Second seed and defending champion Lleyton Hewitt was beaten by Frenchman Julien Benneteau to cap a day of surprises at the Las Vegas Open.
Fourth seed John Isner gave himself the perfect US Open boost by upsetting fellow-American Andy Roddick 7-6, 6-4 in a slug-fest between two big servers in the Winston-Salem Open semi-finals on Friday.
Defending champion Roger Federer suffered a shock 6-3, 7-5 defeat by Frenchman Julien Benneteau, who has yet to lift a tour title during his 13-year career, in the World Indoor Tournament quarter-finals on Friday.
American John Isner, battling against the wild weather as much as his opponent, beat unseeded Julien Benneteau of France 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in North Carolina on Saturday to claim his second title in six weeks.
Argentine Juan Martin del Potro is favourite to add his name to the banner of champions wrapped around the Ahoy Arena after beating Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov 6-4, 6-4 at the World Indoor Tournament on Saturday.
Veteran pairing Julien Benneteau and Nicolas Mahut booked France's place in another Davis Cup final as they won the doubles to seal the champions' 3-0 victory over Spain in their World Group semi-final on Saturday.
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.
Herbert and Mahut added to their 2018 French Open title after recovering from a shaky start.
Unheralded Joao Sousa completed a fairytale run at the Malaysian Open on Sunday when he beat France's Julien Benneteau 2-6, 7-5, 6-4 in the final to become the first Portuguese to win an ATP Tour title.
Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hughes Herbert won the Wimbledon men's doubles title after a straight sets win over fellow French duo Julien Benneteau and Edouard Roger-Vasselin on Saturday.
From potential dark horses to former champions, here are the players who were knocked out of the Australian Open on Thursday
Frenchman Julien Benneteau caused a stir during an interview on French radio station RMC Sport on Sunday in which he said tournament referees were often kinder to Federer when it came to scheduling his matches.
Jack Sock ended local favourite Julien Benneteau's run at the Paris Masters with a 7-5, 6-2 victory to reach the final and move to the brink of an ATP Finals spot on Saturday.
John Isner pushed on towards a Tour finals spot on Friday when he made it through to the semi-finals of the Paris Masters with a 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-4 win over Argentine Juan Martin Del Potro as the tournament was hit by the withdrawal of Rafael Nadal.
Roger Federer set pulses racing as he diced with danger for more than three hours before dousing the fireworks of French buccaneer Julien Benneteau with a pulsating 4-6, 6-7, 6-2, 7-6, 6-1 Wimbledon third-round win on Friday.
World number one Rafa Nadal battled back to defeat Frenchman Julien Benneteau 5-7, 7-6, 6-2 at the Cincinnati Masters on Thursday and Britain's Andy Murray needed a final set tiebreak to beat Latvia's Ernests Gulbis.
Spain's hopes of a hat-trick of Davis Cup triumphs ended when they fell 3-0 behind to France in Clermont-Ferrand after losing Saturday's doubles rubber.
The unseeded Michael Llodra cruised to his fourth career title when he beat fellow Frenchman and doubles partner Julien Benneteau 6-3, 6-4 in the Marseille Open final on Sunday.
World number one Roger Federer slumped to a surprise 3-6, 7-6, 6-4 defeat by unheralded Frenchman Julien Benneteau in the second round of the Paris Masters on Wednesday. Top seed Federer, who had a first-round bye, made an unusual high number of unforced errors to fall to the unseeded Benneteau, ranked 49th in the world.
Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hughes Herbert became the third home duo to win the French Open men's doubles when they beat second seeds Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic 6-2, 7-6(4) on Saturday.
Andy Murray is within one match of securing his place in the ATP World Tour Finals after easing past local favourite Julien Benneteau 6-3, 6-4 on Wednesday to advance to the third round of the Paris Masters.
American twins Bob and Mike Bryan added another accolade to their lengthy resume after taking the Shanghai Masters men's doubles title on Sunday to become the first pair to win all nine ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournaments.
Richard Gasquet and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga's unexpected partnership in the doubles allowed France to gain an unbeatable 3-0 lead over Australia on Saturday and join Switzerland and Germany in the quarter-finals of the Davis Cup.
The Indian pair of Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna crashed out of the men's doubles at the London Olympics, losing 3-6, 4-6 to the French pair of Julien Benneteau and Richard Gasquet, on Tuesday.
Argentine Juan Martin del Potro is determined to go one step further than his runner-up finish 12 months ago at the World Indoor Tournament as he reached the final with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Bulgaria's Grigor Dimitrov on Saturday.
Paes-Shamsasdin also in last four
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga started his quest for an ATP World Tour final spot with a 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 second-round victory over fellow Frenchman Julien Benneteau at the Paris Masters on Tuesday.
Second seed and defending champion Novak Djokovic ousted France's Julien Benneteau in straight sets on Sunday to cruise into the US Open fourth round.
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.
Leander Paes and Radek Stepanek progressed to the pre-quarterfinals of the ATP Masters event at Indian Wells but Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna suffered a shock first round defeat.
France emerged teary-eyed and triumphant from a weekend of grit and inspiration to claim their first Fed Cup title in 16 years with a 3-2 win on Sunday over hosts Australia.
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.
The Paris Masters win catapulted Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi to fifth from seventh in the latest ATP Team Rankings, issued on Monday.
Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-ul-haq Qureshi prepared for their debut in season-ending finale by capturing the ATP Paris Masters and the Indian said the win is a confidence booster ahead of the elite event in London.
Serena Williams faces her first seeded opponent at the French Open on Thursday and will hope to use her booming serve to beat Australian Ashleigh Barty in the second round.
Former world number one Serena Williams returns to Grand Slam action for the first time in over 15 months, when she goes up against Czech Kristyna Pliskova in the French Open first round.
Leander Paes and his Italian partner Daniele Bracciali stormed into the semi-finals of the Thailand Open, in Bangkok, defeating the Colombian pair of Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah on Thursday.
Finland's Jarkko Nieminen will have the dubious honour of facing king of clay Rafael Nadal at the Monte Carlo Masters after shrugging off France's Julien Benneteau 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 in Monday's first round.
Doubles specialists Michael Llodra and Julien Benneteau combined to fire France into the quarter-finals of the Davis Cup Saturday with a battling four-set win over Germany's Philipp Kohlschreiber and Christopher Kas in Toulon. The victory gave the nine-times winners an unbeatable 3-0 lead in the best-of-five tie and set up a last-eight clash against champions Spain or Switzerland in July.
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