PARIS // Venus Williams saved a match point before beating her Czech opponent, and Jelena Jankovic joined the seven-time Grand Slam champion in the third round of the French Open today.
Williams began her match against Lucie Safarova on Wednesday, but play was suspended because of darkness after the third-seeded American lost the first set.
She faced a match point while trailing 5-4 in the final set, but managed to hold serve, break Safarova and hold again for the 6-7 (5), 6-2, 7-5 win.
Jankovic had an easier time, moving a step closer to her third straight semi-final appearance at Roland Garros by beating Magdalena Rybarikova 6-1, 6-2.
"I think I'm coming back," said Jankovic, who started this season as the top-ranked player in women's tennis.
"This is the most important thing for me, especially when you saw me playing a few months ago. It was really disastrous."
The fifth-seeded Jankovic won 15 of the first 17 points, and then broke her opponent in the final game of the first set.
In the second, she recovered from an early break to win four straight games, and closed out the match with her sixth break of service.
Jankovic has lost in the semi-finals at Roland Garros in each of the last two years. She made her first Grand Slam final at the 2008 US Open.
The seventh seed Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia also advanced, beating Galina Voskoboeva of Kazakhstan 6-0, 6-2.
No 10 Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark and No 24 Aleksandra Wozniak of Canada also won, but No 13 Marion Bartoli of France lost to Tathiana Garbin of Italy 6-3, 7-5.
On the men's side, Tommy Robredo of Spain advanced. Later today, the second seed Roger Federer will play on centre court, while No 4 Novak Djokovic and women's No 2 Serena Williams were also scheduled to play.
On Wednesday, veteran players Marat Safin and Fabrice Santoro said goodbye to the French Open, both departing from the clay-court tournament in the first week.
Safin, the former world No 1 and two-time Grand Slam champion, lost a back-and-forth marathon to French wild-card entry Josselin Ouanna 7-6 (2), 7-6 (4), 4-6, 3-6, 10-8 in the second round.
Santoro played only eight minutes in the completion of his 6-3, 6-1, 3-6, 6-4 first-round loss to Christophe Rochus of Belgium.
"I didn't draw the heart, and I didn't lay down and I didn't cry," said Safin, who reached the semi-finals at Roland Garros only once in his 11 appearances in 2002.
"Terrible way to finish with the French Open, but anyway ..."
Maria Sharapova nearly joined Safin and Santoro on the sidelines, but the unseeded Russian escaped the second-round by hanging on to beat 11th-seeded Nadia Petrova 6-2, 1-6, 8-6.
The top-seeded Dinara Safina and defending champion Ana Ivanovic also advanced. In the men's tournament, four-time defending champion Rafael Nadal stretched his record to a perfect 30-0 on the red clay of Roland Garros, and No 3 Andy Murray also advanced.
*AP
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
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The Facility’s Versatility
Between the start of the 2020 IPL on September 20, and the end of the Pakistan Super League this coming Thursday, the Zayed Cricket Stadium has had an unprecedented amount of traffic.
Never before has a ground in this country – or perhaps anywhere in the world – had such a volume of major-match cricket.
And yet scoring has remained high, and Abu Dhabi has seen some classic encounters in every format of the game.
October 18, IPL, Kolkata Knight Riders tied with Sunrisers Hyderabad
The two playoff-chasing sides put on 163 apiece, before Kolkata went on to win the Super Over
January 8, ODI, UAE beat Ireland by six wickets
A century by CP Rizwan underpinned one of UAE’s greatest ever wins, as they chased 270 to win with an over to spare
February 6, T10, Northern Warriors beat Delhi Bulls by eight wickets
The final of the T10 was chiefly memorable for a ferocious over of fast bowling from Fidel Edwards to Nicholas Pooran
March 14, Test, Afghanistan beat Zimbabwe by six wickets
Eleven wickets for Rashid Khan, 1,305 runs scored in five days, and a last session finish
June 17, PSL, Islamabad United beat Peshawar Zalmi by 15 runs
Usman Khawaja scored a hundred as Islamabad posted the highest score ever by a Pakistan team in T20 cricket
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The National Archives, Abu Dhabi
Founded over 50 years ago, the National Archives collects valuable historical material relating to the UAE, and is the oldest and richest archive relating to the Arabian Gulf.
Much of the material can be viewed on line at the Arabian Gulf Digital Archive - https://www.agda.ae/en
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