Rafael Nadal smoothly negotiated the potential stumbling block presented by Frenchman Benoit Paire on Monday, launching his bid for a 10th French Open trophy with a largely routine 6-1, 6-4, 6-1 win.
After the match against Argentina's Francisco Cerundolo, Benoit Paire posted a screenshot of his career winnings of $8.50 million and wrote: "In the end it's worth it to suck."
Paire was handed a code violation by umpire Mohamed Lahyani for unsporting conduct -- triggering a heated response.
France's Benoit Paire has tested positive for COVID-19 and pulled out of the US Open starting on Monday, French sports daily reported on Sunday. Paire, seeded 17th at the Grand Slam event, had been scheduled to play Poland's Kamil Majchrzak in the first round at Flushing Meadows on Tuesday.
Paire, ranked 29 in the world, said the sport had become a 'tasteless job'.
Paire won his first ATP Tour title on the clay at Bastad in July and will go in search of his second against French Open champion Wawrinka, who served strongly in taking out Gilles Muller of Luxembourg.
Rafa Nadal avoided a similar fate to beaten World No 1 Novak Djokovic when he dismissed French young gun Benoit Paire 6-3, 6-4 to claim a place in the third round of the Madrid Open on Wednesday.
Rafa Nadal overcame another hurdle on his way to a possible eighth Barcelona Open title in nine years when he recovered from a poor start to beat Benoit Paire 7-6, 6-2 in their delayed third-round match on Friday.
Roger Federer breezed back into action to reach the second round of the Dubai Open with a straightforward 6-1, 6-3 over erratic Frenchman Benoit Paire on Monday.
Rafael Nadal trailed in the second set before overcoming No. 5 seed Cameron Norrie of Great Britain.
Benoit Paire made a remarkable Davis Cup debut for France, outplaying Pablo Carreno-Busta 7-5, 6-1, 6-0 in the opening rubber of the World Group semi-final tie against Spain at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy on Friday.
'Do me a favour': Andy Murray hits back after legacy questioned
Frenchman Benoit Paire was allowed to play in the Hamburg Open despite testing positive for COVID-19 because the 'rules are different' in Germany.
A 1,000km 10-hour roadtrip dash to Paris, squeezed into a small hire car alongside his 88-year-old grandmother, ended in Grand Slam joy for Marco Trungelliti at Roland Garros on Monday -- and a guaranteed 79,000 euros ($92,000) payday.
Top seed and defending champion Stanislas Wawrinka punctured the challenge of Benoit Paire with remarkable ease and earned himself a shot at a third successive Chennai Open title by reaching the singles final, in Chennai, on Saturday.
Leander Paes and his partner Benoit Paire of France lost to the Colombian duo of Robert Farah and Juan Cabal in the second round.
India's Rohan Bopanna and his Romanian partner Marius Copil bowed out of the French Open after losing in the third round of the men's doubles, in Paris, on Sunday.
In the women's draw, defending champion Garbine Muguruza will play 2010 French Open winner Francesca Schiavone
The Indo-Canadian got a walkover in their quarter-final clash against France's Benoit Paire and Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland.
The unseeded duo of Bopanna and Shapovalov lost 6-7 (3-7), 6-7 to the Dutch combination of Robin Haase and Wesley Koolhof
Novak Djokovic began his French Open campaign with a comfortable win.
Rafael Nadal was made to wait before his second-round Rogers Cup match due to several rain delays but did his part to put the schedule back on track with a speedy 6-2 6-3 win over Frenchman Benoit Paire on Wednesday.
Fourth seed Kei Nishikori's hopes of making another magical U.S. Open run came to a quick end on Monday as last year's runner-up fell at the first hurdle, falling 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 7-6 (6), 6-4 to Frenchman Benoit Paire.
The Indian challenge ended at the Chennai Open tournament with Somdev Devvarman and his Ukrainian partner Sergiy Stakhovsky losing their doubles quarterfinal match to Thai brothers Sanchal and Sonchat Ratiwatana in straight sets.
Somdev Devvarman could not go deep into the singles main draw after a stupendous start as the Indian bowed out of the ATP Open 13 tournament with a straight-sets defeat against Australia's Berand Tomic in the second round.
Fourth seeds Leander Paes and Andre Sa progressed to the Estoril Open quarter-finals and also joining them in the last-eight pairs were Divij Sharan and Purav Raja.
Rafael Nadal reached the final of the Barcelona Open for the ninth time by beating German Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-3, 6-3 on Saturday.
Fourth seed Canadian Milos Raonic won his first round match of the season beginning Chennai Open with utmost ease, disposing off unseeded Victor Hanescu of Romania 6-1, 6-4 at the centre court on Wednesday night.
Rafael Nadal beat Czech sixth seed Tomas Berdych 6-2, 6-4 to reach the Italian Open final on Saturday with a dominant performance that he described as emotional after his long injury absence.
Leander Paes and his Czech partner Lukas Dlouhy sailed into the second round of the French Open men's doubles with a straight-sets win over locals Sebastien de Chaunac and Benoit Paire in Paris on Wednesday night. The third seeds won 6-1, 6-3 and set up a clash with another unseeded duo, James Cerretani and Sergiy Stakhovsky. The Ukrainian-American pair defeated Spaniards Nicolas Almagro and Ivan Navarro 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 in another first round match.
World number seven Juan Martin Del Potro of Argentina has pulled out of next week's French Open tennis after failing to recover from a virus, Argentine media reported on Wednesday.
India's top singles player Prajnesh Gunnesaran drew world number 17 Milos Raonic of Canada as his first round opponent at the Wimbledon Championships, starting Monday.
Leander Paes and his partner Daniel Nestor bowed out of Monte Carlo masters following a close defeat against Benoit Paire and Stan Wawrinka in Monaco.
Strong title contenders Marin Cilic and Stanislas Wawrinka were knocked out of the Chennai Open by their respective opponents on Friday.
The setback was a third straight loss for the 30-year-old Serb, who is trying to make a comeback after an elbow injury sidelined him for the final six months of last year.
Veteran pairing Julien Benneteau and Nicolas Mahut booked France's place in another Davis Cup final as they won the doubles to seal the champions' 3-0 victory over Spain in their World Group semi-final on Saturday.
Andy Murray continued his strong build-up in his quest for a maiden Australian Open title with a comfortable victory over Frenchman Benoit Paire in the Hopman Cup mixed-team event in Perth on Monday.
India's top singles tennis player Somdev Devvarman has been handed a direct entry in the main draw of the ATP Chennai Open tennis tournament after Estonia's Jurgen Zopp pulled out of the event due to a back injury.
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.
Defending champion Rohan Bopanna went down fighting in the thrilling doubles opening round game at the third edition of Tata Open Maharashtra, in Pune, on Wednesday. Playing alongside local boy Arjun Kadhe, the ace Indian player Bopanna dominated the game initially. However, after winning the first set convincingly, the Indian duo couldn't manage to continue the momentum further in the games against French pair of Benoit Paire and Antoine Hoang as they lost the match 3-6, 7-5, 10-7.
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