SERENA WILLIAMS VICTORIOUS IN MIAMI.

World number one Serena Williams battled her way into the fourth round of the Sony Open with a 6-4 4-6 6-4 win over Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia on Saturday but the six-time champion hardly looked at home on the Miami hardcourts calling her effort unprofessional.

The game's dominant player, Williams, who lives an hour drive away from the Crandon Park complex, has yet to put her stamp on her home tournament, advancing with a pair of laboured wins over Yaroslava Shvedova and Garcia.

The hard-hitting Frenchwoman showed no fear, slugging it out with the 17-time grand slam winner for more than two and a half hours before Williams ended the fight with a blistering forehand winner.

MANCHESTER UNITED ROBIN VAN PERSIE OUT FOR SIX WEEKS.

Manchester United striker Robin van Persie has been ruled out for four to six weeks with a sprained knee.

The Dutchman bagged a hat-trick as United completed a remarkable turnaround against Olympiakos in the Champions League, but was forced off with an injury late on.

It means Van Persie will miss the Manchester derby on Tuesday, and both legs of their European quarter-final with Bayern Munich.

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE QUATER FINAL DRAW...

Manchester United will face holders Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter-finals while Chelsea drew PSG.

The first legs of the ties are set to be played on April 1-2 with the return legs on April 8-9, with this year's final to be held at Benfica's Estadio da Luz in Lisbon on May 24.

Draw in full

Barcelona v Atletico Madrid

Real Madrid v Borussia Dortmund

Paris Saint-Germain v Chelsea

Manchester United v Bayern Munich

SEE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE SEMI FINAL DRAW...

Manchester United will face holders Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter-finals while Chelsea drew PSG.

The first legs of the ties are set to be played on April 1-2 with the return legs on April 8-9, with this year's final to be held at Benfica's Estadio da Luz in Lisbon on May 24.

Draw in full

Barcelona v Atletico Madrid

Real Madrid v Borussia Dortmund

Paris Saint-Germain v Chelsea

Manchester United v Bayern Munich

BARCELONA VICTOR VALDES CLOSE TO MAN CITY MOVE...

Victor Valdes is closing in on a move to Manchester City this summer according to reports.
Mundo Deportivo cites a report from French newspaper L’Equipe which claims Monaco were hopeful of signing the Barca keeper but are likely to lose out to City.
Valdes had previously agreed to move to the principality but a clause in the contract he agreed allows him to break.
Valdes would be reunited at City with Txiki Begiristain and Ferran Soriano, former Barca executives, and ex-Barca midfielder Yaya Toure.
City is also home to a quartet of Spain internationals - Javi Garcia, David Silva, Jesus Navas and Alvaro Negredo.

REAL MADRID JESE GETS TORN CRUCIATE LIGAMENT...

Real Madrid forward Jese faces a lengthy period on the sidelines after rupturing the cruciate ligament in his right knee in Tuesday's Champions League win over Schalke 04.

The 21-year-old was knocked to the ground and landed awkwardly when he tangled with Schalke defender Sead Kolasinac in the second minute at the Bernabeu and had to be replaced by Gareth Bale.

"He has had bad luck and everyone at Real Madrid has had bad luck because we will lose a young player who has been doing very well this season," coach Carlo Ancelotti told a news conference.

"But this is football and players suffer injuries at times during their careers. We are sad and it has affected us a lot but it could be a chance for him to build strength of character. We have to stay positive.

"We will help him through it and wait for him to come back next season." Real won 9-2 on aggregate, after a 3-1 home win in the second leg, to reach the Champions League quarter-finals.

ANDRE VILLAS BOAS NAMED NEW ZENIT MANAGER...

Former Tottenham and Chelsea boss Andre Villas-Boas has been confirmed as the new coach of Zenit St. Petersburg on a two-year deal.

The Portuguese coach will start work on Thursday after Zenit's Champions League clash with Borussia Dortmund.

Former Russia captain Sergey Semak will take charge of the game in Dortmund with the Russians trailing 4-2 from the first leg.

