Rafael Nadal weathered an early serving storm from Kevin Anderson before dismantling the South African giant with a 7-5, 6-1, 6-4 masterclass to reach the quarter-finals of the Australian Open on Sunday.
Top seed Andy Murray could meet Roger Federer or Kei Nishikori in the third round, while Serena faces tricky Belinda Bencic in opening round
Rafael Nadal looked something close to his old masterful self on clay again as he crushed Czech Tomas Berdych.
Serena Williams returned to the scene of her WTA Finals win but could not prevent her Singapore Slammers team slumping to a fourth straight defeat in the IPTL.
Rediff.com captures these moments and a lot more from the week gone by...
Roger Federer suffered a shock 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(4) defeat to Australian wildcard Thanasi Kokkinakis on Saturday that will cost the Swiss his world number one ranking and leaves the Miami men's tournament wide open.
Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams are top seeds at the major starting Monday
Novak Djokovic extended his winning streak at the China Open to 27 matches with a 6-2, 6-2 demolition over big-serving American John Isner on Friday.
Britain's rise from embarrassing Davis Cup lightweights to title contenders has been nothing short of spectacular and they will begin slight favourites to reach a first final in 37 years against Australia on Friday.
With fire in their bellies, former Grand Slam champs Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer are targetting a fresh return to the tennis courts in 2017.
Ageing tour warrior Lleyton Hewitt ushered Australia into the Davis Cup semi-finals on Sunday, trouncing Aleksandr Nedovyesov 7-6(2), 6-2, 6-3 in the decisive singles rubber against Kazakhstan.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Wednesday
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Friday.
For someone who is the defending champion at Melbourne Park, Stanislas Wawrinka is remarkably upbeat about the lack of focus falling upon him.
The Australian Open started with a bang and the stars weren't hard to miss, as most of them were seen wearing loud colours at Melbourne Park.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Thursday
Images from the matches played at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, in Wimbledon, London, on Monday.
Defending champion Serena Williams is the top seed in the women's draw. The American will be looking to equal Steffi Graf's Open era record by sealing a 22nd Grand Slam triumph.
IMAGES from the Australian Open matches played at Melbourne Park on Wednesday
Audacious coups by Andy Murray and Angelique Kerber have transformed the tennis landscape and they will begin 2017 eyeing the kind of domination that few would have thought possible at the start of a seismic year.
The seventh-seeded Bulgarian advanced to his eighth ATP World Tour Masters 1000 quarter-final with a 6-3, 7-5 victory over Del Potro, who struggled with the intense heat in the closing stages of the one hour, 39 minute match.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Friday
Top seed Serena Williams made short work of Kazakhstan's Zarina Diyas in the third round of the BNP Paribas Open.
'I make him play very easy. So you cannot expect to win matches in quarter-finals of Grand Slams helping the opponent to play well. That's what I did' 'It's not a bad result at all for me arriving here the way I arrived: only with one match, only with five matches in seven months. So taking the positive part, that's the thing that I have to take'
Playing better and with solid purpose this clay court season, Rafael Nadal is looking to win his 19th title at Roland Garros, says Desh Chopra Gaurav Sekhri, and will ask some difficult questions of anyone he is pitted against.
World number one Simona Halep swatted aside American Nicole Gibbs while Maria Sharapova was flawless in her straight sets victory over Romania's Mihaela Buzarnescu in the opening round of the Shenzhen Open on Monday.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Tuesday
Federer, who skipped the entire clay court season after winning the Australian Open and claiming titles at Indian Wells and Miami this year, will next play defending champion Florian Mayer who beat Frenchman Lucas Pouille in three sets.
The 29-year-old Frenchman crashes 'top-four' party to set up semi-final against World No Djokovic
American Sam Querry became the latest Wimbledon giant slayer on Saturday as he beat defending champion Novak Djokovic 7-6(6) 6-1 3-6 7-6(5) in the third round. The defeat ended Djokovic's run of winning 30 consecutive grand slam matches. The world number one had arrived at the All England Club as the reigning champion at all four grand slam tournaments.
Indian Aces continued their winning run as they beat Manila Mavericks 24-15 on the second day of the International Premier Tennis League (IPTL) in Manila, on Saturday.
Nadal, who got a first-round bye, defeated Richard Gasquet 6-3, 6-4 to advance.
The lanky wild card kissed the Montreal court after completing a rousing 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(4) triumph as the 18-year-old became the youngest player to ever reach the quarter-finals of an ATP Masters 1000 event.
Images from Day 5 of the Australian Open in Melbourne on Friday.
A round-up of results from Davis Cup matches played on Saturday and Sunday
Bernard Tomic bowed out of the Australian Open on Sunday with a stinging rebuke of the scheduling.
Images from Day 3 of the 2016 Australian Open in Melbourne, on Wednesday
Maria Sharapova, Serena Williams and Andy Murray were the big names to win on Monday and advance to the quarter-final of the Wimbledon.
Two-time champion Victoria Azarenka won a battle of former girls' champions at the Australian Open by easing past Czech Barbora Zahlavova Strycova 6-4, 6-4 on Saturday to advance to the fourth round at Melbourne Park.
Third seed Rafael Nadal battled through mid-match cramps for more than an hour before he lurched into the third round of the Australian Open with a 6-2, 3-6, 6-7(2), 6-3, 7-5 victory over American qualifier Tim Smyzcek.