WASHINGTON: Foreign minister S M Krishna and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton are co-chairing the first Cabinet-level Indo-US Strategic Dialogue; which according to top US officials would set the pace for the long-term strategic relationship between the two countries.
US President Barack Obama is expected to make an unusual visit to the State Department to take part personally in the dialogue's reception, which will also include members of the increasingly influential Indian-American community.
Obama plans to pay his first presidential visit to India later this year. In November, he invited Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for the honour of Obama's first White House state dinner.
On the eve of the first-ever Indo-US Strategic Dialogue, India on Wednesday said it would be an important occasion for both the countries to set their sights on "new milestones" as they share interests ranging from counter-terrorism to nuclear security to Afghanistan.
"We will discuss many areas in which we have shared interests-ranging from countering terrorism and extremism, advancing nuclear security, working to secure the global commons, seeking to build a developed and cooperative Asia, and succeeding in Afghanistan to dialogues for co-operation in science and technology," S M Krishna said in his address to the US corporate world, his first public engagement in America.
Other areas like "research for clean energy and monsoon prediction, health and education and even a dialogue on women's empowerment" will also be discussed.
Krishna was addressing at the 35th anniversary celebrations of US India Business Council, attended by top leaders of the American corporate world including India-born PepsiCo chief Indra Nooyi.
"Tomorrow, with this extremely broad range of shared interests, I will join Secretary Hillary Clinton, for the first India-US strategic dialogue at the ministerial level. That will be an important occasion for us to reflect on the remarkable journey that our two great democracies have embarked upon, and to set our sights on new milestones."
Krishna also said the country was committed to putting in place a nuclear liability regime by getting the Nuclear Liability Bill passed in Parliament.
"I have received some feedback on areas of particular interest to members present here - foremost is the implementation of the historic Civil Nuclear Agreement between our two countries signed in 2008," he said.
"We are well within the agreed timelines, of course. The Government is committed to put in place a nuclear liability regime. We look forward to US companies investing in India. Many of you are in dialogue with our companies already. We would like it to be as robust a partnership as we have both envisioned," he said.
The Nuclear Liability Bill, which is crucial in the implementation of the Indo-US nuclear deal, is being strongly opposed by parties like BJP and Left. They are opposed to the bill in the present form and had even disrupted Parliament when it was introduced last month.
Pitching for a robust two-way trade in advanced technology products with the US, Krishna said it has offered guarantees that sensitive technology would not be diverted in contravention of US regulations.
He sought strengthening of bilateral cooperation in the field of innovation and advanced technology.
"We have given a number of written assurances that US technology will enjoy the level of security stipulated by the relevant US laws and not be diverted in contravention of US regulations," Krishna said.
Other members of the Indian delegation include HRD Minister Kapil Sibal, Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia, Minister of State for Science and Technology Prithviraj Chavan and Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao.
Setting the tone for the meeting, Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs William Burns and Rao held a foreign policy meeting at the State Department.
USAID Administrator, Raj Shah and Under Secretary for Management Robert D Hormats also held the Indo-US Agriculture Dialogue with Ahluwalia, while Sibal had his own meetings today.
Meanwhile, top White House economic adviser, Lawrence Summers, said it was an anomaly that India and the United States did not have closer relations.
"It is the confident expectation of the government of the United States that that will be very different in the 21st century," Summers told the US-India Business Council on Wednesday.
William Burns, the under secretary of state for political affairs, said on Tuesday that the United States sought the "strongest possible partnership" with India and did not link the relationship to Pakistan or China.
Burns on Wednesday opened the dialogue with closed-door meetings with his Indian counterpart, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao.
Relations between India and the United States improved markedly under former president George W. Bush, who spearheaded a landmark agreement that allows New Delhi access to civilian nuclear technology.
India had been a pariah after declaring itself a nuclear weapons power in 1998 with tests that were reciprocated by Pakistan. Both countries refuse to sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty.
While some lawmakers from his Democratic Party initially opposed the nuclear cooperation deal, the Obama administration has forged ahead with it, completing arrangements in March for the reprocessing of nuclear material.
But the United States still wants India to approve legislation that would limit compensation payments from nuclear suppliers in the event of a nuclear accident.
Cyclone warning issued along western coast
NEW DELHI: India's weather office has warned residents along parts of the country's western coast that Tropical Cyclone Phet is likely to cause heavy rains and gale-speed winds.
