World No 2 Federer became the first player to book his place in the semi-finals of the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals by seeing off a spirited challenge from 20-year-old Alexander Zverev of Germany 7-6 (8-6), 5-7, 6-1 in a thrilling round robin clash that lasted two hours and 11 minutes on Tuesday.
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.
Sahara Force India enjoyed a double points finish at the 'home' British Grand Prix with Esteban Ocon and Sergio Perez finishing eight and ninth to collect six points for the team, in Silverstone, on Sunday.
Australia's Alex de Minaur fought back from a set down to beat former world number one Andy Murray
Home favourite Roger Federer barely broke sweat as he beat David Goffin 6-2, 6-2 to win the Basel Indoor title for the sixth time on Sunday.
World number two Simona Halep beat Maria Sharapova 6-2, 6-2 in the China Open third round on Wednesday for her first win over the Russian in eight attempts.
The restart has divided opinion among the players, with some 200,000 new COVID-19 cases being reported globally every day and international travel restrictions still in place.
Indian tennis star Leander Paes and his German partner Andre Begemann knocked out top seeds Lukasz Kubot and Nenad Zimonjic in straight sets to storm into the semi-finals of the ATP Winston-Salem Open.
How the 22-year-old Indian reached the Show Court at US Open, finding himself against 20-time Grand Slam Champion Roger Federer after beginning the year outside 350.
Leander Paes and Matthew Ebden continued their winning streak, beating Jonathan Erlich and Andrei Vasilevski 6-4, 3-6, 10-7 to enter the doubles final at the $1,62,000 Bengaluru Open ATP Tennis Challenger, in Bengaluru, on Friday.
Novak Djokovic believes he is the best player in the modern era
Nadal becomes just the fourth man to achieve 1,000 singles victories in the Open Era, behind Jimmy Connors (1,274), Roger Federer (1,242) and Ivan Lendl (1,068).
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Sunday
'Goran had quite a big influence on me to change my mentality and focus on my game. He changed my serve, I started to get aggressive and that is what I needed in my career'
World number one Rafael Nadal recovered from an upset loss against Belgium's David Goffin to win the deciding doubles match and send Spain into the semi-final of the ATP Cup teams event in Sydney in the early hours of Saturday. Spain will now play host nation Australia in the inaugural event, while Serbia, led by world number two Novak Djokovic, take on Russia.
In singles, out of action Yuki Bhambri dropped seven places to 129 while Myneni lost three and is ranked 141.
British No 1 Cameron Norrie overcame a slow start to beat Frenchman Hugo Gaston 6-3, 7-5.
'I physically need to get a little better and hopefully over time I get a little bit faster... I think I will'
Men's tennis steps into the unknown next week when the young guns expected to follow in the footsteps of the current golden generation contest the inaugural Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan.
India's Yuki Bhambri produced one of the biggest wins of his career as he shocked World No. 22 Gael Monfils in the second round of the Citi Open.
Tennis line judges might grimace when they hear it, but players reacted positively to them being replaced by computerised calls on the opening day of the Next Gen ATP Finals on Tuesday.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Monday
Veteran Leander Paes brushed off the disappointment of Rio Olympics as he and his German partner Andre Begemann made it to the final of the ATP Winston-Salem Open beating Swede Robert Lindstedt and Pakistan's Aisam-ul Haq Qureshi in a close encounter.
India's Davis Cup tie against Finland was on Friday postponed to 2021 as the International Tennis Federation pushed back all the matches, including the Finals, to next year owing to COVID-19 pandemic. India were scheduled to travel to Finland for the World Group I tie in September.
Yuki Bhambri's maiden appearance at the French Open ended with a first round defeat as he lost his opening men's singles match to Belgium's Ruben Bemelmans in straight sets, in Paris, on Tuesday.
Indian challenge ended at the Hong Kong Open World Tour Super 500 tournament after Kidambi Srikanth and Sameer Verma lost their respective men's singles quarterfinal matches on Friday.
'You don't peak every week. One has to keep playing.' 'It's a sport where you have to play at least 25, 30 weeks a year.' 'You have to keep your head down and go with the flow.'
Reaping rewards of his consistent performance, Prajnesh Gunneswaran, on Monday, broke into men's singles top-100 for the first time in his career with a jump of six places that took him to 97.
While tennis is a lucrative sport for those at the top -- the 2020 Australian Open singles champions each took home A$4.12 million ($2.52 million) -- those in the lower echelons often struggle to make ends meet.
There is no one more unbeatable in men's tennis than Novak Djokovic when the Serb is at his best, former world number four American Todd Martin said. Reigning world number one Djokovic has already established himself as one of the best ever to play the game and the Serb's Grand Slam haul of 17 is just three behind the 20 that Roger Federer has amassed. The Swiss player will be 39 in August.
A look at the records of Spain's Rafael Nadal and Serbia's Novak Djokovic before their title clash at the Australian Open on Sunday (prefix number denotes seeding):
Ramkumar to play opening singles tie against Schnur, Yuki takes on Shapovalov on day 1
India ended its campaign at the Fed Cup with a fourth place finish after losing the classification tie 1-2 to Korea as the team badly missed injured Karman Kaur Thandi, who did not play on Saturday, in Astana, Kazakhstan.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Thursday
The extended lockdown of tennis will help Andy Murray's return from injury but it will be "a big ask" for him to add to his three Grand Slam titles, according to former British number one Greg Rusedski. Murray underwent hip re-surfacing surgery at the start of 2019 and resumed playing doubles in June before returning to singles action in August.
While Federer and Nadal will look to reignite the flair and fight they showed to reach last year's final, 2018 could have a different script at play.
But for the first time, that golden trio will be having an anxious glance over their shoulders. The past week in London has revealed a new fearlessness in the generation of 20 somethings expected to fill the void when they call it a day.
Former world number two Tommy Haas officially announced his retirement from tennis at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells on Thursday, ending a career that spanned more than two decades.
With Sunday's win, the world number one took his Grand Slam tally to 18, just two shy of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal's men's record of 20.
IMAGES from Day 4 of the 2022 French Open at Roland Garros in Paris on Wednesday.
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