Andy Murray continued his strong build-up in his quest for a maiden Australian Open title with a comfortable victory over Frenchman Benoit Paire in the Hopman Cup mixed-team event in Perth on Monday.
India's top singles tennis player Somdev Devvarman has been handed a direct entry in the main draw of the ATP Chennai Open tennis tournament after Estonia's Jurgen Zopp pulled out of the event due to a back injury.
Fourth seed Canadian Milos Raonic won his first round match of the season beginning Chennai Open with utmost ease, disposing off unseeded Victor Hanescu of Romania 6-1, 6-4 at the centre court on Wednesday night.
Rediff.com takes stock of the seeded casualties on the first day of the Australian Open.
Russia's Daniil Medvedev defeated Benoit Paire of France 6-3, 6-4 in the first round of the Abierto Mexicano tournament in Acapulco on Tuesday to get his quest for the world number one ranking off to a winning start.
World number one Rafael Nadal begins his French Open title defence, on Monday, with a clash against Italy's Simone Bolelli on Court Philippe-Chatrier.
India's top singles player Somdev Devvarman was on Saturday drawn to a play a qualifier while wild cards Yuki Bhambri and Jeeven Nedunchehziyan will have to fight it out with top-100 players in their first rounds at the Aircel Chennai Open.
Kristina Mladenovic had complained saying she felt like she was being treated like a prisoner after she was placed inside a 'bubble within a bubble' despite 'thirty negative tests'.
Leander Paes and his partner Daniel Nestor bowed out of Monte Carlo masters following a close defeat against Benoit Paire and Stan Wawrinka in Monaco.
Men's second seed Rafael Nadal starts against Israel's Dudi Sela while three-time champion Novak Djokovic faces American Tennys Sandgren.
Murray, who took a wildcard into the seaside event as a fitness test for next week's Wimbledon, looked sharp on a sun-baked centre court and tasted victory for the first time since beating Benoit Paire in the last 16 of Wimbledon 350 days ago.
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.
Nadal, who is the clear tournament favourite and looks to be in the form of his life on clay this season, raced into a 3-0 lead before Spanish compatriot Almagro felt his left knee with less than half an hour played.
Rafael Nadal struggled to finish off Fabio Fognini at the Barcelona Open on Friday but eventually quelled one of his most troublesome opponents 6-2, 7-6(1) to reach the semi-finals.
Benoit Paire made a remarkable Davis Cup debut for France, outplaying Pablo Carreno-Busta 7-5, 6-1, 6-0 in the opening rubber of the World Group semi-final tie against Spain at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy on Friday.
Leander Paes and his Czech partner Lukas Dlouhy sailed into the second round of the French Open men's doubles with a straight-sets win over locals Sebastien de Chaunac and Benoit Paire in Paris on Wednesday night. The third seeds won 6-1, 6-3 and set up a clash with another unseeded duo, James Cerretani and Sergiy Stakhovsky. The Ukrainian-American pair defeated Spaniards Nicolas Almagro and Ivan Navarro 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 in another first round match.
Italy sealed a place in the semi-finals of the ATP Cup by winning both singles matches against France
Sunday's final was an intense contest as nerves played their part, with 10 of the 22 games going against serve.
Prajnesh Gunneswaran's terrific run at the Indian Wells Masters came to an end following a straight set defeat against big-serving Ivo Karlovic.
Novak Djokovic has 17 Grand Slam titles to his name - two behind Rafael Nadal and three fewer than Roger Federer - and said he has no doubt in his ability to overtake the other members of the so-called 'Big Three.'
Sania Mirza and her Swiss partner Martina Hingis progressed through to the quarter-finals of the Italian Open with a straight sets victory in the women's doubles event in Rome.
The French Tennis Federation (FFT) has provisionally suspended Benoit Paire, Kristina Mladenovic and Caroline Garcia for 'damaging' the organisation's image by their behaviour at this month's Rio Olympics.
India's top singles player Yuki Bhambri on Sunday withdrew from the Chennai Open as he is yet to recover from his elbow injury.
An erratic Yuki Bhambri paid for his unforced errors as he was knocked out of the Chennai Open with a straight sets defeat against world number 47 Benoit Paire.
Australia's controversial tennis star Bernard Tomic has been labelled as the 'king of the excuse' by his country's media after he pulled out of the Rome Masters citing illness and excessive heat.
Canadian Frank Dancevic slammed Australian Open organisers for forcing players to play in "inhumane" conditions after he suffered heat stroke in temperatures of 41 degrees Celcius (108 degrees Fahrenheit) on Tuesday.
A 1,000km 10-hour roadtrip dash to Paris, squeezed into a small hire car alongside his 88-year-old grandmother, ended in Grand Slam joy for Marco Trungelliti at Roland Garros on Monday -- and a guaranteed 79,000 euros ($92,000) payday.
Somdev Devvarman would be India's while Yuki Bhambri is expected to carry his good from into the new season which is full of new challenges for the Indian players as ATP Aircel Chennai Open begins on Monday.
There will be no Indian presence in the singles main draw at the Australia Open this year with Yuki Bhambri stumbling at the final hurdle, losing his third and final qualifying round match to Ernesto Escobedo, in Melbourne on Saturday.
Images from Day 9 at the French Open.
With professional tennis tours closed down until mid July at the earliest because of the coronavirus pandemic, an esports version of the claycourt event is being staged online. Nadal showed impressive fingerwork to beat young Canadian Denis Shapovalov in his opening round-robin match on a digital representation of the Spanish capital's Manolo Santana Stadium.
In the women's draw, defending champion Garbine Muguruza will play 2010 French Open winner Francesca Schiavone
Switzerland's French Open champion Stan Wawrinka captured his fourth title this year when he beat his good friend Benoit Paire 6-2, 6-4 in the final of the Japan Open on Sunday.
Andy Murray has what it takes to ruin Novak Djokovic's dreams of sweeping to a 'golden slam', coach Ivan Lendl has said as the Scot prepares for another tilt at the Wimbledon title.
Masks were required and high-fives banned, with signs reminding those in attendance to maintain proper social distancing.
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.
Indian qualifier Prajnesh Gunneswaran achieved the biggest win of his career when he stunningly knocked out World No 18 Nikoloz Basilashvili at the Indian Wells ATP Masters event, continuing his dream run.
Rafael Nadal overcame a temporary blip on his way to victory at the ATP Cup on Saturday
Frenchman Benoit lost his temper in the third game of the second set when top seed Tsitsipas halted the match to attend to a broken shoe lace.
World No.4 Stan Wawrinka will look to win his third successive Chennai Open title, while the Indian challenge will be spearheaded by rising star Yuki Bhambri
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