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Spain overhaul Czech Republic thanks to record breaker David Villa






Euro 2012 Qual Group I

Spain 2
  • Villa 69,
  • Villa (pen) 73
Czech Republic 1
  • Plasil 29


  • Reuters
  • guardian.co.uk, Friday 25 March 2011 23.28 GMT <li class="history">Article history
    Spain-v-Czech-Republic----007.jpg
    Spain's David Villa celebrates after scoring his second goal in the Euro 2012 qualifier against Czech Republic. Photograph: David Ramos/Getty Images David Villa became Spain's record goal-scorer when he struck twice as the world champions fought back from 1-0 down to beat Czech Republic 2-1 in their Euro 2012 qualifier.
    Jaroslav Plasil silenced the home fans with a powerful long-range drive in the 29th minute that went in off a post to give the visitors a shock lead.
    Villa equalised in the 69th minute with a low shot that was too good for the goalkeeper Petr Cech before scoring from the penalty spot four minutes later after Andrés Iniesta was felled in the area.
    The Barcelona striker now has 46 international goals for the European champions &#8211; two ahead of the former Real Madrid marksman Raúl.
    The victory gave Spain a perfect 12 points from four games in Group I.

 
Spain overhaul Czech Republic thanks to record breaker David Villa






Euro 2012 Qual Group I

Spain 2
  • Villa 69,
  • Villa (pen) 73
Czech Republic 1
  • Plasil 29


  • Reuters
  • guardian.co.uk, Friday 25 March 2011 23.28 GMT <li class="history">Article history
    Spain-v-Czech-Republic----007.jpg
    Spain's David Villa celebrates after scoring his second goal in the Euro 2012 qualifier against Czech Republic. Photograph: David Ramos/Getty Images David Villa became Spain's record goal-scorer when he struck twice as the world champions fought back from 1-0 down to beat Czech Republic 2-1 in their Euro 2012 qualifier.
    Jaroslav Plasil silenced the home fans with a powerful long-range drive in the 29th minute that went in off a post to give the visitors a shock lead.
    Villa equalised in the 69th minute with a low shot that was too good for the goalkeeper Petr Cech before scoring from the penalty spot four minutes later after Andrés Iniesta was felled in the area.
    The Barcelona striker now has 46 international goals for the European champions – two ahead of the former Real Madrid marksman Raúl.
    The victory gave Spain a perfect 12 points from four games in Group I.
 
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    perfunctory 26 March 2011 12:51AM

    David Villa is the world's best striker and has held this prestige since 2008. The top scorer of the World Cup '10, Euro '08, 115 goals in 191 club appearances for Valencia and Barcelona (to add to his 70 in 153 for Sporting Gijon and Zaragoza) and now a very impressive 46 goals in 72 caps.
    Congratulations to David Villa for breaking the record. There are many more to come.
    I doubt he could do it on a rainy Wednesday away at Stoke though.



  • 60x60.png
    TheCountOfMontenegro 26 March 2011 2:01AM

    Well said, Perfunctory.
    I, too, think he's the best. The bizarre thing about Villa is that he misses so many chances (still, he's getting to the position to score) by hitting the post and the goalie. I think this season he's hit the woodwork 12 times or so. He scores with both feet (see v Portugal when he had to switch feet after the goalie saved his first effort) or with his head (to the far post v Belgium).
    For technique, few are better than his volley v Italy or his winner v Sweden, the goal that gave the team the belief that they had luck on their side in Euro 2008, so perhaps the goal that made this team...
    PS, Ambrosius, what a ball by Iniesta tonight. I'd say Madrid are shitting it now that Villa has that monkey off his back.
    Enhorabuena, David.
 
