Serena Williams had to dig deep to fend off Latvian challenger Jelena Ostapenko as she wrapped up Friday's play at the Fed Cup in Seattle with a hard-fought victory that gave the United States a 2-0 advantage. Williams' experience and savvy ways showed in critical moments against the 22-year-old Ostapenko as she prevailed 7-6(4), 7-6(3) in a match that took one hour and 46 minutes.

Czech player Vesely scored a sensational 2-6, 6-1, 7-6(11) victory over Ilya Ivashka of Belarus, while Berankis of Lithuania recovered well after the first set setback to register a 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-2 victory over Japan's Yuichi Sugita in another hard-fought quarter-final.

Defending champion Rohan Bopanna went down fighting in the thrilling doubles opening round game at the third edition of Tata Open Maharashtra, in Pune, on Wednesday. Playing alongside local boy Arjun Kadhe, the ace Indian player Bopanna dominated the game initially. However, after winning the first set convincingly, the Indian duo couldn't manage to continue the momentum further in the games against French pair of Benoit Paire and Antoine Hoang as they lost the match 3-6, 7-5, 10-7.

Playing alongside Australian partner Matthew Ebden, the eight-time doubles Grand Slam champion Leander Paes showed his class during a clinical victory over defending champion and second seed Sharan, who was playing alongside New Zealand's Artem Sitak.

Fabiano Caruana of United States made sure of his maiden title after beating Jan-Krzysztof Duda of Poland.

Five-time World champion Viswanathan Anand gave a fine endgame lesson to young Alireza Firouzja, jumping to joint sixth position at the end of 11th round of Tata Steel Masters, in Wijk Aan Zee, The Netherlands, on Saturday. With his second victory, Anand clawed his way back to a fifty percent score and will now hope to end the tournament on a high. At just 16 years, Firouzja is less than one third of Anand's age, and the Indian ace showed that the Iranian still has a lot to learn.

Anand played the Italian game with white pieces but could get little out of opening against Vituigov.

Images from Day 4 of the Australian Open in Melbourne on Thursday

'If I win the Australian Open, I will be the happiest person on the planet. I think that the (money) will be in much better use in the hands that know what to do with it, and know how to help others.'

Anand has been trying to play very complicated positions and the sixth round was no different.

In a rematch of last year's French Open final, Barty prevailed once again, winning 6-3, 6-3 for a 4-0 head-to-head lead over the Czech.

Carlsen had previously indicated he would not consider the record truly broken until after two more games as he was not prepared to count two wins he had in the Norwegian league.

The day produced four decisive games and it was again the youngsters who provided most of the entertainment.

As the curtains fall on another year, Rediff.com brings you all the action from the sports field that defined 2019.

The 12 winners of the Qualifiers on March 6-7 next year will compete alongside the six nations that have automatically qualified for the 2020 Finals.

The Welsh, who reached the Euro 2016 semi-finals, finished runners-up on 14 points from eight games, three behind Croatia who sealed their berth on Saturday with a 3-1 win over Slovakia.

News of all that's transpired on and off the football field

A round-up of Saturday's qualifying matches for the Euro 2020 Finals.

News of all that transpired on and off the football field.

Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Tuesday

According to the global report, just 9.6 per cent of all children between 6 and 23 months of age are fed a minimum acceptable diet.

Germany overcame an early red card to Emre Can and eventually eased to a 3-0 victory away to Estonia on Sunday in a Euro 2020 qualifier to go joint-top of Group C.

A round-up of Thursday night's matches from the Euro 2020 qualifiers.

Six-time champion M C Mary Kom made sure of an unprecedented eighth medal at the women's World Boxing Championships after advancing to the semi-finals of the 51kg category, in Ulan-Ude, Russia, on Thursday.

Russia's men clinched their first-ever team title at the gymnastics World Championships on Wednesday, edging China in a tight contest in Stuttgart to avenge their 2018 defeat.

Boro was slow off the blocks but became the dominating aggressor as the bout progressed.

22-year-old Simone Biles collected a record-extending 15th gold medal at the Gymnastics World Championships.

Rediff.com presents some memorable moments from the September 27 to October 6 meet. Take a look.

Belarusian ninth seed Aryna Sabalenka held off a spirited challenge from American Alison Riske to win 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 and successfully defend her Wuhan Open title on Saturday.

Kenya's Ruth Chepngetich overcame extreme heat and humidity to win the World Championship midnight marathon on Friday, in a gruelling test of survival that saw nearly a third of the 70 starters fail to reach the finish line.

Here are eight images that prove we live in a odd, odd world.

Sushil struggled at the Jakarta Asian Games leading to questions on whether he was good enough to go any further at 36.

Sagaliuk's defeat in quarterfinals shut the repechage door on the Indian.

Vinesh wins bronze, Pooja in line for second medal

Mertens fell to the court and Sabalenka looked to the sky in disbelief before they embraced.

A round-up of Friday's Euro 2020 qualifying matches.

Images from the third day at the US Open, the final Grand Slam tournament of the year, in New York, on Wednesday:

In a shocking turn of events, 25 out of the 45 women grapplers, who train at the SAI centre in Lucknow, reported absent from the national camp without taking permission from the National Federation.

Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Thursday

Vinesh shocked in final of Medved event in Belarus