The Meteorological Department says that Phet is centered in the Arabian Sea, 660 miles (1,060 kilometers) southwest of the Kutch area of Gujarat state.
The weather office said on Thursday morning it was likely the storm would gain strength over the next 24 hours and move closer to the coast of Oman before returning to Pakistan's west coast and the Gujarat coast.
It warns of heavy rains and winds of speeds reaching 50 miles (85 kilometers) an hour starting Friday.
Fishermen have been warned not to venture out.
Former CEO Tim Wright sues Deccan Chargers
LONDON: More than a year after parting ways with the Deccan Chargers, the IPL franchise's former CEO Tim Wright has filed a 10 million pound lawsuit against it, alleging breach of contract.
According to a report in 'The Daily Telegraph', the lawsuit also "accuses Deccan of illegal payments to an unnamed player which broke the IPL's salary cap rules."
"It alleges Wright's severance clause of 10 million pounds was not honoured and that his position was undermined when the franchise appointed KPMG to find a buyer for the Deccan Chargers while telling their chief executive it was not for sale," the report said.
Deccan had finished bottom of the heap in the inaugural IPL before stunning one and all by clinching the title the next year in 2009.
Wright, who left Deccan before the 2009 season for unspecified reasons, alleges that the team hiked a player's salary without consulting him.
"The first defendant (owner of the Deccan Chargers) offered a player a role within the team without consulting the claimant and a pay increase in the player's IPL contract, contrary to rules of the IPL," the court document states.
After Wright left his job, Deccan claimed the Englishman didn't want to come to India for fear of being arrested for violating the Foreigners Registration Act and visa rules.
Wright, in his lawsuit, says that he had disagreements with Deccan owners over a number of deals, including entertainment rights and a tour to Dubai.
The newspaper reported that Deccan are responding to the suit and "a date is expected to be set tomorrow to decide whether the case will be heard in London or India."
Centre gets past state, CBI to probe train attack
New Delhi: West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee suffered a second blow Wednesday after the central government ordered — within hours of the Left Front’s humiliating defeat in the civic polls — a CBI inquiry into last week’s Jnaneswari Express tragedy.
The Union Home Ministry, which had always been in favour of a CBI probe, invoked the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act (DPSE), 1946, that empowers the Centre to call in the CBI without the concurrence of the state government.
After appearing initially to be open to the idea, West Bengal had on Monday rejected a probe by the CBI, probably because the CPM did not want to be seen as acquiescing to a demand made by Mamata Banerjee.
Sources said the Centre took the line that since the Jnaneswari’s derailment and the subsequent collision with the oncoming goods train occurred on railway land, “the state government’s concurrence is not required”. “The West Bengal government and railway authorities have been asked to join the investigation,” said an MHA official.
Israel drags India into flotilla row, later ‘regrets error’
New Delhi: Soon after its foreign minister compared the raid on an aid flotilla that left nine pro-Palestine activists dead to violence in India and other countries, Israel on Wednesday said the remarks were a ‘regrettable error’ and that they have been removed from records.
In a clarification to remarks made by Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman who had said the international community remained silent as “500 people were killed in various incidents in Thailand, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq and India”, Israeli Ambassador to India Mark Sofer said here on Wednesday that “it was a regrettable error.”
“Israel doesn’t see India in the same light as it sees its enemies. India is a close friend for whom we have greatest of respect,” Sofer said, clarifying the remarks had been made inadvertently.
In a statement, Lieberman had ‘reminded’ the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon that violent incidents that claimed 500 lives in Thailand, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq and India in the past month had been ignored while Israel was being condemned for its defensive action.
The Israeli Ambassador said the reference to India in the statement has now been removed. “The reference to India in the statement on the discussion between Foreign Minister Liberman and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has been removed from the official MFA internet site. Israel greatly values the friendship and strength of relations with India,” an official statement issued by the Israeli Embassy said.
Meanwhile, an Indian-origin man from Leicestershire is among 40 British citizens caught in the Israeli raid on the Gaza-bound aid ships and his family is yet to hear from him. Ismail Adam Patel, 47, was one of the 40 British citizens taking part in the humanitarian convoy that came under attack by Israeli naval commandos. For the past 48 hours, Patel’s family have been unable to contact him, but it is understood he is not among the wounded and is being detained in southern Israel.
