Rafael Nadal powers into Monte Carlo quarter-finals

Defending champion Rafael Nadal powered into the Monte Carlo Masters quarter-finals with a 6-0 6-1 victory over unseeded Michael Berrer of Germany.

World number 51 Berrer, who reached the final in Zagreb earlier this year, won only five points in the opening set.

He won 18 in total and there were huge cheers when he claimed his only game, but Nadal's forehand winner down the line sealed the match in 54 minutes.

Fourth seed Marin Cilic was beaten 6-4 6-4 by Spaniard Albert Montanes.

Nadal, winner of the last five Monte Carlo titles, also dropped only one game in his opening match against Dutch qualifier Thiemo De Bakker, and the clay-court supremo next faces fellow Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero, who beat fifth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-1 3-6 7-5.

"Juan Carlos is a player who has won more matches this year on clay and he is coming with big confidence," said Nadal. "It is going to be really difficult."

Second seed Nadal was on course for his first professional 'double-bagel' 6-0 6-0 success but sent a backhand wide at 30-40 in the sixth game of the second set.

It did not delay him long, however, as he extended his winning streak in the competition to 29 matches.

"I played better than yesterday because I played higher, I played close to the lines, and my feeling is that I had more control on the ball than yesterday," said Nadal.

"Good backhands. Very good forehands down the line." BBC Online.

Man Utd striker Wayne Rooney shortlisted for PFA award

Manchester United and England striker Wayne Rooney is among the nominations for the Professional Footballers' Association player of the year award.

Rooney is joined on the four-man shortlist by Arsenal midfielder Cesc Fabregas, Chelsea striker Didier Drogba and Manchester City ace Carlos Tevez.

Rooney and Fabregas are also nominees for the young player of the year award.

Aston Villa midfielder James Milner and Birmingham City's on-loan goalkeeper Joe Hart complete that particular list.

Hart, 22, has spent the season on loan at St Andrew's from Manchester City.

Rooney, who has already scored 34 goals for his club this term, is favourite to capture the PFA prize and make it the fourth successive year it has gone to a United player.

Cristiano Ronaldo recorded back-to-back wins in 2007 and 2008, while Ryan Giggs was handed the honours last season.

Rooney, 24, and Fabregas, 22, will compete to join a select band of players to have won the young player award in the same season as the main honour.

Andy Gray, the former Aston Villa and Scotland striker, and Ronaldo achieved the feat in 1977 and 2007 respectively.

Both Rooney and Fabregas have already won the young player prize in the past. Rooney triumphed in 2005 and 2006, while Fabregas collected it in 2008.

Fabregas is currently injured and will miss the rest of the season after cracking his right fibula during the first leg of the Gunners' Champions League quarter-final against Barcelona.

But the Spaniard remains a key player for the Gunners, whose Premier League title aspirations were seemingly ended by their defeat by Tottenham on Wednesday.

BBC African Footballer of the Year Drogba, 32, has hit 32 goals to leave Chelsea on the brink of the first double in the club's history, while Tevez, 26, has also enjoyed a prolific campaign; netting 28 goals since joining City from neighbours United last summer.

The 24-year-old Milner, who looks like being a key player for England at this year's World Cup, is trying to emulate Aston Villa team-mate Ashley Young, who won the young player accolade last season. BBC Online

South Africans made to wait for World Cup tickets

Thousands of fans who queued overnight in South Africa finally got their hands on World Cup tickets, but scuffles broke out as computers crashed.

Some 500,000 tickets were sold at supermarkets and shopping malls.

But police used pepper spray to control frustrated fans and in Cape Town a 64-year-old man died from a heart attack.

The tragedy in Cape Town came after fans from all over the country had queued from Wednesday afternoon as World Cup fever gripped South Africa.

Fifa agreed on Wednesday to drop a rule that sales could only be made online or through a ballot procedure. Tickets for all matches remain available.

BBC Sport's news correspondent Gordon Farquhar said Fifa's integrated ticketing computer had encountered problems, resulting in long waiting times for queuing fans.
After three and a half hours in Cape Town, only 32 people out of a crowd of about 1,000 had managed to buy tickets.

"No one's informed us about what's going on. No one's directing the public outside," said Theo Spangenberg, who had been waiting for 16 hours and still had not made it inside the newly opened ticketing centre.

"For a World Cup, an international event of this nature, it's a really, really bad show."

The ticket centres opened across the country at 0900 (0800 BST) for the last phase of sales.

One man fortunate enough to get tickets was Malin Fisher, a 32-year-old trainee church minister. Fisher was first through the doors of a shopping mall in Soweto and spent more than 10,000 rand (£880) on six tickets, including two for the World Cup final.
"The internet and applying was a bit frustrating but to be able to buy World Cup final tickets over the counter, that was amazing," he said. BBC Online.