Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Beijing on Friday for the 2022 Winter Olympics and a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, bringing with him a deal to increase natural gas supplies to China amid rising tension with the West.
Rafael Nadal and Kim Clijsters swept into the Australian Open third round on Thursday as Serbia's Jelena Jankovic became the first top-10 player to exit the tournament. After three days of scares but no upsets at Melbourne Park, former world number one Jankovic, the seventh seed, was dumped out 7-6, 6-3 by Chinese upstart Peng Shuai.
In the women's doubles event, the Indo-Chinese duo of Sania and Peng Shuai will take on Croatian professionals Petra Martic and Donna Vekic.
Olympic champions Li Ting and Sun Tiantian are to be split up in a bid to ensure China have the best possible tennis pairings for the Beijing Games.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Saturday
Indian tennis pair of Leander Paes and Rohan Bopanna was pitted against the Polish team of Marcin Matkowski and Lukasz Kubot in the first round of the men's doubles event of the Rio Olympic Games.
Azarenka said she believed getting vaccinated was the socially responsible thing to do
India's Leander Paes and Purav Raja sailed into the men's doubles second round in the duo's first outing at a Grand Slam but Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna crashed out of their respective events in the US Open.
Beijing Olympics gold medalist Abhinav Bindra, who is competing in his fifth Games, led the Indian contingent at the parade of nations during the Open Ceremony of the Rio Olympics on Friday night.
Roger Federer and Lleyton Hewitt will resume one of the oldest rivalries in tennis when they contest the Brisbane International final on Sunday.
Maria Sharapova destroyed Zarina Diyas 6-1, 6-1 to charge into the Australian Open fourth round on Friday.
A fair share of controversies rattled Indian tennis in the run-up to the Olympics with Leander Paes in the middle of storm but it also carries the country's medal hopes from the mixed doubles pairing of Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna when the event gets underway in the 31st Olympics Games.
Former world number one Maria Sharapova eased past defending champion Peng Shuai 6-3, 6-1 at the Tianjin Open on Saturday to reach her first WTA final in almost two and a half years.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Monday
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.
Croatia's Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, who made the third round of the 1997 US Open also at 15, was the previous youngest player to advance to that stage of a grand slam.
Italy's Matteo Berrettini overcame second seed Roberto Bautista Agut 7-6(9), 6-4 to win his first title at the Swiss Open in Gstaad on Sunday.
The Women's Tennis Association, which has turned to Asia to grow its sport, is unclear how the International Tennis Premier League is going to pan out. 'We are still learning about it, just as the world and the media is,' said Melissa Pines, Vice-President, Asia-Pacific, on the sidelines of its new announcement to bring the season-ending BNP Paribas WTA Championships to South East Asia for the first time this year.
Nadal, who got a first-round bye, defeated Richard Gasquet 6-3, 6-4 to advance.