Business News
Sensex up 247 pts on global cues
The Bombay Stock Exchange benchmark Sensex surged by over 247 points in opening trade tracking firm global cues.
The 30-share index, which rose by 169.81 points in the previous trading session, shot up by 247.25 points, or 1.47 per cent, to 16,989.09.
Sectoral indices, led by realty and metals, were trading up to 2.06 per cent higher.
Likewise, the wide-based National Stock Exchange index Nifty shot up by 76.90 points, or 1.53 per cent, to 5,096.75 points.
Brokers said trading sentiment turned better after overnight gains on the US market and firm opening on Asian bourses following good US home and auto sales reports.
Tata Motors was up by 2.53 per cent to Rs 763.40, Maruti Suzuki by 1.20 per cent to Rs 1,293, Mahindra and Mahindra by 1.72 per cent to Rs 584.10 and Hero Honda by 1.32 per cent to Rs 2,007.
Among other gainers Reliance Industries was up by 1.43 per cent to Rs 1,026.35, Infosys Technologies by 1.13 per cent to Rs 2674.15, Sterlite Industries by 2.48 per cent to Rs 650.30 and Tata Steel by 1.63 per cent to Rs 492.
Meanwhile, the US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 2.25 per cent higher while Japan's Nikkei gained 2.63 per cent and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index was up 1.65 per cent in the morning trade on Thursday.
Buffett fails to wow crisis panel on credit raters
Washington:The Oracle of Omaha, for once, may have failed to impress his audience. Warren Buffett, the billionaire whose investments are followed religiously on Wall Street, had no easy remedies when grilled on Wednesday about the role of credit rating agencies in fueling the financial crisis.
Testifying before the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, Buffett did not meaningfully retreat from his defense of Moody's Corp's business model, though his Berkshire Hathaway Inc has cut its stake in Moody's to 13 per cent from nearly 20 per cent a year ago.
Moody's shares have fallen 74 per cent since February 2007, and Buffett said he would have sold more shares had he foreseen the housing downturn.
Yet the 79-year-old appeared to dismay panel members in offering no clear fixes to one of the rating industry's most criticized practices -- the payment by issuers for ratings.
"I'm not sure he fully comprehends the range of questions raised about Moody's business practices and culture," Chairman Phil Angelides said in an interview after the hearing.
During the hearing, Vice Chairman Bill Thomas appeared exasperated as Buffett hesitated to endorse specific reforms.
"It was the granddaddy of all bubbles," he added.
Buffett declined to advocate harsh remedies such as the removal of top executives from credit raters.
He said reforms should instead target financial companies with too much leverage, and punish chief executives and boards that require unusual government aid. Rating agencies did not take taxpayer bailouts during the 2008 crisis.
"I am much more inclined to come down hard on the CEOs of the institutions that caused the United States government to necessarily bolster them, than I am on someone who made a mistake that 300 million other Americans made," he said.
Congress is weighing legislation to curb the agencies' power, and up-end their decades-old model of having issuers pay for ratings and shop around among agencies.
LIGHTNING ROD
Moody's, S&P and Fimalac SA's Fitch Ratings are widely faulted for fueling the crisis by assigning unreasonably high ratings for too long, and then downgrading them too fast.
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Also testifying was Moody's Chief Executive Raymond McDaniel, a lightning rod for criticism of the industry. More than two-thirds of Moody's revenue comes from ratings.
"We believed that ratings were our best opinion at the time that we assigned them," McDaniel testified. "The regret is genuine and deep."
He also said there is an "important public good" served by the current issuer-pays model, saying that ratings are later released publicly for free. McDaniel blamed the financial crisis mainly on weakened housing and tightened credit.
For his part, Buffett said he still loves credit raters' business model, citing a "duopoly" that Moody's and S&P enjoy, but said investors should do their own credit homework rather than rely on agencies to do it for them, perhaps incorrectly.
"You've got to do more," Thomas, a former chairman of the House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee, told him.
"Certainly I could have done more," Buffett responded.
Testifying under subpoena after resisting entreaties to come forth voluntarily, Buffett said rating agencies and others miscalculated the housing market after being lulled by the "narcotic" of seemingly ever-increasing home prices.
