Moon Of Liberty Tennis – ATP Tour Update

Tennis – ATP Tour

Dubai Tennis Championship Final – Murray v Verdasco

Murray returns to form in Dubai

After a slow start in which he dropped his first two service games Andy Murray recovered to defeat Fernando Verdasco. He broke bac on both occasions and then a third time to eventually take the first set 6-3. He then took total control breaking twice more and finding his service rhythm to easily take the second set 6-2. It is Murrays’s first tournament win of 2017 and the 45th ATP title of his career, expect more to come.

Report (BBC Sport)

Mexican Open Final – Querry v Nadal

Querry shocks Nadal in Acapulco

America’s Sam Querry scored a surprise victory defeating Rafael Nadal. Querry got off to a quick start and took the first set in just 29 minutes. Nadal repsonded in the second and had five break point chances in the eighth game. However Querry held him off to level at 4-4 with the set eventually going all the way to a tie break. Nadal made key baseline errors allowing Querry to take it 7-3 and claim his first title of 2017 having served 19 aces in a very impressive display.

 Report (Sky Sports)

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MOON OF LIBERTY SCOREBOARD

Tennis Results

ATP Tour

Dubai Tennis Championship Final – At The Aviation Tennis Center, Dubai, UAE

Andy Murray (GB) Beat Fernando Verdasco (Spain) – 2-0 (6-3 6-2)

Mexican Open Final – At The Princess Mundo Imperial, Apapulco, Mexico

Sam Querry (USA) Beat Rafael Nadal (Spain) – 2-0 (6-3 7-6)

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Moon Of Liberty Tennis – ATP Tour Cincinnati Masters

Tennis

ATP Tour

Andy Murray’s 22 match unbeaten run came to an end in Cincinnati as he was defeated in the final by Croatian Marin Cilic. A week after his gold medal battle in Rio against Martin Del Potro, Murray lost his serve twice in the first. it got to 5-5 in the second with Cilic having to save four break points before breaking himself to take the second set 7-5 and claim his first WTA Tour title of the season. For Murray the week will be a useful workout on the Hard Courts with the US Open not far away.

Full Report (Sky Sports)

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MOON OF LIBERTY SCOREBOARD

TENNIS

Cincinnati Masters Final – At The Lindner Family Tennis Center, Mason, Ohio

Marin Cilic (Croatia) Beat Andy Murray (GB) – 2-0 – (6-4, 7-5)

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Moon Of Liberty Olympics – Team GB Watch

Olympics

There have been three more medals for Britain, including two more in the swimming pool. 20 year old Siobhan-Marie O’Connor took silver behind Hungarian star Katrinka Hosszu in the 200m Individual medley. O’Conner was fastest qualifier but when it matter Hosszu had a little bit too much but it is still a superb result for O’Conner. The British relay team launched a comeback with an excellent anchor leg from James Guy to take silver behind a strong USA Team including Michael Phelps, who also won his individual gold last night taking his Olympic Gold Medal hall to 21. Stephen Milne, Dan Wallace and Duncan Scott made up the rest of the British Team.

The other British medal came in the Cycling time trial where Tour De France winner Chris Froome matched his Bronze from four years ago, A superb Showing from Swiss rider Fabian Cantellara who rode aggressively from the start in tough conditions won by 48 seconds from Tom Dumoulin of Holland who took the silver.

Elsewhere Serena Williams has crashed out of the Women’s Tennis which opens the draw up, including for Britain’s Johana Konta who is in the Quarter Final, as is Andy Murray who so far has avoided the string of upsets. The Women’s British Gymnastic Team took fifth place as everyone was a shadow in the wake of the superb American Team including the brilliant Simone Biles. In the Women’s syncronised diving Tonya Crouch and 16 year old Lois Toulson were handed a chance of a medal but the fluffed their final dive after an excellent performance in the first four rounds and ended up finishing fifth.

