India on Friday recorded an all win-day at the Australian Open with Leander Paes, Sania Mirza, Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna winning their respective doubles matches in Melbourne.
Kei Nishikori has shrugged off the pressure of being Japan's highest-seeded player at Wimbledon in the Open era and believes he is getting closer to the levels of the world's top players.
Rafa Nadal battled to a 6-3, 6-7, 6-1 win over Argentine Martin Alund in Sao Paulo on Saturday to qualify for the Brazil Open final.
Roared on by a capacity crowd in the Palexpo Arena, Federer dismantled the world number 17 Fognini 6-2, 6-3, 7-6 (4) in just under two hours.
British pair Jamie Murray and Dominic Inglot defeated Canadians Daniel Nestor and Vasek Pospisil in four sets in Ottawa to give Britain a 2-1 lead ahead of Sunday's reverse singles.
Germany's Jan-Lennard Struff and Tim Puetz pulled off a shock 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 6-7(4), 7-5 win over Spain's Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez to give Germany a 2-1 lead in their Davis Cup quarter-final on Saturday.
Roger Federer strolled into the second round of the Australian Open with a clinical 6-4, 6-2, 7-5 rout of Taiwan's Lu Yen-Hsun under the lights of Rod Laver Arena on Monday.
India's Leander Paes and Purav Raja sailed into the men's doubles second round in the duo's first outing at a Grand Slam but Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna crashed out of their respective events in the US Open.
Last year's Australian Open runner-up Jo-Wilfried Tsonga could miss next week's tournament after a back injury forced him out of the Sydney International on Thursday.
Rohan Bopanna's campaign at the last Grand Slam of the season ended with defeat in the mixed doubles along with Canadian partner Gabriela Dabrwoski while India's juniors also fizzled out in the singles in the US Open in New York.
Indian players had a brilliant day at the Australian Open amid soaring temperatures, Leander Paes advancing to the men's doubles semi-finals and Mahesh Bhupathi and Sania Mirza also making the last-four stage in the mixed doubles in Melbourne on Wednesday. Paes and Czech partner Lukas Dlouhy, seeded fourth, beat unseeded Italians Simone Bolelli and Andreas Seppi 6-1, 7-6(5), while Sania and Bhupathi beat Canadians Aleksandra Wozniak and Daniel Nestor 3-6, 6-4, 10-5.
World number one Rafael Nadal charged into the quarter-finals of the rain-hit Monte Carlo Masters with a 6-3, 6-0 demolition of Ecuador's Nicolas Lapentti on Friday. The four-times champion won his match held over from Thursday in 93 minutes and will next face Ivan Ljubicic, who dismissed Italian Simone Bolelli 7-5, 7-6.
World number one Rafael Nadal, taken the distance for the third match running, outlasted Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-4, 6-7, 6-4 on Friday to reach the semi-finals of the World Indoor Tournament. Nadal, who went to three sets against Simone Bolelli and Grigor Dimitrov earlier this week, next meets fifth seed Gael Monfils who beat French compatriot Julien Benneteau 7-6, 6-1.
Mahesh Bhupathi remained well on course to his second successive Pilot Pen doubles title after the Indian ace and his Bahamian partner Mark Knowles eased into the semi-final with a straight sets victory in New Haven. Bhupathi and Knowles beat Americans Eric Butorac and Scott Lipsky 6-4, 6-4 to enter the semis of the hard court event.
Roger Federer dismissed unseeded Italian Simone Bolelli 6-2, 6-3 in the quarter-finals of the Swiss Indoors in Basel on Friday to maintain his bid for a third straight triumph in his hometown tournament. Federer's route to the final was also made easier -- on paper at least -- when his expected semi-final opponent, American fourth seed James Blake, suffered a 6-4, 7-6 defeat by Spain's Feliciano Lopez.
Top seed Rafael Nadal showed his trademark tenacity to beat Latvia's Ernests Gulbis 7-5, 3-6, 6-3 in the second round of Madrid Masters.
Top seeds Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy survived a scare from Rohan Bopanna and Aisam Qureshi to advance into the second round of the US $576,000 Bangkok Open on Thursday. Paes-Dlouhy beat the unseeded Indo-Pak combine 7-6, 4-6, 10-7 in an hour and 40 minutes. They will take on Tomas Berdych of Czech Republic and Simone Bolelli of Italy, who overcame the Australian pair of Jordan Kerr and Todd Perry 6-3, 6-3.
