Djokovic, Lopez in Serbia Open final

Top seed Novak Djokovic reached the Serbia Open final without hitting a ball on Saturday after fellow Serb Janko Tipsarevic pulled out of their semi-final with a thigh injury.

Top seed Novak Djokovic reached the Serbia Open final without hitting a ball on Saturday after fellow Serb Janko Tipsarevic pulled out of their semi-final with a thigh injury.

Djokovic, who will enter Sunday’s final with a 26-0 record in 2011 after winning four tournaments in a row including the Australian Open in January, meets Feliciano Lopez after the Spaniard beat Italy’s Filippo Volandri 7-6 6-2.

Djokovic will start as the strong favourite against world number 37 Lopez having won all three of their previous meetings, the latest en route to his 2011 Dubai Championships title.

Bhatti guides India to victory
New Delhi: India overcame the heat and a tough challenge from Uzbekistan to emerge victorious in the Asia/Oceania Final Qualifying of the Junior Fed Cup on Saturday. India won 2-1.

The star of the day was Tahira Bhatti. After Jasmine Kaur Bajaj was beaten 1-6, 3-6 by Polina Merenkova, the India No 1 battled for three hours to level the tie 1-1.

After winning the first set 7-5, Tahira lost the second with an identical score-line. With the match tied at a set apiece, the heat rule had to be applied as the sun got to both players.

After the break, Tahira came out strong in the final set and kept up the pressure on Alina to finally register a win.

In the deciding doubles, Tahira and Snehadevi Reddy literally ran over Amina Mukhmetshina and Merenkova 6-2, 6-2 in one and a half hours to win the tie.

On Sunday, India will take on Hong Kong for the 9-10 placing in the tournament.