Roger Federer faces a tough road to another Wimbledon final after Friday's draw threw Rafa Nadal and home favourite Andy Murray into the champion's path and cleared the way for world No 1 Novak Djokovic.
Rafa Nadal overpowered qualifier Go Soeda 6-3, 6-2 as he began the defence of his Japan Open title in a blur of swashbuckling winners on Tuesday.
Rafa Nadal made a dazzling start to his Wimbledon title defence with an easy win over American Michael Russell on Monday before home favourite Andy Murray produced some indoor fireworks to join the Spaniard in the second round.
Facts and figures on Sunday's all-Spanish men's French Open final between Rafa Nadal and David Ferrer.
Spaniard Rafa Nadal won his 67th career title with a 7-5, 7-5 victory against dangerous Italian Fabio Fognini in the final of the Hamburg Open on Sunday.
Roger Federer shrugged off his Madrid Open final defeat by Rafa Nadal as irrelevant, saying his claycourt season would be defined by his run at the French Open. Unsurprisingly, his victorious rival begged to differ.
World number one Rafa Nadal advanced to the semi-finals of the Thailand Open with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Kazakhstan's Mikhail Kukushkin on Friday.
Carlos Alcaraz beat Novak Djokovic in the Wimbledon final to win his fourth Grand Slam title.
Twice champion Rafa Nadal and triple winner Roger Federer barely raised a sweat as they each cruised into the third round of the Indian Wells ATP tournament with imperious victories on Sunday.
IMAGES from the French Open matches played at Roland Garros on Wednesday.
Factbox on Carlos Alcaraz, who beat seven-time champion Novak Djokovic
Factbox on Rafa Nadal, who won his eighth French Open tennis title on Sunday.
Spain's Rafa Nadal will face American Andy Roddick in the semi-finals of the Sony Ericsson Open after the pair enjoyed convincing victories on Wednesday.
Rafa Nadal kept alive his chances of ending his 11 month title drought by taming tenacious Argentine David Nalbandian 6-7, 6-2, 6-2 in the third round of the Sony Ericsson Open on Sunday.
Factbox on Carlos Alcaraz, who beat Alexander Zverev
Rafa Nadal became the first player in the open era to win two tournaments seven times when he fought off tenacious Spanish compatriot David Ferrer 7-6, 7-5 to win a thrilling Barcelona Open final on Sunday.
All the top three's charitable talk of new challengers ready to end their Grand Slam hegemony at the Australian Open has come to nothing and the top two seeds Novak Djokovic and Rafa Nadal will contest their third consecutive major final on Sunday.
Britain's Andy Murray became overwhelming favourite for an Asian hat-trick as main rival Rafa Nadal was beaten in the third round of the Shanghai Masters on Thursday.
Andy Murray reduced Rafa Nadal's granite-like resistance to rubble as he stunned the Spaniard 3-6, 6-2, 6-0 to capture the Japan Open on Sunday.
Novak Djokovic proved he is the dominant force in men's tennis by outplaying defending champion Rafa Nadal to win Wimbledon for the first time with an emphatic 6-4, 6-1, 1-6, 6-3 victory in the final on Sunday.
Djokovic is the last member of the "Big Four" still standing and the Serb said he wanted to continue giving to the sport.
If there was any doubt before, there is now no question that Rafa Nadal can and most probably will better Roger Federer's record of 16 Grand Slam titles following the Spaniard's French Open success over the Swiss.
World number one Rafael Nadal continued his smooth progress at the ATP event in Indian Wells on Tuesday, easing past Russian Dmitry Tursunov 6-3, 6-3 to reach the fourth round. Champion Novak Djokovic though survived a testing second set to beat German Tommy Haas 6-2, 7-6.
World number one Rafael Nadal survived the longest match in Australian Open history to reach his first Melbourne Park final and earn a chance to deny rival Roger Federer a record-equalling 14th grand slam singles crown.
A battle-scarred Rafa Nadal admitted he got lucky as he moved into the semi-finals of the Australian Open on Wednesday with a 3-6, 7-6 (3), 7-6 (7), 6-2 win over Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov.
Rafa Nadal fluffed his lines on the return from five-week break when the Spanish world number two was stunned 1-6, 7-6, 7-6 by unheralded Croatian Ivan Dodig in his opening match of the Montreal Masters on Wednesday.
Sinner remains the man to beat at Melbourne Park even as doping officials seek a two-year ban for the world number one for failing two drugs tests last March.
Rafa Nadal avoided a similar fate to beaten World No 1 Novak Djokovic when he dismissed French young gun Benoit Paire 6-3, 6-4 to claim a place in the third round of the Madrid Open on Wednesday.
Andy Murray felt 'gutted' for Rafa Nadal when the Spaniard limped out of the Australian Open with a knee injury but said he deserved his place in the semi-finals after putting on a dazzling display.
Rafa Nadal lost the Wimbledon final on Sunday and will concede the number one ranking to his conqueror Novak Djokovic but the gritty Spaniard has known worse times.
The mercury was rising at Wimbledon on Saturday as the serial trophy hunters gathered in the last 16 with defending champions Rafa Nadal, Serena Williams and Roger Federer leading the charge.
Rafa Nadal and Roger Federer set the stage for a grand finale to the men's season on Saturday when they demonstrated just what seperates them from the bunch to seal a dream final at the ATP World Tour Finals.
Rafa Nadal and Roger Federer remained on course for their first head-to-head clash this year after easily winning their third round matches at the Sony Ericsson Open on Monday.
Spain's Rafa Nadal charged into his first US Open final after beating Mikhail Youzhny of Russia 6-2, 6-3, 6-4 in Saturday's first semi-final at Flushing Meadows.
Spaniard Rafa Nadal confirmed on Monday he was fit to pursue an eighth consecutive victory at the season's opening clay court tournament in Monte Carlo after recovering from a recurrent knee injury.
Novak Djokovic believes Rafa Nadal may soon displace him as world number one and has plenty of time to break Roger Federer's benchmark 17 major titles after the Spaniard roared to the US Open title at Flushing Meadows on Monday.
Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer each needed three sets to reach the quarter-finals of the Indian Wells ATP tournament on Wednesday while Rafa Nadal advanced with a comfortable victory over Alexandr Dolgopolov.
Fifth-seeded Spaniard David Ferrer was ousted from the Indian Wells ATP tournament on Tuesday as Rafa Nadal and Roger Federer both moved into the fourth round.
Rafa Nadal was forced to pull out of his semi-final against Andy Murray at the Sony Ericsson Open because of a recurrence of a knee injury.
Factbox on Italy's Jannik Sinner, who beat Germany's Alexander Zverev 6-3, 7-6(4), 6-3 in the Australian Open final
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