, in early November. They will take part in the inaugural Chengdu Open during their stay.

The event will mark Borg's first playing appearance in China in 30 years, and their visit will be a boost to Chengdu as it continues its recovery from last year's devastating earthquake.

Bjorn Borg, 11-time Grand Slam Champion,said, "I'm very delighted to come back to China. It's always nice to come to different countries and come to new countries. I'm looking forward to that. This time, I will be visiting Chengdu. I've never been there, so I'm looking forward to that. Home of the giant panda, so that will be of great interest to me to enjoy and to have time to see the giant panda."