Novak Djokovic's frustration with the controversial blue clay at the Madrid Masters reached new heights after the world number one was beaten 7-6, 6-3 by fellow-Serb Janko Tipsarevic in the quarter-finals on Friday.
Richard Gasquet maintained his unbeaten record to help guide France into the Hopman Cup final on Thursday before vowing to adopt a more attacking approach in a bid to shake up the established order in men's tennis.
David Nalbandian and Eduardo Schwank trounced Spain's Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco 6-4 6-2 6-3 to secure Argentina's first point of the Davis Cup final on Saturday and keep the best-of-five tie alive ahead of Sunday's reverse singles.
The world number one has been struggling with tendinitis in his knees since being knocked out of the French Open last month and was forced to miss Wimbledon.
Indian Aces suffered a 20-27 defeat at the hands of a determined Japan Warriors in the crucial Singapore leg but continue to sit on top of the points table of the IPTL, in Singapore on Wednesday.
Doubles specialists Michael Llodra and Julien Benneteau combined to fire France into the quarter-finals of the Davis Cup Saturday with a battling four-set win over Germany's Philipp Kohlschreiber and Christopher Kas in Toulon. The victory gave the nine-times winners an unbeatable 3-0 lead in the best-of-five tie and set up a last-eight clash against champions Spain or Switzerland in July.
Top seed Rafa Nadal set up an all-Spanish final against David Ferrer at the Barcelona Open after blasting his way past compatriot Fernando Verdasco 6-0, 6-4 on Saturday.
Leander Paes and Radek Stepanek fought their way to the semi-finals of the ATP Miami Masters with a 7-6(6), 6-4 win over Spaniards David Marrero and Fernando Verdasco.
Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal will begin the 2010 season in Abu Dhabi by playing in a six-man, $250,000 winner-takes-all exhibition tournament, local media reported on Tuesday.
Novak Djokovic doused Fernando Verdasco's fire then aimed a dig at French Open organisers for not watering the courts on Sunday as he moved confidently into the French Open quarter-finals.
The last time Argentina met Spain in the Davis Cup, in the 2008 final in Mar del Plata, the South Americans were firm favourites to claim their first title but their challenge was wrecked by infighting within the team.
The Indians had a disappointing outing at the US Open with both Leander Paes and Sania Mirza losing their doubles and mixed doubles matches respectively, in New York, on Friday.
Tomas Berdych and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga were just one win from securing places in the season-ending ATP World Tour finals after they safely moved into the third round of the Paris Masters on Tuesday.
France's Gael Monfils and Gilles Simon suffered early exits from the Cincinnati Masters on Tuesday.
World number two Rafa Nadal scraped into the quarter-finals of the Cincinnati Open after beating fellow Spaniard Fernando Verdasco 7-6, 6-7, 7-6 in a fierce battle on Thursday but his rivals all had comfortable paths into the last eight.
Renowned fitness trainer Gil Reyes, who has worked with top stars like Ana Ivanovic and Fernando Verdasco, on Monday lauded Sania Mirza's 'athleticism' after working for one week with the Indian tennis ace. Sania, who missed India's Fed cup campaign due to an abdominal injury after winning her career's first Grand Slam mixed doubles title at the Australian Open, trained with Reynes at his training centre in Las Vegas.
Defending champion Andy Roddick has become the fifth top-10 player to withdraw from next week's Dubai men's championships. The American, who is playing in the semi-finals of the Memphis championships this weekend, would have to return to the United States after the Dubai tournament for Davis Cup duty against Switzerland.
Favourite Rafael Nadal must negotiate a tricky path in his bid for a fifth French Open title following Friday's draw for the claycourt grand slam starting on Sunday.
World No 8 Robin Soderling, the highest-ranked player left in the Barcelona Open after a slew of withdrawals, sprinted into the quarter-finals with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Spain's Feliciano Lopez on Thursday.