Reports (BBC Sport)

O’Conner & the Relay Team  Froome

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MOON OF LIBERTY TEAM GB OLYMPIC SCOREBOARD

SWIMMING

200m Individual Medley

GOLD – Katrinka Hosszu (Hungary) 

SILVER – Siobhan-Marie O’Conner (GB)

BRONZE – Madeline Dirado (USA)

200m x 4 Freestyle Relay

GOLD – USA

SILVER – Great Britain

BRONZE – Japan

CYCLING

Men’s Individual Time Trial

GOLD – Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland)

SILVER –Tom Dumoulin (Holland)

BRONZE – Chris Froome (GB)

TEAM GB MEDALS

1 GOLD – (Adam Peaty – Swimming)

3 SILVERS – (Jazz Carlin – Swimming) (Siobhan-Marie O’Conner – Swimming) (Stephen Milne, Duncan Scott, Dan Wallace & James Guy – Swimming Relay)

3 BRONZE – (Ed Ling – Shooting) (Tom Daley & Dan Goodfellow – Diving) (Chris Froome – Cycling)

TOTAL – 7

Moon Tennis – Australian Open

Tennis

Australian Open

Men’s Final

Murray loses fifth Austrlaian final as Djokovic reigns supream

A ruthless display from world number one Novak Djokovic sealed an 11th Grand Slam title for the Serb. His opponent, Andy Murray, began as if he had plenty on his mind with his wife due to give birth and his father in law having collapsed earlier in the week. Djokovic raced to the first set 6-1 as Murray barely got started. Murray had his chances to break in a marathon second set that featured many long baseline rallies. However it was Djokovic who broke at 5-6 to take the second set. The third went to a tie break but Djokovic moved into a 6-1 lead in the breaker and sealed the title on his third match point. It was Murray’s fifth defeat in the Australian Open final and Djokovic has now won 11 out of the last 12 meetings between the two. These are the two best players right now, but there is a big gulf even between them at present.

Women’s Final

Kerber stuns Williams to claim first grand Slam

German Angelique Kerber showed few signs of nerves in her first Grand Dalm Final as she defeated World number 1 Serena Williams in a superb three set contest. Kerber seemed to find ways to chase down and use Williams power against her using the speed to return the favour time and time again. Kerber took the first set 6-4 frustrating Williams with her ability to keep making her play the extra shot and eventually got the break. Williams fought back to take the second set 6-3 but had a dreadful start to the final set being broken straight away with Kerber moving into a 5-2 lead. Williams showed her Champion class to get the break back but at 4-5 Kerber broke again with shots the summed up her brilliant perfromance to secure her first major title win. The win also means Williams does not equal Kerber’s fellow German Steffi Graf’s 22 Grand Slams, although that is surely a matter of time. Kerber moves to 2nd in the World rankings on the back of the victory in Melbourne.

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MOON OF LIBERTY SCOREBOARD

Tennis

Australian Open at Melbourne Park, Melbourne, Victoria

Mens Singles (Results From the Quarter-Finals)

Quarter Finals

Roger Federer (Switzerland) Beat Tomas Berdych (Czech Republic) – 3-0 (7-6 6-2 6-4)

Novak Djokovic (Serbia) Beat Kei Nishikori (Japan) – 3-0 (6-3 6-2 6-4)

Andy Murray (GB) Beat David Ferrer (Spain) – 3-1 (6-3 6-7 6-2 6-3)

Milos Raonic (Canada) Best Gael Monfils (France) – 3-1 (6-3 3-6 6-3 6-4)

Semi Finals

Novak Djokovic (Serbia) Beat Roger Federer (Switzerland) – 3-1 (6-1 6-2 3-6 6-3)

Andy Murray (GB) Beat Milos Raonic (Canada) – 3-2 (4-6 7-5 6-7 6-4 6-2)

FINAL

Novak Djokovic (Serbia) Beat Andy Murray (GB) – 3-0 (6-1 7-5 7-6)

Novak Djokovic (Serbia) Wins the 2016 Australian Open

Womens Singles (Results from Quarter Finals)

