A severe ankle injury sent Serena Wiliams crashing to the court in the Brisbane International, and it may keep her from competing at the Australian Open.
A severe ankle injury sent Serena Wiliams crashing to the court in the Brisbane International, and it may keep her from competing at the Australian Open.
A severe ankle injury sent Serena Wiliams crashing to the court in the Brisbane International, and it may keep her from competing at the Australian Open.
A severe ankle injury sent Serena Wiliams crashing to the court in the Brisbane International, and it may keep her from competing at the Australian Open.

Sport

Serena Williams a doubt for Australian Open

Serena Williams limped out of the Brisbane International in what could be a major setback in her preparations for the Australia Open.

Agencies

January 05, 2012

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Serena Williamslimped out of the Brisbane International on Wednesday in what could be a major setback for her Australian Open preparations.

The American, playing a tournament for the first time since losing last year's US Open final, was serving for the match with a 6-2, 5-3 lead against Serbia's Bojana Jovanovski when she twisted her ankle and crashed to the court.

The 13-time grand slam winner needed treatment as she lay near the baseline for several minutes and then had the ankle retaped before resuming the match and losing the next point to surrender a service break.

Williams limped through the next game, wincing in pain after at least two points, before securing a 6-2, 6-4 win to advance to the quarter-finals, but was forced to withdraw after a subsequent scan.

"I'm disappointed to have to pull out," she told wtatennis.com.

"I have been to the hospital and it has been confirmed that I have a left ankle sprain that I probably shouldn't play on. I'm going to take a couple of days off and see how I feel. I'm still hopeful of playing the Australian Open."

Samantha Stosur, the top seed and home favourite, was eliminated by Iveta Benesova, with the Czech player triumphing 6-4, 6-2.

"I probably didn't do what I set out to do," Stosur said.

"As the match went on it got harder and harder to try and stop what was happening."

The other women's quarter-finals saw the in-form Kaia Kanepi hammer Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, the seventh seed, 6-0, 6-3, and Jelena Jankovic, the sixth seed, beat Russia's Nina Bratchikova 6-3, 6-2.

Andy Murray, the men's top seed, was forced to recover from a set down for the second day in succession to beat Luxembourg's Gilles Muller. The world No 4 lost the opening set 6-4 after a dismal final service game but took the second on a tie-break and powered through the decider to win 4-6, 7-6, 6-0. The Scot will next face Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis, a 6-3, 6-4 winner over Kei Nishikori, the fifth seed. Alexander Dolgopolov, the third seed, also faced a stern test before overcoming Russia's Igor Andreev 6-7, 7-6, 6-2.

Gilles Simon beat Sydney teenager James Duckworth 6-3, 7-5 but Bernard Tomic kept home hopes alive with a routine 6-1, 6-2 win over Japan's Tatsuma Ito.

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While you're here
Who is Mohammed Al Halbousi?

The new speaker of Iraq’s parliament Mohammed Al Halbousi is the youngest person ever to serve in the role.

The 37-year-old was born in Al Garmah in Anbar and studied civil engineering in Baghdad before going into business. His development company Al Hadeed undertook reconstruction contracts rebuilding parts of Fallujah’s infrastructure.

He entered parliament in 2014 and served as a member of the human rights and finance committees until 2017. In August last year he was appointed governor of Anbar, a role in which he has struggled to secure funding to provide services in the war-damaged province and to secure the withdrawal of Shia militias. He relinquished the post when he was sworn in as a member of parliament on September 3.

He is a member of the Al Hal Sunni-based political party and the Sunni-led Coalition of Iraqi Forces, which is Iraq’s largest Sunni alliance with 37 seats from the May 12 election.

He maintains good relations with former Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki’s State of Law Coaliton, Hadi Al Amiri’s Badr Organisation and Iranian officials.

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”

MATCH INFO

Real Madrid 3 (Kroos 4', Ramos 30', Marcelo 37')

Eibar 1 (Bigas 60')

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Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
  • Priority access to new homes from participating developers
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  • Flexible payment plans from developers
  • Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
  • DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Our legal columnist

Name: Yousef Al Bahar

Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994

Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers

COMPANY%20PROFILE
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ESSENTIALS

The flights

Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh via Yangon from Dh2,700 return including taxes. Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air offer return flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap from Dh250 return including taxes. The flight takes about 45 minutes.

The hotels

Rooms at the Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh cost from $225 (Dh826) per night including taxes. Rooms at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor cost from $261 (Dh960) per night including taxes.

The tours

A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages. 

The specs

Common to all models unless otherwise stated

Engine: 4-cylinder 2-litre T-GDi

0-100kph: 5.3 seconds (Elantra); 5.5 seconds (Kona); 6.1 seconds (Veloster)

Power: 276hp

Torque: 392Nm

Transmission: 6-Speed Manual/ 8-Speed Dual Clutch FWD

Price: TBC

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