Rafa Nadal will make himself available for Spain's Davis Cup quarter-final against United States or Chile in July, the world number one said after Saturday's victory over Belgium.
Defending champion Roger Federer made heavy work of reaching his 27th consecutive Grand Slam quarter-final with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 win over Tommy Robredo at the Australian Open on Sunday.
Bidding for their second consecutive Masters title, Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles moved to the quarterfinals of the Cincinnati Masters after edging past Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco in a tough three setter.
World number one Rafael Nadal faces a potentially treacherous task in his bid to win a fifth consecutive French Open title following Friday's draw for the tournament starting on Sunday. The top seed, unbeaten at Roland Garros since his debut in 2005, is in the same half of the draw as Briton Andy Murray and Spanish eighth seed Fernando Verdasco, who gave him a rough time in the Australian Open semi-finals.
Spain's hopes of a hat-trick of Davis Cup triumphs ended when they fell 3-0 behind to France in Clermont-Ferrand after losing Saturday's doubles rubber.
Holders Spain were on the brink of elimination in the Davis Cup quarter-finals on Friday after France won both the opening singles in Clermont-Ferrand.
India's Mahesh Bhupathi and partner Mark Knowles of the Bahamas overcame a stiff resistance from the Spanish duo of Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco to advance to the doubles semi-finals at the Australian Open in Melbourne on Tuesday. Meanwhile, top seeds Leander Paes and Cara Black of Zimbabwe were upset in the second round of the mixed doubles.
Rafael Nadal showed his ruthless streak to overcome an early test from Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka in a 6-4, 6-1 win on Friday and helped Spain to secure three of the four semi-final spots at the Rome Masters.
Rafael Nadal left no doubt that he would be the overwhelming favourite at next month's French Open after crushing fellow Spaniard David Ferrer 6-2, 6-3 in the Monte Carlo Masters semi-finals on Saturday.
Czech Tomas Berdych fought back from a set down to beat Spain's Fernando Verdasco 4-6, 7-6, 6-4 on Thursday and set up a Sony Ericsson Open semi-final against Robin Soderling.
In his place, Tommy Robredo has been called up alongside David Ferrer, Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco.
Andy Roddick reversed a run of three successive defeats to fellow American James Blake with a hard fought 6-3, 4-6, 7-6 first round victory at the Memphis Championships on Wednesday.
Spain took a 2-0 lead in their Davis Cup semi-final against the United States on Friday after world number one Rafael Nadal survived a spirited attack from rookie Sam Querrey and David Ferrer beat Andy Roddick. Nadal won 6-7, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4 while world number five Ferrer sealed the match 7-6, 2-6, 1-6, 6-4, 8-6.
US Davis Cup debutant Sam Querrey will face world number one Rafael Nadal in the opening rubber of the semi-final on Friday.
The Spanish world number two pulled out of the opening rubber of his country's Davis Cup World Group first round tie with Switzerland after straining a muscle in training.
Rafael Nadal will lead Spain's challenge in the Davis Cup semi-final against the United States in Madrid next week.
Spain secured their second successive Davis Cup triumph, and their fourth in all, when they extended their lead over Czech Republic to an unassailable 3-0 in Saturday's doubles.
World number one Roger Federer will face his US Open conqueror Juan Martin del Potro in the round-robin stage of the ATP Tour finals after getting the rough end of Wednesday's draw for the season finale. The Swiss, who is not guaranteed to end the year on top of the rankings, will also face Britain's Andy Murray and Spain's Fernando Verdasco in Group A at the eye-catching O2 Centre alongside the River Thames when play starts on Sunday.
Spain's Davis Cup captain Albert Costa has a difficult task ahead of him in whittling down the nation's embarrassment of tennis riches to a team of four for December's final against Czech Republic.
Andy Murray earned a tortured 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 victory over Fernando Verdasco to reach the quarter-finals, while Rafael Nadal coasted to a 6-4, 6-0 win over Russian qualifier Mikhail Ledovskikh at the Dubai Championships.
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