Rick Parry defends decision to sell Liverpool to American duo in 2007

&#8226; Former chief executive denies rejecting offer from DIC
&#8226; Parry says Hicks and Gillett did not get on well




  • Evan Fanning
  • guardian.co.uk, Friday 25 March 2011 15.29 GMT <li class="history">Article history
    Rick-Parry-007.jpg
    Rick Parry left Liverpool in February 2009. Photograph: Barry Coombs/EMPICS Sport/PA Photos The former Liverpool chief executive Rick Parry has defended the decision to sell the club to George Gillett and Tom Hicks in 2007.
    It has been widely-reported that Hicks and Gillett assumed control of the club despite a rival offer from Dubai International Capital (DIC) but Parry, who along with the then chairman and owner David Moores made the decision to sell to the American duo, insists that DIC were not in the running.
    "It wasn't a case of us rejecting Dubai," Parry told London's Evening Standard. "They were the preferred bidder but they walked away."
    The reign of Hicks and Gillett, which ended when Fenway Sports Group bought the club last year after a bitter court battle, was punctuated by public arguments between the two owners, between Hicks and Parry and disagreements between the then manager Rafael Benítez and the owners.
    The much-heralded new stadium in Stanley Park failed to materialise and the club struggled under the weight of the large amount of debt which was placed on the club by Hicks and Gillett. Parry believes much of the difficulty stemmed from the fractious nature of the relationship between the owners.
    "I think one of the fundamental [problems] was that they actually didn't get on terribly well with each other," Parry explains.
    Parry left the club in 2009 and, despite the often haphazard nature of the Hicks and Gillet era, he feels that for a period of time at least things were going well.
    "Don't forget and certainly until I left &#8211; which was 2009 &#8211; we were second in the league. The business plan was a net spend of £20m on players. And they'd over delivered on that. They took us pretty close to winning the Premier League in 2008-2009, within four points of Manchester United with a huge points total.
    "So it wasn't all doom and gloom. Then, in 2009, for whatever reason, there didn't appear to be any net spend at all on the players. By which time they clearly realised that they probably needed to sell completely."
    Parry also stressed that despite what seemed to be a hostile relationship, he remains on good terms with Benítez.
    "You don't get into the business if you want people who are easy," he said. "You want people who are winners. He's very demanding and he's a perfectionist. But I'm still friendly with Rafael."

 
Lucas Leiva understands he is finally accepted at Liverpool

The Brazilian midfielder admits his early days on Merseyside were tough but he is blossoming under Kenny Dalglish




