Brazil failed to win for the first time in 11 games with their own lacklustre midfield as much to blame for the 0-0 draw with Mexico as the inspired goalkeeping performance of Guillermo Ochoa.
A marauding Ramkumar Ramanathan dished out yet another commendable performance, albeit in a losing cause as he exited from Chennai Open after an intensly-fought singles quarterfinal against world number 45 Aljaz Bedene on Friday. The gritty Indian youngster gave a terrific fight to a top-50 player and saved four match points before losing 7-6(5), 4-6, 3-6, battling hard for two hours and 13 minutes against Britain's number two player. "Ramkumar has made good progress. It was not easy. He was playing well and I was fighting. I was focusing on my game. It could have gone either way," Bedene said after the match. "I was practising with him here last year and he has made progress, specially his forehand. His serve has been superb. I was surprised," he added.
India's Rohan Bopanna and his Polish partner Marcin Matkowski reached the men's doubles final of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships after beating Leander Paes and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in three sets on Friday.
World number three Stanislas Wawrinka fell at the first hurdle in the Dubai Open on Tuesday, beaten 7-6(4), 6-3 by 77th-ranked Bosnian Damir Dzumhur.
Here are some of those players who have seized the opportunity in Brazil to put themselves firmly on the radar as transfer targets in the weeks and months ahead.
Mexico goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa produced a heroic performance in a 0-0 draw with Brazil and his Russian counterpart Igor Akinfeev was the villain in a 1-1 draw with South Korea as the World Cup produced more drama on Tuesday.
Photos of the World Cup match between Brazil and Mexico
Sally Hawkins, we think, will pip Frances McDormand.
World number one Rafael Nadal begins his French Open title defence, on Monday, with a clash against Italy's Simone Bolelli on Court Philippe-Chatrier.
A coconut octopus, a burning forest, a rare rhino's last moments and a pair of sleeping squirrels all feature in the shortlist for the Natural History Museum's Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2020 People's Choice Award. This year's competition attracted more than 50,000 entries from professionals and amateurs across the world. Voting for the The People's Choice Award is open until 2 pm February 2.
Photos from Day 2 of the French Open played at Roland Garros on Monday.
India's Rohan Bopanna joined forces with Marcin Matkowski to reach the doubles semi-finals of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.
Portugal had an early effort controversially disallowed by the video referees but they eventually took the lead after 34 minutes through Ricardo Quaresma after a mistake by Carlos Salcedo let Cristiano Ronaldo through on goal.
The 91st Annual Academy Awards was anything but boring, feels Aseem Chhabra.
Uruguay striker Luis Suarez is set to play his first competitive international later this month since being banned for biting an opponent at the 2014 World Cup after he was called up on Friday for qualifiers against Brazil and Peru.
Facts and figures on Sunday's all-Spanish men's French Open final between Rafa Nadal and David Ferrer.
Earlier in the night, Bolivia were denied their first win when Kaku scored with 18 minutes remaining to rescue a 2-2 draw for home side Paraguay in Asuncion.
Rohan Bopanna and Mahesh Bhuapthi advanced to the second round of the men's doubles at the Australian Open with their respective partners, in Melbourne, on Wednesday, even as Somdev Devvarman and Sania Mirza bowed out of the men's singles and women's doubles respectively.
Top seeds Spain crashed out of the first round of the Davis Cup for the first time since 2006 when Milos Raonic beat Guillermo Garcia-Lopez to give Canada an unassailable 3-1 lead in their world group tie on Sunday.
Looking at the most anticipated films of the year.
India's Rohan Bopanna and Florin Mergea battled past Thomas Bellucci and Guillermo Duran in straight sets to progress to the pre-quarterfinals of the Wimbledon men's doubles event, in London on Friday.
Champions Liverpool suffered a shock 1-0 defeat to lowly Burnley on Thursday, ending their 68 match unbeaten home record in the Premier League as their title defence continued to fade.
44 per cent Indian respondents say that bundling media services with their telecom plan was the main reason they were willing to spend more on their mobile and fixed broadband bills.
Goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa made two outstanding saves to deny Neymar as battling Mexico held Brazil to a 0-0 draw in their World Cup Group A match on Tuesday, ending the hosts' 10-game winning streak in the process.
Quaison fires Sweden to extra-time World Cup playoff win over Czechs
Defending champion Stanislas Wawrinka survived some anxious against Gilles Muller before proceeding into the men's singles semi-finals at the ATP Chennai Open tennis tournament.
The 2020 international calendar concluded with the three tournaments in the Asia leg which was conducted in Bangkok in successive weeks.
The seventh-seeded Indian combination got the better of Marcel Felder of Uruguay and Tunisia's Malek Jaziri 6-0, 7-6 (1), 6-2 in their first round match.
The 2nd major of the year, the French Open will start on the weekend. With the clay-court grand slam starting on Sunday, here is the list of French Open champions over the years
Real Madrid equalled a Spanish record of 39 games unbeaten in all competitions by crushing struggling Granada 5-0 on Saturday to go six points clear at the top of La Liga.
World No 2 Rafael Nadal swept into the third round of the Barcelona Open when he thrashed Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-1, 6-2 as he began his quest for a seventh Conde de Godo trophy in eight years on Wednesday.
Five players in Mexico's squad at the Concacaf Gold Cup in the United States have tested positive for the banned substance clenbuterol, the general secretary of the Mexican Football Federation (Femexfut) Decio de Maria said on Thursday.
A look at the top tweets from your favourite Bollywood celebrities.
Kevin-Prince Boateng scored a hat-trick within 18 minutes of coming on as a half time substitute as AC Milan bounced back from being 3-0 behind to win 4-3 at Lecce in an astonishing Serie A match on Sunday.
Fourth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga suffered an unexpected defeat in his opening match at the Shanghai Masters on Wednesday when he was beaten 6-7, 6-4, 6-4 by Japanese Kei Nishikori.
The Indo-Czech pair of Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy advanced to the pre-quarterfinals of the ATP Madrid Masters after getting a first-round bye.
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.
A Citi strategist, Guillermo Felices, in a study has enumerated eight shocks that are hitting, or are soon going to hit, the global economy.
Somdev Devvarman's lean patch continued as he made another first round exit from the ATP Shanghai Masters after losing in straight sets to Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, in Shanghai on Monday.
Portugal, who missed a spot kick given thanks to the video assistant referees 16 minutes into the match, were awarded a second penalty after 104 minutes when Miguel Layun handled the ball.
