It reiterated that pilgrims require a Haj visa and it can be obtained through recognised official channels
Austrian Jurgen Melzer found a way to counter everything — the sun, the wind, a red-hot Marin Cilic, a 1-4 score in the first set. He defied them all.
Unlike Melzer, defending champion Novak Djokovic had the luxury of playing his quarter-final match in a pleasant evening. And the world number two managed to survive a mighty scare as he reached the semifinals of the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships with a fine 2-6 6-4 6-0 win over Ivan Ljubicic, the world number 26 from Croatia.
Earlier, Marin Cilic, the world number 9 and the Australian Open semifinalist, lost his way after taking a commanding lead in the first set.
But the 28-year-old Melzer, who was struggling to cope with the ferocious ground-strokes of Cilic, suddenly turned his own racquet into a destructive weapon. The world number 31 served aces, played those crisp volleys and hit one winner after another until he clinched a 7-6 7-5 win to reach the semifinals on Thursday.
It was simply a stunning comeback from someone who had lost his semifinal match to the 21-year-old Cilic at the Zagreb ATP Tournament few weeks ago. Now here in Dubai, he beat the same opponent to reach the last four. Some player!
Later on the Centre Court Mikhail Youzhny of Russia played some fabulous tennis as destroyed Serbia’s Janko Tipsarevic 6-3 6-4. Tipsarevic, who outplayed Andy Murray in a thrilling three-setter on Wednesday evening, never found his top gear against the unstoppable Russian. “I always enjoy playing here in Dubai. It’s a very good tournament,” a delighted Youzhny said after reaching the semifinal.
Tipsarevic, it seemed, failed to recover from the tough three-setter that he played against Murray on Wednesday.
“Yeah, I think that was the key, you know. I had little bit of advantage over Janko, you know, because he had a really tough match last night. And my previous match was easier. That helped. So, yeah, I managed to recover better than him. Today he made more mistakes than me.”
Crowd favourite Leander Paes of India and his partner Lukas Dlouhy of the Czech Republic entered the semifinals of the doubles event with a fine 7-6 6-1 victory over Frenchman Arnaud Clement and Robert Lindstedt of Sweden on Court Three.
The second seeded Paes and Dlouhy will meet the unseeded German-Begian pair of Christopher Kas and Dick Norman in the semis. Kas and Norman beat Frantisek Cermak of the Czech Republic and Michal Mertinak of Slovakia 6-4 6-2 in their quarter-final match.
It reiterated that pilgrims require a Haj visa and it can be obtained through recognised official channels
The 18-year-old was taken to hospital in a serious condition
The brothers, who say they are innocent, are accused of having formed an organised criminal network in early 2021 in Romania, as well as in the US and Britain
The left-handed batter scored 3369 runs in 136 one-day internationals and 2893 in 140 Twenty20 internationals — both Pakistan records
Food supplies were distributed to 80 households
On January 31, a heart was airlifted from Delhi to Chennai, paving the way for Ayesha Rashid's life-saving surgery
The online retailer, which is headquartered in Singapore, has said it has around 108 million monthly active users in the 27-nation EU
The baby girl named Rouh, meaning Soul, suffered respiratory problems and a weak immune system, a doctor at the Emirati Hospital in Rafah said