Quarter Finals

Agnieszka Radwanska (Poland) Beat Carla Suarez Navarro (Spain) – 2-0 (6-1 6-3)

Serena Williams (USA) Beat Maria Sharapova (Russia) – 2-0 (6-4 6-1)

Angelique Kerber (Germany) Beat Viktoria Azarenka (Belarus) – 2-0 (6-3 7-5)

Johanna Konta (GB) Beat Shuai Zhang (China) – 2-0 (6-4 6-1)

Semi Finals

Serena Williams (USA) Beat Agnieszka Radwanska (Poland) – 2-0 (6-0 6-4)

Angelique Kerber (Germany) Beat Johanna Konta (GB) – 2-0 (7-5 6-2)

FINAL

Angelique Kerber (Germany) Beat Serena Williams (USA) 2-1 (6-4 3-6 6-4)

Angelique Kerber (Germany) wins the 2016 Australian Open

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Moon Of Liberty 2015 Random Awards

MOON OF LIBERTY RANDOM AWARDS

Man of the year – Lynton Crosby – The brilliant Australian mastermind behind the Conservatives unlikely election victory, for me, he totally deserves his knighthood.

Woman of the year – Jessica Ennis-Hill – Wins the World Heptathlon title 18 months after having a baby. Now I’ve never had a baby, but I doubt it does much for your fitness. Incredible.

Team of the year – Helen Glover and Heather Stanning – The rowing duo win another world title and another full year unbeaten. These two just march on and on, hopefully to a second consecutive Gold in Rio.

Inspirational figure of the year – Laura Bassett – The lady whose cruel luck saw her desperate attempt to block Japan’s counter attack in the last minute of the Women’s World Cup Semi-Final loop off her foot and from 25 yards hit the bar and bounce over the line. She came back three days later to put in an outstanding performance in the third place match to aid a clean sheet and a win over European Champions Germany.

Moment of the year – 12.23 am on Friday 8th May when the pro Tory swing figures in Swindon came through on ITV, and that along with other information I had at the time via Twitter, was the moment I knew the Conservatives had won the General Election

Film of the Year – The Theory of Everything – The brilliant story of Stephen Hawking’s early life with superb performances from Eddie Redmayne and Felicity Jones. Stunning.

Achievement of the year – Great Britain winning the Davis Cup – Some would say Andy Murray winning the Davis Cup, although one or two other players did contribute. Victory in the World Cup of Tennis for the first time since the 1920’s, an outstanding achievement.

Upset of the year – Jeremy Corbyn becoming Labour leader, neither Tyson Fury winning the World Heaveyweight Title, nor Holly Holm’s win over Ronda Rousey in the UFC, both stunning upsets in their own way, come close to Mr Corbyn.

See-Saw of the year – Jose Mourinho – He won the league, and got sacked, quite a years work for the ‘Special One’

Interview of the year – Jose Mourinho – Him again and his hilariously famous ‘Nothing to say’ interview after defeat to Liverpool.

TV Comedy of the year – Car Share – Peter Kay’s brilliant comedy about two people sat in a car. Who would have thought it would work.

TV Newcomer of the year – Sian Gibson in Car Share, an old friend of Peter Kay’s who had worked with him in the background for years, becoming the star, a fantastic story.

Robbery of the year – Kellie Bright – Was easily the best dancer by the end of Strictly Come Dancing, this usually wins you the title, this year, it didn’t.

Turnaround of the year – Vicky Pattison – I knew nothing about her when she arrived in the jungle, but apparently her reputation was pretty dreadful due to her stint on Geordie Shore. By the end, Britian loved her and made her Queen of the Jungle.

TV Moment of the year – Ferne McCann – She ate a spider, enough said.

Worst Quiz answer of the year – Gemma – We don’t know her surname, but she stated that the person assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald was JR on Pointless. Classic.

