Novak Djokovic doused Fernando Verdasco's fire then aimed a dig at French Open organisers for not watering the courts on Sunday as he moved confidently into the French Open quarter-finals.
Canadian prospect Milos Raonic enhanced his growing reputation with a stunning 7-6, 7-6 upset victory over top seed and defending champion Fernando Verdasco to win his first title at the San Jose Open on Sunday.
World number two Rafa Nadal scraped into the quarter-finals of the Cincinnati Open after beating fellow Spaniard Fernando Verdasco 7-6, 6-7, 7-6 in a fierce battle on Thursday but his rivals all had comfortable paths into the last eight.
Doubles specialists Michael Llodra and Julien Benneteau combined to fire France into the quarter-finals of the Davis Cup Saturday with a battling four-set win over Germany's Philipp Kohlschreiber and Christopher Kas in Toulon. The victory gave the nine-times winners an unbeatable 3-0 lead in the best-of-five tie and set up a last-eight clash against champions Spain or Switzerland in July.
The world number one has been struggling with tendinitis in his knees since being knocked out of the French Open last month and was forced to miss Wimbledon.
France's Gael Monfils and Gilles Simon suffered early exits from the Cincinnati Masters on Tuesday.
Rafa Nadal will make himself available for Spain's Davis Cup quarter-final against United States or Chile in July, the world number one said after Saturday's victory over Belgium.
Defending champion Fernando Verdasco ended Juan Martin del Potro's hopes of reaching a first final following a long injury layoff with a 6-4, 6-4 victory in the semi-finals of the San Jose Open on Saturday.
Defending champion Roger Federer made heavy work of reaching his 27th consecutive Grand Slam quarter-final with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 win over Tommy Robredo at the Australian Open on Sunday.
Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal powered to third-round wins at the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells on Tuesday to set up a mouth-watering rematch of their recent Australian Open final.
Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal will begin the 2010 season in Abu Dhabi by playing in a six-man, $250,000 winner-takes-all exhibition tournament, local media reported on Tuesday.
Favourite Rafael Nadal must negotiate a tricky path in his bid for a fifth French Open title following Friday's draw for the claycourt grand slam starting on Sunday.
World No 8 Robin Soderling, the highest-ranked player left in the Barcelona Open after a slew of withdrawals, sprinted into the quarter-finals with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Spain's Feliciano Lopez on Thursday.
Defending champion Andy Murray and ATP finals hopefuls Mikhail Youzhny and Fernando Verdasco all made surprise early exits from the Valencia Open on Wednesday. World number four and top seed Murray fell 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 to Argentine Juan Monaco in the second round, while world number 10 Youzhny pulled out at the start of the day with a back problem.
Fernando Verdasco made a good start in his latest bid to secure a spot at the World Tour finals with a 6-4, 6-1 first-round victory over American qualifier Michael Russell at the Valencia Open on Monday.
Rafael Nadal took the next step in his charge after the one Grand Slam crown missing from his collection by demolishing fellow-Spaniard Fernando Verdasco 7-5, 6-3, 6-4 on Thursday to reach the semi-finals of the US Open. His next opponent will be 12th-seeded Russian Mikhail Youzhny, who advanced with a five-set victory over Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland.
Spain's hopes of a hat-trick of Davis Cup triumphs ended when they fell 3-0 behind to France in Clermont-Ferrand after losing Saturday's doubles rubber.
Holders Spain were on the brink of elimination in the Davis Cup quarter-finals on Friday after France won both the opening singles in Clermont-Ferrand.
Renowned fitness trainer Gil Reyes, who has worked with top stars like Ana Ivanovic and Fernando Verdasco, on Monday lauded Sania Mirza's 'athleticism' after working for one week with the Indian tennis ace. Sania, who missed India's Fed cup campaign due to an abdominal injury after winning her career's first Grand Slam mixed doubles title at the Australian Open, trained with Reynes at his training centre in Las Vegas.
Defending champion Andy Roddick has become the fifth top-10 player to withdraw from next week's Dubai men's championships. The American, who is playing in the semi-finals of the Memphis championships this weekend, would have to return to the United States after the Dubai tournament for Davis Cup duty against Switzerland.
Nicolas Almagro pummelled fellow Spaniard Fernando Verdasco into submission at the French Open on Monday to set up a quarter-final showdown with Rafael Nadal.
Roger Federer was made to work hard by Fernando Verdasco before beating the Spanish veteran 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 on Wednesday to reach the quarter-finals of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.
Roger Federer advanced to the Kooyong Classic final after a tight 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 victory over Spain's Fernando Verdasco on Thursday.
Rafael Nadal showed his ruthless streak to overcome an early test from Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka in a 6-4, 6-1 win on Friday and helped Spain to secure three of the four semi-final spots at the Rome Masters.
Fernando Verdasco's confidence on clay is sky high as long as he does not have to play Rafael Nadal, the Barcelona Open champion said on Sunday.
Fernando Verdasco's confidence on clay is sky high as long as he does not have to play Rafa Nadal, the Barcelona Open champion said on Sunday.
With the French Open looming, Rafael Nadal sprung back to life at the Monte Carlo Masters and left his opponents baffled about how to beat him on clay.
World number three Rafael Nadal won the Monte Carlo Masters for a record sixth consecutive time with a 6-0, 6-1 drubbing of fellow Spaniard Fernando Verdasco in the final on Sunday.
Rafael Nadal left no doubt that he would be the overwhelming favourite at next month's French Open after crushing Spanish compatriot David Ferrer 6-2, 6-3 in the Monte Carlo Masters semi-finals on Saturday. World number 12 and fellow Spaniard Fernando Verdasco will be the last man standing in Nadal's way to a record sixth consecutive title in the glitzy principality after he demolished top seed Novak Djokovic 6-2, 6-2.
Rafael Nadal left no doubt that he would be the overwhelming favourite at next month's French Open after crushing fellow Spaniard David Ferrer 6-2, 6-3 in the Monte Carlo Masters semi-finals on Saturday.
Bidding for their second consecutive Masters title, Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles moved to the quarterfinals of the Cincinnati Masters after edging past Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco in a tough three setter.
Czech Tomas Berdych fought back from a set down to beat Spain's Fernando Verdasco 4-6, 7-6, 6-4 on Thursday and set up a Sony Ericsson Open semi-final against Robin Soderling.
Andy Roddick reversed a run of three successive defeats to fellow American James Blake with a hard fought 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 first round victory at the Memphis Championships on Wednesday.
World number one Rafael Nadal faces a potentially treacherous task in his bid to win a fifth consecutive French Open title following Friday's draw for the tournament starting on Sunday. The top seed, unbeaten at Roland Garros since his debut in 2005, is in the same half of the draw as Briton Andy Murray and Spanish eighth seed Fernando Verdasco, who gave him a rough time in the Australian Open semi-finals.
Spain secured their second successive Davis Cup triumph, and their fourth in all, when they extended their lead over Czech Republic to an unassailable 3-0 in Saturday's doubles.
World number one Roger Federer will face his US Open conqueror Juan Martin del Potro in the round-robin stage of the ATP Tour finals after getting the rough end of Wednesday's draw for the season finale. The Swiss, who is not guaranteed to end the year on top of the rankings, will also face Britain's Andy Murray and Spain's Fernando Verdasco in Group A at the eye-catching O2 Centre alongside the River Thames when play starts on Sunday.
Top 10 duo Rafael Nadal and Fernando Verdasco have returned to the Spain side for next month's Davis Cup final against Czech Republic, captain Albert Costa said on Monday.
Top seed Andy Murray battled past Fernando Verdasco in the semi-finals of the Valencia Open on Saturday, beating the fourth-seeded Spaniard 6-3, 2-6, 6-3 to set up a final against Mikhail Youzhny.
Rafael Nadal is the overwhelming favourite to win Friday semi-final and advance to his first final at Melbourne Park but Fernando Verdasco presents some unusual problems for him.
India's Mahesh Bhupathi and partner Mark Knowles of the Bahamas overcame a stiff resistance from the Spanish duo of Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco to advance to the doubles semi-finals at the Australian Open in Melbourne on Tuesday. Meanwhile, top seeds Leander Paes and Cara Black of Zimbabwe were upset in the second round of the mixed doubles.
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