  • Fernando Duarte
  • The Guardian, Saturday 26 March 2011 <li class="history">Article history
    Lucas-Leiva-Brazil-Liverp-007.jpg
    Lucas Leiva says 'playing for Liverpool brings a similar kind of pressure to when I represent my country.' Photograph: Joe Giddens/EMPICS Sport After more than three years on Merseyside, Lucas Leiva still struggles with the local accent, but understands it well enough to work out that Liverpool's supporters are now singing his name without irony. But although his relationship with the fans at Anfield has improved immeasurably, the Brazilian acknowledges that his every move will be scrutinised each time he steps on the pitch. It is a familiar feeling.
    "Playing for Liverpool brings a similar kind of pressure to when I represent my country," Lucas says. "Both sets of fans have a very low tolerance level of defeat and will not hesitate to demand more from the team. Playing for Liverpool is like being watched by Brazilians!"
    The 24-year-old midfielder should know, having featured in each of his country's last five games since being called up by the new coach Mano Menezes, under whom he played at Gremio. Alongside Chelsea's Ramires, Lucas has formed a solid midfield partnership that, barring a late injury, should start Sunday's friendly against Scotland at the Emirates.
    Nonetheless, Lucas reveals that he had to convince Menezes he would fit into his plans. Since taking over from Dunga after Brazil's dismal World Cup quarter-final defeat by Holland last summer, Menezes has introduced a more traditional attacking game while Lucas has been deployed in a more defensive role by Liverpool than he was at Gremio. "In Gremio I had carte blanche to go forward and participate more in the attacking plays. But things had to change when I arrived in Liverpool, where I am used much more as a holding midfielder. That transition took time and made settling in even more challenging. It was necessary to prove to Mano that I could still be useful."
    Indeed, Lucas partly attributes his struggles to win over the fans and his early lacklustre performances at Anfield to being asked to change his game by the then manager Rafael Benítez when he arrived in 2007. The Brazilian rarely got a glimpse in the first team and even created problems for the club indirectly &#8211; in Brazil's 3-0 defeat by Argentina in the 2008 Olympic semi-finals he earned a red card in a dangerous tackle that also injured his club team-mate Javier Mascherano.
    "Things were not looking good and some supporters were obviously not happy," he says. "I still think people needed to see the bigger picture. The move to Liverpool represented a change of country, language and there was also the not so small detail that I was only 20 and arriving at a traditional club in one of the most demanding leagues in the world. Also, few people seemed to remember Liverpool had a group of players that had made two of the last three Champions League finals. It would have been impossible to just parachute in. Maybe the supporters thought a Brazilian midfielder would do magic.''
    His frustration and anxieties were alleviated by a combination of long conversations with his parents back home and the support of Benítez, who publicly backed him while privately advising Lucas to keep his head down and work harder. Lucas speaks fondly of the role the Spaniard played in rebuilding his confidence and it is no surprise that Benítez's departure last summer was a huge blow, not least because the Brazilian thought the club would sell him at the first opportunity.
    "How could I blame Liverpool [if they had]? At that point I had not had a sequence of games long enough for people to see what I was all about. I had the feeling they were not counting on me for the new era. But at the end the club and I reached common ground. I was happy because nobody would want to leave a club as big as Liverpool without a true chance to show their abilities."
    Not that there was any immediate chance for Lucas to do so. The arrival of Roy Hodgson in Benítez's stead was followed by a collective dip in form that resulted in Liverpool going out of the Carling Cup and into the bottom three in the Premier League. Reports indicated the players had lost faith in the manager. Lucas, however, fervently denies any mutiny contributed to Hodgson's entry in the history books as Liverpool's shortest-serving manager.
    "We lost Rafa and until the pre-season there was not a substitute," he says. "Roy simply brought a philosophy that did not work with the team at that time and this is not the first or last time it will happen. This rumour about us not working hard enough is nonsense. And so was the questioning of Roy's managerial capabilities. He did a great job at Fulham and now is doing well at West Brom."
    Hodgson's departure at the start of this year brought the return of an Anfield legend under whom Lucas, and Liverpool, have prospered. The midfielder had met Kenny Dalglish in his ambassadorial role at the club and the manager had also featured heavily in Lucas's crash course in Liverpudlian culture when his move to Merseyside was finalised. Along with piles of Beatles CDs, Lucas devoured DVD anthologies of Liverpool FC goals. A good bunch were scored by his now-manager.
    I could see that Dalglish was unbelievable as a player, but he has also made an impression on me as a manager. The world is full of great players flunking as managers. But Dalglish has rescued our confidence and at the same time he has helped us think a bit better."
    Dalglish and his assistant manager Steve Clarke have masterminded a change which Lucas says was most evident in the team's first-half display in the 3-1 defeat of Manchester United this month. "During the week of the game, Dalglish talked about the possible United line-ups and made sure we understood how important it would be for us to give them some of their own medicine. He went on and on about suffocating them in midfield. We had a great afternoon doing what he said. His mantra is: make it simple and work together."
    Impressive enough for Lucas to forgive his Scottish manager's banter in regards to the London friendly. In the last few weeks, Dalglish has constantly told his player that Scotland will finally break their duck against Brazil in their 10th meeting. After a promising start under Menezes, with victories over the US, Iran and Ukraine, Brazil stumbled against Argentina and France. Winning at the Emirates is essential to keep the fans on board.
    "It's a new era and the team is still gelling, for a lot of players who were around in the last World Cup have departed," says Lucas. "We lost both games 1-0, with Argentina scoring in the 90th minute and against France we played almost 60 minutes with 10 men. Scotland will be desperate to surprise us which makes our responsibility to ensure they do not even greater."
    When Lucas returns to his club, he will have more on his mind than mulling over the aftermath of the game with Dalglish. With his club contract ending this summer, Lucas is hoping to re-open talks over an extension: He wants to stay and has even joked that would like to see his newborn son Pedro Lucas speaking English with a Scouse twang. But he is still waiting for the club's move.
    "I have no reasons to go and I hope the club see things the same. It would be fantastic to play for Liverpool in the Champions League again and I don't see why we can't return.
    "We have a squad that is united in its will and desire to return this club to where it belongs."

