Bopanna-Ebden advance to Miami Open quarterfinals
Miami Gardens (US) (PTI): Indian tennis player Rohan Boppana and his Australian partner Matthew Ebden moved to the men's doubles quarterfinals of the Miami Open with a hard-fought win against Hugo Nys and Jan Zielinski here.
Top seeds Bopanna and Ebden toiled for one hour 39 minutes before pulling off a 7-5 7-6 (3) win over Monegasque Nys and Poland's Zielinski in the second round of the ATP Masters 1000 on Monday night.
The 43-year-old Bopanna and Ebden will take on Australia's John Patrick Smith and Netherlands Sem Verbeek.
The reigning Australian Open champions hit four aces and won 84 per cent (37/44) of their first serve points.
The match was contested on an even keel. Bopanna and Ebden broke Nys and Zielinski in the 11th game to take a 6-5 lead. They then fought off a late challenge, saving a couple of break points before taking the 12th game and the opening set.
There was not much separating the two pairs in the second set as well with both of them holding serve till 6-6 to take the match to the tiebreaker.
But a double fault by Nys and Zielinski led to their downfall as the Indo-Australian duo capitalised on it to take the set and the match.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
In matters concerning liberty of citizens, every single day counts: SC
New Delhi (PTI): Every single day counts in matters concerning the liberty of citizens, the Supreme Court said on Friday while asking the Delhi High Court to decide on the regular bail plea of a businessman in a corruption case related to the now scrapped Delhi excise policy.
The petitioner's regular bail application has been heard by the high court on 40 occasions and now the matter has been adjourned to July 8, a bench of Justices B R Gavai and Sandeep Mehta was told by senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for businessman Amandeep Singh Dhall.
"This cannot be that after 40 hearings, you don't decide the regular bail," he said.
The bench noted it has been informed that his regular bail plea was filed in July last year.
"In matters concerning the liberty of citizens, every single day counts. Keeping the matter of regular bail pending after almost 11 months deprives the petitioner of his liberty," the bench said.
"We request the high court to decide the bail application prior to the closure for summer vacations," it said.
Summer vacations in the high court start from June 3. May 31 will be the last working day.
Dhall is an accused in separate cases linked to the excise policy which are being probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Enforcement Directorate (ED). The ED's money laundering case stems from a CBI FIR.
A trial court had earlier dismissed his regular bail plea in a corruption case lodged by the CBI.
According to the probe agencies, Dhall allegedly conspired with other accused and was "actively" involved in the formulation of the liquor policy and facilitating kickbacks to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and its recoupment by the "South Group" through various means.
According to the CBI and the ED, irregularities were committed while modifying the excise policy and undue favours extended to licence holders.
The Delhi government implemented the policy on November 17, 2021 and scrapped it at the end of September 2022 amid allegations of corruption.
