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January 9, Sania Mirza moved into the singles quarterfinals with a straight set win over Romina Oprandi of Italy at the Moorilla International Open Women’s Tennis Tournament in Hobart, Tasmania.

Sania Mirza, ranked 66th in the world, won over Oprandi 6-3, 6-0 in the second round at the $145,000 hardcourt event on the WTA Tour. She has ousted World No.29 Maria kirilenko of Russia in the first round on Monday.

The reigning US Open champions, were seeded fourth. At the same time Serena williams may have to remove sister Venus’s number from speed dial after some misguided advice left her scrambling to beat Czech Lucie Safarova at the Hobart International on Tuesday.

Serena said after squeezing past Safarova that she spoke to Venus before the match, she had played her before and she has said that she was a tough opponent. She also said that Venus did not give her any good pointers. She said that Venus told her some false information, so she would be calling her back about that.

This win put Serena into the quarterfinals and went some way towards boosting her confidence following her comeback from a four-month injury break. She is preparing for next week’s Australian open, began well but her game fell apart in the second set.

She said after booking a quarterfinal spot against Austrian Sybille Bammer that she was really happy to win because she was not ready to go home yet. Bammer romped past second Anabel Medina Garrigues 6-4, 6-3.

Former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly is expecting a recall to the one-day squad. He feels that India had used up a golden opportunity to win the final Test against South Africa. He was the highest run-geter for India with 214 runs from three Tests.

He said that he expected to be selected in the one-day side. He has not played an ODI for the last 16 months, his last game being an outing against New Zealand in September 2005. Ganguly’s unbeaten Knock of 51 at Johannesburg laid the foundation for india’s victory in the first Test against South Africa.

He said that was a huge opportunity to win a series against South Africa at their home by winning the last Test, but unfortunately it could not happen. India lost the series 1-2 after taking a lead by winning the first Test.

Ganguly said about Tendulkar’s poor perform that it was part of the game and nobody could write off a player like Tendulkar whom he considered a genius. He also said not to forget that Sachin had got 70 international hundreds to his credit, nobody had such a record in the world. He added that the decline in form was part of the game, it happened to every cricketer.

Ganguly is very hopeful to get a chance for the upcoming four match ODI series at home against West Indies.

January 2, India’s Jaffer made a strong position on the first day of the third and final Test against South Africa at Newlands. India reached 254/3 at the close with Sachin Tendulkar batting on 28 and V.V.S.Laxman on 4. Jaffer made 116.

Dinesh Kaarthick, made 63 and helped Jaffer put on 153 for the first wicket. India took a big step towards ensuring that they go home with at least a share of the honours. Jaffer, made a risk start to the tour of South Africa, with a top score of 10 from his first five innings. He showed signs of form when he made 26 and 28 in the second Test in Durban. Jaffer batted for six hours, faced 244 balls and hit 15 fours. He preached his third century in his 17th Test off 197 balls. He was caught by Jacques Kallis. It was Kellis’ 100th Test catch for South Africa.

Mahindra Singh Dhoni was ruled out because of an injured right middle finger. Kaarthick surely is a better keepre than Dhoni. Jaffer was the senior partner, striking some firm drives and neat clips off his toes, while Kaarthick was content to leave the ball alone as much as possible early in his innings before playing some more expansive strokes.

Left arm spinner Paul Harris broke the the stand, playing in his first Test, when he had Kaarthick caught at silly point off the first ball. But replays suggested the ball might not have hit the Kaarthick’s bat before looping off a pad to Hassim kl 1/74.

When the Indian captain edged a catch to wicketkeeper Mark boucher Pollack claimed the wicket of Dravid after scoring 29. Harris was one of three changes to the SA team that levelled the series by winning the Durban Test by 174 runs. This is the great day for India.