Sports

According to reports from Roland Garros in Paris, Black and Huber, who were the top seeds, came unstuck in the last four against number 10 seeds Medina Garrigues and Ruano Pascual who beat them in straight sets 6-4, 7-6 (7-2) in a match which lasted two hours 16 minutes. In the final, Medina Garrigues and Ruano Pascual will meet fellow surprise packets, the unseeded pair of Casey Dellacqua of Australia and Italy’s Francisca Schiavone who ousted seventh seeds Alona and Kateryna Bondarenko of Ukraine in straight sets 6-2, 6-1 in the other semi-final tie yesterday.

And Medina Garrigues and Ruano Pascual must now be fancying their chances of lifting the women’s doubles title at this year’s French Open after their shock defeat of top seeds Black and Huber in yesterday’s exciting semi-final tie.

After taking the first set 6-4 in 46 minutes, the two Spanish girls looked liked they had lost their concentration in the second, which saw the first three games going with serve before Black and Huber broke their serve in the fourth game to take a 3-1 lead.

But Medina Garrigues and Ruano Pascual refused to be intimidated by their much-fancied opponents as they quickly broke back to reduce the arrears to 2-3.

They then went on to hold serve in the fifth game to level the scores at 3-3 and the game was now alive.

Another break of serve in the seventh game saw the Spaniards taking the lead for the first time in the second set (4-3) before winning the eighth game to stretch their lead to 5-3 and an upset victory was on the cards for them.

But Black and Huber, who were now fighting for survival, took the ninth game to trail 4-5 before winning the next to make it 5-5 as the next two games went with serve, forcing a tie-break.

And there was no stopping Medina Garrigues and Ruano Pascual in the tie-break in which they raked up seven points, losing only two as they sent Black and Huber tumbling out of the tournament.

The second set lasted one hour 30 minutes and the Spanish girls really enjoyed every minute of it as they gave as much as they got against Black and Huber who they left shell-shocked after this match.

Yesterday’s defeat to Medina Garrigues and Ruano Pascual left Black and Huber still searching for their first Grand Slam title of the year although they have already won three women’s doubles titles on the road this season.

2) THE fixture for the rugby World Cup and Africa Cup Qualifiers for Pool A have been changed following a request by Senegal to shift their game against Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe were expected to play Senegal in Harare on July 12 before travelling to Windhoek, Namibia, for a date against the Zebras on August 2.

Senegal wrote to the International Rugby Board through the Confederation of African Rugby asking for the favour as the date was “too close to the elections.”

But now the Sables will first have to play the Zebras away on July 12 before the West Africans travel to Zimbabwe for the game set for August 2.

“Senegal asked for their game against Zimbabwe to be changed saying it (the date) was too close to the election so they cannot travel to Zimbabwe during that time.

“We assured them that Zimbabwe is safe but the final decision had to come from the IRB through the Confederation (of African Rugby) and so it means we will have to travel first,” said Sables manager Losson Mtongwiza.

At the weekend, the Sables were in Zambia where they were preparing for the qualifiers and they beat the hosts 31-7 in a friendly match.

This was also their first match of the year and the defence stood strong, thanks to Sevens coach Liam Middleton who had a full session with them before their departure.

Zimbabwe traveled with three teams, including the Under-21 side and the women’s side, and only managed to win the Sables game.