Top seed Alexander Zverev crashed out in the second round of the Stuttgart Open, losing to world number 170 Dustin Brown.
Pouille had devised a strategy with his coach Amelie Mauresmo to topple the top seed in the semi-final at a floodlit Rod Laver Arena.
Playing his first match since injuring his knee at Indian Wells last month, Nadal showed no signs of rust as he raced into a 5-0 lead in the first set on Court Rainier III.
The Ultimate Tennis Showdown will be held at Patrick Mouratoglou's academy in Nice with 10 matches every weekend for a total of 50 matches and prize money on offer for each clash.
Ash Barty's bid to end the host nation's long wait for a homegrown Australian Open champion will begin against Ukraine's Lesia Tsurenko
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.
Australian Open holder Djokovic will make his ATP Cup debut for Serbia against South Africa in Brisbane on Saturday while Nadal will lead Spain into action against Georgia in Perth on the same day.
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.
Images from Day 11 of the 2021 French Open at Roland Garros in Paris on Wednesday.
Penpix of the top men's contenders at the 2021 Australian Open
Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal won on Saturday to set up an Italian Open final meeting
If Rafael Nadal's Australian Open semi-final win over Greek sensation Stefanos Tsitsipas was one-sided, Novak Djokovic showed he could be even more brutal in his victory against Lucas Pouille on Friday.
Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Johanna Konta progressed to the Italian Open semi-finals on Friday, but Roger Federer and Naomi Osaka were forced to withdraw with injury problems. World number one Osaka pulled out of her quarter-final meeting with Kiki Bertens due to a thumb injury before 37-year-old Federer announced his withdrawal because of a problem to his right leg.
Having toppled 20-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer in the fourth round of the Australian Open on Sunday, an overwhelmed Stefanos Tsitsipas felt thrilled to have turned his idol into a 'rival'.
Rafael Nadal left German qualifier Yannick Maden no hope as he booked his ticket for the third round of the French Open in ruthless fashion with a 6-1, 6-2, 6-4 victory.
Former world number one Andy Murray is in line to play Grigor Dimitrov in the opening round of the inaugural ATP Cup, with Bulgaria qualifying among the final six teams in the nation-based tournament.
The Serb was knocked off top spot by Rafael Nadal on Monday despite winning the Paris Masters last week and will need a strong finish alongside the River Thames to snatch it back.
IMAGES from Day 6 of the Wimbledon Championships at All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club on Saturday.
Roger Federer cruised to a 6-4, 6-4 win over Peter Gojowczyk in his first appearance since losing in the Wimbledon quarter-finals.
Russia's Daniil Medvedev remarkably reached his ninth final of the season as he defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas 7-6(5), 7-5 at the Shanghai Masters on Saturday.
World number one Novak Djokovic continued his dominant form in Tokyo to storm past Frenchman Lucas Pouille 6-1, 6-2 and into the semi-finals of the Japan Open.
Novak Djokovic extended his unbeaten start to the season to 15 matches as he swatted aside German veteran Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-3 6-1 with ease on Wednesday to reach the Dubai Tennis Championships quarter-finals.
Last week the men's ATP and the WTA, which runs women's events, issued revised calendars for the resumption of the circuit from August while organisers of the US Open said the Grand Slam will be staged without fans as scheduled from August 31 to September 13 in New York.
Images from Saturday's action at the Australian Open.
Roger Federer is no longer chasing the top ranking and would rather be a contender at Grand Slams than battling Novak Djokovic and Rafa Nadal to be world number one, the Swiss tennis great said.
Djokovic may never feel the affections of the crowd savoured by Federer and Spaniard Rafael Nadal but his record of 16 Grand Slam titles is proof that tennis is no popularity contest.
Images from the second day at the US Open, the final Grand Slam tournament of the year.
No tennis for four months, no problem for Rafael Nadal.
On Saturday, the young guns showed no signs of breaking the stranglehold of the three men who collectively own 50 Grand Slam titles and also split the season's first three majors.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Sunday
World number two Rafael Nadal confirmed on Tuesday that he will not defend his US Open crown this year at Flushing Meadows as organisers released the singles entry list for the Grand Slam. Spain's Nadal had said in June that he had reservations about travelling to the U.S. amid the COVID-19 pandemic and he joins women's world number one Australian Ash Barty in skipping the tournament due to COVID-19 concerns.
Just as against Swiss 20-time Grand Slam champion Federer in Saturday's semi-final, the 21-year-old produced a dashing display of power and guile to stun the in-form Djokovic 6-4, 6-3.
Images from Day 5 of the French Open, at Roland Garros, in Paris.
Coric, who had failed to win a match in his last two appearances in Beijing and Shenzhen, saved two break points at 3-3 in the second set and clinched the first four games of the decider to record his 32nd match win of the season.
Images from Day 9 of the 2022 Australian Open, at Melbourne Park, on Tuesday.
That is Murray's 46th ATP title.
Images from Day 1 of the Australian Open in Melbourne on Monday.
Australia's Alex de Minaur fought back from a set down to beat former world number one Andy Murray
Exodus of big guns opens up bottom half of men's draw
Roger Federer was made to work hard by Fernando Verdasco before beating the Spanish veteran 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 on Wednesday to reach the quarter-finals of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.
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