Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/442526
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 7 JANUARY 2015 Sport 23 Answers to the MaltaToday crossword will be published next Wednesday WEATHER: Fine with some clouds becoming partly to rather cloudy VISIBILITY: Good WIND: North to Northwest force 2 to 3, locally force 3 to 4 at first and overnight, becoming variable for some time and mainly Westerly later on SEA: Moderate to rough becoming slight to moderate SWELL: Low Northeast, locally low to moderate for some time SEA TEMP: 17 °C A B C D E F G H 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 White to play and mate in four moves A B C D E F G H 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Last week's solution Sudoku rules are extremely easy: Fill all empty squares so that the numbers 1 to 9 appear once in each row, column and 9x9 box. PARTLY CLOUDY 17 º C / 8 º C UV INDEX: 2 Today's Weather Chess Sudoku Pursuits TENNIS Across 1. Provide with new housing (7) 5. Ambitious (7) 9. Rather tall (7) 10. Become liable for (5) 11. Choose (5) 12. Uncooked (3) 13. Spain and Portugal (6) 14. Become sad (6) 15. Container used for cooking (3) 17. Water fallen as rain (9) 21. Nevertheless (3) 23. Flowering shrub of the genus Rhododendron (6) 24. Small stone (6) 27. Meadow (3) 28. Keyboard instrument (5) 29. First prime minister of India (5) 30. Personal view (7) 31. Strategic withdrawal (7) 32. Systematically arranged body of facts (7) Down 1. Device for catching rats (3,4) 2. Fool (4-3) 3. Incomparable (6) 4. Book of the New Testament (9) 5. Card game (5) 6. Piece of luggage (8) 7. Enclose (7) 8. Republic in central Europe (7) 16. Resembling a cavern (9) 18. Tavern (8) 19. Person who drives a wagon (7) 20. Hearing distance (7) 21. Inhabitant of Belgium (7) 22. Learner (7) 25. Two-piece bathing suit (6) 26. Heron (5) Ng4+ Kh1 Qf3 h2 c3 Kg1 Qd1++ TOP seed Maria Sharapova progressed to the quarter-finals of the Brisbane International with the simplest of victories against Yaroslava Shvedova on Tuesday. The Kazakhstani had no answer for the world number two's power and precision, with Sharapova taking the first set to love in just 23 minutes before needing only another 39 to wrap up a 6-0 6-1 victory at the Queensland Tennis Centre. Shvedova only got on the board after Shara- pova had raced into a 3-0 lead in the second set, and the five-time grand slam champion admitted she was pleased with her perform- ance. "I wanted to get off to a good start tonight," she said on BT Sport 2. "It's been a couple of months since I played my last match so I want- ed to try to be as sharp as I could from the be- ginning and I think I did a good job with that. "I'm quite thankful, at 27, to still be healthy and motivated to play and happy to start an- other great year." Third seed Angelique Kerber joined Sharap- ova in the last eight with a straight sets triumph against another Russian, Daria Gavrilova. Kerber produced a measured performance to secure a 6-3 7-5 win against the 20-year-old former junior US Open champion. Kerber will play Elina Svitolina for a place in the semi-finals after the Ukrainian overcame Croatian Ajla Tomljanovic 6-3 6-2. Varvara Lepchenko is also through to the quarter-finals after she defeated fellow Ameri- can Madison Keys 6-4 6-4. Defending champion Lleyton Hewitt crashed out of the men's competition when he lost his first-round match against fellow Australian Sam Groth, who smashed home 14 aces in a one-sided affair. Hewitt, who beat Roger Federer to claim last year's title, was stunned when Groth raced in- to a 3-0 lead in the opening set and could not recover sufficiently as his countryman took the first set 6-3. Hewitt had no answer to Groth's booming serve and the latter broke at the earliest avail- able opportunity in the second and then domi- nated until the very end to clinch a 6-3 6-2 vic- tory in under an hour. Fifth seed Kevin Anderson was also a first- round casualty as he lost 7-6 (7/3) 6-4 to Polish qualifier Lukasz Kubot. Seventh seed Alexandr Dolgopolov is through to the next round, however, sealing his progression with a 6-2 6-3 triumph against Carlos Berlocq. Elsewhere, Martin Klizan beat Jurgen Melz- er 6-7 (5/7) 7-6 (8/6) 6-1, Mikhail Kukushkin defeated Marius Copil 6-4 4-6 6-4 and Jarkko Nieminen overcame Denis Kudla 4-6 6-1 6-4. John Millman was a 6-3 6-1 victor against Rhyne Williams, while Steve Johnson secured a 2-6 7-6 (7/0) 7-5 win over Marinko Matose- vic. Top seeds Federer, Kei Nishikori, Milos Raonic and Grigor Dimitrov have byes to the second round, with Federer getting his tour- nament under way on Thursday and the other three in action on Wednesday. Sharapova breezes past Shvedova Maria Sharapova