Third seeds Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles entered the semi-finals of the men's doubles at the US Open after beating Ivan Ljubicic from Croatia and Michael Llodra from France in the quarter-finals of the tournament.Earlier, Fourth seeds Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy entered the semi-finals, beating seventh seeds Wesley Moodie of South Africa and Dick Norman of Belgium 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 on Tuesday.
Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza and her Swiss partner Martina Hingis continued to display their rampaging form as they extended their winning streak to 32 after progressing through to the third round of the Australian Open in the women's doubles event on Saturday.
A round-up Wednesday's football news on and off the field.
Images from the 2020 Euro Championships qualifiers played on Saturday
Prakash Amritraj advanced to the second round of the US $100,000 Vancouver Open ATP event after a straight set win against Croat Ivan Dodig but his doubles journey ended in the opener itself. The unseeded Indian won 7-5, 6-3 to set up a meeting with Cyprus star and third seed Marcos Baghdatis.
The Argentina captain turns 31 in a few days and may be playing his last World Cup. He would need to win it to rival fellow great Diego Maradona for the eternal love of his compatriots.
The delegations is expected to discuss the progress of two VVER-1000 (1000 MW each) plants, which will be commissioned soon, with Indian officials led by NPCIL Chairman and Managing Director S K Jain. They will also discuss the progress made on eight more proposed Russian reactors for India, Nuclear Power Corporation of India Limited sources said.
Virginie Razzano astonished the French Open crowd on Monday when she served underarm on match point, and missed.
Rediff.com gives you a quick flashback, in pictures of the month gone by...
Real Madrid defender Raphael Varane made up for the absence of Sergio Ramos by scoring one goal and making another to help his side to a hard-fought 3-0 win at Getafe. La Liga leaders Barcelona were held to a 2-2 draw at struggling Espanyol on Saturday as China striker Wu Lei came off the bench to grab a late equaliser in a pulsating city derby.
Dark horse Croatia take on spirited Nigeria in a World Cup opener on Saturday that could leave one side fighting for their tournament lives in the Group of Death.
The red clay at Roland Garros might have witnessed the triumph of some of the greatest names in the game but it also had to endure the agony of others being the bridesmaid year after year.
Leander Paes and his Czech partner Lukas Dlouhy sailed into the second round of the French Open men's doubles with a straight-sets win over locals Sebastien de Chaunac and Benoit Paire in Paris on Wednesday night. The third seeds won 6-1, 6-3 and set up a clash with another unseeded duo, James Cerretani and Sergiy Stakhovsky. The Ukrainian-American pair defeated Spaniards Nicolas Almagro and Ivan Navarro 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 in another first round match.
World number one Rafael Nadal survived a second-set scare to beat Spanish compatriot Fernando Verdasco 6-4 7-5 and seal his place in the semi-finals of the Madrid Open Friday.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Saturday
Barcelona equalled a club record of 12 consecutive league wins as Neymar and Lionel Messi were among the scorers in a 6-0 thrashing of struggling Getafe 6-0 at the Nou Camp on Saturday.
Already without the likes of Richard Gasquet and Gael Monfils for the final against Croatia, Noah decided to leave out Lucas Pouille, the top-ranked player in his squad.
'Can Tendulkar recreate the magic of his youth?', asks advertising guru Sandeep Goyal.
World number one Rafael Nadal and fourth seed Andy Murray bagged two wins apiece on Friday to set up a mouth-watering Monte Carlo Masters semi-final. Nadal, gunning for his fifth consecutive title in the principality, swept past Croatian Ivan Ljubicic 6-3 6-3 in his quarter-final while Murray battled past Russian eighth seed Nikolay Davydenko 7-6 6-4.
World number one Rafael Nadal charged into the quarter-finals of the rain-hit Monte Carlo Masters with a 6-3, 6-0 demolition of Ecuador's Nicolas Lapentti on Friday. The four-times champion won his match held over from Thursday in 93 minutes and will next face Ivan Ljubicic, who dismissed Italian Simone Bolelli 7-5, 7-6.
FC Seoul and Al Nasr inched closer to a place in the semi-finals of the AFC Champions League following comprehensive victories in their respective quarter-final first leg matches on Wednesday.
Russia's Nobel-wining writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn has died of cardiac arrest at his home in Moscow, state-run Vesti TV channel reported. He was 89.
Images from the football matches played across Europe on Sunday.
Novak Djokovic is only the 12th - third among active - player in the Open Era (since 1968) to win the 700 career singles matches.
Barcelona snatched a late 2-1 win at Getafe with Paulinho's strike sending them seven points clear of arch-rivals Real Madrid at the top of La Liga.
World number two Roger Federer beat Fernando Verdasco 6-3, 7-6 (7/5) to book a semi-final meeting with Andy Murray at the Indian Wells hardcourt tennis tournament. Murray spoiled Ivan Ljubicic's birthday celebrations, with a 7-5, 7-6 (8/6) victory over the Croatian.
Ivan Ljubicic had a double birthday letdown on Thursday when he lost to Andy Murray in the quarter-finals of the ATP event at Indian Wells and was wrongly denied a point by the Hawk-Eye system. The big-serving Croat was beaten 7-5, 7-6 on his 30th birthday after being frustrated by a successful Murray challenge at 4-4 in the ninth game of the second set.
'But that in no way diminishes France's win. Maybe we were a bit unlucky, in the first six games we were favoured by luck'
LA Galaxy said David Beckham's move to AC Milan would only be temporary and that the player would have to return for the 2009 MLS season.
Briton Andy Murray regained his winning form as he eased past Croatia's Ivan Ljubicic 6-3 6-2 in the first round of the World Indoor Tournament on Tuesday.
Arsenal trio Alexis Sanchez, Danny Welbeck and Tomas Rosicky will miss next week's Premier League Asia Trophy.
Jezreel Pannikot reveals life lessons the stars of the 2018 World Cup taught us.
Aseem Chhabra lists the best non-Hindi language films he watched in 2020, with the hope that they will have a wider reach in the new year.
Here is a look at some of the key head-to-head duels which could prove decisive.
Leander Paes and his Czech partner Lukas Dlouhy had little trouble in making the third round of the men's doubles at the Australian Open in Melbourne on Friday. The fourth seeds beat the unseeded Italian-Croat pairing of Fabio Fognini and Ivan Ljubcic 6-3, 6-4 in a second round match.
Klopp has led Liverpool to back-to-back Champions League finals but is adamant that their impressive recent track record does not make them the title favourites.
American fourth seed Andy Roddick and fifth seeded Gael Monfils of France reached the second round of the Qatar Open with easy wins in Doha on Monday. Roddick beat Spaniard Ivan Navarro 6-1, 6-3 in a little over an hour while Monfils outplayed Czech Republic's Jan Hernych in a 6-2, 6-2 victory.
Indian tennis stars Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna advanced to the quarter-finals of the women's and mixed doubles events respectively after notching up contrasting victories with their partners at the Australian Open.
Hosts Russia have exceeded expectations after advancing to the World Cup quarter-finals with a win on penalties over Spain but they will need more firepower if they are to give Croatia a run for their money on Saturday.
The 29-year-old's composure on the ball, ability to pick a pass and tough tackling paid dividends at both ends of the pitch in the must-win game against Nigeria.
