Venus Williams' return to Indian Wells lasted just one match but sister Serena looked poised for a long run after a dominant win at the BNP Paribas Open on Friday. Venus returned to the event for the first time since 2001, having boycotted it after being booed and heckled by fans during her previous trip, but made a quick exit after a 6-4 6-3 defeat to Japanese qualifier Kurumi Nara in the second round. The 15-year-old incident had occurred when Venus withdrew from a semi-final match with Serena, drawing ire from the crowd aimed at the Williams family. This time, though, Venus was greeted warmly by the crowd before her match and throughout it, a consolation for her poor performance. "It was enough of a fairytale to come here and play," Venus told reporters. "A win would have been nice, but that means I have to come back, play next year."
Venus Williams also went the distance before claiming a 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory over Croatia's Donna Vekic.
A round-up of results from Davis Cup matches played on and Sunday
Images from all the action from Day 1 of the French Open played at Roland Garros in Paris on Sunday
'It wasn't really a nice time to be dealing with everything'
Portugal, Denmark, Poland, Serbia, Austria, Croatia and Ukraine are among countries which will again be able to enjoy league football, albeit in unusual circumstances with no spectators allowed at games.
India's Leander Paes and Sania Mirza made it to the second round of the US Open with straight sets win in their respective doubles events, in New York, on Thursday night.
Continuing his dream run, Grandmaster Abhijeet Gupta held higher-ranked compatriot Pentala Harikrishna to a draw, while Viswanathan Anand kept himself in contention with an easy victory, in the sixth round of the masters section of the Tradewise Gibraltar International Chess Festival in Gibraltar, on Monday.
Belgium hammered the final nail into Egypt's halting World Cup warm-up campaign with an assured 3-0 win in Brussels on Wednesday that settled some nerves among the fancied hosts.
'I haven't thought about anything. I mean I'm just here, I'm having a good time, I'm winning. What more can I ask for in a comeback?'
Trying hard to hold back tears, an emotional Sania Mirza was at loss of words in explaining the defeat with partner Rohan Bopanna in the mixed doubles event of the Rio Olympic Games on Monday. The fourth seed Indian duo of Sania and Bopanna lost the bronze play-off to Czech pair of Lucie Hradecka and Radek Stepanek 1-6 5-7. Sania, who is already 29 and has recoverd from three career-threarening injuries, knows that it was her last and best chance to win an Olympic medal.
American Bethanie Mattek-Sands and the Czech Republic's Lucie Safarova claimed their third consecutive grand slam doubles title with a convincing 6-2, 6-1 victory over Australian duo Ashleigh Barty and Casey Dellacqua at the French Open on Sunday.
Pliskova will be guaranteed toppling Germany's Angelique Kerber if she prevails against Halep who would need to go on and take the title to seize the top ranking.
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orld No 2 Simona Halep is to have an operation on her nose after an illness-plagued start to the year which ended with a first-round exit from the Australian Open.
A summary of Wednesday's action at the US Open.
India saw a day of mixed fortunes at the Australian Open on Saturday as both, Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna won their respective doubles and mixed doubles matches to enter the third round of the opening Grand Slam of the year in Melbourne.
World No 1 Williams, 33, could not practise on Friday, still suffering from an illness that left her coughing and spluttering during her three-set semi-final win over Swiss Timea Bacsinszky.
Croatia's Mirjana Lucic-Baroni could barely contain her joy after reaching the Australian Open semi-finals on Wednesday, 19 years after her only previous singles match win at Melbourne Park prior to her remarkable run.
IMAGES from Day 4 of the Wimbledon Champions at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, London, on Thursday
World No 1 Serena Williams's 27-match unbeaten run ended with a 6-2, 6-3 defeat by Petra Kvitova in the Madrid Open.
Images from Day 5 of the Wimbledon tennis championships played in London, on Friday.
IMAGES from Day 2 of the Wimbledon Championships from the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, London, on Tuesday.
Serena Williams rallied to avoid a stunning upset and secure a 1-6, 6-3, 6-3 semi-final win over Czech qualifier Marie Bouzkova at the Rogers Cup on Saturday, setting up a title showdown with local teenager Bianca Andreescu.
Former world number one Venus Williams produced a vintage display to outclass Netherlands' Arantxa Rus in straight sets and storm into the second round of the Yarra Valley Classic.
India's report card on the ninth day of the 2016 Olympics.
England bounced back from their first tournament qualifying defeat for 10 years with a 6-0 thrashing of toothless Bulgaria on Monday in a Euro 2020 Group A clash marred by racist incidents in the first half that stopped the game.
S Jaishankar took charge as foreign secretary, replacing Sujatha Singh, on Thursday.
Holders France got their World Cup qualifying campaign off to a disappointing start with a 1-1 draw at home to Ukraine
Grandmaster SP Sethuraman had to defend with the skin of his teeth but the effort was rewarding as he held higher ranked compatriot P Harikrishna to a draw in the first game of the second round of World Cup of Chess in Baku, Azerbaijan.
Not used to playing singles anymore, India's Rohan Bopanna found rhythm in nick of time to edge past Hong Chung before Yong-Kyu Lim prevented a Korean whitewash with a gritty win over Ramkumar Ramanathan in the Davis Cup Asia Oceania Group I tie, in Chandigarh, on Sunday.
With the retirement of three-time champion Usain Bolt, the 100m will have a new gold medallist at Tokyo 2020.
The signs that things were going horribly wrong for Roger Federer were laid bare at Roland Garros.
NorthEast United FC played out a 1-1 draw against Mumbay City FC in an inconsequential Hero Indian Super League match to end at the bottom position.
The All India Tennis Association may be backing Leander Paes to the hilt in him making the squad for the Rio Olympics, but the veteran star will not be picked in the Davis Cup team despite showing late interest in competing in the Asia/Oceania Group I tie against Korea Republic next month.
Spain's influential midfielder Andres Iniesta says the secret to his top form at Euro 2016 has been his speed of thought. The 32-year-old Barcelona captain has made a smooth transition from an attacking role to central midfield and been instrumental in his country's two victories over the Czech Republic and Turkey in Group D.
Star sprinter Hima Das is not losing her sleep over qualifying for the Olympics, having included cycling and a bit of cricket in her "medium-intensity" training regime while taking care to avoid the sweltering summer heat in Patiala.
It was a mixed day in office for Indian tennis players in the season-opening Australian Open with Sania Mirza sailing into the third round of the women's doubles event even as Rohan Bopanna crashed out of the men's doubles, in Melbourne on Friday.
IMAGES from Day 4 of the 2022 French Open at Roland Garros in Paris on Wednesday.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Saturday
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