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On the WTA tour at the moment, success on clay isn't about being the most comfortable on the surface -- just the least uncomfortable on it. Who would have thought that Maria Sharapova, once most famous on clay for comparing herself to a "cow on ice," would now be dominating on it, winning the past four big red-clay events in a row?

An in-form Sharapova started her clay campaign last week by defending her title in Stuttgart, Germany, which she won last year along with victories in Rome and at the French Open. Her opponent in the final was Li Na, who won the French Open in 2011 and lost to Sharapova in the Rome final last year.

And, although Sharapova has been asserting herself on the red stuff, Serena Williams has been cleaning up on the other varieties. She defended her title at Charleston on green clay a couple of weeks ago and won on the blue clay used at Madrid last year.

Victoria Azarenka also has been in the mix, reaching finals at Stuttgart and Madrid last year.

What do all these women have in common, apart from recent success on clay? None is particularly fond of the surface.

They grew up on hard courts, and their power-hitting game remains more suited to faster surfaces. But it hasn't stopped them from translating their results to the slower, higher-bouncing clay.

That's partly because most of their competition isn't much better off.

"You have a lot of players that are not really surface-orientated," ESPN analyst Darren Cahill said. "Everyone is playing quite a similar style and not really changing the way they play dependent on surface.

"That's why it's been a little easier for some of the so-called 'non-clay-court experts' to get results."

In some ways, it's not a new development. Historically, top female champions have managed to dominate no matter what the surface. But specialization seemed to be increasing a few years ago, with clay-suited players such as Justine Henin, Amelie Mauresmo, pre-retirement Kim Clijsters, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Elena Dementieva making it tough for those who weren't dirt-ballers, such as Lindsay Davenport, the Williams sisters or Sharapova, to break through very often.

This year, however, Serena is likely to be a French Open favorite, even though she counts only one French Open title among her 14 majors and lost in the first round last year in what was the second-biggest upset of the season after Rafael Nadal's defeat by Lukas Rosol at Wimbledon.

It reflects the relative lack of topflight opposition on the surface at the moment. No. 7 Sara Errani, last year's other French Open finalist, is the highest-ranked player who would be at her best on clay. There are a few others, such as 2010 French Open champ Francesca Schiavone, Carla Suarez Navarro, Lucie Safarova and 2011 Stuttgart champ Julia Goerges, but there is no one as formidable as four-time French Open champ Henin around to threaten other top-ranked players.

"They don't have anyone else that can really compete with them and really feel comfortable on the clay court," said Antonio Van Grichen, the former coach of Azarenka who is working with Jarmila Gajdosova and other Tennis Australia players. "Errani, Schiavone, [Suarez] Navarro, they are lacking the power.

"Even though Justine didn't have the same power as Serena or Sharapova, she had a lot of other solutions. Errani -- she's a very patient player; she grinds a lot; she hits a lot of balls deep; she knows how to play on clay, but she also lacks other things.

"Justine was more complete."

But the clay-court ascendancy of players such as Sharapova, Li and Serena is also partly about their own improved effectiveness on the surface.

After winning the French Open last year, Sharapova pointed to improved fitness and movement as the reasons for her improved results. "The experience that I have now has helped me to understand my own body better, and I know how long it takes me to recover," she said.

"I just felt more comfortable. Not just this year, but starting maybe last year, maybe the year before, I started moving a lot better. I started believing that I could, you know, play longer rallies."

Li might have seemed at a loss to explain her unexpected run to the French Open a year earlier but made adjustments to meet the demands of the surface. "Mainly for Li Na, she started being a little bit more patient," Van Grichen said. Tactically, she was better and more aware of the whole game plan, of how to play on clay courts.

And, more than a decade after she got her lone major win on clay, Serena's game also has evolved.

"She's become a smarter tennis player, as well," Cahill said. "You see her breaking down opponents now much than she used to do, playing to weak sides and weak areas of her opponent's game. She's put a lot more thought into constructing points.

"From the back of the court, she's much more patient than she used to be. And she's got the fitness; she knows she can stay out there for three hours if she needs to."

Serena has grown comfortable on the surface after playing on it for a decade and a half, enough to embrace the challenge. "I enjoy playing on the clay. I enjoy sliding. You have to be more consistent, but I like it," said the world No. 1, looking ahead to this part of the season in Miami.

The transition is easier because hard courts have become slower, she added. Azarenka, who grew up playing indoors in Belarus and on hard court in the United States, agrees that switching isn't as hard as it used to be.

"Definitely a little bit different, but the game on clay becomes more and more similar as on hard court," she said during last year's French Open.

But it hasn't helped improve its popularity among the players. Samantha Stosur, who has been effective at the French Open the past few years with her kick serve and topspin forehand, has always said she feels more comfortable with cement underneath.

Even No. 4 Agnieszka Radwanska, whose varied game seems made for clay (and was made on it), prefers the truer bounce and footing of hard courts.

"It is strange because at home I really love playing on clay," she said at Rome last year. "I am not practicing on hard courts. I don't even have a hard court in my city, and so I am practicing on other surfaces.

"But now with the tournaments, I am really liking to play on hard.

"Ninety percent of the season is on hard courts, and so I am used to it."

The explanation might be that Radwanska is forced to produce more of her own power on clay rather than being able to use her opponent's pace, Van Grichen says.

Sometimes, the widespread discomfort on the surface has meant opportunities for the small number of players who do like the dirt. Errani is a prime example. Most of her triumphs came at small clay events until she unexpectedly reached the 2012 French Open final. Schiavone, 2010 Rome champ Maria Jose Sanchez Martinez and Goerges are others who have won big titles while big names struggled to adapt.

But with order re-emerging on the women's tour, those openings have become smaller and the biggest clay titles are often being won by players who see it as their worst surface. Call it survival of the least unfit.

Ziaur Rahman led the Bangladesh attack with four wickets as they completed a 143-run win over Zimbabwe on Monday to draw the two-match series 1-1 and gain revenge for their mauling in the first Test.

Set a target of 401 runs to win in their second innings at the Harare Sports Club, Zimbabwe were bowled out for 257 just before tea on day five to hand Bangladesh only their fourth Test victory.

Hamilton Masakadza provided the only real resistance as he finished unbeaten on 111.

Zimbabwe resumed on their overnight score of 138 for four wickets, but nobody could build a significant partnership with Masakadza.

Medium-pacer Rahman finished with figures of 4-63 and was the best of the visiting bowlers, though he was ably supported by spinner Shakib Al Hasan who bagged 3-52.

Bangladesh captain Mushfiqur Rahim was pleased with the way his team responded after being humiliated in the first Test in a 335-run defeat.

"A test win is a big achievement for us and after the first Test all the pressure was on us," Rahim said in a TV interview.

"The boys have stuck their hands up, especially the senior guys who all played well. That shows the character of our team. Hopefully we can take this momentum into the one-dayers."

Zimbabwe captain Brendan Taylor defended his decision to bowl having won the toss on the first morning and admitted they were simply out-performed.

"We expected them to come back strongly, we let ourselves down on the first day and that set the tone," Taylor said.

"The wicket played a little bit better than we thought it would on day one. There were some quality performances from them and they deserve the win. But we are fairly pleased with some of our own performances and can be proud with a drawn series."

Bangladesh's only other victories in their 79 Tests to date came with a 2-0 series win against a weakened West Indies outfit in 2009, as well as a win against Zimbabwe in Dhaka in 2005.

 The moment Ziaur Rahman hit Brendan Taylor's pad in front of the stumps and the umpire raised his finger, Bangladesh were closer to a rare Test win. At the end of the fourth day of the second and final Test, Zimbabwe were 138 for 4, chasing a 401-run target set up by Mushfiqur Rahim's 93.

The Zimbabwe captain's wicket was the one Mushfiqur would have wanted more than the seven runs by which he missed his third Test hundred. After umpire Ian Gould lifted his finger, it was easy to see and hear what it meant to the fielding side which was screaming for joy. Zimbabwe were 96 for 3, with their best batsman and captain out of the equation with a day remaining.

Malcolm Waller also fell to Ziaur for 15, missing a straightening delivery as his lack of footwork shackled him to the crease. Shingirai Masakadza was sent in as the nightwatchman at 118 for 4 with more than 15 overs remaining in the day, a strange decision but one which ultimately paid off. His elder brother Hamilton held his own at the other end, unbeaten on 46 off 94 balls.

Zimbabwe started the fourth innings positively but in the tenth over, Regis Chakabva played inside the line of a Shakib Al Hasan delivery which spun past to strike off. Vusi Sibanda fell soon after for a 50-ball 32, driving one straight to Sohag Gazi at short cover off Shakib.