 
Plymouth Argyle loan hope disappears as window closes

&#8226; Loan window shuts with no money coming in
&#8226; Chances of agreeing settlement with creditors fading



  • Matt Scott
  • The Guardian, Friday 25 March 2011 <li class="history">Article history
    Plymouth-Argyle-Home-Park-007.jpg
    Players and staff at Plymouth are operating without wages as the Home Park club struggles with its finances. Photograph: Stephen Pond/Empics Sport Plymouth Argyle's last chance of funding itself through the rest of the season disappeared at 5pm on Thursday with the closure of the loan window. No money came in, since no tradeable players remain after three left in the January transfer window.
    The cash those transfers generated propped up a failing regime for only a few more weeks. Now the chances of the benighted club agreeing an amicable settlement with its creditors are also slipping away. Players and staff are operating without wages but bills such as taking the squad to the next match, at Leyton Orient on Tuesday week, will need to be paid.
    Prospective funding agreements are in place from two potential purchasers &#8211; one of them guaranteeing £1m of cash flow. But they cannot be finalised for as long as Mastpoint, the loans-and-investment vehicle led by Argyle's former chairman, Sir Roy Gardner, and executive director, Keith Todd &#8211; which has a mortgage on Home Park &#8211; refuses to accept the terms, which include deferred payment schedules.
    During talks with the administrator, Brendan Guilfoyle, on Wednesday evening Todd rejected these offers and is understood to have made a counter proposal. This in turn was rejected by both potential purchasers on Thursday, who have reiterated their original demands. Mastpoint, which is made up of 17 named, high-net-worth investors plus a wider base of individuals who put forward loan capital, is understood to be looking for a third potential purchaser.
    There seem to be three possible outcomes. Mastpoint either comes good and produces an alternative buyer, or it relents and accepts the purchasers' offer. The third is for the matter swiftly to head to court. If the administrator fails to persuade the courts that the Mastpoint stance is an unnecessary obstruction then Plymouth are likely to disappear. It has got that bad.
    Price is right for Germans

    German football's safe-standing areas and its 50+1 rule guaranteeing fans always retain a controlling ownership stake have led to the Bundesliga repeatedly being referred to as a utopian land in recent days. But surely the best aspect of German football is its cheap tickets, and these are born of another influence entirely: cost controls. According to Deloitte, in 1996-97 the wages-to-turnover ratio in England's top flight was 48%; in Italy 58%; in Spain 54%; in France 61%; in Germany 50%. Today in England the ratio has risen to 67%, in Italy to 73%, in Spain 63% and France 69%, proving that in these territories cost controls have proved elusive. In Germany the ratio is 51%. That is the 50+1 that counts the most.
    Taxing times

    The big four sports are set to lose more than £1m a year in tax relief on their headquarters as a result of Wednesday's Budget, according to a tax consultant who advises them on their capital allowances. Between them Wembley, Twickenham, Wimbledon and Lord's, have given football, rugby union, tennis and cricket's governing bodies up to £1.5m a year in relief on historical expenditure: money ploughed back into sports' grassroots. But after the Office of Tax Simplification called for abolition of the tax break, George Osborne, below, indicated this week that he will move to a consultation on the issue. The sports tax consultant Stephen Dunham said: "Sport, especially those sports providing the new generation of multi-sport venues, can ill afford to lose this level of cash given the current economic climate."
    Qatari deal could fall flat

    Twenty-four hours after a "multimillion-pound" Qatari sponsorship deal was announced with Flat racing's British Champions Series, Digger can reveal most of the 35 races feeding in to the event are facing a potential boycott over prize money. The Horsemen's Group, which represents the professional interests in racing, has set minimum tariffs for prize money and Sheikh Mohammed's Godolphin team have threatened to pull out of every underfunded race. One BCS board member told Digger that includes "many" on its fixture list. Karl Oliver, the BCS chief executive, stated that in their totality its fixtures are "more than £5m &#8211; or almost 70% &#8211; above tariff".

 
Plymouth Argyle loan hope disappears as window closes

• Loan window shuts with no money coming in
• Chances of agreeing settlement with creditors fading