Admitting he had been no more prescient, Buffett said Moody's and McGraw-Hill Cos' Standard & Poor's unit "made a mistake that virtually everybody in the country made.
3G: What does it mean to us?
If there is one term that is least understood but still continues to generate a lot of buzz, it has to be 3G. I’ll demystify this jargon and find out exactly what it is and how we can benefit from it. 3G will also unleash an amazing number of new gadgets that will redefine the way we look at entertainment, education and communication.
3G stands for third generation, a wireless technology that helps to simultaneously transfer voice (telephone calls) and data (broadband Internet). 3G is an evolution of the existing 2G technologies that has limited capabilities, both on the device side and on the network side. The mobile connectivity we currently use runs on 2G network and its plagued on two accounts. One is the limited network bandwidth which explains why our calls can’t go through because of network congestion. The second is extremely lean data bandwidth, which explains why surfing on the mobile phone or the GPRS data card is so pathetically slow.
3G could be our solution. 3G offers a huge bandwidth which means that we no longer have to suffer from congestion. We can now benefit from superior voice quality, higher call connections and lower consumption of battery power.
Networks supporting 3G would have data transfer speeds up to 3 Mbps. This is a huge improvement over the extremely limited 144 Kbps we are used to so far. For example, if you chose to download a Tamil song over the existing setup, it would take you upwards of 10 minutes.
But with a 3G connection, you will be done in under 15 seconds. One can take advantage of higher mega pixel cameras that come with the latest phones and upload both photos and videos online or even stream live. Higher bandwidth means easier way to listen to music, watch videos, do social networking and play advanced games.
3G makes video streaming applications such as Live TV, movie downloads, high speed data download possible on mobile phones. Higher bandwidth opens up many possibilities and thereby enables a common user to experience a host of advanced data services like mobile banking and micro finance. Now with such widespread mobile penetration, imagine the wide reach of banking.
A business user using 3G-enabled hand-held devices will be able to download large-sized files quickly; his email capabilities and Internet experience will increase considerably due to higher network speeds, thereby making laptops redundant.
3G has immense potential in India. We are nearing 600 million mobile phone users in India and it is expected to double by 2012. Every month, we add over 20 million new users. We continue to be the fastest growing country in the world when it comes to mobile adoption. The good news is that in India, there are at least 40 million 3G-enabled phones, which means India already has 5 times Singapore's population as a potential 3G market.
However, due to the government bureaucracy, red tapism and the haggling over the prices, the licenses for 3G have taken far longer than it should. The auction has been completed and the good news is that the private players will join in the fray very soon. When private players like Airtel, Reliance and Idea get into the fray, their marketing blitzkrieg will push adoption levels higher. But that’s in the near future. Add to this the government player’s long arm of reaching 700 cities, 3G is definite to take off.
Sports News
Another One bites dust: Serena follows Roger
Paris: The day after the usually unflappable No.1 men’s player was overpowered by a rising, hard-hitting player, the No.1 women’s player suffered the same fate. This time is was Samantha Stosur of Australia pulling the surprise, saving her best and boldest strokes for the final, testy moments of an extended match. They were enough to beat top-seeded Serena Williams in the quarter-finals of the French Open, 6-2 6-7 (2) 8-6.
Stosur, the seventh seed, served for the match. She had the same chance in the second set and could not close, but did not let the opportunity pass again. “I was a little bit nervous when I first served for it,” Stosur said later. “I didn’t want to do that again.”
Stosur will play No.4 Jelena Jankovic on Thursday. Jankovic glided past unseeded Yaroslava Shvedova, 7-5 6-4.
Italy’s Francesca Schiavone, the 17th seed, will play No. 5 Elena Dementieva in the other semi-final.
Williams has won 12 Grand Slam titles, which was 12 more than the rest of the quarter-finalists combined. By knocking out Williams, Stosur guaranteed that someone will win her first Grand Slam. Stosur, the winner of two Grand Slam titles in doubles, began to devote more attention on singles after missing nearly a year suffering from Lyme disease. Her singles ranking, once idling in the 20s, steadily gained speed over the past 18 months. Before the French Open, she reached a career-best seventh.
Williams and Stosur traded breaks to start the third set, then could not shake loose of the other. Stosur fended off a match point when Williams’s arcing forehand landed just a smidge past the baseline. Stosur used a steady forehand and an ace to win the game, tying the set at 5-5.
