Wily Czech Radek Stepanek, the oldest player in the men's singles, will take his bag of tricks out on Philippe Chatrier Court against World No 2 Andy Murray as the French Open plays catch-up on Monday.
The 29-year-old Spaniard, who needed a final-set tiebreak to fight past Lukas Rosol in the first round, produced a performance of defiant persistence to fend off the challenge of the 24-year-old Dimitrov.
Serena Williams will try to take a step closer to history on Saturday when she plays her third-round match at the US Open.
Jack Sock started a new tradition on Thursday, one that the 23-year-old hopes will become a regular occurrence as he carves out a successful tennis career.
Leonardo Mayer beat Joao Souza in a Davis Cup singles match that lasted a record six hours and 42 minutes.
Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi progressed to the semi-finals of the Sydney International, but Leander Paes failed to rescue his 2014 season from a poor start as he and Czech partner Radek Stepanek crashed out in the first round.
A round-up of results from Davis Cup matches played on and Sunday
For all his renowned mental strength it was psychological exhaustion that made Rafael Nadal consider skipping the season-ending ATP World Tour finals this year, the 14-times grand slam champion said on Tuesday.
Roger Federer kept up his sprint through the early rounds of the US Open on Thursday, steamrolling Steve Darcis of Belgium 6-1, 6-2, 6-1 to reach the third round of the year's final Grand Slam.
Defending champion Novak Djokovic defeated Belgium's Steve Darcis 6-0, 7-5 on Monday to power into the last 16 of the Miami Open.
A 30-year-old German journeyman who once travelled around Europe's Challenger Circuit in a camper van joined a list of Wimbledon luminaries who go by the names of Lukas Rosol, Steve Darcis and Nick Kyrgios.
Leander Paes, partnering Rohan Bopanna, suffered a rare doubles defeat in the Davis Cup as Radek Stepanek and Adam Pavlasek gave Czech Republic a 2-1 lead over India in the World Group play-off tie, in New Delhi, on Saturday.
India were handed a tough Davis Cup draw, being pitted against top seeds Czech Republic in the World Group Play-offs, to be held from September 18-20 either in New Delhi or Pune.
World number one Serena Williams opened her US Open account with a tidy 6-3, 6-3 win over Ekaterina Makarova on Tuesday, to join her sister Venus in the second round of the year's final Grand Slam.
India's non-playing captain Anand Amritraj said that the doubles team's "shock" defeat on day two resulted in the hosts ultimately losing the Davis Cup World Group Play-off tie against Czech Republic.
Rewarding as it was for Rafael Nadal to become the only player to win the same Grand Slam 12 times by chalking up his dozen at last month's French Open, the Spaniard arrived at Wimbledon this year like a man on a mission. In the end, however, it became mission impossible as he lost to inspired Roger Federer in Friday's blockbuster semi-final.
Rafael Nadal is adamant that he will not be discouraged by the memory of recent Wimbledon woes as he prepares to follow up his landmark 10th French Open triumph with a third success on the sport's most storied lawns.
Wimbledon's seeding committee should use its power to promote 11-times Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal into the top four, according to three-times former champion John McEnroe.
Sixth seed Andy Murray may feel the most aggrieved of the top contenders in the men's draw.
A gutsy Ramkumar Ramanathan buried a sluggish start to eke out an inspiring win over Alexander Kudryavtsev and enter the men's singles quarterfinals of the Chennai Open on Thursday. Wild-card Ramkumar worked his way to a 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 win over higher-ranked Russian, who had entered the event as a Lucky Loser. He next plays world no.45 Aljaz Bedene, who defeated Luca Vanni 5-7, 6-3, 6-4.
IMAGES from Day 6 of the Australian Open in Melbourne, on Saturday.
World No 1 Novak Djokovic kicked off his bid for a fourth Canadian crown with a 6-3, 7-6(4) second round win over a stubborn Thomaz Bellucci at the Rogers Cup on Tuesday.
Nadal, is known to have a superior win-loss record over most top players (including Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic), but believe it or not, there are players on the circuit who have an edge over Nadal.
It was a clearly deflated Rafa Nadal who admitted he has no idea whether he can ever reproduce the form that helped him win two Wimbledon titles after maverick Dustin Brown inflicted a fourth successive embarrassment.
Playing alongside Australian partner Matthew Ebden, the eight-time doubles Grand Slam champion Leander Paes showed his class during a clinical victory over defending champion and second seed Sharan, who was playing alongside New Zealand's Artem Sitak.
Rafael Nadal's conqueror Steve Darcis withdrew from Wimbledon on Wednesday with a shoulder injury, organisers said.
A year after losing to Czech Lukas Rosol in the second round, French Open champion Rafael Nadal was outplayed by the 135th-ranked Steve Darcis on Court One, losing 7-6(4), 7-6(8), 6-4 in front of a disbelieving crowd at Wimbledon.
Rafael Nadal says winning a French Open-Wimbledon double for the third time in his career will be "complicated" but is highly motivated to have a go as he prepares for the grasscourt season.
Friday's showdown will be the 40th meeting between the duo with Rafael Nadal leading 24-15 and 10-3 in Grand Slams.
'I'm feeling good...Expectations are always high. I am not here to play the tournament; I am here to try to have a good result'
Top seeds Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams face challenging early tests at the US Open following Friday's draws for the year's last Grand Slam starting on Monday.
'The boys have hit a lot of balls and are feeling good, so we are looking forward to the weekend' The Indian team, which had a week-long training camp in New York before reaching Edmonton, is set to make a fourth consecutive attempt to qualify for the elite World Group.
Serbia carved out a 2-0 lead over rivals Croatia while Britain led the US by the same score and holders Switzerland were tied with Belgium in the Davis Cup.
The Czech Republic retained their Davis Cup title after Radek Stepanek ruthlessly exploited the inexperience of Dusan Lajovic in the decisive rubber to seal a 3-2 final victory over Novak Djokovic's Serbia on Sunday.
Dustin Brown's audacious attempt to unseat defending Wimbledon champion Andy Murray with a show-boating brand of serve and volley tennis was always likely to end in failure.
It's an acid test against the Czech Republic in the World Group Play-off tie, but Rohan Bopanna is confident India's Davis Cup team can tame the world number one three-time champions.
Roared on by 17,000 partisan fans Novak Djokovic fired Serbia ahead in the Davis Cup final on Friday but Tomas Berdych hit back for the Czech Republic to leave the tie delicately poised going into the weekend.
A profligate Yuki Bhambri missed chances galore in a tame defeat against world number 40 Jiri Vesley as India lost the Davis Cup World Group Play-off tie against top seeds Czech Republic 1-3.
Third seed Rafael Nadal battled through mid-match cramps for more than an hour before he lurched into the third round of the Australian Open with a 6-2, 3-6, 6-7(2), 6-3, 7-5 victory over American qualifier Tim Smyzcek.
Having fired 20 aces in his straight-set victory over the Czech Republic's number one, Jiri Vesley, in the Davis Cup World Group play-off tie in Delhi on Friday, Somdev Devvarman declared it was one of the best serving days of his career.
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