  • Matt Scott
  • The Guardian, Friday 25 March 2011 <li class="history">Article history
    Plymouth-Argyle-Home-Park-007.jpg
    Players and staff at Plymouth are operating without wages as the Home Park club struggles with its finances. Photograph: Stephen Pond/Empics Sport Plymouth Argyle's last chance of funding itself through the rest of the season disappeared at 5pm on Thursday with the closure of the loan window. No money came in, since no tradeable players remain after three left in the January transfer window.
    The cash those transfers generated propped up a failing regime for only a few more weeks. Now the chances of the benighted club agreeing an amicable settlement with its creditors are also slipping away. Players and staff are operating without wages but bills such as taking the squad to the next match, at Leyton Orient on Tuesday week, will need to be paid.
    Prospective funding agreements are in place from two potential purchasers – one of them guaranteeing £1m of cash flow. But they cannot be finalised for as long as Mastpoint, the loans-and-investment vehicle led by Argyle's former chairman, Sir Roy Gardner, and executive director, Keith Todd – which has a mortgage on Home Park – refuses to accept the terms, which include deferred payment schedules.
    During talks with the administrator, Brendan Guilfoyle, on Wednesday evening Todd rejected these offers and is understood to have made a counter proposal. This in turn was rejected by both potential purchasers on Thursday, who have reiterated their original demands. Mastpoint, which is made up of 17 named, high-net-worth investors plus a wider base of individuals who put forward loan capital, is understood to be looking for a third potential purchaser.
    There seem to be three possible outcomes. Mastpoint either comes good and produces an alternative buyer, or it relents and accepts the purchasers' offer. The third is for the matter swiftly to head to court. If the administrator fails to persuade the courts that the Mastpoint stance is an unnecessary obstruction then Plymouth are likely to disappear. It has got that bad.
    Price is right for Germans

    German football's safe-standing areas and its 50+1 rule guaranteeing fans always retain a controlling ownership stake have led to the Bundesliga repeatedly being referred to as a utopian land in recent days. But surely the best aspect of German football is its cheap tickets, and these are born of another influence entirely: cost controls. According to Deloitte, in 1996-97 the wages-to-turnover ratio in England's top flight was 48%; in Italy 58%; in Spain 54%; in France 61%; in Germany 50%. Today in England the ratio has risen to 67%, in Italy to 73%, in Spain 63% and France 69%, proving that in these territories cost controls have proved elusive. In Germany the ratio is 51%. That is the 50+1 that counts the most.
    Taxing times

    The big four sports are set to lose more than £1m a year in tax relief on their headquarters as a result of Wednesday's Budget, according to a tax consultant who advises them on their capital allowances. Between them Wembley, Twickenham, Wimbledon and Lord's, have given football, rugby union, tennis and cricket's governing bodies up to £1.5m a year in relief on historical expenditure: money ploughed back into sports' grassroots. But after the Office of Tax Simplification called for abolition of the tax break, George Osborne, below, indicated this week that he will move to a consultation on the issue. The sports tax consultant Stephen Dunham said: "Sport, especially those sports providing the new generation of multi-sport venues, can ill afford to lose this level of cash given the current economic climate."
    Qatari deal could fall flat

    Twenty-four hours after a "multimillion-pound" Qatari sponsorship deal was announced with Flat racing's British Champions Series, Digger can reveal most of the 35 races feeding in to the event are facing a potential boycott over prize money. The Horsemen's Group, which represents the professional interests in racing, has set minimum tariffs for prize money and Sheikh Mohammed's Godolphin team have threatened to pull out of every underfunded race. One BCS board member told Digger that includes "many" on its fixture list. Karl Oliver, the BCS chief executive, stated that in their totality its fixtures are "more than £5m – or almost 70% – above tariff".
 
Everton's Louis Saha fears he will be out for season

&#8226; Frenchman hurt ankle in Everton-Fulham match
&#8226; Injury leaves David Moyes with only one recognised striker




  • Press Association
  • guardian.co.uk, Thursday 24 March 2011 09.41 GMT <li class="history">Article history
    Louis-Saha-007.jpg
    Everton's Louis Saha goes down with an ankle injury in the match against Fulham. Photograph: Paul Thomas/Action Images The Everton striker Louis Saha claims he may not play again this season due to an ankle injury.
    The France striker suffered the injury against Fulham on Saturday, and has told L'Equipe that he may be finished for the campaign.
    "I'm on crutches, I don't feel good," he said. "I don't know whether I will have this ankle problem for days, weeks or months. But it's going to be difficult for me to play again before the end of the season. It's tiresome to get all these injuries. They all come along just when I'm starting to get a run going. It is hard. It sucks. But I'm trying to think positive."
    Saha's injury means manager David Moyes has only one recognised striker to call on in Jermaine Beckford, with Yakubu on loan at Leicester City.

