Serena Williams and Ekaterina Makarova sprinted into the semi-finals of the U.S. Open on Wednesday but marathon man Kei Nishikori had to go the distance to upset Stan Wawrinka and become the first Japanese man into the last four of a grand slam in 81 years.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Monday.
A season that produced the biggest shake-up in men's tennis for more than a decade draws to a close next week with three ATP World Tour Finals debutants striving to sign off breakthrough years with a large exclamation mark.
Whack. Whack, whack, whack. Whack. Whack. Four broken racquets, $1,250 worth of fines and more than 200,000 hits on video sharing website YouTube was all it needed for Marcos Baghdatis to enter Australian Open folklore.
Former world number four and Australian Open runner-up Dominika Cibulkova announced her retirement on Tuesday.
Former world number one Roger Federer looked like his old self when he beat Argentine Juan Martin Del Potro 6-3, 4-6, 6-3 at the Paris Masters on Friday to set up a semi-final clash with Novak Djokovic. Top seed Rafa Nadal destroyed local favourite Richard Gasquet 6-4, 6-1 as he stepped up his bid for a record sixth Masters Series crown in the same season.
The victory saw him move up by three places to stand only behind Spain's Rafael Nadal and Swiss star Roger Federer.
Here is a timeline of Djokovic's decline since the last of his 12 Grand Slam titles.
The stars were out in full force at the Kensington Roof Gardens, in London, on Thursday night.
World number five David Ferrer overwhelmed local favourite David Nalbandian 6-1, 6-4 on Saturday and will meet holder Nicolas Almagro in Sunday's all-Spanish Buenos Aires Open final.
Rafael Nadal had taken anti-inflammatories and undergone intensive physiotherapy to alleviate a lower back problem and still planned to compete in Buenos Aires next month, his spokesman said on Wednesday.
Konta, Sharapova fall at Rogers Cup in Toronto
Holder and World number 17 Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland faces a daunting task to retain his title as the 17th edition of ATP Chennai Open unfolds, on Monday, promising a keen tussle among top players.
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.
World number one Novak Djokovic blasted past qualifier Alexei Popyrin 6-4, 6-2 to reach the second round of the Japan Open Tennis Championships in Tokyo.
Federer's bid for a 20th grand slam title will be aided by the absences of Andy Murray and Kei Nishikori, as well as lingering injuries to top players who are still expected to play like Rafael Nadal and Stan Wawrinka.
...There was more to his win as he made a few variations to his game en route his 16th major
Two-time winner Marin Cilic of Croatia has been ruled out of the 2012 Chennai Open, India's only ATP World Tour event, due to an injury.
Rafael Nadal returned to Davis Cup action for the first time in two years on Friday with his victory putting Spain ahead in a Group One relegation playoff against Denmark.
Andy Murray has been the standout performer on clay for the past 12 months but world number one Novak Djokovic will be favourite to complete his set of grand slams at this year's French Open. Murray, according to the ATP Performance Zone stats, has won 85 percent of his matches on the red dust this year and last, more than any other player. Having been at 70 percent for the first 10 years of his career, the improvement demonstrates just how at home the Briton now feels on a surface he once treated with suspicion. His victory over Djokovic in Sunday's Italian Open final may have been aided by his opponent's energy levels being drained after a gruelling semi-final win over Kei Nishikori the night before. But it also was a timely statement of intent from the world number two, who recently split with coach Amelie Mauresmo.
Australia eased ahead of Bosnia 2-0 as John Millman thumped Damir Dzumhur 6-3, 6-2 while Alex de Minaur overcame Mirza Basic 6-3, 7-6(0), before Millman revealed the team's larger goal under captain Lleyton Hewitt.
World No 1 Novak Djokovic began his Paris Masters title defence with a routine 6-3, 6-4 win over German Philipp Kohlschreiber in the second round on Tuesday.
Rafael Nadal will miss next week's ATP tournament in Buenos Aires following a stomach bug that has hindered his recovery from the back injury he sustained at the Australian Open.
Britain's Andy Murray became overwhelming favourite for an Asian hat-trick as main rival Rafa Nadal was beaten in the third round of the Shanghai Masters on Thursday.
Images from Day 1 of the French Open matches played at Roland Garros on Sunday
Lleyton Hewitt and Chris Guccione won the doubles rubber to give Australia a 2-1 lead against Roger Federer's Switzerland in the Davis Cup world group playoff tie on Saturday.
Relentless schedule taking toll on big-name tennis players.
Roger Federer toughed out a 5-7, 7-6 (5), 6-2, 6-3 victory over Australia's Lleyton Hewitt to level Switzerland's Davis Cup World playoff tie at 1-1 on Friday.
Photos from Day 5 action at the Western & Southern Open at Cincinnati on Thursday.
The top-seeded Serb, who had not dropped a set in four matches since the round of 16 at the Australian Open in January, looked out-of-sorts throughout the 98-minute contest.
Australian wild thing Nick Kyrgios edged a step closer to a possible ATP ban when he was fined for a verbal outburst in his first round match at the Shanghai Masters.
World No 1 Rafael Nadal, who is hoping to recover from a knee injury to play in the season-ending showpiece, heads the other group and will face Belgian David Goffin, Bulgarian debutant Grigor Dimitrov and Austrian Dominic Thiem.
Andy Murray has lost the world number two spot to Roger Federer in the latest ATP rankings released on Monday, after his defeat to Novak Djokovic in the Madrid Masters final.
In the women's draw, Halep is seeded 2nd after top-ranked Kerber
Images from Day 8 at the French Open in Paris, on Sunday.
Leonardo Mayer beat Joao Souza in a Davis Cup singles match that lasted a record six hours and 42 minutes.
Roger Federer is no longer chasing the top ranking and would rather be a contender at Grand Slams than battling Novak Djokovic and Rafa Nadal to be world number one, the Swiss tennis great said.
News of all that's transpired on and off the tennis courts
Roger Federer failed to make the quarter-finals of a tournament for the first time in a year on Thursday while Rafa Nadal returned to form in the third round of the Rome Masters despite almost withdrawing with a fever.
India's top singles player Yuki Bhambri on Sunday withdrew from the Chennai Open as he is yet to recover from his elbow injury.
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