Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Friday
Top seed Novak Djokovic beat Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime 7-5, 7-6(1) to reach the semi-finals of the Italian Open on Friday and move within one win of 1,000 career victories.
Novak Djokovic launched his bid to stay on course for a Golden Slam with a clinical 6-2, 6-2 win over 139th-ranked Hugo Dellien of Bolivia on Saturday, as sweltering conditions in Tokyo took a toll on the players on the opening day of tennis at the Games.
Raducanu stormed into the third round of the Cincinnati Open
Novak Djokovic endured a fierce challenge to his Melbourne Park reign before overhauling Dominic Thiem 6-4, 4-6, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 on Sunday to clinch an eighth Australian Open crown and reclaim the world number one ranking. He captured the decisive break in the third game of the final set, then held firm as Thiem made desperate assaults on his serve. Going for broke in a nerve-shredding final game, the fifth seeded Austrian went for the lines but missed twice to hand Djokovic one of his most hard-earnt triumphs.
Djokovic may never feel the affections of the crowd savoured by Federer and Spaniard Rafael Nadal but his record of 16 Grand Slam titles is proof that tennis is no popularity contest.
Roger Federer was made to work hard by Fernando Verdasco before beating the Spanish veteran 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 on Wednesday to reach the quarter-finals of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.
It took the COVID-19 pandemic to put a brake on Djokovic's 18-match unbeaten run in 2020, as he won the ATP Cup with Serbia, an eighth Australian Open title and a fifth Dubai Tennis Championships before the season came to a halt in early March.
Top seed Simona Halep came back from 4-1 down in the deciding set to beat Elina Svitolina 6-3 3-6 6-4 in the Qatar Open semi-final on Friday, marking her first victory over the Ukrainian in nearly two years.
Novak Djokovic wore down Lucas Pouille after an even first set, dispatching the Frenchman 7-6(2), 6-1 in a Cincinnati Masters quarter-final in Ohio on Friday.
Naomi Osaka is no longer a shy, introvert youngster and the newest Grand Slam winner in women's tennis says she owes her maturity to last year's US Open triumph.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Saturday
The first meeting between Nick Kyrgios and Stefanos Tsitsipas lived up to the hype on Saturday as the Australian saved a match point in a wildly entertaining 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(7) win to reach the Citi Open final.
A summary of Thursday's play at the US Open.
The professional tennis circuit, which requires players to jet around the world, was forced into shutdown in early March as countries went into lockdown and closed their borders to contain the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Images from the action on Day 2 at the Australian Open.
Rafael Nadal's hopes of winning the year-ending ATP Finals for the first time live on after the Spaniard beat defending champion Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 on Thursday.
Images from Day 3 of the 2023 Australian Open at Melbourne Park on Wednesday.
Shapovalov will meet Rafael Nadal for a place in the semi-finals.
Rafael Nadal is hunting a record-extending and almost unbelievable 12th Roland Garros title is remarkable in itself.
Wimbledon debutant Eubanks ends Tsitsipas's challenge in fourth round.
Home favourite Kei Nishikori defeated Frenchman Richard Gasquet 7-6(2), 6-1 in the semi-finals of the Japan Open on Saturday, setting up a final against Russian qualifier Daniil Medvedev.
World number two Rafael Nadal confirmed on Tuesday that he will not defend his US Open crown this year at Flushing Meadows as organisers released the singles entry list for the Grand Slam. Spain's Nadal had said in June that he had reservations about travelling to the U.S. amid the COVID-19 pandemic and he joins women's world number one Australian Ash Barty in skipping the tournament due to COVID-19 concerns.
Roger Federer overcame a sluggish start to defeat Filip Krajinovic 7-5, 6-3 and Kevin Anderson's booming serve proved too much for Joao Sousa as the big names advanced to the fourth round of the Miami Open on Monday.
Roger Federer added yet another record to his vast collection when he guaranteed becoming the oldest ATP world number one by beating Dutchman Robin Haase 4-6, 6-1, 6-1 to reach the semi-finals in Rotterdam on Friday.
Caroline Wozniacki overcame a mid-match wobble and withstood a barrage of big hitting to get her WTA Finals title defence back on track with a 7-5, 3-6, 6-2 victory over Petra Kvitova at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.
Roger Federer lit up the O2 Arena with a dazzling 6-4, 6-3 defeat of Novak Djokovic to hand the Serb an early ATP Finals exit and wreck his bid to end the year ranked number one on Thursday.
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):
Change might be afoot though, according to American great John McEnroe
List of US Open men's singles champions since the Open Era began in 1968:
Madison Keys beat fellow American CoCo Vandeweghe for the second time in eight days with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 victory on Monday to reach the second round of the Cincinnati Open.
The Swiss squandered seven set points in the opener and although he took the second on a tiebreak he capitulated in the decider after dropping serve at 1-2, losing 7-5, 6-7(3), 6-1.
The hosts had blanked Germany in their opening tie and became the first to seal a quarter-final spot with their second 3-0 win in the inaugural team event.
Badosa beats Fernandez; Swiatek, Halep storm into quarter-finals
A win for Djokovic would move him past Pete Sampras (14) to outright third on the list of Grand Slam title winners.
A summary of the action on Day 3 at the US Open.
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.
Greek teenager Stefanos Tsitsipas secured the biggest win of his career when he sent Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic packing in the third round of the Rogers Cup with a stunning 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-3 win on Thursday.
Eleven-times champion Rafael Nadal booked his place in the semi-finals of the Barcelona Open semi-finals by beating German Jan-Lennard Struff 7-5, 7-5 in a hard-fought match on Friday.
Williams, a record 23-times Grand Slam champion, will be returning to the All England Club for the first time since giving birth to her daughter last September.