Mushfiqur would thank his lucky stars that finally bowlers other than Robiul Islam stood up. Ziaur bowled a 10-over spell, mainly focused on being accurate. He hardly has pace like he did a few years ago, but managed to bring in his shoulders to generate speed. Shakib and Gazi bowled tightly too, both using a typical left-arm spinner and offspinner's line. There was hardly a loose ball.

Bangladesh declared about an hour after lunch on 291 for 9, going ahead of the home side by exactly 400 runs. Shakib, Mushfiqur and Nasir Hossain hit their second fifties of the game.

Nasir stretched the lead with the tail, making an unbeaten 67 and scoring most of the 40 runs that came after lunch. Apart from his effort, Bangladesh's dominance was also due to captain Mushfiqur's attentiveness to the situation.

He made 93 before being brilliantly caught at gully by Sibanda off Hamilton Masakadza, and his persistence was crucial to his side's staying power. Along with Nasir, he had to see off the first half-hour, which has often produced wickets in Harare. Though they hardly found boundaries because the home side had deep fielders on both sides, they played carefully. Zimbabwe bowled wide too, and the batsmen cut out the rash shots.

Mushfiqur and Nasir were happy picking up singles until the captain began to open up with a mistimed scoop and a slog-sweep - both off Elton Chigumbura. He had earlier hit a cover drive that sped to the boundary but the wicket had slowed down, and bounce was also on the low side. He and Nasir added 84 for the sixth wicket, back-to-back 80-plus partnerships for Mushfiqur, after his fifth-wicket stand with Shakib on the third evening.

Taylor missed the long hours put in by Keegan Meth, who is out with a right knee injury. He was seen sitting on the sidelines with his feet up and knee strapped. Hamilton Masakadza, bowling medium-pace, took three wickets but was never going to be as big a threat to the visitors. Kyle Jarvis did not bowl with the venom of the first Test, but Shingi Masakadza remained steady and picked up four wickets.

Had the Zimbabwe bowlers put up a better show even on the fourth morning, the Test match could have remained competitive. Bangladesh got most of what happened on the fourth day their way, though there again was the odd leg-before decision that they were denied. They would still take it, given they are closing in on a Test win for the first time in nearly four years.
 

DEFENDING champion Maria Sharapova and Li Na will contest a Stuttgart WTA final featuring the past two French Open champions.

The Russian top seed Sharapova had to go the full distance again in Saturday's semi-finals for a 6-3, 2-6 7-5 victory over German third seed Angelique Kerber.

China's Li, the second seed, ended the strong run of American qualifier Bethanie Mattek-Sands 6-4 6-3 at the indoor clay event which is the first major tuneup for the next French Open starting in late May.

Sharapova maintained her 100 per cent record in Stuttgart, where she won on her debut last year and went on to triumph at the French Open to complete a career grand slam.

She holds an 8-5 lead in matches against Li, who beat Sharapova in the semis in Paris 2011 before becoming the first Asian player to lift a grand slam singles title. Sharapova won their only final, 2012, in Rome, Li their last match in the Australian Open semis.

"I am pleased the way I played in the first set and came back in the third. I am happy I came through and fought in the third," Sharapova said.

Sharapova has been stretched to three sets in all three games at the tournament, playing 3 hours 9 minutes against Czech Lucie Safarofa and 2:2:16 against Serbia's Ana Ivanovic before spending another 2:07 hours on court Saturday during which she hit 42 winners but also 44 unforced errors.

While saying it is nice to return to a place where you have had success before, Sharapova did not want to draw comparisons with last year where the Stuttgart title kick-started her clay campaign towards the Roland Garros crown.

"It is too early to talk about the French Open, there are still several weeks and tournaments. I never like to compare years, it's a different situation, different players," she said.

Li is yet to drop a set in Stuttgart but needed to fight off stiff resistance from 104th-ranked Mattek-Sands, a former top 30 player who has been plagued by injuries over the years and came back from a break down in each set.

The Chinese got the deciding break in the first set for 3-2 and wrapped up the set with two winners in the 10th game. In the second, Li won the final four games from 3-2 down, winning when Mattek-Sands double faulted on first match point.

"The match was pretty tight. She played good tennis," said Li, who had 28 winners to Mattek-Sands' 15.

"Maria is very aggressive. Every time it has been tough (against her)," she added in reference to Sunday's final.

 

Kolkata - India: Dogged by myriad controversies but glamorous nonetheless, the sixth edition of the Indian Premier League will kick off tomorrow with what promises to be a glitzy opening ceremony featuring Bollywood stars and international rapper Pitbull.