Rediff.com presents the early surprises at the year's first Grand Slam.
India's Sania Mirza and her Czech partner Barbora Strycova defeated China's Chen Liang and Zhaoxuan Yang 6-1, 6-1 in the final to win the women's doubles titles at Toray Pan Pacific Open, in Tokyo, on Saturday.
The 23-times Grand Slam champion looked a completely different player from the person who smashed her way into the semi-finals of the doubles with Caroline Wozniacki on Wednesday but managed to do just enough to beat the 86th-ranked McHale.
Venus Williams drew on the experience of 73 grand slam campaigns to come from a set down for a 6-7(3) 6-2 6-3 victory over fellow American Coco Vandeweghe on Thursday to set up a possible Australian Open final against her sister Serena.
Images from Day 3 of the Australian Open in Melbourne on Wednesday
Wimbledon champion Serena Williams advanced to the Stanford Classic final after she crushed Sorana Cirstea 6-1, 6-2 on Saturday and will meet fellow American Coco Vandeweghe who made her first WTA final after she overpowered Yanina Wickmayer 6-2, 3-6, 6-2.
Images from the action on Day 2 at the Australian Open.
Could BB-8 be any cuter?!
Maria Sharapova, Serena Williams and Andy Murray were the big names to win on Monday and advance to the quarter-final of the Wimbledon.
Bobby Whitlock will be headlining the show with his band 'Bobby Whitlock & CoCo Carmel' at the Indigo n Blues Festival.
After stunning Venus Williams then saving two match points en route to beating Polona Hercog last week, Gauff was suddenly the hottest ticket in town but she was always going to find it tough against Halep, last year's French Open champion and the first top-10 opponent she had ever faced.
Top seed Serena Williams overcame a week fighting jet-lag to beat fellow American Coco Vandeweghe 7-5, 6-3 to retain the Stanford Classic title on Sunday.
The 90th Annual Academy Awards have been announced. A quick glance at the winners, listed in bold.
Rohan Bopanna and Florin Mergea saved a match-point before emerging winners, while Sania Mirza and Martin Hingis were also tested en route to the quarter-finals of the ATP/WTA Western and Southern Open, in Cincinnati, on Thursday.
Images from Day 3 of the French Open matches played at Roland Garros on Tuesday
Rafael Nadal is in contention for the 'World Sportsman of the Year' award alongside six-time Formula 1 World champion Lewis Hamilton, six-time World MotoGP champion Marc Mrquez and six-time FIFA World Footballer of the Year Lionel Messi.
Dunkirk may have been missed at the year's earlier awards shows, but thanks god, Chris Nolan's classic gets enough play at the Oscar noms.
Serena Williams marched into the second round of the US Open on Tuesday and despite being seeded only fourth at Flushing Meadows, the American is in no doubt she is the world's best player.
Vandeweghe, who had been suffering from flu, told reporters that Babos had been "getting in my face", prompting her to shout at her and fling her racket to the ground.
Despite a slight waver following her win over Venus Williams, Cori Gauff has taken the attention in her stride so far at the All England Club.
World Number one Simona Halep and Japan's Naomi Osaka are among the players nominated for the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) Player of the Year award.
The stars were out in full force at the Kensington Roof Gardens, in London, on Thursday night.
Indian tennis stars Leander Paes, Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna made a rampaging start to their campaign at US Open as they advanced to the second round of the US Open along with their respective partners after notching up contrasting wins at Flushing Meadows, in New York.
IMAGES of the all the action from Day 1 of the Australian Open played at Melbourne Park on Monday
That is Murray's 46th ATP title.
Maria Sharapova made it a remarkable 20 victories from 23 grand slam quarter-finals but was pushed all the way at Wimbledon on Tuesday by feisty American Coco Vandeweghe before emerging a 6-3, 6-7(3), 6-2 winner.
Sania Mirza entered the women's doubles semi-finals and set up a high-intensity clash against Leander Paes in the mixed doubles after both the Indians made the quarter-finals with their respective partners in the Australian Open in Melbourne.
India's Sania Mirza and her Swiss partner Martina Hingis stormed into the US Open women's doubles final following a 6-4, 6-1 win over 11th seeded Italians Sara Errani and Flavia Pennetta in New York, on Wednesday night.
A regional power struggle between India and China, however muted be it, will be more and more evident as China pushes the envelope to be a greater global player. India must prepare for it, says Brigadier S K Chatterji (retd).
'The way the winners react and the speeches they deliver.' 'That is where the fun happens, when the actors and other winners let down their guard, challenge the system, talk about issues that should matter to us,' says Aseem Chhabra.
Top seed Rafael Nadal pulled out of this week's Mexican Open in Acapulco after aggravating the leg injury that forced him out of the Australian Open last month.
Serena and Venus Williams rolled back the years as they swept through their last four clashes to set up a retro family final at the Australian Open on Thursday, their ninth meeting in a grand slam title-decider.
Images from Day 4 of the French Open, at Roland Garros, in Paris.
Nearly 23 people were feared dead after a boat carrying about 40 suspected asylum seekers sank on Monday, hundreds of nautical miles off the Cocos Islands, west of Australia.
PHOTOS from day seven of the Wimbledon championships at the All England Lawn Tennis in London on Tuesday.
Coming off a fruitful year which yielded two grand slam titles, world number two Federer looked fit and sharp while other members of tennis's 'Big Four' are grappling with injury issues.
The Indian government refused to give tax exemptions to the ICC when the country hosted the 2016 World T20 following which the game's governing body asked the BCCI to either pay US$23 million (Rs 161 crore) as compensation or lose the 2023 World Cup rights.
The multi-starrer releases on April 19.
A look at the records of Czech Republic's Karolina Pliskova and Japan's Naomi Osaka before their semi-final match at the Australian Open on Thursday (prefix number denotes seeding):
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