Leander Paes will kickstart his US Open campaign with Czech partner Radek Stepanek against Jarkko Nieminen of Finland and Dmitry Tursunov of Russia.

Indian tennis legend Leander Paes won his first title of the season when he triumphed at the Winston-Salem Open with Canadian Daniel Nestor.

American Mardy Fish's hopes of putting aside his troublesome heart condition to compete in his first grand slam tournament in 12 months ended on Wednesday after the former top-ten player was forced to pull out of next week's U.S. Open.

The US Open begins on Monday. With Nadal out, the big battle this time is between Federer, Djokovic and Murray. A Seshan rates the chances of the tennis giants.

American John Isner, battling against the wild weather as much as his opponent, beat unseeded Julien Benneteau of France 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in North Carolina on Saturday to claim his second title in six weeks.

Fourth seed John Isner gave himself the perfect US Open boost by upsetting fellow-American Andy Roddick 7-6, 6-4 in a slug-fest between two big servers in the Winston-Salem Open semi-finals on Friday.

Andy Roddick and John Isner set up a mouth-watering semi-final between two big servers after the Americans won their respective quarter-final matches at the Winston-Salem Open on Thursday.

Fit-again Andy Roddick kept his US Open preparations on a smooth track by crushing Colombian Santiago Giraldo 6-1, 6-3 in the third round of the Winston-Salem Open on Wednesday.

American Andy Roddick romped past lucky loser Edouard Roger-Vasselin 6-2, 6-4 to reach the third round of the Winston-Salem Open on Tuesday, and get his US Open preparations back on track.

Russian Igor Andreev opened the Winston-Salem Open with an upset, blasting by second seeded Austrian Jurgen Melzer 7-5, 6-3 on Monday to reach the second round of ATP Tour's newest tournament.

Personal computer maker Dell will be closing down one of its manufacturing plant in the US early next year, a move that will affect nearly 905 jobs.

Andy Roddick took out his frustrations on Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu on Sunday to seal a place for the United States in the Davis Cup semi-finals, where they will take on Spain. Russia and Argentina will contest the other semi-final in September after wrapping up their ties with a match to spare.

Fernando Verdasco and Feliciano Lopez displayed nerves of steel to win a marathon doubles match on Saturday and propel Spain into the Davis Cup semi-finals. They battled for almost five hours before grinding out a 6-7 7-6 6-4 2-6 12-10 win over Philipp Kohlschreiber and Philipp Petzschner, giving Spain an unbeatable 3-0 lead over Germany in Bremen.

Australian Open runner-up Jo-Wilfried Tsonga pulled out of France's team for their Davis Cup quarter-final against the United States with a knee injury. World number 13 Tsonga, who felt pain in his right knee during training and will have to rest for a week, will be replaced by Arnaud Clement.

Andy Roddick's rare victory over world number one Roger Federer last week has boosted his confidence in time for this weekend's Davis Cup quarter-finals where he will pilot holders the United States against France. Eight of the world's top 10 players will line up for the four ties being played from Friday to Sunday.

The United States will rely on the same quartet that won last year's Davis Cup when they face France in next month's quarter-final, captain Patrick McEnroe said on Thursday. Andy Roddick, James Blake, Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan will participate in their record tenth consecutive tie together, said McEnroe.

The Tar Heel state, home to banking giants Bank of America and Wachovia, placed five metros in the top 25.

Marat Safin won the deciding rubber to give Russia a 3-2 win over France in the World Group tie.

Germany were the fastest team into September's semi-finals, continuing a long tradition of thrashing Belgium.

The Scot entered the Miami Masters semi-finals, when Andy Roddick was forced to retire with a hamstring injury.

In his place, Tommy Robredo has been called up alongside David Ferrer, Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco.