With professional tennis tours closed down until mid July at the earliest because of the coronavirus pandemic, an esports version of the claycourt event is being staged online. Nadal showed impressive fingerwork to beat young Canadian Denis Shapovalov in his opening round-robin match on a digital representation of the Spanish capital's Manolo Santana Stadium.
Barcelona forwards Ousmane Dembele and Lionel Messi fired the Catalans to a confidence-boosting 2-0 win at in-form Sevilla on Saturday to keep the pressure on La Liga leaders Atletico Madrid.
Rafael Nadal beat Czech sixth seed Tomas Berdych 6-2, 6-4 to reach the Italian Open final on Saturday with a dominant performance that he described as emotional after his long injury absence.
Nadal, who is the clear tournament favourite and looks to be in the form of his life on clay this season, raced into a 3-0 lead before Spanish compatriot Almagro felt his left knee with less than half an hour played.
The Indian challenge ended at the Chennai Open tournament with Somdev Devvarman and his Ukrainian partner Sergiy Stakhovsky losing their doubles quarterfinal match to Thai brothers Sanchal and Sonchat Ratiwatana in straight sets.
Rediff.com takes stock of the seeded casualties on the first day of the Australian Open.
Images from Sunday's action in La Liga and Ligue 1.
World number seven Juan Martin Del Potro of Argentina has pulled out of next week's French Open tennis after failing to recover from a virus, Argentine media reported on Wednesday.
Andy Murray continued his strong build-up in his quest for a maiden Australian Open title with a comfortable victory over Frenchman Benoit Paire in the Hopman Cup mixed-team event in Perth on Monday.
Rafa Nadal avoided a similar fate to beaten World No 1 Novak Djokovic when he dismissed French young gun Benoit Paire 6-3, 6-4 to claim a place in the third round of the Madrid Open on Wednesday.
Rafa Nadal overcame another hurdle on his way to a possible eighth Barcelona Open title in nine years when he recovered from a poor start to beat Benoit Paire 7-6, 6-2 in their delayed third-round match on Friday.
Voters in France have comprehensively snubbed the country's political establishment, sending far-right populist Marine Le Pen and political novice Emmanuel Macron through to the second round of the country's presidential election.
Somdev Devvarman could not go deep into the singles main draw after a stupendous start as the Indian bowed out of the ATP Open 13 tournament with a straight-sets defeat against Australia's Berand Tomic in the second round.
The double world champion retired his McLaren for the second race in a row while he had been running in a points-scoring position.
The world's biggest superstars landed in Paris and enjoyed a game of soccer.
Here are some of the best photos from around the world in the month gone by.
Unseeded Czech Marketa Vondrousova beat Britain's Johanna Konta 7-5, 7-6(2) to reach the French Open final.
Strong title contenders Marin Cilic and Stanislas Wawrinka were knocked out of the Chennai Open by their respective opponents on Friday.
Atletico Madrid took a giant step towards the La Liga title
India's top singles tennis player Somdev Devvarman has been handed a direct entry in the main draw of the ATP Chennai Open tennis tournament after Estonia's Jurgen Zopp pulled out of the event due to a back injury.
Says he rejected Red Bull offer
Rafael Nadal struggled to finish off Fabio Fognini at the Barcelona Open on Friday but eventually quelled one of his most troublesome opponents 6-2, 7-6(1) to reach the semi-finals.
Images from Day 9 at the French Open.
Fighting the coronavirus pandemic is hard, in fact it seems impossible. Doctors, nurses, carers and paramedics around the world are facing an unprecedented workload in overstretched health facilities, and with no end in sight. They are working in stressful and frightening work environments, not just because the virus is little understood, but because in most settings they are under-protected, overworked and themselves vulnerable to infection. The risk to doctors, nurses and others on the front lines has become plain: Italy has seen at least 18 doctors with coronavirus die. Spain reported that more than 3,900 health care workers have become infected. In dire times such as these, people are trying their best to show their appreciation to the frontline workers. Here are some images -- from clapping for them to singing for them.. A 'thank you' in any way goes a long way around.
Australian Nick Kyrgios did his best to enliven a damp and dismal Parisian day with some eye-catching play and colourful language as the French Open began without part of the usual furniture on Sunday.
Rafael Nadal overcame a temporary blip on his way to victory at the ATP Cup on Saturday
Arsenal striker Olivier Giroud has no concerns over his future at the club despite being displaced in the starting line-up by Alexis Sanchez, vowing to fight his way back into manager Arsene Wenger's first-team plans. Chilean forward Sanchez has shone in the central striker's role, scoring eight goals in 15 appearances this season, while Giroud has missed much of the campaign with a toe injury.
We live in a wonderfully, weird world and here's the proof of it!
Leander Paes and his partner Daniel Nestor bowed out of Monte Carlo masters following a close defeat against Benoit Paire and Stan Wawrinka in Monaco.
Awesome images from the world of Sport 2018.
Tottenham Hotspur continued their Premier League title push with a 2-0 win over Everton on Wednesday to put them level on points with second-placed champions Manchester United and three behind leaders Manchester City.
American Serena Williams withdrew from the French Open on Monday, shortly before she was due on court to face Maria Sharapova in a much-anticipated fourth round showdown.
The new book would be a spin-off.
Playing alongside Australian partner Matthew Ebden, the eight-time doubles Grand Slam champion Leander Paes showed his class during a clinical victory over defending champion and second seed Sharan, who was playing alongside New Zealand's Artem Sitak.
India's top singles player Somdev Devvarman was on Saturday drawn to a play a qualifier while wild cards Yuki Bhambri and Jeeven Nedunchehziyan will have to fight it out with top-100 players in their first rounds at the Aircel Chennai Open.
Its latest member is a Frenchman. Bernard Arnault's fortune is now estimated at $100.4 billion.
Fourth seed Canadian Milos Raonic won his first round match of the season beginning Chennai Open with utmost ease, disposing off unseeded Victor Hanescu of Romania 6-1, 6-4 at the centre court on Wednesday night.
A 1,000km 10-hour roadtrip dash to Paris, squeezed into a small hire car alongside his 88-year-old grandmother, ended in Grand Slam joy for Marco Trungelliti at Roland Garros on Monday -- and a guaranteed 79,000 euros ($92,000) payday.
The author of 11 novels, she won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1993, having published her first novel, The Bluest Eye, in 1970.
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