Villas-Boas replaces Italian Luciano Spalletti who was sacked last week.

Former AS Roman and Udinese boss Spalletti took charge in December 2009 and led the side from Russia's second city to two Premier League titles and one Russian Cup during his tenure and was named Russian coach of the season in 2010 and 2012 season.

However, the club's hierarchy decided to change their manager, whose contract ran until 2015, despite being very much in the title race.

Zenit are currently in second place, three points behind leaders Lokomotiv Moscow, although they did lose their last match 1-0 to CSKA Moscow with Semak in charge.

Villas-Boas has been out of work since December when he was sacked as Tottenham manager following a 5-0 drubbing against Liverpool.

TEN MEN MAN CITY DEFEAT HARD FIGHTING HULL CITY...

Premier League, KC Stadium – Hull 0 Manchester City 2 (Silva 14 Dzeko 90)
Ten-man Manchester City fought hard to beat Hull City 2-0 and boost their Premier League title hopes.
City were forced to play for 80 minutes without influential captain Vincent Kompany after the Belgian was dismissed for hauling down Nikica Jelavic when last man.
Undeterred, City took the lead moments after the sending off when David Silva floated across the pitch and curled a wonderful effort into the corner of Allan McGregor’s goal.
The hosts looked lively throughout but were plagued by an inability to stay onside as the makeshift City defensive pairing of Javi Garcia and Martin Demichelis kept them at bay.
Hull felt aggrieved when substitute George Boyd went down inside the penalty area after contact with Joe Hart, although replays suggested that the winger was already on his way down when he clipped the England number one’s outstretched leg.
The visitors wrapped up the points in the final minute as Edin Dzeko latched onto a sublime Silva pass to fire home and keep the pressure on league leaders Chelsea.

LEWIS HAMILTON CLAIMS FIRST POSITION IN 2014 FORMULA ONE...

Lewis Hamilton claimed the first pole position of the 2014 Formula 1 season in qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix, while world champion Sebastian Vettel failed even to make Q3.

The Mercedes driver, on wet tyres, knocked Vettel's Red Bull team-mate Daniel Ricciardo, who was on intermediate rubber, off top spot by three tenths of a second in the final seconds of a rain-hit session.

WILL ROONEY LEAVE MANCHESTER UNITED?

WILL ROONEY LEAVE MANCHESTER UNITED?

 

David Moyes, the United manager, who watched the Borussia Mönchengladbach midfielder Patrick Herrmann in action against Bayern Munich last night, has worked assiduously throughout this season to repair Rooney’s relationship with the club following his fall-out with Ferguson.
Despite an acrimonious libel case brought by Moyes against Rooney in 2008 – which was settled out of court – following claims by the player in his autobiography, the two men had made up their differences long before the Scot’s appointment as United’s manager last May.
And Moyes’s persistence and efforts with Rooney appear to have been rewarded with the player accepting that his long-term future lies at Old Trafford.

WILL ARSENAL WIN THE PREMIER LEAGUE TITLE?

 

WILL ARSENAL WIN THIS PREMIER LEAGUE TITLE?The assertion that Arsenal require a proven forward to sustain their title surge is completely unfounded.

It is entirely remiss to measure Olivier Giroud’s contribution to Arsenal’s cause purely in goals scored – it is archaic to do so, in fact. Football has evolved from players being rigidly tied to a set of characteristics that define their role in the team.
Giroud embodies this more than any other player in this current Arsenal side.
While far from Arsenal’s standout performer, he is absolutely integral – his importance is not tied to Arsenal’s apparent dearth of quality up front but the selfless role he performs to allow Arsenal’s dizzying array of midfield talent to dictate from deep.
Whenever challenged to invest heavily, Arsene Wenger has always retained an almost incongruous composure; even amid the throes of transfer crises, Wenger continually reiterated his belief in the team - even when his team appeared to be pillaged by its title rivals. The ethos of team is paramount to Wenger. Giroud augments this Arsenal team.