Luckless Grand Slam winner Juan Martin del Potro on Sunday pulled out of the Australian Open after a recurrence of his troublesome wrist injury, but remains confident of resurrecting his career.The giant Argentine spent almost a year on the sidelines before making his return as a wildcard at the Sydney International last week, where he made the quarter-finals.But he said he was not ready for gruelling five setters at Melbourne Park.“I didn’t feel prepared for playing in this big event....

Olympic champion Sally Pearson battled strong headwinds to win a 12th Australian athletics title at the national Commonwealth Games trials in Melbourne on Saturday. Pearson continued to reassert her supremacy over national 100m record holder Melissa Breen, but the 4.1m per second headwind ruled out the prospect of any fast times. Pearson won in 11.70secs, more than half a second outside her personal best, with Breen second in 11.90. “The last time I ran into a four-metre headwind was in...

India’s Sania Mirza said she’ll try for more Grand Slam mixed doubles titles with Romanian Horia Tecau after the pair missed out in the Australian Open final on Sunday. Mirza, 27, said she had made a great start to the year despite the loss to Canadian-French pair Daniel Nestor and Kristina Mladenovic, who won 6-3, 6-2. Mirza also reached the women’s doubles quarter-finals with partner Cara Black, where they went out in three sets to eventual champions Sara Errani and...

Bowling great Shane Warne was Thursday named as spin coach ahead of Australia’s World Twenty20 campaign starting in Bangladesh in March. Cricket Australia said the 44-year-old would support head coach Darren Lehmann as a consultant, providing specialist training for the squad’s spinners. The Australia T20 squad begins a three-match series against South Africa on March 9, before heading to compete in Bangladesh. “We believe our national teams can really benefit from more specific skill-based coaching as and when it is...

Slovakia’s Dominika Cibulkova stormed into only her second Grand Slam semi-final on Wednesday by ending the dreams of 11th seed Simona Halep in straight sets. The 20th seed, in her best performance at Melbourne Park, marched past the Romanian 6-3, 6-0 and will play either defending champion Victoria Azarenka or fifth seed Agnieszka Radwanska in the last four. The short but energetic Cibulkova drew on her experience to down the aggressive baseliner, who went into the clash as favourite after...

Two-time finalist Li Na stayed in contention for another Australian Open title match after beating Flavia Pennetta 6-2, 6-2 Tuesday to advance to the semifinals at Melbourne Park.After beating two 16-year-olds in the opening rounds and saving a match point against Lucie Safarova in the third, No. 4-seeded Li was relentless in defeating the 28th-seeded Pennetta, who buried her face in her towel during a changeover while trailing 5-0 in the opening set.“After saving the match point, I think I...