There was no easing into a title defence for Novak Djokovic, starting his Australian Open against the man who upset Rafael Nadal here last year in the first round.
He lifted when he most needed to Tuesday night, holding off Fernando Verdasco in a 71-minute, momentum-swinging second set before winning 6-1, 7-6 (4), 6-2. There were glares, stares and frustrated outbursts from both players who met in a tense semi-final earlier this month in Doha, where Djokovic won after saving five match points.
“When I saw the draw, I thought to myself this is going to be the only match I’m going to focus on,” said Djokovic, aiming to be the first man to win seven Australian titles. “If he’s on, you never know.
“I started well with a great intensity. First and third sets went well, second set was a gamble — pretty close.”
Another six-time champion had a tough first round, with Serena Williams needing to produce some of her best tennis to get far enough ahead against Belinda Bencic that a late lapse wasn’t a real worry.
After starting her quest for a record 23rd Grand Slam title with a 6-4, 6-3 first-round win, Williams walked into her news conference wearing a black shirt with the word “Equality” printed across the front.
It was still before midnight Monday in the United States, where the holiday in honour of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. was nearly ending.
“With today being Martin Luther King Day, it’s important to spread the message of equality,” Williams said. “Something he talked about a lot and he tried to spread a lot, is equality and rights for everyone.”
Asked if she was concerned about the future of equality in the US, Williams declined to get into specifics but said the issue is “a concern for just everyone in general.”
“We want to make sure we always continue to move forward and always have the opportunity to have equal rights for all.”
Williams became engaged to Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian during the holiday break, and he was in the crowd watching her play at Rod Laver Arena. She has been asked repeatedly about her wedding plans since arriving in Australia. She gave a clearer time frame for discussion on that.
“February I’ll start looking at the bigger picture of my life,” she said. “But right now I’m just so focused that this is kind of all I can think about.”
For five games in the second set, Williams played almost flawless tennis. Then came the rustiness that tends to follow a lengthy layoff.
Williams, after three double faults — including one on match point — and “some errors on key points,” held on to improve her record in the first round of Grand Slam tournaments to 65-1.
Nadal, also on the comeback from a couple of months on the sidelines following the US. Open with an injured left wrist, had a 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 win over Florian Mayer to go one better than he did last year in Australia.
“Great. I’m happy to do an interview with you — last year, I didn’t have the chance!” Nadal said in his on-court interview. “Very happy this year.”
Third-seeded Milos Raonic, who reached the semi-finals in Australia last year and the final at Wimbledon, opened with a 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 win over Dustin Brown.
On a day when the temperature reached almost 38 Celsius (100 Fahrenheit), No. 11 David Goffin was pushed all the way before beating 19-year-old qualifier Reilly Opelka, making his Grand Slam debut, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, 4-6, 6-4.
Also advancing were No. 8 Dominc Thiem, No. 13 Roberto Bautista Agut, No. 15 Grigor Dimitrov, No. 18 Richard Gasquet, No. 24 Alexander Zverev, No. 25 Gilles Simon, and No. 32 Philipp Kohlschreiber.
Two women who had breakout seasons in 2016, and opened this season with tournament titles, advanced in straight sets.
US. Open finalist Karolina Pliskova following her title win at the Brisbane International with a 6-2, 6-0 victory over Sara Sorribes Tormo. Johanna Konta, a surprise semi-finalist in her debut at the Australian Open last year, won the Sydney International last week and opened here with a 7-5, 6-2 win over Kirsten Flipkens.
Lucie Safarova beat Yanina Wickmayer 3-6, 7-6 (7), 6-1 and will next play Williams.
WTA Finals champion Dominika Cibulkova and former No 1-ranked Caroline Wozniacki had straight-set wins.
Heather Watson beat local hope and 18th-seeded Sam Stosur, the 2011 US. Open champion, 6-3, 3-6, 6-0.
Also progressing to the second round were No. 14 Elena Vesnina, No. 21 Caroline Garcia, No 28 Alize Cornet, No. 30 Ekaterina Makarova, No. 31 Yulia Putintseva and Naomi Osaka, who beat Thai wild-card entry Luksika Kumkhum 6-7 (2), 6-4, 7-5.
* Associated Press
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The specs
Engine: Dual 180kW and 300kW front and rear motors
Power: 480kW
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Transmission: Single-speed automatic
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The specs
Engine: Direct injection 4-cylinder 1.4-litre
Power: 150hp
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Price: From Dh139,000
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Director: Laxman Utekar
Cast: Vicky Kaushal, Akshaye Khanna, Diana Penty, Vineet Kumar Singh, Rashmika Mandanna
Rating: 1/5
THE LIGHT
Director: Tom Tykwer
Starring: Tala Al Deen, Nicolette Krebitz, Lars Eidinger
Rating: 3/5
Key 2013/14 UAE Motorsport dates
October 4: Round One of Rotax Max Challenge, Al Ain (karting)
October 1: 1 Round One of the inaugural UAE Desert Championship (rally)
November 1-3: Abu Dhabi Grand Prix (Formula One)
November 28-30: Dubai International Rally
January 9-11: 24Hrs of Dubai (Touring Cars / Endurance)
March 21: Round 11 of Rotax Max Challenge, Muscat, Oman (karting)
April 4-10: Abu Dhabi Desert Challenge (Endurance)
Our legal consultants
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh825,900
On sale: Now
BANGLADESH SQUAD
Mashrafe Mortaza (captain), Tamim Iqbal, Liton Das, Soumya Sarkar, Mushfiqur Rahim (wicketkeeper), Mahmudullah, Shakib Al Hasan (vice captain), Mohammad Mithun, Sabbir Rahaman, Mosaddek Hossain, Mohammad Saifuddin, Mehidy Hasan Miraz, Rubel Hossain, Mustafizur Rahman, Abu Jayed (Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru Editing by Amlan Chakraborty)
Company%20profile
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Cryopreservation: A timeline
- Keyhole surgery under general anaesthetic
- Ovarian tissue surgically removed
- Tissue processed in a high-tech facility
- Tissue re-implanted at a time of the patient’s choosing
- Full hormone production regained within 4-6 months
Defined benefit and defined contribution schemes explained
Defined Benefit Plan (DB)
A defined benefit plan is where the benefit is defined by a formula, typically length of service to and salary at date of leaving.
Defined Contribution Plan (DC)
A defined contribution plan is where the benefit depends on the amount of money put into the plan for an employee, and how much investment return is earned on those contributions.
Meydan race card
6.30pm: Maiden Dh 165,000 1,600m
7.05pm: Handicap Dh 185,000 2,000m
7.40pm: Maiden Dh 165,000 1,600m
8.15pm: Handicap Dh 190,000 1,400m
8.50pm: Handicap Dh 175,000 1,600m
9.25pm: Handicap Dh 175,000 1,200m
10pm: Handicap Dh 165,000 1,600m
BeIN Sports currently has the rights to show
- Champions League
- English Premier League
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- Italian, French and Scottish leagues
- Wimbledon and other tennis majors
- Formula One
- Rugby Union - Six Nations and European Cups
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COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Alhaan Ahmed, Alyina Ahmed and Maximo Tettamanzi
Total funding: Self funded
Profile Idealz
Company: Idealz
Founded: January 2018
Based: Dubai
Sector: E-commerce
Size: (employees): 22
Investors: Co-founders and Venture Partners (9 per cent)
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.”
Emergency
Director: Kangana Ranaut
Stars: Kangana Ranaut, Anupam Kher, Shreyas Talpade, Milind Soman, Mahima Chaudhry
Rating: 2/5