World No.132 Diatchenko stuns Sharapova in Wimbledon 1st round
Wimbledon, July 4 : Russia's Maria Sharapova suffered an upset against 132nd-ranked countrywoman Vitalia Diatchenko, who prevailed 6-7 (3-7), 7-6 (7-3), 6-4 in the first round of Wimbledon tennis championships here on Tuesday.
The 24th-seeded Sharapova, who was playing Wimbledon for the first time since returning to the WTA Tour last year after serving a 15-month doping suspension, won the first set in part due to her opponent's six double faults, reports Efe.
But the 27-year-old Diatchenko was more solid down the stretch and corrected her serving problems, committing just three double faults over the final two sets.
The underdog's superior winning percentage on second-serve points (a reflection of her superiority from the baseline) was the difference, as she won 53 per cent of those points compared to 41 percent for her much more accomplished countrywoman.
The 2004 champion and 2011 runner-up, who did not compete in last year's event due to injury, had never before lost in the first round of Wimbledon in 13 previous appearances.
Meanwhile, top-seeded Simona Halep of Romania began her journey at the 2018 Wimbledon with 6-2, 6-4 first-round victory over Kurumi Nara.
The world No. 1, fresh off winning her first Grand Slam title at the French Open, needed just an hour and 18 minutes to beat the Japanese world No. 100.
The Romanian star had not played an official tournament match since her breakthrough performance in Paris.
Halep will square off in the second round against Chinese world No. 126 Saisai Zheng.
In the men's section, three-time champion Novak Djokovic cruised into the second round with a 6-3, 6-1, 6-2 victory over American Tennys Sandgren.
The score was a perfect reflection of the reality on court, as the Serbian 12-time Grand Slam champion faced just one break point (losing it to drop serve) and converted seven of his 19 break-point chances.
Sandgren was a potentially tough first-round opponent who made a surprise run to the quarter-finals of this year's Australian Open. But he was no match for an all-time great player who has shown in recent weeks that he has put his injury woes behind him and is ready to go deep at major tournaments.
Djokovic will next take on Argentina's Horacio Zeballos in the second round.
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Cong says LoPs not invited to Putin banquet, takes swipe at Tharoor for accepting invite
New Delhi (PTI): The Congress on Friday said Leaders of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi have not been invited to the banquet for Russian President Vladimir Putin, and took a swipe at its own MP Shashi Tharoor for accepting the invite.
Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said, "There has been speculation whether the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha have been invited for tonight's official dinner in honour of President Putin. The two LoPs have not been invited."
Congress' media and publicity department head Pawan Khera accused the government of breaking protocols daily and not believing in democratic principles.
"There is no invite to both the LoPs, Mr (Mallikarjun) Kharge and Mr (Rahul) Gandhi. This comes as a surprise but I don't think we should be surprised. This government is known to be breaching all protocols. What else to say, ask the government," he told PTI Videos on the sidelines of an event.
Asked about party MP Tharoor getting invited to the banquet and accepting the invitation, Khera said, "Ask Mr. Tharoor. All of us who are in the party, if our leaders don't get invited and we get invited, we need to question our own conscience and listen to our conscience. Politics has been played in inviting or not inviting people, which in itself is questionable and those who accept such an invite is also questionable," Khera said.
"We would have listened to our voice of conscience," he added.
Earlier, Tharoor said there was a time when the chairman of the external affairs committee was routinely invited but that practice seems to have stopped from some years.
"It has been resumed ...I have been invited, yes. I will definitely go," the chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs said.
On the LoPs reportedly not getting an invite, Tharoor said, "I don't know on what basis invitations were sent. I think the custom that usually used to be followed was for a wide representation. Certainly, I remember in the olden days, they used to invite not only the LoPs, (but) various other cross section of representatives of different parties. It conveys a good impression."
"I dont know the basis (of invitation), this is all done by the government, by the protocol by the Rashtrapati Bhawan, what do I know. All I can say I have honoured to have been invited. Of course I will go," Tharoor told reporters in the Parliament House complex.
Gandhi on Thursday had alleged that the government tells visiting foreign dignitaries not to meet the Leader of the Opposition due to its "insecurity".
His remarks had come hours ahead of Putin's two-day visit to India.
Gandhi had said it is a tradition that visiting foreign dignitaries meet the LoP but Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Ministry of External Affairs were not following this norm.
"Normally the tradition is that those who come from abroad have a meeting with the LoP. This used to happen during (Atal Bihari) Vajpayee ji's time, Manmohan Singh ji's time, it has been a tradition but what happens these days is that when foreign dignitaries come and when I go abroad, the government suggests to them to not meet the LoP," Gandhi had told reporters in Parliament House complex.
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