The Melbourne Rebels Super Rugby development team will become the latest Australian side to join a newly expanded IRB Pacific Rugby Cup this year. The 2013 tournament schedule, which was announced by the IRB earlier this week, will also see newcomers, Junior Japan thrown into the mix to play against Australian and New Zealand development sides.

The annual Pacific Rugby Cup sees four development teams from Tonga, Fiji, Samoa, and now Japan each play three matches in Australia before travelling to New Zealand to play a further three matches.

Every match in Round 7 will have an influence on the make-up of the BIG SEMI FINALS. The round is highlighted by match-ups between 1 v 2 (Renegades v Stars) and 3 v 4 (Hurricanes v Strikers).

A win in the top of the table clash against the Stars will not only give the Renegades a pair of wins over their cross-town rivals this season but will also earn them a home BIG SEMI FINAL at Etihad Stadium. The Hurricanes and Strikers, currently third and fourth on the ladder, both finish the season with matches against teams in finals contention which makes this clash crucial to both their chances.

'You've come a long way' is the best description one could give the journey of Marie-Pier Boudreau Gagnon from the swimming pools of Rivière-Du-Loup to the Dr.S.P.M. Aquatics Complex in Talkatora Gardens, New Delhi. Gagnon at 27 is the senior citizen on three member Canadian Synchronized Swimming team, and her dedication to her art and the success she has achieved over time is a true testament to her will to succeed.

In an exclusive interview with TheSportsCampus, Marie-Pier revealed that she was introduced to the sport at the age of 7, but began training for it seriously a couple of years later when she first saw Canadian icon Sylvie Fréchette win Gold at the Barcelona Olympic Games. He role model though is Canadian cyclist and speed skater Clara Hughes, one of only 5 people to win medals at both the Summer and Winter Olympics. Hughes is also a great humanitarian, doing tremendous work with Right to Play. Gagnon's inspiration though lies closer to home. Her mother and sisters she says are her main source of strength and motivation.

Roger Federer turned the clock back to the middle part of the last decade as he put on a display of vintage tennis to claim his 4th Australian Open and 16th Grand Slam victory. In a sea-change from the hysterics we witnessed last year, tonight we saw a Federer on top of the world having produced a performance that was reminiscent of the 2005 Wimbledon final against that other Andy - Roddick.

The match was of the highest quality though despite its banal looking scoreline of 6-3, 6-4 7-6 as both finalists engaged in sterling exchanges, which were elegant and intense at the same time. Federer though had all the answers on this occasion as he played the best attacking tennis he's displayed in a long time with every weapon including his gorgeous backhand working in overdrive. Roger made special reference to how special this win was, calling it "his first victory as a father". The last father to win a slam was also incidentally right here in Melbourne, when Andre Agassi won in 2003. The losing finalist Andy Murray though was overcome with emotion remarking, "I can cry like Roger. I wish I could play like him". Federer was magnanimous and based on todays display, prophetic , declaring "[Murray] was too good a player to not win a slam".

It was a day for semi-finals at the Australian Open on Thursday, with three individuals and four teams booking places for themselves in the final stage of their respective events. The highlights of the day were undoubtedly the singles events where Serena Williams and Justine Henin quelled the Chinese invasion of Melbourne in contrasting fashion, to set up a delightful final in prospect when the two fan favourites collide on Saturday. Later in the day it was the turn of the Scotland's Andy Murray to earn himself a second ever shot at Grand Slam glory by beating exhausted Croatian giant Marin Cilic in four sets.

After being put through an emotional roller-coaster yesterday where all four singles winners mounted excellent comeback victories, it was always going to be difficult for Day 11 to match up. Serena Williams and Li Na had displayed tremendous hunger by coming back from near impossible situations to win their respective quarter-final matches, and set up an intriguing battle to kick-off the action on Rod Laver Arena.

It was a proud day for Asian tennis, and for tennis in China in particular as Li Na followed Zheng Jie into the semi-finals of the 2010 Australian Open, thus making it the first time ever that the great nation has had two representatives in the last four stage of a Grand Slam. What made the performance even more spectacular, for the first time semi-finalist, was the manner of her win against the 7-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams. Li Na looked dead and buried for most of the match before producing a remarkable turnaround to come away with a 2-6, 7-6 (4), 7-5 win in a 2 hour 47 minute battle.

Not surprisingly, the opening set was all Williams, with the superstar starting the contest in imperious fashion. Venus was up 15-40 in Li Na's opening service game, and though the Chinese woman fought back to deuce, Williams won the game on her third break point. Another break of serve in the third game in between two easy holds saw Venus race to a 4-0 lead, and a rout looked on the cards. Li Na eventually got on the scoreboard in the 5th game, but not before saving another break point. She showed some more signs of life by breaking the Williams serve for the first time in the match, but surrendered her serve the following game for 2-5. Venus raced to 40-0 in her next service game and sealed the opening set in exactly half an hour on her second set point. You would have been excused for wondering at this stage whether this was really a women's singles quarter-final or a first round encounter.

One took five sets, the other took two, but in the end both lower ranked players in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open got the better of their more fancied opponents. Marin Cilic, the no.14 seed, came through his third five-setter in four rounds to down former US Open champion Andy Roddick 7-6 (4), 6-3, 3-6, 2-6, 6-3 before Andy Murray knocked out the defending champion and world no.2 Rafael Nadal. Murray was up by two sets to love and a break to the good in third when the 6-time Grand Slam champion called it quits due to the recurrence of a knee injury that plagued him most of last season.

After two rather short women's quarter-finals, the 15,000 fans who had packed into Rod Laver Arena to enjoy 'Australia Day' were given a real treat by Cilic and Roddick. Not surprisingly for two players separated by 6-years in age, the pair had met just twice previously, with a win each to their credit. The 6'6" Croat had youth, a powerful all-round game, loads of confidence and a real hunger on his side, while the American had bags of experience, one of the best serves in the game and some good old fashioned luck finally going for him following his win over Fernando Gonzalez in the previous round.