Juan Martin del Potro believes he can muscle his way into the world's top four next year after returning to the kind of form that propelled him to the US Open title three years ago.
Images from Day 4 of the Australian Open in Melbourne on Thursday
Third seed N Sriram Balaji overcame early jitters to quell a spirited challenge from compatriot Ramkumar Ramanathan in his opening match at the CCI-ITF men's US $15,000 tournament 2012, at the CCI courts, in Mumbai, on Monday. The Chennai-based lad won 7-5, 6-4 in an hour and 50 minutes.
German seventh seed Alexander Zverev recovered from a slow start to beat former champion Stan Wawrinka 1-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 in the Australian Open on Wednesday to reach his first career Grand Slam semi-final. Swiss Wawrinka, who won the first of his three Grand Slams at Melbourne Park in 2014, broke Zverev twice early in the opening set to breeze through the opening set but the 22-year-old German came roaring back into the contest.
Ash Barty beat eighth seed Kiki Bertens of the Netherlands 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(7) in Beijing to seal her spot in the final of the China Open on Saturday.
With twin successes on the Asian swing of the ATP Tour, Novak Djokovic is back in the reckoning in a comparatively less successful year. And with no points to defend in the weeks ahead, the Serb, says Bikash Mohapatra, is the lone challenger to Roger Federer in the race for the year-end No.1 ranking.
India woman's tennis ace, Sania Mirza continues to hold on to her be world number one ranking in doubles, thanks to her consistent performance.
Doubles specialist Rohan Bopanna said it would take some more time for him and senior partner Mahesh Bhupathi to get adjusted to each other before they strike a right chord in ATP tennis circuit.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Monday.
Of the 83 people implicated in the case, 28 were professional tennis players, playing in the ITF Futures and Challenger categories, and one whose identity was not revealed competed in the 2018 US Open.
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.
Roger Federer moved to within one win of his 1,000 career victory when he crushed Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov on Saturday to reach the final of the Brisbane International.
Leander Paes and Radek Stepanek were routed 2-6, 0-6 by top seeds Mike and Bob Bryan as the Indian challenge ended at the ATP Monaco Masters.
The 29-year-old former French Open finalist failed the out-of-competition test in February after a urine sample was found to contain letrozole - a substance used in the treatment of breast cancer which is also on the banned drug list of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
Rohan Bopanna Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi won their first ever ATP Masters tournament after whipping away the challenge of Julien Benneteau and Nicolas Mahut in straight sets in the final, in Paris, on Sunday.
India's Divij Sharan broke into the top-100 in the ATP doubles ranking as he jumped 15 places to a career best 94th spot, while Yuki Bhambri also achieved his career-best singles rank with a nine-place jump to 179 in the latest list released on Tuesday.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Monday
Australian Open tournament director Craig Tiley has defended giving Roger Federer 'prime time' treatment at the year's first Grand Slam, saying it was a matter of meeting fans and broadcasters' demands for the 'box office' athlete.
'I still have the exact budget which I had in 2018 when I was ranked 350. It's that when I needed the most which is right now, I see people turning around and walking away.'
Cecchinato in 'dreamland' after stunning David Goffin on Sunday
Leander Paes and Radek Stepanek downed Jonathan Erlich and Richard Gasquet in straight sets to reach the quarter-finals of the ATP Indian Wells Masters tournament.
Former world number one and double Grand Slam title winner Marat Safin became the latest Russian tennis player to confirm he intends to run for his country's parliament.
Korean qualifier Hyeon Chung produced the first upset of the ATP Chennai Open by ousting last year's finalist Borna Coric with a straight-set win in the opening round of the $505730 hard court event in Chennai on Monday.
The only Indian survivors in the Delhi Challenger will face off for a quarter-final place on Wednesday.
Somdev Devvraman crashed out of the the $ 850,00 ATP Malaysian Open after losing to Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus in straight sets in the second round of the men's singles event in Kuala Lumpur, on Wednesday.
Roger Federer took a big step towards securing his endangered place in the ATP World Tour Finals by overcoming rising Canadian talent Vasek Pospisil 6-3, 6-7(3), 7-5 in the Basel Open semi-finals on Saturday.
The Indo-Pakistan duo will take on third seeds Jarkko Nieminen of Finland and Robert Lindstedt in the championship round.
Nadal may have 19 Grand Slam titles, one shy of Federer's all-time men's record, but when it comes to IT skills, he resembled a Sunday morning park hacker crumbling under pressure. After some pleasantries, the conversation moved on to the forthcoming virtual Madrid Open being contested with joysticks rather than tennis rackets.
Indian challenge ended at the ATP Rogers Cup as Rohan Bopanna and his Pakistani partner Aisam-ul-haq Qureshi conceded their doubles quarter-final match to top seeds Mike and Bob Bryan due to an injury to the Indian Davis Cupper.
Rohan Bopanna and Andre Begemann suffered a quarter-final exit from the ATP Citi Open after a close defeat against Treat Huey and Dominic Inglot in Washington.
The 2020 international calendar concluded with the three tournaments in the Asia leg which was conducted in Bangkok in successive weeks.
Frenchman Benoit Paire confirmed that he had tested positive for COVID-19. This has meant they have been barred from using any on site player facilities.
It took the COVID-19 pandemic to put a brake on Djokovic's 18-match unbeaten run in 2020, as he won the ATP Cup with Serbia, an eighth Australian Open title and a fifth Dubai Tennis Championships before the season came to a halt in early March.
Spaniard Nadal was in all sorts of trouble, trailing by a set and 5-4 and with 69th-ranked Rosol serving at 30-0, but his Czech opponent framed a basic backhand volley at 30-15 and blew his chance, Nadal going on to win 1-6, 7-5, 7-6(4).
Peter Luczak and Anastasia Rodionova will spearhead Australia's challenge at the tennis event of the forthcoming Commonwealth Games in Delhi as Tennis Australia on Wednesday named its squad, sans Lleyton Hewitt and Samatha Stosur.
The Indo-Pakistan duo beat top seeds Harel Levy of Israel and Lars Burgsmuller of Germany in the semi-finals.
The Indo-Paki pair overcame a tough challenge from Olivier Charroin and Thomas Oger of France in the quarter-finals of the Nottingham Challenger.
After stunning top seed Karan Rastogi on Thursday, sixth seed Yuki Bhambri turned giant-killer, scalping No 4 Gero Kretschmer of Germany in straight sets, to storm into the final of the CCI-ITF US$15,000 Men's Futures tennis tournament at the Cricket Club of India in Mumbai on Friday.
The Tamil Nadu-based Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan, who recently made his Davis Cup debut and is expected to lead India's doubles challenge in coming years, is spending time hitting at private courts and handling the marketing of their family resort in Pondicherry.
Prakash Amritraj entered the main draw of the US $416,000 Hall of Fame Tennis Championships at Newport, Rhode Island.
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