Dubai, UAE  - Confident Andy Murray used his growing body of experience to best advantage, improving his serve on Wednesday to win his first march over Arnaud Clement 6-2, 6-3 and reach the quarter- finals of the Barclays Championships.

The Scots second seed came good over the veteran to set up a clash with a second Frenchman Thursday in Richard Gasquet.

Dubai, UAE - Israeli Andy Ram was bundled out in his opening doubles match at the Barclays Championships on Wednesday, leaving organisers to stand down on intense, airport style security erected around the controversial Israeli.

The fourth-seeded Ram and Kevin Ullyett, losing finalists at the weekend in Marseille, were beaten by Marat Safin and David Ferrer 6- 3, 3-6, 10-8 in the first round.

In singles play, three seeds reached the quarter-finals, led by number 3 Frenchman Gilles Simon, who beat Teimuraz Gabashvili of Russia 6-1, 6-2.

Dubai, UAE  - Novak Djokovic led seeds into the second round of the B

Dubai, UAE - Croatian seeds split the difference on Monday's opening day at the Barclays Championships, with Marin Cilic fighting back as Ivo Karlovic crashed out to a qualifier.

Cilic, seeded fifth, met up with Serbian Janko Tipsarevic and handed his familiar rival a third defeat over seven weeks in their series, 2-6, 7-6 (7-3), 6-4.

Swiss qualifier Marco Chiudinelli began putting in a bid for a place on next week's Swiss Davis Cup team to face the US.

Dabai (UP), Feb 23: Residents of Dabai of Uttar Pradesh huddled together during the wee hours of Monday and prayed for the success of the documentary film ''Smile Pinky'' based on the life of a girl from their village.

Their prayers seem to have been answered as ''Smile Pinky'' bagged an Oscar for best short documentary in the USA.

"We have been sitting in front of the television. We feel that when she returns successful, our village will become popular and all of us would progress," said Victoria, a villager.

Dubai, Feb. 22 : Saudi Arabia's prominent scholar Sheikh Mohamed Al-Najim has said those who use alcohol-based bio-fuels in their cars could be committing a `sin'.

Najimi is a member of the Islamic Fiqh Academy that studies Islamic jurisprudence for the Organization of the Islamic Conference. OIC is an international group with a permanent delegation to the United Nations.

Najim directed his warning to Saudi youths studying abroad, but his warning was not an official fatwa or religious edict, just his personal opinion, the Christian Science Monitor reports.