Sportsround – Golf, Boxing, Dressage, Darts & Tennis

Golf

Australian Jason Day claimed his first major title becoming the firs player to ever win with a score of 20 under par. A fine shot at the sixteenth hole to birdie finally finished off the challenge of American Jordon Speith who was looking to claim his third major of the season.The second place finish meant Speith did have the consolation of moving to the top of the world rankings ahead of Rory McIlroy but the week belonged to the Australian who played seemingly nerveless golf throughout the final round. Brandon Grace of South Africa and Britain’s Justin Rose were third and fourth respectively.

Boxing

Mexican Carlos Cuadris easily defended his WBC Super Flyweight title against Dixon Flore in Sinaloa on Saturday. After a couple of level opening rounds, the champion began to open up and landing heavy shots to which Flore had no answers. After a dominant fourth round where Flores struggled to not go down, Cuadris eventually caught Flore flush in the fifth finishing the fight to complete a routine defense of the title with the outcome most were expecting.

Dressage

Olympic Champion Charlotte Dujardin won double gold at the European Dressage Championship in Germany. On Saturday she retained the Grand Prix Special title and Sunday made it a double in the freestyle by defeating home hopeful Kristina Broring-Sprehe by a higher mark of 0.2%. Dujardin and horse Valegro,are in form and well on course heading to the Olympics in Rio next year.

Darts

Phil Taylor returned to winning ways with victory at the Perth Masters in Australia. After defeating World Champion Gary Anderson in the Semi-Final he was to play James Wade on the Final. Wade won their last encounter in Blackpool but it was not to be the same result this time. A 130 finish capped off a blistering start from the Power who ran into a 5-1 lead with 11 legs the target. The next session was shared for Taylor to move 8-4 ahead with a 123 finish in the 12th leg.Taylor continued to hold his throw to see out an 11-7 victory to win the title for the 2nd year in a row. The PDC head to Sydney next week in the continuing Australian PDC tour.

Tennis

Andy Murray defeated Novak Djokovic for the first time in 2 years to win the ATP Montreal masters. In a brutal contest worthy of a major final the match went too and fro with a number of games going to several deuces. Murray took the first set 6-4 but Djokovic came straight back winning the first three games of the second eventually levelling the match taking the second set 6-4. Murray got the break at 2-1 in the final set, however was under serious pressure at 4-2 when Djokovic had seven break points during the game. Murray showed great character to see the game out and take the final set 6-3 to kick start his hard court season in the perfect way.

MOON OF LIBERTY SCOREBOARD

Golf

USPGA Gold Championsip at Whistling Straits, Kohler, Wisconsin

FINAL

Jason Day (Australia) -20

Jordon Speith (USA) -17

Brandon Grace (South Africa) -15

Justin Rose (England) -14

Brooks Koepka (USA) -13

Anirban Lahiri (India) -13

Jason Day wins the USPGA Golf Major for 2015

Boxing

WBC Super Flyweight Title at The Alberta Vega Chavez Baseball Park, Guamuchil, Sinaloa, Mexico

Carlos Cuadris (Mexico) Beat Dixon Flore (Nicaragua) by KO in round 5

Still WBC Super Flyweigh Champion … Carlos Cuadris

Darts

Perth Masters Final at the HBF Stadium, Perth, Australia

First to 11

Phil Taylor (England) 11 James Wade (England) 7

Phil Taylor Wins the PDC Perth Masters

Tennis

Rogers Cup Final At The Uniprix Stadium, Montreal, Canada

Andy Murray (Scotland) Beat Novak Djokovic (Serbia) 2-1 (6-4 4-6 6-3)

Andy Murray wins the Rogers Cup 2015

Sunday Sportsround – Cycling, Cricket, Tennis, Snooker & Boxing

Cycling – Froome in control of the tour

German sprinters dominated the 15th stage of the Tour De France today. The stage was won by Andre Griepel who won his third stage of the tour in the French town of Valance.Compatriot John Degenklob came second. Chris Froom who took a big lead in the mountain stages of the Pyrenees earlier in the week has maintained a 3 minute lead over his nearest contenders and is now red hot favourite to win his second tour in three years, which would be a third British victory in four years if he is successful.

