Fans literally broke Twitter, going gaga over Rafa's muscle-exposing sexy style.
Top seeds Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy began their campaign for back-to-back titles with a straight-set win against Spanish pair of Guillermo Garcia-Lopez and Ivan Navarro in the first round of the US $ 869,000 Japan Open in Tokyo on Thursday. The Indo-Czech pair, who won the Thailand Open last week, beat the unseeded Spanish duo 6-4, 7-5 in one hour and 13 minutes to advance to the quarter-finals of the hard court event.
Russia stayed alive in their Davis Cup semi-final against Argentina on Saturday when Igor Kunitsyn and Dmitry Tursunov won the doubles despite a brave fightback by David Nalbandian and Guillermo Canas. Kunitsyn and Tursunov won 6-2, 6-1, 6-7, 3-6, 8-6 after their opponents had saved three successive match points in the third set and gone one break ahead in the fifth.
Teenager Juan Martin del Potro, making his Davis Cup home debut, demolished a listless Nikolay Davydenko 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 to put Argentina 2-0 ahead in their semi-final against Russia on Friday. David Nalbandian drew first blood for Argentina with a 7-6, 6-2, 6-4 win over Igor Andreev.
Top seed Rafa Nadal, who has won the tournament 10 times, also reached the last eight after dispatching compatriot Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-1, 6-3 and claiming a record-extending 40th consecutive set on clay.
Leander Paes and his Australian partner Paul Hanley warded off the challenge of Argentina's David Nalbandian and Guillermo Canas to enter the doubles quarter-finals at the Pacific Life Open tennis tournament in Indian Wells. The eighth seed Indo-Australian pair beat the Argentine duo 7-5, 2-6, 10-5 in the second round.
Rohan Gajjar kept the Indian challenge alive at $ 15, 000 ITF Futures tournament after knocking his third seed Spaniard opponent out to book a semifinal berth in the men's singles event in New Delhi on Thursday.
The second seeds Indian pair beat the Argentine combine of Juan Martin Del Potro and Guillermo Canas 6-7, 6-3, 10-7 in an hour and 44 minutes in the semi-finals at 's-Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands.
The Indian challenge in singles at the US $175,000 Ordina Open ended on Wednesday with the disappointing twin loss of Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna in the second round of the women's and men's category respectively. While Sania lost 2-6, 2-6 loss to Dutchwoman Michaella Krajicek, Bopanna was beaten 2-6, 4-6 by Argentine Guillermo Canas.
As Chennai Open got down to the business end on Friday, intermittent showers played havoc with the schedule.
Terms of the settlement were not disclosed.
The Argentine sued a multivitamin manufacturer for a contaminated product that he said led him to fail a steroid test.
Roger Federer will face his bogeyman Guillermo Canas in the second round of the Rome Masters after the Argentine beat Italian wildcard Gianluca Naso 6-7, 6-3, 6-2 on Monday.
The Swiss, dreaming of capturing the only Grand Slam title to have eluded him, was drawn on Friday in the same half as several dangerous opponents, including former champion Juan Carlos Ferrero.
Marcos beat holder Nikolay Davydenko 6-2, 6-2 in the third round of the Paris Masters Series.
The top seed crushed Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-3, 6-2 in a second-round encounter at the Pacific Life Open.
Mexico will look to add gloss to their World Cup campaign when they face Sweden in their final Group F match on Wednesday, with a win likely to boost the image of their embattled coach Juan Carlos Osorio back home.
Former French Open finalist Guillermo Coria lost in the first round of the Vina del Mar International.
Aamir Khan attends the function with Ashutosh Gowarikar and Ronnie Screwvala.
Top seed Nadal beat Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-3, 6-2 while Moya overcame Frenchman Florent Serra 6-3, 6-4.
List of seeded players for the 2006 Australian Open.
Meanwhile, Mahesh Bhupathi and Radek Stepanek from the Czech Republic advanced to the third round, beating Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez and Filippo Volandri of Italy.
Roger Federer beat Argentine Guillermo Canas 6-0, 6-3 to book his place in the quarter-finals.
Serbian teenager Novak Djokovic beat Spanish qualifier Santiago Ventura 6-2, 6-2 to enter the quarterfinals.
Andy Murray overcame second seed Guillermo Canas of Argentina 7-6, 6-4 to reach the Metz Open final.
Wearing diamonds, jetting off to lunch and mingling with Hollywood royalty are all in a day's work for Mallika!
Venus Williams recovered from a slow start to beat Ukraine's Yuliana Fedak 7-5, 6-2 in the first round in Miami.
Lleyton Hewitt ended Guillermo Canas's Wimbledon comeback with a 6-4 3-6 6-3 6-4 defeat in the third round on Tuesday.
Roger Federer settled a score with his bogey player Guillermo Canas on Tuesday, easing his way into the third round of the Rome Masters with a 6-3, 6-3 victory.
The American has been out of action since March with a shoulder problem.\n
World No 1 Federer's 36-set record winning streak in Grand Slam tournaments was however snapped by Tommy Robredo in the French Open quarter-finals.
The unseeded Russian beat Marcos Baghdatis to reach the quarter-finals of a Grand Slam for the first time at the French Open.
David Ferrer knocked out sixth seeded Serb Novak Djokovic 7-5, 6-4 in the third round.
Germany were the fastest team into September's semi-finals, continuing a long tradition of thrashing Belgium.
Top seed Andy Roddick beat Mardy in the quarter-finals of the San Jose Open but James Blake lost to Robby Ginepri.
The Serb beat Guiilermo Canas 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 in the final of the Miami Masters on Sunday.
Argentine Guillermo Canas tamed big-hitting Croat Ivan Ljubicic 7-5 6-2 to reach the final of the Sony Ericsson Open on Friday, underlining his return to top form following a 15-months doping ban.
Rafael Nadal and Andy Roddick advanced into the last eight of the Miami Masters.
World number one Roger Federer suffered a stunning 7-5, 6-2 upset defeat by Argentine Guillermo Canas in the Pacific Life Open second round on Sunday.
