MELBOURNE Nike Air Max 90 Sale Clearance , Jan. 16 (Xinhua) -- A record crowd of over 80,000 crammed into Melbourne Park on Tuesday, to witness the second day of action at the Australian Open and the world's top tennis stars did not to disappoint.
After sitting out the last six months recovering from an elbow injury, all eyes were focused on Novak Djokovic, when he took on seasoned American contenter Donald Young.
Many expected the left-hander to be a very tough first round match for the returning Serbian, however the six-time Australian Open winner finished Young in straight sets, with the final result going Djokovic's way 6-1 Nike Air Max 2017 Sale Clearance , 6-2, 6-4.
In the rest of the men's bracket, top seeds Dominic Thiem, Stan Wawrinka, Alexander Zverev, Juan del Potro, Tomas Berdych and David Goffin all booked their place in the second round with relative ease.
While last year's winner and second seed of the tournament Nike Air Max 2018 Sale Clearance , Roger Federer, also blasted his way to a straight sets victory over Slovenian Aljaz Bedene, before getting an on-court visit from a Hollywood superstar.
Comedic actor, Will Ferrell, conducted a post match interview with the Swissman to the delight of those in attendance.
He asked if the 37-year old's longevity and outstanding performance was a result of him being a "witch" or a "vampire?"
He also asked the 19 times Grand Slam winner if the secret to his success downunder was from eating "wombat meat" from a native Australian animal.
In the women's matches, top seeds Simona Halep, Karolína Pliskova Nike Air Max Sale Clearance , Johanna Konta, Caroline Garcia, Garbine Muguruza and Kristina Mladenovic advanced to the second round, along with local favourite Ashleigh Barty, who battled back from a set down against Belarusian power hitter, Aryna Sabalenka.
The other focal point for fans was the return of Maria Sharapova against German opponent, Tatjana Maria Air Max 90 Sale Clearance , after the Russian missed last year's Australian Open due to suspension for a doping violation in 2016.
But the 30-year-old, former world number one showed no signs of faltering and cruised to a 6-1, 6-4 victory.
There was also two Chinese competitors on display, however both found it tough.
Wang Quiang fought back after being a set down to last year's U.S. Open finalist Madison Keys, but got edged out by the American 6-1, 7-5.
While Zhu Li lost an epic 3-set battle against Hsieh Su-wei, 6-0 Air Max 2017 Sale Clearance , 0-6, 6-8.
HAVANA, July 11 (Xinhua) -- Visiting Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday that Russia and Cuba are creating new conditions for the development of their relations.
Putin made the remarks after meeting Cuban leader Raul Castro, Russia's Itar-Tass news agency reported from Havana.
During his one-day visit, the two countries signed 10 agreements to expand cooperation in energy, transportation, culture Air Max 2018 Sale Clearance , industry and healthcare.
Under the deals, the two sides agreed on setting up a special regional training center for firefighters and emergency rescuers, and exchanging information on international security.
In the energy sector, Russia's state-run oil firm Rosneft and Cubapetroleo (Cupet) will cooperate in offshore oil exploration while Russia's Inter RAO Export company will help boost the generating capacity at a Cuban thermoelectric plant by building four 200-MW stations.
Russia has decided to forgive 90 percent of Cuba's debt to Moscow, the Kremlin press service said Friday. The remaining 10 percent of the debt will be restructured and paid over the next 10 years, and the money will be reinvested into the Cuban economy.
At a joint press conference, Raul Castro said forgiving the debt was "a new demonstration of the great generosity of the Russian people towards Cuba."
This is Putin's second visit to the island country since 2000.
Putin will travel on to Argentina and then Brazil to watch the football World Cup final.
He will remain in Brazil to take part in the 6th BRICS Summit of emerging economies -- Brazil Air Max Sale Clearance , India, China, Russia and South Africa -- in the northeastern city of Fortaleza on July 15-16.
ZAGREB, Jan. 31 (Xinhua) -- US Open champion Marin Cilic is still waiting to get on the court in 2015 after he pulled out of the PBZ Zagreb Indoors tournament on Saturday.
Cilic has been forced to withdraw from the Australian Open, first major tournament of the season, with nagging shoulder injury that was bothering him even throughout his successful 2014 campaign.
He was hoping to start playing again at the PBZ Zagreb Indoors tournament that he won on four previous occasions, in 2009-10 and 2013-14 Nike Air Max 90 Sale Outlet , but now he had to wait longer than expected.
"Recovery is slow, too slow. I've been out of court for about seven weeks so far and that's the longest period in my career that I've been without touching a racket. Last MRI test showed that there has been progress but I have to wait two more weeks to repeat MRI test that could show my shoulder is completely healed," said Cilic on Saturday at the tournament's draw ceremony.
Cilic's withdrawal from the tournament made Croatian number 2 Ivo Karlovic the highest seed at his hometown event. There are six Croatians in the tournament, including 18-year-old Borna Coric who received ATP award "Star of Tomorrow" in 2014 as the youngest player ranked among Top 100 in the world.
Coric was drawn against former Zagreb champion Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky and could play against Karlovic in the quarterfinal. Ivan Dodig is in the bottom part of the draw and will play countryman Mate Delic in the first round.
Even with Cilic out of the tournament there will be plenty of great matches to watch and a lot of Croatians that local fans will have a chance to cheer for.
Croatian players will play with the hope to emulate what Ivan Ljubicic, Marin Cilic and Ivan Dodig did in the past, becoming home champions on six occasions in the past nine editions of the tournament, first Eur. Authentic NFL Jerseys Wholesale Authentic Soccer Jerseys Cheap Custom NHL Jerseys Wholesale Authentic MLB Jerseys Wholesale Soccer Jerseys Cheap NHL Jerseys Wholesale MLB Jerseys Wholesale Adidas NHL Jerseys Wholsale Nike NFL Jerseys Wholesale NFL Jerseys Wholesale