Kuznetsova through

STUTTGART: Second-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova became the first player to reach the quarter-finals of the Porsche Grand Prix when she beat Polish teenager Agnieszka Radwanska 6-4, 6-7 (5), 6-3 on Wednesday. Kuznetsova bounced back after losing the second set by winning the next five games. Radwanska, 18, grabbed attention by beating Maria Sharapova in the third round of the US Open, then won her first title last month in Stockholm. In first-round matches, eighth-seeded Daniela Hantuchova defeated Lucie Safarova 6-1, 6-3 and Kateryna Bondarenko beat Karin Knapp 7-5, 6-0. — AP

Atapattu set to return

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s former captain and opening batsman Marvan Atapattu is set to make a comeback after being overlooked for the World Cup, chief selector Asantha de Mel said on Wednesday. Mel said Atapattu, if available, will be part of Sri Lanka’s plans in their quest to win its first Test match on Australian soil during the two-match series next month. “I will talk to him about his availability,” he said, referring to a decision by Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) to release him from his central contract with effect from this month. Atapattu, who has scored over 5,000 runs in 88 Tests with 16 hundreds, six of them double hundreds, sought release from his contract — a move widely seen as an expression of his frustration at being overlooked for the World Cup. De Mel said if Atapattu was available, the selectors would leave out veteran batsman Sanath Jayasuriya — AFP