 
Bolton's Joey O'Brien joins Sheffield Wednesday on loan

&#8226; Joey O'Brien moves to Hillsborough until end of season
&#8226; Midfielder's campaign has been hindered by injury




  • Press Association
  • guardian.co.uk, Thursday 24 March 2011 15.25 GMT <li class="history">Article history
    Joey-OBrien-007.jpg
    Joey O'Brien will link up with the former Bolton manager Gary Megson at Sheffield Wednesday. Photograph: Julien Behal/PA The Bolton Wanderers midfielder Joey O'Brien has joined Sheffield Wednesday on loan until the end of the season.
    The League One club have signed the midfielder on loan deadline day after he saw his first-team chances at the Reebok Stadium limited this season due to injury.
    O'Brien will now embark on his second spell at Hillsborough, following a successful loan move during the 2003-04 season. The Bolton manager Owen Coyle told the club's website the reasoning behind his decision to allow the Republic of Ireland international to link up with the former Wanderers manager Gary Megson.
    "Joey had a real stop-start season with his injury," he said. "He's battled hard to get his fitness back and this loan move to Sheffield Wednesday is a good opportunity for him to play games and regain his match sharpness. It's a great chance for him to put himself back in contention for the first team."

 
Miami Masters

Andy Murray out of Miami Masters with loss to Alex Bogomolov

&#8226; Scot suffers seven service breaks in second-round rout
&#8226; British No1 has not won since Melbourne semi-final




  • Press Association
  • guardian.co.uk, Friday 25 March 2011 22.58 GMT <li class="history">Article history
    Tennis---Sony-Ericsson-Op-007.jpg
    Andy Murray reacts in frustration during a difficult day on court, losing to No118 Alex Bogomolov Jr. Photograph: Ella Ling/Empics Sport Andy Murray's poor post-Australian Open slump continued as he was broken seven times in an embarrassing 6-1, 7-5 second-round defeat to Alex Bogomolov at the Miami Masters.
    After going out to the American qualifier Donald Young in the second round at Indian Wells earlier in the month, the British No1 slumped once again as he failed to find any kind of form against the world No118. The 23-year-old has still not won a match since beating David Ferrer in the semi-finals in Melbourne.
    "I didn't play particularly well," Murray said. "He hardly missed at all in the first set. Made it very difficult for me &#8230; he moved the ball around."
    The Scot went into the match with renewed confidence after confirming his friend Dani Vallverdu will act as a de facto coach following the departure from his support staff of Miles Maclagan last summer.
    But there were no signs of any advantage as he got off to a terrible start, with a confident return of serve from his American opponent bringing up break point in the opening game, which he converted. There was more of the same in the third game and Bogomolov broke again. With Murray failing to make any impression on his opponent's serve, he did at least get on the board when he held in game five to make it 4-1. But it proved to be only brief respite as Bogomolov held before breaking for a third time to take the set.
    Murray regrouped and, in the first game of the second set, earned his first break point of the match, taking advantage to shift the momentum a little. But that did not signal the start of great things, with the first four games of the set all going against serve. Bogomolov broke the sequence when he held in the fifth game, and Murray followed suit to make it 3-3.
    Just as it seemed the set was settling into a more conventional pattern, Bogomolov broke again and, at 5-3, he was serving for the match. He could not finish the task, however, and Murray broke back before levelling at 5-5. Again Bogomolov bounced back, though, and sealed victory with his seventh break of the match. PA

 
Elena Baltacha tumbles out in Miami after defeat to Klara Zakopalova

&#8226; Klara Zakopalova beats Elena Baltacha 7-6, 6-3
&#8226; British player suffers second-round loss at Sony Ericsson Open




  • Press Association
  • guardian.co.uk, Thursday 24 March 2011 16.54 GMT <li class="history">Article history
    Elena-Baltacha-007.jpg
    Elena Baltacha of Great Britain reacts to a lost point during her second-round defeat to Klara Zakopalova at the Sony Ericsson Open. Photograph: Matthew Stockman/Getty Elena Baltacha is out of the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami after losing to the Czech Republic's Klara Zakopalova on Thursday.
    The British No1 had battled into the second round with a gruelling three-set win over Austria's Sybille Bammer in two hours and 55 minutes, but Baltacha was unable to repeat such heroics as the 32nd seed Zakopalova won 7-6, 6-3 in 87 minutes.
    Baltacha and Zakopalova swapped four breaks of serve in the opening set before the Czech eventually prevailed in a tie-break.
    The 29-year-old from Prague claimed two further breaks of serve in the second set to complete an impressive win.