Stosur broke to take a 7-6 lead thanks to two remarkable points. At 15-30, with Williams on the run, Stosur dropped a soft backhand that Williams managed to reach. Stosur sent a cross-court forehand to win the point. At 15-40, Stosur’s running backhand past Williams gave her the chance to serve for the match.
Early setback
For a time, the match seemed much less competitive. Stosur won 17 consecutive points bridging the first and second sets, and it appeared that Williams would go meekly to the grass-court season. After losing one game, she screamed toward her cheering section. She muttered to her racket. The two held serve for the first six games of the second set. Williams, who had nine double faults in the first four rounds, had nine against Stosur.
Jankovic, the former No. 1 from Serbia, won with far less drama. Shvedova was ranked 98th when she upset Jankovic at the 2009 US Open, and their three previous matches had all stretched to three sets. But after dropping her serve in the first game of the match, Jankovic stormed back, running Shvedova back and forth and finishing her with forehand winners.
Confident India seek revenge against Zimbabwe
HARARE: Back in their elements after the opening match debacle, a confident India will have a score to settle when they take on hosts Zimbabwe for the second time in the ongoing tri-series on Thursday.
Zimbabwe had spoiled Suresh Raina's captaincy debut when they inflicted a stunning six-wicket defeat on India in the tournament opener in Bulawayo but the visitors were quick to recover as they thumped Sri Lanka in their second outing to bounce back.
At the halfway stage, all three teams have one win and a defeat against their names and India will go all out for a win on Thursday at the Harare Sports Club to put one foot in the June 9 final of the tournament.
For India, their batting has been the biggest strength so far as they posted 285 in the first match and chased down 242 with consummate ease in the second tie with 6.3 overs to spare.
Batting mainstay Rohit Sharma has been in the form of his life as he slammed consecutive centuries to anchor the Indian innings in both the matches. All-rounder Ravindra Jadeja and vice-captain Virat Kohli have also sizzled with the bat.
The team, however, has not been served well by its openers. Both Dinesh Karthik and Murali Vijay could not give starts that India is so used to when Virender Sehwag and Gautam Gambhir open the innings.
Raina, on his part, looked in good nick in both the matches but the team is yet to get a big knock from the skipper.
The last time they met Zimbabwe, it was India's inexperienced pacers which let them down. But in the match against Sri Lanka, the young guns put up a better bowling performance with Ashok Dinda and Umesh Yadav looking better bowlers.
The spinners, however, have done a decent job with Amit Mishra and Ojha doing well and Ravindra Jadeja chipping in.
Zimbabwe, meanwhile, will require something extraordinary tomorrow to pull off a repeat performance against the mighty Indians.
Their high-flying campaign has already been brought down to earth by Sri Lanka last night when the hosts were skittled out for a paltry 118 in 24.5 overs in a rain-curtained match.
The Lankans led by skipper Tillakaratne Dilshan produced a blistering batting performance to chase down the target in just 15.2 over to inflict a massive nine-wicket defeat on the hosts.
Zimbabwe's batting scorecard wore contrasting looks in the last two matches. While against India, everybody chipped in with meaningful contributions, against Sri Lanka only three could reach double figures.
For the hosts, opener Hamilton Masakadza has done the bulk of scoring with scores like 46 and 62 respectively in their last two matches.
Other opener Brendon Taylor dazzled in the first match with a 81-run innings but managed just two against Sri Lanka and if Zimbabwe have to stun the Indians once again the openers will have to give them a flying start.
Among the bowlers, Chris Mpofu and Prosper Utseya were among the wickets against India but last night they failed completely as none of the bowlers could pick a single Lankan wicket.
Teams (from):
India: Suresh Raina (Capt.), Virat Kohli, R Ashwin, Ashok Dinda, Ravindra Jadeja, Dinesh Karthik, Amit Mishra, Naman Ojha, Pragyan Ojha, Pankaj Singh, Yusuf Pathan, Rohit Sharma, Murali Vijay, R Vinay Kumar, Umesh Yadav.
Zimbabwe: Elton Chigumbura (Capt.), Andy Blignaut, Chamu Chibhabha, Charles Coventry, Graeme Cremer, Craig Ervine, Greg Lamb, Hamilton Masakadza, Chris Mpofu, Ray Price, Ed Rainsford, Vusi Sibanda, Tatenda Taibu, Brendan Taylor, Prosper Utseya.