Froome’s control has not been without controversy however. Some of the French media have cast aspersions of doping against Team Sky, which includes Froome, Sir Dave Brailsford the team boss has even complained of equipment being stolen by those desperate to try and find something on the team. It should be said there is not a shred of serious evidence to back up the accusations and jealousy may be part of this as Brailsford as head of Team Sky and Previously the British Olympic Team has led many to unprecedented success. This blog believes in innocent until proven guilty, and does not believe the allegations.

Tennis – Britain makes first Semi since 1981

Great Britain defeated 2014 finalists France in their Davis Cup Quarter Final at Queen’s Club in London. The first singles went to plan as Gilles Simon defeated James Ward and Andy Murray beat Joe-Wilfred Tsonga in straight sets on the opening Friday. Captain Leon Smith decided to play Andy Murray alongside his brother Jamie in the doubles on the Saturday and this was where the crowd really got involved in the battle. Nicholas Mahut and Joe-Wilfred Tsonga won the first set but the Murray’s battled back to take the second and then win an epic third set tie-break to take control. They went on to win the third to take a 2-1 lead into the Sunday.

A very tired Andy Murray struggled early on against Gilles Simon with Simon winning the first set and going up a break in the second. However Murray fought back to win the second on the tie-break and going on to defeat his French opponent in four sets including a 6-0 victory in the fourth As Simon wilted towards the end. Britain will play Australia after they came back from 2-0 down in Darwin against Kazakhstan, Veteran Leyton Hewitt won the final rubber to secure a 3-2 win. elsewhere Belgium will face Argentina, Belgium beat Canada and Argentina got the better of Serbia who were without World Number 1 Novak Djokovic.

Cricket – Australia hit back thrashing England at Lords

Australia won a crucial toss on a very good batting wicket at Lords and made England pay by racking up a huge score. Steven Smith scored 215 and opener Rogers got 173. Broad was the only bowler who put up any fight taking four wickets as Austtralia declared on a score of 588. The England response under big scoreboard pressure began badly losing four wickets quickly before Captain Alaistair Cook and Ben Stokes recovered the position. Cook fell just short of a century with 96 and that failure for anyone to get a big score left England well over 200 behind from the first innings.

Australia decided not to enforce the follow on and smith got another half century as did David Warner who top scored with 83. Scoring at speed Australia added another 254 before declaring leaving England with an unlikely target of over 500. However the English batting line up collapsed, summed up by a ridiculous run out of Stokes. Broad top scored with a mere 25 as Johnson took three wickets and Australia bowled England out for 103 to level the Ashes series at 1-1 and take all the momentum into the third game in Birmingham in two weeks time.

Snooker – John Higgins wins the Australian Open

John Higgins has won his 27th ranking title in Bendigo, Australia beating Martin Gould in a final frame decider. The match was close throughout with the game locked at 4-4 at the mid interval and then 7-7 after Gould had come back from 7-4 down. Higgins took a scrappy frame to take an 8-7 lead but Gould hit back to level again and take the final into a final frame. Higgins took his first chance in that final frame with a break of 89 to take the title. With Higgins 13th on the ranking list, the win should help him retain a top 16 place with his first win since the Welsh Open in February.

Boxing – Two new champions crowned

In a big night of Boxing all around the world Puerto Rican Mcjoe Arroyo became the new IBF Super Flyweight champion in Texas defeating Arthur Villanueva of Mexico after the fight went to the scorecards after the referee called a halt to proceedings after a cut to the Mexican. Arroyo was comfortably ahead on all three cards. On the same card Northern Ireland’s Carl Frampton recovered from two knock downs early to defeat Alenjandro Gonzalez Jr by a comfortable unanimous decision to defend his Super Bantamweight title.

