The four-time world champion's fifth win of the season for Mercedes left him on 213 points to 189 for Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel, who finished second, and relishing the prospect of a stress-free family holiday.
Hungary's Daniel Gyurta was third-time lucky on Wednesday as he powered to gold in the 200 metres breaststroke, breaking a world record and denying host-nation Britain their first male swimming gold in almost a quarter of a century.
Unbeaten with demolishing victories in the previous three contests, star Indian boxer Vijender Singh will take on a slightly more experienced Hungarian Alexander Horvath in his fourth professional bout on March 12 in Liverpool. Vijender is preparing for a homecoming to India in June when he will fight maiden title bout -- the WBO Asia belt. The in-form middleweight has been unbeaten in the circuit, having clinched all his three wins by knockouts in only six rounds of action since his pro debut last October. Vijender will have no time to rest as he has another big fight lined up just three weeks' later at the Harrow Sports Centre, London, as he builds towards his ground-breaking title opportunity in India. Horvath comes into the fight against Vijender with a record of five wins from seven fights. The 20-year-old has the edge in experience over Singh with 31 rounds under his belt and has no fear of fighting abroad, taking bouts in Slovakia and France. "It's my absolute dream to fight back home in India in front of my countrymen and women so I won't let Horvath get in my way of that at all," stated Vijender Singh. "I need to continue my unbeaten record and it's important that I put on a commanding performance against Horvath and then next at Harrow to keep on course for my title shot and my homecoming," he said. Speaking about his opponent, Vijender said he does not consider Hungarian a major threat. "Horvath is a good solid opponent, maybe he will give me a few new tests, he has done more rounds than me and has a bit more experience, but will that compete with the power that I have and when I start landing my shots. "I don't believe that he'll be standing around for too long," he said. "I'm really excited as this is my first fight of the year and there are big plans ahead so I aim to make a very big statement of intent in Liverpool against Horvath that will show that I'm ready to fight for a title later this year."
Hungarian Timea Babos and France's Kristina Mladenovic defeated Russian duo Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina 6-4, 6-3 to win the women's doubles title at the Australian Open on Friday.
India's Rohan Bopanna and his Hungarian partner Timea Babos entered the semi-finals of the Australian Open mixed doubles event with a comfortable victory in Melbourne, on Wednesday.
Hungary is one of only two races remaining on the current calendar that Red Bull's triple Formula One champion has not won - the other being Austin, Texas - and a victory in the heat of the Hungaroring would mean he has won half of the season's races so far.
Simona Halep's powers of recovery will be put to the test on day eight of the Australian Open on Monday when the world number one meets Japan's Naomi Osaka in a tricky fourth round clash.
The Czech Republic suffered a 2-1 home defeat by Hungary in their final Euro 2012 warm-up game despite dominating possession as Adam Gyurcso netted a late winner for the visitors on Friday.
List of French Open men's singles champions:
Images from the 2020 Euro Championships qualifiers played on Saturday
India's real risk is not that crony populism would fail, but that it would succeed, consolidating a path that is fundamentally a trap, both in terms of social inequalities and long-term growth, says Michael Walton.
List of French Open women's singles champions:
American teenager Amanda Anisimova, fresh off an impressive run at Indian Wells, beat China's Wang Qiang 6-3, 1-6, 6-2 at the Miami Open on Tuesday to set up a second round clash with Spanish third seed Garbine Muguruza.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Thursday
Amit Masurkar's black comedy didn't make it to the next round.
Young Akhil Sheoran clinched the gold medal in men's 50m rifle 3 position with plenty to spare as India continued their superlative run at the ISSF World Cup in Guadalajara, Mexico.
A summary of Friday's tennis action from around the world.
Svetlana Kolesnichenko, the new standard bearer for artistic aquatics, added another European Championships gold to her huge collection of international medals when she took the synchronised swimming solo technical title on Monday.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Germany defender Nico Schulz scored a late winner as their new-look side snatched a 3-2 win away to the Netherlands in their opening Euro 2020 Group C qualifier on Sunday, an absorbing clash that swung in fortunes from one side to the other.
The German's Finnish teammate Kimi Raikkonen sealed the Ferrari front-row lockout.
A summary of sports events and sports persons, who made news on Friday
India, which was listed 78th last year, has improved its ranking, figuring at 75th position with a visa-free score of 51
The defending champion did not require his dazzling best against 80th-ranked Hungarian Marton Fucsovics in his first match scheduled during the day session but still emerged a comfortable 6-4, 7-6(3), 6-2 winner.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Monday.
Giroud scored with an improvised volley in the Premier League match on Jan. 1, producing an acrobatic flick with his left heel to convert Alexis Sanchez's cross into the net off the crossbar while tumbling forward.
India were off to flying start in the World Men's Team Squash Championships as they scored an emphatic 3-0 win over Hungary.
Diana Sirokai from Hungary is teaching women to embrace their flaws.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Monday
Will it be Rafa versus Djoko in Sunday's final?
There has been speculation within Formula One that Lawrence Stroll, the billionaire father of Canadian driver Lance, is willing to invest in Force India as part of a move for his son from Williams.
Five-times Davis Cup champions Spain will host Britain in the first round of the 2018 competition.
"It was a really bad accident, pretty unlucky," Perez told reporters of his crash at the Hungaroring.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
IMAGES from the Euro 2020 qualifiers played on Thursday
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Thursday
He and Sebastian Vettel get on well, with the German keen on him staying, and Kimi Raikkonen has shown his loyalty this season by accepting team orders to his detriment.
'Trump's desecration of all that Obama represented can be seen at different levels: Personal, political, systemic and structural,' explains Ambassador B S Prakash.
Hingis bids farewell with doubles defeat in Singapore
Vandeweghe, who had been suffering from flu, told reporters that Babos had been "getting in my face", prompting her to shout at her and fling her racket to the ground.
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