The Indo-Bahamian pair beat Italians Simone Bolelli and Andreas Sippi 6-3, 5-7, 10-7 to set up a clash with fourth seeds Brazillians Marcelo Melo and Andre Sa.
Roger Federer began his latest bid for a first title of the year with a confident 6-1 7-5 win over Robin Soderling Tuesday, while Andy Murray came through a much stiffer test against Italian Simone Bolelli 7-6 6-4.
Goffin's 6-3, 6-3, 6-2 triumph in front of a boisterous home crowd gave Belgium a 3-1 lead and sent them into a home semi-final against Australia who also wrapped up victory over the United States thanks to Nick Kyrgios's defeat of Sam Querrey.
In other first round matches, at the World Indoor Tournament, second seed Nikolay Davydenko beat qualifier Jan Hernych while David Ferrer advanced with a victory over Italy's Simone Bolelli.
Surprisingly, Yuki Bhambri has preferred a smaller $50,000 Challenger tournament in Kobe, Japan, while Ramkumar Ramanathan has to attend a mandatory ATP educative programme in London.
Yuki Bhambri was well on course of an upset win over world number 51 Lukas Rosol but squandered three match points and made a first round exit from the Dubai Duty Free Tenis Championships, on Tuesday. The Indian wild card had three match points in the 12th game of the second set but could convert none and went on to lose seven games on the trot to bow out of the ATP 500 event. He lost 6-2 6-7(2) 0-6 in one-hour and 51 minute contest.
He was slapped with $24,000 in fines on Friday but was allowed to play two matches in the doubles tournament with partner Simone Bolelli before the Grand Slam Board announced their decision to suspend Fognini on Saturday.
Sania and her Chinese Taipei partner Su-Wei Hsieh, seeded second, defeated the Argentine-Swiss combine of Maria Irigoyen and Romina Oprandi 6-2, 6-0 in 48 minutes, while tenth seeds Paes and Raven Klaasen of South Africa beat the American duo of Scott Lipsky and Rajeev Ram 6-4, 7-6(6).
The fourth seeds beat Italian pair of Simone Bolelli and Flavio Cipolla 6-4, 6-1 in the first round.
Rohan Bopanna and Florin Mergea finished second in Ashe/Smith Group after losing to the Italian pair of Fabio Fognini and Simone Bolleli in their last group match in the ATP World Tour Finals , at the O2 Arena, in London, on Thursday.
Wimbledon was invaded by thousands of flying ants on Wednesday, causing much annoyance to players, officials and ticket holders alike - but there was little anyone could do to drive out the pests.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Friday
Sania Mirza remained the only Indian surviving in the French Open by cruising to the quarter-finals with partner Martina Hingis while seasoned Leander Paes and Rohan Bopanna bowed out after third round defeats in Paris.
The hosts had blanked Germany in their opening tie and became the first to seal a quarter-final spot with their second 3-0 win in the inaugural team event.
Images from the second day's play of the 2016 French Open at the Roland Garros
Spain are experiencing their worst French Open campaign for almost 20 years despite having Rafael Nadal and David Ferrer through to the fourth round.
Fabio Fognini pulled off a huge upset, stunning top seed and holder Rafael Nadal 1-6, 6-2, 7-5 in the Rio Open semi-final on Saturday.
Defending champions Leander Paes and Radek Stepanek had to work hard to cross the first round hurdle in the men's doubles even as Sania Mirza advanced in both the mixed and doubles events at the US Open.
Novak Djokovic handed Kei Nishikori a brutal lesson in hardcourt tennis as the Serb began his bid for a record fourth successive title at the ATP World Tour Finals with a 6-1, 6-1 win on Sunday.
France will meet Serbia in the semi-finals of the Davis Cup after both finished off their last-eight ties inside two days on Saturday but Australia and Belgium were made to sweat.
World No. 16 Marco Cecchinato will spearhead Italy's challenge, while they also have the experienced world No. 37 Andreas Seppi as they look to continue their good record against India.
Andreas Seppi experienced some early hiccups before getting past Ramkumar Ramanathan 6-4, 6-2 in the opening rubber, while 22-year-old Matteo Berrettini made a winning Davis Cup debut, cruising past India number one Prajnesh Gunneswaran 6-4, 6-3.
Keeping in mind Italians' weakness on grass, India have opted for grass courts in South Club here for the February 1-2 fixtures which will be played in new format with the winners making a cut to the 18-nation finals in Madrid next year.
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