Translated material
Chronicle
American Venus Williams became the winner of the WTA tournament with a prize fund of $220 thousand on the courts of the Mexican resort of Acapulco. In the decisive match, the black tennis player defeated Italian representative Flavia Pennetta - 6:1, 6:2.
Williams Sr. improved as the tournament progressed. If in the earlier stages she needed three games each in order to break the resistance of Nuria Llagostra-Vives (Spain), Greta Arn (Germany) and the Hungarian “lucky loser” Agnes Shavay, then in the semifinals Venus easily dealt with the Czech Barbara Strycova, giving She's only three games into it. In the last game of the tournament, the winner finished in just an hour. This is the American's second title this season and 41st in her career.
In Acapulco, men's competitions were also held at the same time. In the final, Spaniard Nicolas Almagro prevailed over second-seeded Frenchman Gal Monfils - 6:4, 6:4. The tournament in Dubai had a similar “category 500” status, but the prize fund in the Emirates was a million dollars more than in Mexico - 2,233,500. Naturally, the composition of the participants here turned out to be more serious. The result is logical - the victory went to the first rank of the tournament, Serbian Novak Djokovic. He won the title in the final against Spaniard David Ferrer. Our Dmitry Tursunov, together with South African Rick De Fost, received a prize for success in the doubles combination. The results of the decisive match with the tandem Martin Damm (Czech Republic) - Robert Linstead (Sweden) - 4:6, 6:3 and 10:5 in super tiebreaker.
Marbury made a successful debut for Boston
Basketball. NBA. Regular season. Philadelphia - Orlando - 100:106, Memphis - Oklahoma - 92:99, Chicago - Houston - 105:102, Clippers - Charlotte -- 95:100, "Miami" -- "New York" -- 120:115, "Milwaukee" -- "Washington" -- 109:93, "Utah" -- "Sacramento" -- 102:89.
Boston made a wise personnel move by signing point guard Stephon Marbary (born 1977) to a deal equal to the veteran's minimum of $1.3 million per season. "We are very pleased with the acquisition of this player," Celtics general manager Danny Ainge said. “We hope he will play an important role in the team’s pursuit of another NBA title.” Before moving to Boston, Marbury was a player for New York, but, having a large contract, he clashed with management and last appeared on the court in an official match on January 11 last year. It's worth remembering that last season, Boston signed free agents Sam Cassell and Pi in late February. Jay. Brown with an eye on the playoffs, which ended in the triumph of the Celts.
Marbury's debut came in a home match against Indiana (104:99), which took place on Saturday night European time. Stephon entered the game very successfully after a long break: during Boston’s key breakthrough in the final quarter (9:0), Marbury scored 6 points.
Hockey. NHL. Regular season. Boston - Washington - 3:4 (OT), Dallas - Anaheim - 3:4, Ottawa - Toronto - 3:4 (OT), Montreal " -- "San Jose" -- 3:2, "Nashville" -- "Detroit" -- 8:0, "Edmonton" -- "Minnesota" -- 3:2, "New Jersey" -- " Florida - 7:2, Islanders - Buffalo - 2:0, Rangers - Colorado - 6:1, Atlanta - Carolina - 5:3, “Phoenix” – “St. Louis” – 1:3.
Iskra broke the losing streak
Volleyball. Super League. Men. 20th round. "Lokomotiv" NS - "Ural" - 3:0 (25:21, 25:19, 36:34), NOVA - "Ugra-Samotlor" - 0:3 (16:25, 20:25, 19 :25), "Dynamo" M -- "Yaroslavich" -- 3:1 (24:26, 25:21, 25:19, 25:21), "Zenit" -- "Fakel" -- 2:3 ( 25:20, 26:28, 25:19, 16:25, 12:15), Iskra - Gazprom-Yugra - 3:1 (23:25, 25:19, 25:18, 25 :21), "Metalloinvest" - "Lokomotiv-Belogorye" - 2:3 (25:16, 25:12, 22:25, 22:25, 6:15). Leading: Fakel - 45 points (17 wins - 3 losses), Dynamo M - 44 (14--6), Iskra - 43 (14--6), Zenit - 38 (12--8). Lokomotiv-Belogorye - 36 (13--7).
The silver medalist of the previous championship, Iskra, interrupted a series of three defeats, but still gave one set to Gazprom-Yugra on its court. Lokomotiv-Belogorye has eight wins in its last nine matches. Fakel continued its winning streak in Kazan. Zenit's American diagonal Clayton Stanley brought his team 28 points (including six aces); the guests' top scorers were Anton Kulikovsky (22) and Mikhail Beketov (20).
In the matches of the 17th round of the Women's Super League, the following results were recorded: “Avtodor” - “Fakel” - 3:2, “Nugget” - “Balakovo NPP” - 3:0, “Dynamo-Yantar” - “Indesit” " -- 2:3, "University" -- "Zarechye-Odintsovo" -- 0:3, "Leningradka" -- "Dynamo" -- 2:3, "Spartak" -- "Uralochka" -- 0:3 . Dynamo are in the lead with 15 wins, Zarechye, Samorodka and Universitet have 12 wins each.
Topalov defeated Kamsky
In Sofia (Bulgaria) the match for the right to play with the world champion Indian Viswanathan Anand ended. A six-game confrontation between Veselin Topalov and Gata Kamsky, competing under the US flag, brought victory to the Bulgarian - 4.5:2.5. Topalov won the second game with black pieces, the fifth and seventh games with white pieces, and Kamsky, having a color advantage, won the fourth game. According to the regulations, the match format required eight games, but Topalov completed it ahead of schedule.