14: Serena Williams serves during her match against Shelby Rogers
during Top Seed Open – Day 5 at the Top Seed Tennis Club on August
14, 2020 in Lexington, Kentucky. Dylan Buell/Getty
Images/AFP
Serena Williams suffered her first loss since 2012 to a
rival outside the WTA’s top 100, falling to fellow American Shelby
Rogers in a Friday quarter-final at the Top Seed Open.
Rogers, ranked 116th, outlasted ninth-ranked Williams 1-6, 6-4,
7-6 (7/5) after two hours and seven minutes, finishing the 23-time
Grand Slam champion with a service winner.
“It’s every kid’s dream growing up to be able to do something
like that,” Rogers said. “Weird circumstances. Weird surroundings.
But a win is a win.”
The US Open hardcourt tuneup event at Lexington, Kentucky, is
being staged in a quarantine bubble due to the COVID-19 pandemic
that had kept Williams idle since a February Fed Cup
appearance.
Top seed Williams had not lost to a player outside the top 100
since falling to France’s Virginie Razzano in the first round of
the 2012 French Open.
14: Serena Williams plays a forehand during her match against
Shelby Rogers during Top Seed Open – Day 5 at the Top Seed Tennis
Club on August 14, 2020 in Lexington, Kentucky. Dylan Buell/Getty
Images/AFP
Williams, who ousted sister Venus on Thursday, was playing
matches to prepare for the US Open, which starts August 31. She
will seek a seventh title on the New York hardcourts to match
Margaret Court’s all-time record of 24 Grand Slam crowns.
“I have only good things to take,” Williams said. “I can play a
lot better.”
Rogers reached her first WTA semi-final since Rio in 2016.
She’ll face 63rd-ranked Swiss left-hander Jil Teichmann, who ousted
American Catherine Bellis 6-2, 6-4.
The other semi-final will send American Jen Brady — who ousted
Czech Marie Bouzkova 6-1, 6-2 — against US teen Coco Gauff, who won
10 of the last 11 games to rally past Tunisian eighth seed Ons
Jabeur 4-6, 6-4, 6-1.
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A rain delay of two hours and 45 minutes postponed her match,
but Williams showed no sign the wait had put the 38-year-old mother
off her game.
Williams broke for a 2-0 lead by forcing an errant Rogers
backhand, broke again in the sixth game when Rogers netted a
forehand and held on a service winner to claim the opening set
after only 26 minutes.
“Definitely a little overwhelmed in the first with that pace,”
Rogers said of Williams and her powerful serve. “Tried to hit a few
more volleys in the second, just hit one more ball.”
Rogers, who never faced a break point in the last two sets,
broke on her third chance in the last game of the second set when
Williams netted a forehand.
Both players held serve into the tie-breaker, where Williams
jumped ahead 3-1, only to have Rogers run off four straight points,
two on Serena’s serve, to seize the lead for good.
14: Serena Williams walks off the court after losing to Shelby
Rogers 6-1, 4-6, 6-7 during Top Seed Open – Day 5 at the Top Seed
Tennis Club on August 14, 2020 in Lexington, Kentucky. Dylan
Buell/Getty Images/AFP
Williams netted a backhand to give Rogers two match points, but
saved the first with a service winner only to fall when Rogers
answered with a service winner of her own.
Rogers, who will return to the WTA top 100 next week, was in her
first quarter-final since May 2017, due in part to a long absence
after a 2018 left knee injury.
-AFP
Read more https://swordpress.com.ng/2020/08/15/serena-falls-to-116th-ranked-rogers-at-us-open-tuneup/
Budget Ministry Sets-up Committee on 23rd Annual
ICE, Senior Officials
The Permanent
Secretary, Budget and National Planning, Mrs. Olusola Idowu, has
formally inaugurated the Local Organising Committee (LOC) for the
hosting of the 23rd regular Inter-Governmental
Committee of Experts (ICE) and Senior Officials meeting in
Nigeria.
Idowu, while
addressing the LOC said “The committee will be responsible for
planning, organizing and executing all approved activities for the
hosting of the ICE, co-opt any organization(s), person(s)
relevant to the successful hosting of the event and carry out any
assignment as may be required towards the success of the
event”.
According to the
Permanent Secretary, the ICE is a body established by the
United Nations General Assembly for West Africa.
She informed that the
committee met annually to discuss Economic and Social issues and
made recommendations based on the working documents prepared by the
Sub-Regional Office for West Africa (ECA/SRO-WA).
Idowu stated that the
recommendations were subsequently considered by the Annual
Conference of African Ministers of Finance, Planning and Economic
Development.
She noted that the
meeting was initially scheduled for May, 2020 but was
postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In her words, “With
several meetings held between officials of the UNECA and the
Federal Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning, the new
date for the ICE meeting will be November, 2020, depending on the
COVID-19 situation”
She charged the LOC to
be committed and bring their wealth of experience to bear, towards
a successful hosting of the conference while assuring them of
the Ministry’s maximum support to enable the committee succeed in
the onerous task.
Responding on behalf
of the Committee, a Deputy Director in the Ministry, Dr. Sanjo
Faniron, said the Committee would put in its best to ensure
adequate preparation and a successful hosting of the meeting.
The last edition of
the Inter-Governmental Committee of Experts and Senior Officials
meeting was held in Robersfield, Republic of Liberia, in 2019.
Victoria Agba-Attah
D(Information) BNP
14/08/2020