Two Manchester fighters had differing fortunes as they got home town World Title fight opportunities at the MEN Arena in Manchester. Scott Quigg defended his version of the Super Bantamweight title knocking out Kiko Martinez of Spain in two rounds and a unification fight with Carl Frampton remains a possibility. Meanwhile Anthony Crolla took on Colombian Lightweight champion Darleys Perez. Many thought the challenger had done enough to win the fight, especially given Perez had two points deducted for low blows.However the judges delivered a verdict of a split decision draw meaning Perez retains his title. A rematch is certainly a possibility.

A grudge match was settled in Halle, Germany where veteran German based Armenian Arthur Abraham knocked out Richard Steiglitz in six rounds to defend his Super Middleweight title. There has been a long war of words going into the fight but Abraham gave a vintage performance kncoking his Russian opponent down in the fourth before finishing the job in the sixth. Finally In Macao, China Argentinian Cesar Cuenta was crowned the new IBF Light-Welterweight title. The belt was vacant and hometown favourite the unbeaten Ik Yang was out of his depth at world level. Cuenta knocked Ik Yang down in the first round and dominated the fight, winning an easy unanimous decision to take the title.

MOON OF LIBERTY SCOREBOARD

CYCLING

Tour De France (Reigning Champion Vincenzo Niebly)

Stage 15 – Mende to Valance

Stage result

1st Andre Greipel (Germany)

2nd John Degenklob (Germany)

3rd Alexander Kristoff (Norway)

Overall Positions

1st Chris Froome (GB)

2nd Nairo Quintana (Colombia) +3 Mins 10 Secs

3rd Teejay Van Garderen (USA) +3 Mins 32 Secs

TENNIS

At Queen’s Tennis Club, West Kensington, London

Davis Cup Quarter Final (Current David Cup Holders Switzerland)

Great Britain V France

Game 1 – G Simon Beat J Ward 3-0 (6-4, 6-4, 6-1)

Game 2 – A Murray Beat J-W Tsonga 3-0 (7-5, 7-6, 6-2)

Game 3 (Doubles) – A Murray & J Murray Beat N Mahut & J-W Tsonga 3-1 (4-6, 6-3, 7-6, 6-1)

Game 4 – A Murray Beat G Simon 3-1 (4-6, 7-6, 6-3, 6-0)

Game 5 – Not Played by agreement

FINAL SCORE – Great Britain 3 France 1

CRICKET

At Lords Cricket Ground, ST John’s Wood, London

2nd Ashes Test (Current Ashes Holders Australia)

England V Australia

Australia 1st Inns – 588-8 Declared (Smith 215, Rogers 173, Broad 4-83)

England 1st Inns – 312 ALL OUT (Cook 96, Stokes 87 Johnson 3-53)

Australia 2nd Inns – 254-2 Declared (Warner 83, Smith 58)

England 2nd Inns – 103 ALL OUT (Broad 25, Johnson 3-27)

Australia win by 405 runs

MOON OF LIBERTY STAR MAN – Steven Smith (Australia)

Series Level at 1-1

BOXING

At The Manchester Evening News Arena, Manchester

WBA Super Bantamweight Title (Champion Scott Quigg)

Scott Quigg (England) Beat Kiko Martinez (Spain) by KO in Round 2

STILL WBA Super bantamweight Champion … Scot Quigg

WBA Lightweight Title (Champion Darleys Perez)

Darleys Perez (Colombia) drew with Anthony Crolla (England) after split decision (114-113, 111-116, 113-113)

STILL WBA Lightweight Champion … Darleys Perez

At The Don Haskins Convention Center, El Paso, Texas

IBF Super Bantamweight Title (Champion Carl Frampton)

Carl Frampton (N Ireland) Beat Alejandro Gonzalez Jr (Mexico) by Unanimous decision (116-108, 116-108, 115-109)

STILL IBF Super Bantamweight Champion … Carl Frampton

IBF Super Flyweight Title (Vacant)

McJoe Arroyo (Puerto Rico) Beat Arthur Villanueva (Philippines) by Unanimous decision (On Scorecards after fight stopped due to a cut after 10 rounds) (97-92, 98-91, 98-91)

