There was also the exciting Rugby Union match that added that much more excitement to the past week. Rediff.com has that and more snapped right here. We bring you a glance of all the action from the week gone by
Kei Nishikori has set his sights on making a grand slam breakthrough in 2017 after the Japanese world number five concluded a successful season in which he claimed one ATP Tour title, an Olympic medal and recorded a career-high 58 wins.
Somdev Devvarman's challenge in the Dubai Duty Free Championship ended on Wednesday when he was beaten by fourth seed Juan Martin Del Potro of Argentina in the second round.
Prajnesh is now ranked 102 in the men's singles rankings with a jump of seven places while Ankita leapfrogged 35 places to a career-high 168 in the women's singles.
Two-time champion Marin Cilic of Croatia kept his hopes alive, coming from behind to beat Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 and make the quarter-finals of the Aircel Chennai Open ATP tennis tournament, in Chennai, on Thursday.
Juan Martin del Potro believes he can muscle his way into the world's top four next year after returning to the kind of form that propelled him to the US Open title three years ago.
Ramkumar, who ended a runner-up at the Newport event last week, lost 4-6, 4-6 to American Taylor Fritz.
Third seed N Sriram Balaji overcame early jitters to quell a spirited challenge from compatriot Ramkumar Ramanathan in his opening match at the CCI-ITF men's US $15,000 tournament 2012, at the CCI courts, in Mumbai, on Monday. The Chennai-based lad won 7-5, 6-4 in an hour and 50 minutes.
With twin successes on the Asian swing of the ATP Tour, Novak Djokovic is back in the reckoning in a comparatively less successful year. And with no points to defend in the weeks ahead, the Serb, says Bikash Mohapatra, is the lone challenger to Roger Federer in the race for the year-end No.1 ranking.
Roger Federer is keeping a lid on expectations.
On the men's side, the fields have already been divided into two ATP 250 tournaments.
Ash Barty's bid to end the host nation's long wait for a homegrown Australian Open champion will begin against Ukraine's Lesia Tsurenko
Bhambri, ranked 116 in the world, had reached the second round when the ATP 250 event was played in Chennai in January 2017.
India woman's tennis ace, Sania Mirza continues to hold on to her be world number one ranking in doubles, thanks to her consistent performance.
'You have to feel like the whole world working normally again and travelling normally before tennis would go back to especially the major competitions'
Doubles specialist Rohan Bopanna said it would take some more time for him and senior partner Mahesh Bhupathi to get adjusted to each other before they strike a right chord in ATP tennis circuit.
Ivan Ljubicic had a double birthday letdown on Thursday when he lost to Andy Murray in the quarter-finals of the ATP event at Indian Wells and was wrongly denied a point by the Hawk-Eye system. The big-serving Croat was beaten 7-5, 7-6 on his 30th birthday after being frustrated by a successful Murray challenge at 4-4 in the ninth game of the second set.
Leander Paes and Radek Stepanek were routed 2-6, 0-6 by top seeds Mike and Bob Bryan as the Indian challenge ended at the ATP Monaco Masters.
The Wimbledon tennis championships were cancelled for the first time since World War Two as the coronavirus pandemic wiped another blue-riband sports event off the calendar on Wednesday.
Roger Federer moved to within one win of his 1,000 career victory when he crushed Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov on Saturday to reach the final of the Brisbane International.
Bopanna has empathy for the organisers but can't hide his own frustration either.
Images from Day 1 of the Australian Open in Melbourne on Monday.
Rohan Bopanna Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi won their first ever ATP Masters tournament after whipping away the challenge of Julien Benneteau and Nicolas Mahut in straight sets in the final, in Paris, on Sunday.
India's Divij Sharan broke into the top-100 in the ATP doubles ranking as he jumped 15 places to a career best 94th spot, while Yuki Bhambri also achieved his career-best singles rank with a nine-place jump to 179 in the latest list released on Tuesday.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Monday.
Big-serving Canadian Milos Raonic fired 19 aces to topple Sam Querrey 6-4, 6-4 and set up a second-round clash with either Dan Evans or Russian 10th seed Andrey Rublev.
Ash Barty beat eighth seed Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(7) in Beijing to seal her spot in the final of the China Open on Saturday.
The 29-year-old former French Open finalist failed the out-of-competition test in February after a urine sample was found to contain letrozole - a substance used in the treatment of breast cancer which is also on the banned drug list of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
Opelka, Kyrgios included in Team World for Laver Cup.
Images from Day 4 of the Australian Open in Melbourne on Thursday
German seventh seed Alexander Zverev recovered from a slow start to beat former champion Stan Wawrinka 1-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 in the Australian Open on Wednesday to reach his first career Grand Slam semi-final. Swiss Wawrinka, who won the first of his three Grand Slams at Melbourne Park in 2014, broke Zverev twice early in the opening set to breeze through the opening set but the 22-year-old German came roaring back into the contest.
Former world number one and double Grand Slam title winner Marat Safin became the latest Russian tennis player to confirm he intends to run for his country's parliament.
The only Indian survivors in the Delhi Challenger will face off for a quarter-final place on Wednesday.
Leander Paes and Radek Stepanek downed Jonathan Erlich and Richard Gasquet in straight sets to reach the quarter-finals of the ATP Indian Wells Masters tournament.
Somdev Devvraman crashed out of the the $ 850,00 ATP Malaysian Open after losing to Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus in straight sets in the second round of the men's singles event in Kuala Lumpur, on Wednesday.
Roger Federer took a big step towards securing his endangered place in the ATP World Tour Finals by overcoming rising Canadian talent Vasek Pospisil 6-3, 6-7(3), 7-5 in the Basel Open semi-finals on Saturday.
The Indo-Pakistan duo will take on third seeds Jarkko Nieminen of Finland and Robert Lindstedt in the championship round.
Of the 83 people implicated in the case, 28 were professional tennis players, playing in the ITF Futures and Challenger categories, and one whose identity was not revealed competed in the 2018 US Open.
Indian challenge ended at the ATP Rogers Cup as Rohan Bopanna and his Pakistani partner Aisam-ul-haq Qureshi conceded their doubles quarter-final match to top seeds Mike and Bob Bryan due to an injury to the Indian Davis Cupper.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Monday
