List of Australian Open women's singles champions since the event began in 1922 (Australian unless stated):
Hajime Moriyasu's side, one of the favourites for the title, laboured throughout the opening 45 minutes and fell behind to a vicious long-range strike from Arslanmyrat Amanov that flew past goalkeeper Shuichi Gonda.
Sevilla's failure to qualify for the Champions League group stages has put coach Antonio Alvarez's future in doubt before La Liga has even started.
Barcelona's advantage over Real Madrid at the top of La Liga was cut to five points when they surrendered the lead and were held to a 1-1 draw in a thrilling clash at battling Sevilla on Sunday.
Real Madrid have won a small victory in their dispute with FIFA over the illegal signing of under-age foreigners after the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) temporarily lifted its ban on appeal.
Manchester United tightened their grip on second place in the Premier League
Third-placed Inter Milan scored twice in the last six minutes through Stefan De Vrij and Alessandro Bastoni to snatch a 2-1 win at Parma in Serie A on Sunday despite a subdued display. The scarcely-deserved victory left Inter eight points behind leaders Juventus and four adrift of second-placed Lazio with 10 games each to play.
West Ham United's hopes of avoiding relegation suffered a cruel blow as an own goal by midfielder Tomas Soucek and Harry Kane's first goal since December condemned them to a 2-0 defeat at Tottenham Hotspur on Tuesday.
Holders Sevilla led the charge into the last four of the King's Cup when Renato's early strike set them on their way to a 3-0 home win over Villarreal on Tuesday.
Uruguay made light of the absence of striker Luis Suarez to recover from a goal down and beat 2015 Copa America hosts Chile 2-1 in a friendly in Santiago.
Summary of the South American World Cup qualifiers played on Thursday
Arsenal conceded five goals for the first time at their Emirates Stadium as they suffered their worst home defeat for 19 years.
Although United made a bright start to their quarter-final second leg at the Nou Camp with Marcus Rashford hitting the crossbar early on, they were soon outclassed by Barca, who eased to a 3-0 win on Tuesday for a dominant 4-0 aggregate victory.
Luis Fabiano netted the equaliser and Frederic Kanoute struck twice to earn Sevilla a 3-1 comeback victory at home to a second-string Barcelona in the first leg of the Spanish Super Cup on Saturday.
Atletico Madrid's Jackson Martinez scored his first goal for the club when he came off the bench and curled in a superb effort to seal a hard-fought 3-0 victory at Sevilla in La Liga on Sunday.
Cech's solid 'keeping and Liverpool's staunch defence ensured the match ended in a goalless stalemate
Alexis Sanchez had equalised for the visitors, scoring on the rebound after Manuel Neuer saved his 30th-minute penalty but the Gunners suffered when captain Laurent Koscielny limped off injured to leave the defence exposed.
After an even first 45 minutes, strikes from Pablo Sarabia and Wissam Ben Yedder stunned the Catalans and left them needing a second-leg comeback at the Nou Camp for the second consecutive round in the competition.
Defending champion Garbine Muguruza of Spain was knocked out of the French Open when she lost 6-1 3-6 6-3 in the fourth round against France's Kristina Mladenovic on Sunday.
Images from football matches played in La Liga and Serie A in Spain and Italy on Wednesday.
Arsenal missed the chance to heighten the congestion at the top of the Premier League and suffered fresh injury blows when a frustrating 1-1 draw at Norwich City failed to take them alongside leaders Manchester City and Leicester City on Sunday.
Out-battled for an hour by their modest south coast opponents, Arsenal belatedly sparked into life and Olivier Giroud's glancing header two minutes into stoppage time completed their remarkable recovery from 3-0 down.
Arsenal's Olivier Giroud produced a piece of New Year's Day magic to keep Arsenal in sight of Premier League leaders Chelsea while Harry Kane's double bolstered Tottenham Hotspur's ambitions as London's triple assault on the title continues.
IMAGES from the English Premier League matches played on Sunday
Real Madrid produced a gutsy performance to earn a 1-0 win at Sevilla, on Sunday, which took them level on points at the top of La Liga
Bayer Leverkusen went one point clear at the top of the Bundesliga despite conceding two late goals to draw 2-2 at Schalke 04 on Saturday.
After defeating Mali 3-2 and New Zealand 4-2, the South American team, one of the favourites to lift the title, will be looking to dominate Turkey.
Jose Mourinho admitted that Sunday's 2-0 defeat to Arsenal means it will now be "impossible" for Manchester United to finish in the top four.
Manchester City tightened their stranglehold at the top of the Premier League on Wednesday by trouncing bottom club West Bromwich Albion 3-0 as nearest rivals Manchester United suffered a chastening 2-0 defeat at Tottenham Hotspur.
Serena Williams blamed an "apple in her throat" for her failure to reach the final of the Italian Open after Jelena Jankovic came back from the brink against the American in Rome on Friday. Jankovic saved a match point before pulling off a thrilling 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 win over the world number one to set up a showdown with Spaniard Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, a 6-4, 6-2 winner over former French Open champion Ana Ivanovic.
Serena Williams started her 2010 season in the same devastating fashion in which she ended 2009, thrashing Spain's Marie Jose Martinez Sanchez 6-1, 6-2 in the second round of the Sydney International on Tuesday.
Argentina and Brazil both lost their opening World Cup qualifiers on Thursday as the South American campaign for Russia 2018 started in unexpected fashion.
The battle to avoid relegation is now a straight shootout between Hull City and 17th-place Newcastle United, who are two points better off heading into Sunday's final round.
AS Roma edged closer to a first ever league and cup double by limping into the Italian Cup final after a 1-0 defeat at Udinese in Wednesday's second leg tie.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Tuesday
Arsenal qualified for a 17th successive season with a nervy 1-0 win at home to Besiktas and Malmo made it for the first time with a 3-0 win over Salzburg, whose participation ended in the qualifiers for the ninth time in a row.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Jelena Jankovic came from 2-4 down in the second set to book her place in the semi-finals of the Indian Wells WTA tournament with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Russian Alisa Kleybanova on Thursday.
Images from the English Premier League matches played on Wednesday
Manchester United's troubled season hit a new low on Saturday as Jose Mourinho saw his gamble on introducing a new tactical system backfire with an insipid 3-1 defeat to West Ham United in the Premier League.