NEW IBF Super Flyweight Champion … McJoe Arroyo

At The Gerry Webber Stadium, Halle, Germany

WBO Super Middleweight Title (Champion Arthur Abraham)

Arthur Abraham (Armenia) Beat Robert Stieglitz (Russia) by KO in Round 6

STILL WBO Super Middleweight champion … Arthur Abraham

At The Venetian Casino, Macao, China

IBF Light Welterweight Title (Vacant)

Cesar Cuenca (Argentina) Beat Ik Yang (China) By Unanimous Decision (117-108, 115-110, 116-109)

NEW IBF Light Welterweight Champion … Cesar Cuenca

SNOOKER

At the Bendigo Stadium, Bendigo, Victoria, Australia

Austrlian Open Snooker Final (Best of 17) (Reigning Champion Judd Trump)

John Higgins (Scotland) 9 Martin Gould (England) 8

John Higgins Wins the Australian Open Snooker Title

Sportsround – Cricket, Tennis and Cycling

Tennis – Wimbledon Men’s Semi-Finals

The top two in the world showed their class to go through to the Wimbledon Final this afternoon. Novak Djokovic was first up taking on a brave but ultimately outclassed Richard Gasquet. The Frenchman took the first set to a tie-break but Djokovic gained key mini breaks early on to comfortably take the first set. From then on, without having to play great tennis, The Serb was just too good running out the winner in straight sets.

It was a similar story in the second semi as Roger Federer rolled back the years to produce one of his finest performances ever to see off home favourite Andy Murray. His first serve percentage was over 80% in the first two sets and he managed to get the break in both as the pressure on Murray told. Federer took both of the first two sets 7-5 and the third followed a similar pattern with Federer breaking at 5-4 up to take the match. If he plays like this on Sunday, he will have every chance of causing an upset against Djokovic. The two have been a class above the rest and deserve to fight out the final.

Cricket – The 1st Ashes Test Day 3

England have set Australia 412 over the final 2 days to win the 1st ashes test match in Cardiff. Joe Root and Ian Bell top scored with 60 each in England’s second innings with Nathan Lyon taking four wickets for Australia as England posted 289 in their 2nd innings. Earlier England has bowled the Australians all out for 308 to take a strong 1st innings lead of 122. England are now favourites to win the test, however having 2 days to chase the total down, Australia could yet win it themselves. the draw, which earlier looked the most likely outcome, is now a very unlikely outcome unless Cardiff gets plenty of rain.

Cycling – Tour De France Stage 7

Britian’s Mark Cavendish ended days of frustration by finally taking his first sprint stage of this years tour. The victory is his 26th stage win of his career and he is now only two short of moving to second place on the all time list. On the overall race Chris Froome leads Slovakian Peter Sagan by 11 seconds after Tony Martin had to withdraw due to the previous days crash.

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MOON OF LIBERTY SCOREBOARD

TENNIS

At The All England Tennis & Croquet Club, Wimbledon

Wimbledon Semi-Finals

Novak Djokovic (Serbia) (1) beat Richard Gasquet (France (21) – 3-0 (7-6 6-4 6-4)

Roger Federer (Switzerland) (2) beat Andy Murray (GB) (3) – 3-0 (7-5 7-5 6-4)

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CRICKET

At Sophia Gardens, Cardiff

1st Ashes Test, Day 3

1st Innings

England – 430 ALL OUT (Root 134, Moeen 77, Ballance 61, Stokes 52, Starc 5-114)

Australia – 308 ALL OUT (Rogers 95, Anderson 3-43)

2nd Innings

England – 289 ALL OUT (Root 60, Bell 60, Lyon 4-75)

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CYCLING

Tour De France Stage 7 – Livarot to Fougeres

Stage top 3

1st Mark Cavendish (GB)

2nd Andre Greipel (Germany)

3rd Peter Sagan (Slovakia)

Overall Top 3

1st Chris Froome (GB)

2nd Peter Sagan (Slovakia) +11 seconds

3rd Tejay van Garderen (USA) +13 seconds

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