Tennis star Rohan Bopanna, who is set to be crowned world number one in the doubles format, was on Thursday selected for the prestigious Padma Shri honour by the government along with six other athletes including veteran squash player Joshna Chinappa.
Rafael Nadal is seeking 100,000 euros ($118,000) in damages from former French sports minister Roselyne Bachelot after she accused the Spanish tennis legend of a dope test cover-up.
They next face Nikola Mektic and Alexander Peya for a place in the semi-finals.
Earlier, a series of unforced errors and bad line judgements put Srikanth, world ranked 24, on the back foot as world No. 20 Ka Long looked in fine fettle during the 38-minute men's singles match.
The coaching-tuition-profiteering model built on the back of a broken education system is a scandal and an abomination, and must go, asserts Shekhar Gupta.
Two-time Grand Slam winner Victoria Azarenka crashed out of the French Open in the first round losing 5-7, 5-7 to Katerina Siniakova on Monday, playing only her fifth tournament of the year after a legal battle over the custody of her son.
A German court has ordered Google to block search results in Germany linking to photos of a sex party involving former Formula One boss Max Mosley. The court said on Friday that although Google had not taken the pictures it was responsible as a distributor of the images.
French favourite Kristina Mladenovic skidded out of a storm-struck French Open on Tuesday, losing 6-4, 6-4 to Timea Bacsinszky in a rain-interrupted quarter-final in Paris.
Leander Paes and Lucas Dlouhy staged a magnificent recovery to beat South Africa's Wesley Moodie and Belgium's Dick Norman and win the men's doubles title at the French Open in Paris on Saturday. The third seeded Indo-Czech pair turned in a solid display after losing the first set to emerge 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 winners over their unseeded opponents in the final that lasted a hundred minutes.
Djokovic did not play badly in the final but it took him 55 minutes before he registered his first game in what turned out to be a mauling.
A summary of Thursday's play at the French Open.
By losing, Ostapenko joins a ignominious group including, as well as Myskina, Steffi Graf, Jennifer Capriati, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Angelique Kerber who all lost as Grand Slam champions on the first run of their defences.
French federation president Bernard Giudicelli has hit out at the country's male players after their disappointing run at Roland Garros, saying they lacked physical strength and grit.
The left-handed Prajnesh, ranked 183, lost 3-6, 4-6 in the third and final round against the Swede, ranked 122 in the world.
Bopanna and Ebden won 7-6(0), 7-5 in the final that lasted one hour and 39 minutes.
Carrying her hardcourt success to the French Open and the Wimbledon was the 'biggest goal' going forward for Osaka.
Sharapova's quarter-final defeat by Williams at the 2016 Australian Open was the last competitive match the Russian played for 15 months after she received a doping ban while American Williams was on a maternity break for most of 2017.
Penpix of the top men's contenders at the 2017 French Open:
Tactical change helps Halep to French Open semis
Scattered fans in the open-air stadium, at best a quarter full, wore puffer jackets and blankets, clearly backing the home favourite with occasional cheers and fist bumps.
Rafael Nadal continued his impressive return from a long injury layoff with a 6-1 6-2 demolition of wildcard Jason Kubler to reach the quarter-finals at the Brisbane International on Thursday ahead of this month's Australian Open.
Bopana matched his best performance at the clay court major by reaching the quarterfinals
Russia's Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova stands on the threshold of finally delivering the title long predicted
Garbine Muguruza roared into the French Open semi-finals with a 6-2, 6-1 demolition job of Maria Sharapova on Wednesday.
Factbox on Rafael Nadal's French Open final wins
Security worries could create a tense atmosphere at the French Open this year after a bomb attack on a British concert hall killed 22 people, French tennis player Lucas Pouille said.
Rahul targets the Modi government on Twitter, using the hashtag "BikGayaChowkidar".
Interestingly, it was also in the US Open where Rohan Bopanna competed in his maiden Major final way back in 2010 along with Pakistani partner Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi.
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."
Images from Day 9 at the French Open.
Facts and figures from the women's competition at the French Open, which begins from May 25.
Two days of rain delays at Roland Garros have had tennis fans huddled under umbrellas musing about when the French Open, like the other three grand slams, will have a roof.
Images from Day 3 of the French Open matches played at Roland Garros in Paris on Tuesday
The signs that things were going horribly wrong for Roger Federer were laid bare at Roland Garros.
"Think of it from a players' perspective. Some are hoping to reach the second week of a major but some don't even make it to the first week of the event. That's tough to take.
Australian umpire John Blom had a funny warning to give the crowd during the match between Mirra Andreeva and Anastasia Potapova.
Novak Djokovic huffed and puffed but forced his way into the fourth round of the French Open.
Also in action on the first day at Roland Garros is men's second seed Alexander Zverev who meets Ricardas Berankis of Lithuania on Court Suzanne-Lenglen.
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.
Therapy and motherhood have, she has said, helped her on her mental health journey and she appeared to be having a lot more fun on court in Brisbane.