NADA slams BCCI for "non-cooperation"
New Delhi: The National Anti-Doping Agency today lashed out at the BCCI for its "non-cooperation" and asked the Cricket Board to make sure that their players fall in line with the WADA code.
NADA Director General Rahul Bhatnagar said it was baffling to see BCCI rope in a Swedish company to conduct dope tests for cricketers while the national anti-doping body could have done the same job at a lesser cost or even for free.
"The BCCI never sought the assistance of NADA to conduct dope tests. They have engaged a company -- International Doping and Test Management (Sweden) -- at a heavy cost to conduct dope samples, which NADA could have done at much lesser cost or free of cost," Bhatnagar said.
"It is surprising why BCCI is maintaining such a no-cooperation attitude with NADA," he added.
NADA is the national agency for conducting dope tests, collecting samples and results management of athletes and Bhatnagar said the body wants the cricketers to fully comply with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) codes, along with the 'whereabouts clause' against which the cricketers are up in arms.
"NADA is strongly of the view that Cricketers must fully comply with all Anti Doping Regulations of WADA and NADA as all other sportspersons do. They are no exception and the rules apply to them equally. BCCI should ensure such compliance," he said.
Even though the International Cricket Council (ICC) is a signatory to the WADA Code, BCCI is spearheading an opposition to the vexed "whereabouts clause" which requires a player to inform, three months in advance, their availability for dope tests.
WADA has already issued an ultimatum to the ICC saying they have to ensure that BCCI accepts the WADA Code in totality, failing which the world cricket governing body would be branded non-compliant.
Force India sues Lotus over car design
New Delhi: The Vijay Mallya-owned Force India Formula One team has sued F1 rival Lotus in UK, accusing it of copying their VJM03 wind tunnel model.
The F1 team, of which Mallya is the Chairman, alleged that Lotus, when it used the Aerolab and Fondtech facilities, utilised Force India’s intellectual property, including components and tyres exclusively licensed by Bridgestone, on its wind tunnel model design for the current Lotus T127 chassis.
Force India said these are serious claims and it “would not be taking such action if it could not provide supportive evidence.” Force India believes Aerolab copied the team’s wind tunnel - a tool used in aerodynamic research - design model and passed it on to Lotus.
Incidentally, Lotus technical boss Gascoyne worked with Force India in the past before he was shown the door.
Nadal grinds down Almagro to advance at Roland GarrosPARIS: Rafael Nadal moved a step nearer recapturing his French Open crown on Wednesday by once again dominating Spanish compatriot Nicolas Almagro 7-6 (7/2), 7-6 (7/3), 6-4 in a quarterfinal tie.
It was the seventh time in seven matches that Nadal has seen off Amalgro and means that he has reached the semi-finals without losing a set yet again.
The four-times former champion was pushed at the start, dropping the first three games of the match, but once he had pocketed the first set on a tie-break, there was little doubt over the outcome.
He will play the winner of the tie between third seed Novak Djokovic and Jurgen Melzer for a place in Sunday's final when he hopes to regain the title he lost last year to Roger Federer.
Federer crashed out of the tournament the previous evening on the same court when he lost in four sets to Robin Soderling, the man who ended Nadal's 31-match winning streak in Paris last year.
Almagro, who was seeking to reach the semi-final of a Grand Slam for the first time, was quick out of the blocks going for winners off both flanks, while Nadal worked his way slowly into the match.
From 0-3 down, the second seed pulled back to 3-3 and serves stayed on top until the tie-break which Nadal won with some ease as mistakes started to tarnish Almagro's go-for-broke tactics.
He stuck grimly to the task though in the second set staying with Nadal and even had a break point at 4-4. Nadal though warded this off with a brave serve and volley.
It needed another tie-break to separate the two and again it was Nadal who dominated from the start moving 4-0 up on the back of three crunching forehand drives that left Almagro gasping.
It was more of the same in the third set with serves on top, but the pressure of Nadal's relentless groundstrokes eventually wore down Almagro and he finally conceded his serve for just the second time in the match in the ninth game.
That left Nadal serving for the match and he made no mistake despite Almagro saving one match point.
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