Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Wednesday
Nadal, whose last grasscourt final came at Wimbledon in 2011, has dropped to 10th in the ATP rankings after a difficult year in which he has won only a single title.
Swiss tennis maestro Roger Federer stepped up his bid for a record ninth Halle grasscourt title with a straight sets victory over Germany's Jan-Lennard Struff in the opening round on Wednesday.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on on Thursday
A round-up of Saturday's action in Serie A, La Liga and Bundesliga.
Barcelona's lead at the top of La Liga was cut after a second consecutive defeat and LeicesterCity's improbable march towards the Premier League title showed no sign of slowing as they won a fifth straight match. Juventus stayed six points clear of Napoli after Italy's top two both won and Bayern Munich extended their Bundesliga lead to seven points. Here is a summary of results from football matches played across Europe over the weekend.
Andy Murray recovered from a slow start to beat Argentine qualifier Juan Ignacio Londero
French hope Kristina Mladenovic fought through the pain with a 3-6, 6-3, 8-6 win over American Jennifer Brady in the French Open first round on Monday.
Nothing that has happened in the past 12 months suggests Roger Federer's hunger is diminished with victory at this year's Australian Open taking his Grand Slam title haul to 20.
Manchester City's quadruple bid remained intact as Ilkay Gundogan and Kevin de Bruyne secured a 2-0 win at Everton in their FA Cup quarter-final clash
Naomi Osaka is also the first woman to win a second Slam immediately after her first since Jennifer Capriati in 2001 but her meteoric rise has been followed by a distinct dip ahead of Roland Garros.
The fourth seed Indo-Romanian pair needed 70 minutes to get the better of the 2014 US Open champions Marin Cilic of Croatia and Frank Moser of Germany 6-3, 7-6(10).
Former World No 1 Maria Sharapova suffered a setback on her return from injury when she lost 6-4, 6-3 to Lucie Safarova in the first round of the Madrid Open on Sunday.
Defending champion Maria Sharapova will take on Li Na of China in the Italian Open final after a confident 6-3, 6-4 victory over Germany's Angelique Kerber in Rome on Saturday.
Justine Henin was inspired to return to tennis by Roger Federer and the decision was rewarded on Sunday when she beat Australia's Samantha Stosur in the final of the Stuttgart indoor tournament for her first title since her comeback. It was the Belgian's first tournament on clay, her favoured surface on which she has won four French Open titles, since she ended her 19-month self-imposed exile at the start of the year.
Russia's Maria Sharapova beat World No. 1 Victoria Azarenka 6-1, 6-4 in the Stuttgart clay court final on Sunday to claim her first WTA tour title of the year and end a two-match losing streak against the Belarussian.
Maria Sharapova's comeback from a doping ban will include an appearance at the Rogers Cup in August after the former world number one was granted a wild card by the organisers of the Toronto tournament on Tuesday.
Bayern Munich threw the Bundesliga title race wide open when Arjen Robben secured a 1-0 win at Nuremberg on Saturday, closing the gap on leaders Borussia Dortmund to three points.
Rohan Bopanna and Florin Mergea ended runners-up at the ATP Gerry Weber Open following a surprise straight set defeat at the hands of Raven Klaasen and Rajeev Ram, in Halle, Germany on Sunday.
World number two Rafael Nadal dropped a set at the Barcelona Open for the first time in four years before advancing to the last 16, beating Argentine Leonardo Mayer 6-7(7), 6-4, 6-2 on Wednesday.
Borussia Dortmund's miserable domestic season continued when they lost 1-0 at home to fellow strugglers Hanover 96 on Saturday, their fourth Bundesliga defeat in a row.
Veteran tennis player Rohan Bopanna said he plans to team up with Divij Sharan and represent India in the men's doubles event in next year's Tokyo Olympics.
Martina Navratilova has stepped down as coach to world number nine Agnieszka Radwanska after a brief five-month stint with the Polish tennis player.
Former world number one Maria Sharapova will miss the grasscourt season, including this month's Wimbledon qualifying tournament, after failing to recover from a left-thigh injury she suffered during last month's Italian Open.
Ayew strikes as Palace hold Southampton to 2-2 draw
Argentina cruised into the semi-finals of the Davis Cup and looked poised for a clash with defending champions Serbia who moved into a 2-0 first-day lead away to Sweden on Friday.
Former world number two Tommy Haas officially announced his retirement from tennis at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells on Thursday, ending a career that spanned more than two decades.
His 9-gold athletic haul at the Olympics remains unrivalled with Usain Bolt coming close with 8. Raj Kishore Mishra, former joint secretary at the sports ministry, salutes Carl Lewis, 'Sportsman of the 20th Century' on his 60th birthday.
Kleon Papadimitriou, a Greek student in Aberdeen, Scotland undertook the adventure when flights to much of Europe were cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Thursday
With Federer certain, young Austrian Dominic Thiem is third in the ATP race to London, followed by Stan Wawrinka, Alexander Zverev, Djokovic, world number one Andy Murray, and Belgium's David Goffin.
"At this point of the season for me, every victory is important, every title means a lot to me. This is not confidence for Wimbledon, this is an important victory for me and I'm happy for that today.
"At this point of the season for me, every victory is important, every title means a lot to me. This is not confidence for Wimbledon, this is an important victory for me and I'm happy for that today.
World number three Roger Federer beat Romanian qualifier Marius Copil 7-6(5), 6-4 to win the Swiss Indoors on Sunday and claim his 99th career title in front of his home crowd in Basel.
Step on the gas and the power that propels the compact four-seater will take you by surprise as it hurtles towards the 80 kmph like a racing thoroughbred, never compromising any stability thanks to its rigid chassis and solid 1,600-kg kerb weight that gives it a well-planted feel along straights, corners and tricky lanes and roads, says Pavan Lall.
Keys will next face 10th seed Sloane Stephens, nine months after her compatriot beat her in the US Open final
Justine Henin reached her third final in fourth months since her comeback when she brushed aside Shahar Peer in her semi-final at Stuttgart's indoor clay tournament on Saturday.
Rafael Nadal extended his astonishing winning run on clay to 42 consecutive sets as he reached the semi-finals of the Barcelona Open with a 6-0, 7-5 victory over Slovakia's Martin Klizan on Friday. The defending champion will face David Goffin on Saturday after the Belgian beat Spaniard Roberto Bautista 6-7(3), 6-2, 6-2.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Friday
Five-times Grand Slam champion Maria Sharapova has criticised the International Tennis Federation (ITF) for not doing enough to make her aware that meldonium had been added to the list of banned substances last year.