 
Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton upbeat as McLaren set the pace

&#8226; Pair finish one-two in Australian grand prix practice session
&#8226; McLaren ditch radical exhaust system for conventional unit




  • Paul Weaver in Melbourne
  • guardian.co.uk, Friday 25 March 2011 22.00 GMT <li class="history">Article history
    Lewis-Hamilton-007.jpg
    The improved performance of the McLaren car has wiped away Lewis Hamilton's testng day blues. Photograph: Paul Gilham/Getty Images Th ere was finally something to cheer about for Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton yesterday, as the pair banished their testing days blues and finished one-two in the second practice session before 's Australian Grand Prix.
    The McLaren pair have looked gloomy ever since their testing sessions in Barcelona, where the car was left standing by the superior pace of Red Bull and Ferrari, and even Mercedes looked more menacing at the end.
    Yesterday's opening session was again dominated by Red Bull but in the second session the British drivers fought back, with Button topping the timings by 0.132sec ahead of Hamilton, with Ferrari's Fernando Alonso in third place.
    The relevance of all this will not be known until Saturday's qualifying. And the Red Bulls ran a substantial part of the second session without their adjustable rear wings. So it is a guessing game, with fuel loads another variable.
    But yesterday's run was encouraging for Button and Hamilton and went some way to vindicating the claims of team principal, Martin Whitmarsh, that McLaren had found an extra second since Barcelona.
    "For the first time this year nothing has gone wrong, which is great, and now we have to build on that, said Button. "We have reliability, which is something we haven't had all winter, so to finally have a car in which we can do as many laps as we want is great. The feeling is so much better, the car feels a lot more complete, one that we can really make some progress with."
    Sounding a note of caution, Button added: "Although I hope we can improve further, we're not going to get carried away. I know Red Bull weren't using their rear wing when they set their quick laps, so they have another five or six-tenths [of a second] available to them."
    After ditching their radical exhaust system for a more conventional unit, McLaren seem to have got back on track in the nick of time.
    The result was so positive it had Hamilton dreaming of emulating Michael Schumacher's record haul of seven world titles.
    With five world champions on the grid this season, Hamilton will have his work cut out just trying to win his second crown, yet at least time is on his side.
    "I could be here even longer [than the 42-year-old Schumacher]. My Dad looks just as young as Michael. He could be racing right now. I know that I will look younger than my Dad because I've worked harder on my fitness. That's what I keep telling him."
    And Hamilton said even after the disappointments of the past two seasons he could win more titles. "I have no number. There is no limit, the sky's the limit. As many as I can in the period of time I am here. Look at Sébastien Loeb, look at Rossi, Michael [Schumacher], legendary racers from their sports, I'd love to be a part of that. I wouldn't rule it out but wouldn't say eight is what I want.
    "I've always wanted to win three world championships like Ayrton Senna and emulate what he did. That would be a start. But winning two is going to be hard enough. I can't rule anything out. I love racing. So as long as I'm fit and I'm enjoying what I'm doing then it's not a job. And I'm good at it and will continue to do it.
    "When I met Mr Mandela he told me that he was 92 years old and he was still learning today. It's pretty strange to imagine that he has much more to learn. So I know that I have a long road ahead of me with a lot of things to learn.
    "But I haven't won a second world championship yet. I'm trying focus on my approach to this weekend, to the season, how I'm going to win this championship."
    Hamilton, who finished third on his Formula One debut here in 2007 before winning the following year, added: "This has always been a good circuit for me.
    "It suits my driving. It's like a halfway house between a street circuit and a normal circuit. It's a track that works quite well for my aggressive driving style."
    Hamilton appeared particularly chipper when he added: "I feel happy, I feel fit, I feel healthy. For some reason I feel happier than I've ever been."I just feel mega-fit right now, the fittest I've ever been, which is good. I'm healthy, my girlfriend is here, my Dad's coming this weekend, obviously working with Paul [di Resta], my brother is racing next week. My parents are good, the family is good ... I haven't really got much to complain about."

 
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