The opening match in the Pete Sampras Group produced a feast of stylish backhands from both players but it was Dimitrov, the first Bulgarian to qualify for the tournament in its 48-year-old history, who overcome some late jitters to prevail.
India's Ajay Jayaram, Parupalli Kashyap and Lakhanee Sarang entered the second round of the men's singles event of the Yonex Dutch Open badminton tournament in Almere on Wednesday. Top seed Jayaram defeated Henri Aarnio of Finland 21-16 21-12 in his opening match, while 11th seed Kashyap defeated Bjorn Seguin of US 21-12 24-22 and Lakhanee prevailed over Scotland's Kieran Merrilees 21-12 21-18 in the first round encounters.
Aston Villa captain Stiliyan Petrov has been diagnosed with acute leukaemia, the club said in a statement on Friday.
Novak Djokovic reached the Paris Masters final for the sixth time
Croatia, helped by a mistake by veteran goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon, held Italy to a 1-1 away draw on Sunday, but their evening was ruined by their fans who twice interrupted play by throwing flares onto the pitch.
Grandmaster D Harika's title aspirations suffered a major blow as she lost to Antoaneta Stefanova of Bulgaria in the first game of the semi-final at World Women's chess championship in Khanty, Mansiysk, Russia. Despite displaying top form so far, Harika could not get things moving well in the first game and went down rather easily.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Sunday
India-born US Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara said while 11 individuals were arrested in the US, another 13 were arrested in the UK, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Norway and Germany in the largest coordinated international law enforcement action in history directed at the 'carding' crimes -- offences.
The overall confirmed cases on the mainland reached 80,735 by the end of Sunday which included 3,119 people who have died so far.
Serena Williams sounded a warning for her fellow Australian Open contenders with a sleek win
England, Germany, France and the Netherlands all started the long road to the 2014 World Cup finals in Brazil with victories but Italy stumbled out of the blocks when the European qualifying campaign began on Friday.
Vijender Singh broke into the World Boxing Organisation's (WBO) rankings at No 10 after being crowned its Asia Pacific super middleweight champion in Delhi last month.
MC Mary Kom on Monday created history as she assured India its fourth Olympic medal after winning her quarterfinal boxing bout against Maroua Rahali of Tunisia by 15-6 margin in the women's 51 kg category.
Holders Portugal must face Ukraine and Serbia in a tricky five-team Group B while world champions France drew Iceland and Turkey in Group H. The top two teams from each group qualify automatically. Unlike previous tournaments, the playoffs to decide the four other spots will be contested between the most successful teams from the four divisions of the Nations League who have not already qualified.
Aston Villa fans will be able to munch on a special pie named in honour of their Bulgarian captain Stiliyan Petrov, who is battling leukaemia, in the home Premier League match against Sunderland on Saturday.
Commonwealth Games gold medallist Suranjoy Singh pummelled Hungary's Dobradi Zsolt in his opening bout to sail into the second round of the World Boxing Championships in Baku, Azerbaijan, on Tuesday. Suranjoy, also an Asian Games bronze medallist, beat Zsolt 24-8 in a lopsided bout of the first Olympic qualifying event.
A number of football leagues around the globe will resume after the COVID-19 stoppage in the coming weeks but the matches will be played without fans.
'It is important to keep new tricks in your bag to win at the biggest event of world sports.'
Defending champion Viswanathan Anand will have a lot to think about ahead of the last game of the Chess World Championship against Boris Gelfand of Israel in Moscow.
Striker Dimitar Berbatov wants to leave Manchester United because he feels he has fallen out of favour with manager Alex Ferguson.
Top seed Andy Murray cruised past Spain's David Ferrer 6-2, 6-3 on Saturday and Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov received a walkover into the China Open final after Milos Raonic withdrew due to an ankle injury.
Switzerland topped the list of countries offering the highest salaries.
Young Ritu Malik kept India in medal contention by reaching the bronze play-off ,but there was no end to the woes of Sakshi Malik, who suffered a humiliating quarter-final defeat, and Ritu Phogat at the World Championship , in Budapest, on Wednesday.
Check out the star arrivals.
Yuki Bhambri beat Croatia's Matija Ecotic in straight sets to advance to the second round in the US $50,000 ATP Lexington Challenger on Wednesday. Returning to complete Tuesday's unfinished rain-hit match, the Indian youngster conceded only two games, after the match resumed at 4-4, to win 7-5, 6-1.
Last week the men's ATP and the WTA, which runs women's events, issued revised calendars for the resumption of the circuit from August while organisers of the US Open said the Grand Slam will be staged without fans as scheduled from August 31 to September 13 in New York.
Rediff.com looks at the five best goals from the concluding round in the league stage.
France produced a scintillating show as they put memories of one of the most painful moments in their soccer history to one side by crushing Bulgaria 4-1 in a World Cup Group A qualifier on Friday.
Check out how fans go wild when tennis stars take off their shirts.
The Northern Hemisphere is sizzling like an ant under a magnifying glass.
India's challenge in the singles event of the season's first Grand Slam was over in just an hour and 28 minutes, as Sania Mirza went down to Bulgaria's Tsvetana Pironkova in straight sets, in the first round of the Australian Open, in Melbourne, on Monday. Back after recovering from a knee injury, Sania showed glimpses of a fightback against Pironkova, but it was not enough. The world No. 105 Indian was beaten 4-6, 2-6.
Look who we spotted at the Melbourne Park this year.
Asian champion Amit Panghal (52kg) became the first Indian to enter the finals of the men's AIBA World Boxing Championships while Manish Kaushik (63kg) signed off with a bronze medal after going down in the semi-finals
Fundraisers held in New York, San Francisco and Atlanta for India-based non-government organisation Akshaya Patra that strives for wholesome school kitchens is expected to raise a whopping Rs 5 crore in charities this year. Arthur J Pais reports
Images from the FIFA World Cup qualifiers matches.
Man of many faces, Medvedev now a Grand Slam finalist
Defending champion Saina Nehwal advanced to the quarter-finals of the Indonesian Open Super Series after registering a straight-game victory over Petya Nedelcheva in the second round in Jakarta on Thursday. The fourth seeded Indian needed just 31 minutes to dispose off Petya, winning 21-18, 21-9.
Defending champion Saina Nehwal got off to a flying start at the Indonesian Open Super Series, beating Bulgaria's Linda Zecheri in straight games, in Jakarta, on Wednesday. The fourth seeded Indian took just 29 minutes to get past the unseeded Zechiri, winning 21-12, 21-10.
The top seeded pair of Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-ul-haq Qureshi made a shock exit from the ATP Eastbourne event after suffering a straight-set defeat in the doubles quarter-finals.
