Australia

Jankovic faces Austrian while Williams takes on Chinese in first round

Jankovic faces Austrian while Williams takes on Chinese in first roundMelbourne  - Women's draw with qualifiers inseryted for for the 15.5-million-dollar Australian Open starting Monday. <# Jelena Jankovic, 1, Serbia v Yvonne Meusburger, Australia

Kirsten Flipkens, Belgium v Rossana De Los Rios, Paraguay Nathalie Dechy, France v Viktoriya Kutusova, Ukraine

Stephanie Dubois, Canada v Ai Sugiyama, Japan

Sybille Bammer, Austria v Lucie Safarova, Czech Republic

Petra Cetkovska, Czech Republic v Marina Erakovic, New Zealand

Top seed Nadal to face Belgium's Rochus in first round

Top seed Nadal to face Belgium's Rochus in first round Melbourne  - Men's draw with qualifiers inserted for the 15.5-million-dollar Australian Open starting Monday. <# Rafael Nadal, 1, Spain v Christophe Rochus, Belgium

Florent Serra, France v Roko Karanusic, Croatia

Eduardo Schwank, Argentina v Tommy Haas, Germany

Flavio Cipolla, Italy v Dmitry Tursunov, Russia

Richard Gasquet, France v Diego Junqueira, Argentina

Vince Spadea, US v Denis Istomin, Uzbekistan

Guillermo Canas, Argentina v Dieter Kindlmann, Germany

Nalbandian battles to overcome Nieminen for Sydney title

Sydney - David Nalbandian struggled for two and a quarter hours to subdue Jarkko Nieminen 6-3, 6-7 (9-11), 6-2, winning the 10th title of his career on Saturday at the Medibank International.

Nieminen, winner of one career trophy three years ago in Auckland, gave the fourth-seeded Argentine multiple frights in their battle played in front of the namesake of the newly christened Ken Rosewall stadium.

Nalbandian now holds a 7-4 lead in his series with number 40 Niemimen, which began in 2002 at Estoril in another final. The winner is the first from his nation to lift the prize in Sydney.

Paris Hilton’s private snaps remain private after finding lost camera

Paris HiltonMelbourne, Jan 17 : American socialite Paris Hilton was relieved after the camera she lost on New Year''s Eve was found.

The digital camera contained dozens of personal photographs taken during her visit to Australia.

It apparently fell out of her bag at the Trademark nightclub in Kings Cross during the party.

"The camera was found at the Trademark on (Thursday) and it''s now on the way to Paris," the Daily Telegraph quoted Karen Griffin who looked after Paris in Australia as saying.

Lance Armstrong says his return no resurrection of Jesus Christ

Lance Armstrong Melbourne, Jan 17 : Lance Armstrong has promised to attack during the Tour Down Under, and laughed off suggestions that his comeback was a bit like the return of Jesus Christ

Refuting suggestions that he will treat the race as a glorified training ride, the seven-time Tour de France champion today fronted more than 100 local, national and international media, and answered questions for more than an hour about his comeback to cycling.

Smiling top seed Jankovic shrugs off the critics

Smiling top seed Jankovic shrugs off the criticsMelbourne - Jelena Jankovic has no time to waste on doubters who suggest that without having yet won a Grand Slam title, she does not deserve to hold the top WTA ranking.

But the determined Serb seems ready to deal with the critics through her racket and won't waste mental energy with the Australian Open starting on Monday.

"I'm just a girl who enjoys her tennis. I go to the court with a smile on my face, and that's what matters," she said. "I don't really think and stress about ranking, Grand Slams, so many other things.

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