Brazil dented more African hopes in the World Cup on Sunday by outclassing Ivory Coast to sweep into the second round.
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Holders Italy, written off at home as no-hopers to retain their world title and traditionally slow starters, are in danger of being caught napping by in-form Paraguay in their Group F opener on Monday.
Photos from the Euro 2016 qualifying matches played on Sunday.
Germany squandered a four-goal lead to draw 4-4 with Sweden while world champions Spain conceded in stoppage time to draw 1-1 with France as both teams lost 100 percent records in World Cup qualifying on Tuesday.
Rohan Bopanna and his Pakistani partner Aisam-ul-haq Qureshi eked out a hard earned win over Michael Mertinak of Slovakia and Dick Norman of Belgium to book a place in the quarter-finals of the Sony Ericsson Open.
Former world number one Serena Williams suffered an injury scare less than two weeks ahead of the Australian Open on Wednesday when the American was forced out of the Brisbane International with a badly twisted ankle.
Barely a month after considering quitting the sport, Russian Dinara Safina celebrated being back in the winner's circle at the Indian Wells WTA tournament on Monday.
Top seed Caroline Wozniacki barely raised a sweat as she pummelled American wildcard Sloane Stephens 6-3, 6-2 in the second round of the Indian Wells WTA tournament on Saturday.
Indian Davis Cupper Rohan Bopanna and doubles partner Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi are in line for their second ATP Tour title of the season after making the final of the clay court event in Casablanca, Morocco.
Rohan Bopanna and his partner Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi have advanced to the semi-finals of the ATP Tour event in Casablanca, Morocco after scoring an easy straight-set win over Simon Greul and Peter Luczak.
Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-ul Haq Qureshi advanced to the semi-finals of the ATP Tour event in Casablanca, Morocco, after a straight sets win over Simon Greul and Peter Luczak. The Indo-Pak pair beat the German-Australian pair 6-3, 6-2 in the quarter-finals of the euro 450,000 clay-court tournament.
International Master Tania Sachdev registered her sixth victory in seven games as the Indian women's team cruised to a 3-1 victory over lower-ranked Estonia to take the joint-fourth spot after the seventh round in the 40th Chess Olympiad in Istanbul.
World number one Caroline Wozniacki reeled off 12 successive games to ease into the semi-finals of the Qatar Open after a 6-2, 6-0 demolition of Italian Flavia Pennetta on Thursday.
World number one Caroline Wozniacki moved into the quarter-finals of the Qatar Open with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Russian Nadia Petrova but third seed Francesca Schiavone was upset by China's Peng Shuai on Wednesday.
Grandmasters P Harikrihsna and Abhijeet Gupta played in copy book style to give Indian men their third victory in a row in the 40th Chess Olympiad in Istanbul.
Former world number seven Mario Ancic has retired at the age of 26 to become a lawyer after years battling illness and injury.
Jelena Dokic let out a huge yelp of delight after outgunning fifth seed Nadia Petrova 6-4, 7-6 at the Paris Open on Thursday to book a meeting with Kim Clijsters in the last eight.
Francesca Schiavone repeated her French Open final triumph over Samantha Stosur on Sunday as Fed Cup holders Italy completed a 4-1 victory over Australia in their World Group last eight tie.
Jarmila Groth marked her first Fed Cup appearance for Australia with a shock win against French Open champion Francesca Schiavone as holders Italy shared the opening singles in their first round tie in Hobart on Saturday.
Little-known 21-year-old Andrej Martin of Slovakia created the biggest upset in the Singapore ATP Challenger, upsetting Asian Games gold medalist and top seed Somdev Devevarman of India to enter the semi-finals on Friday. On a cloudy day at the Kallang Tennis Centre, the 177-ranked Martin outpaced Somdev to register a 6-3, 6-4 win in 85 minutes.
Top seed Somdev Devvarman registered a straight sets victory over Australia's John Millman to enter into the quarter-finals of the Singapore ATP Challenger, while Karan Rastogi bowed out of the event after losing to Russia's Dmitry Tursonov in the second round. Somdev played some intelligent tennis to win 6-4, 6-3 in just 90 at the Kallang tennis centre, in Singapore.
Caroline Wozniacki and Justine Henin barely broke sweat as they swept into the third round of the Australian Open in the first hour's play on another cool morning at Melbourne Park on Wednesday.
Andy Murray's thoughts turned to a baby sparrow accidentally killed by brother Jamie moments after reaching the second round of the Australian Open on Tuesday.
Kveta Peschke and Lucie Hradecka beat Maria Kirilenko and Elena Vesnina 6-4, 6-2 in the decisive doubles to give the Czech Republic a 3-2 win over Russia in the Fed Cup final on Sunday, clinching the country's first title as an independent nation.
Rafa Nadal will take on Brazilian world number 96 Marcos Daniel in his first round of the Australian Open but faces a rocky path in his bid to become the first man to hold all four grand slam crowns simultaneously since Rod Laver in 1969.
Round up of the Champions League matches played on Wednesday.
India's Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-ul-haq Qureshi crashed out of Valencia Open following a straight set defeat at the hands of Marc Lopez and David Marrero in Valencia.
German pride took a second bashing in eight days on Saturday as their Euro 2012 countdown began in earnest with a humbling 5-3 friendly defeat by Switzerland.
Fifth seed Karl Beck of Slovakia capped a wonderful week scoring a close three set win over seventh seed Gilles Muller of Luxemburg to lift the $1,25,000 Tashkent Challenger, an ATP Challenger series event being played at the Olympic tennis Stadium on Sunday.
Canada's Milos Raonic pounded 17 aces to end the winning run of second seeded and Commonwealth gold medallist Somdev Devvarman and create the biggest upset of the day in the $1,25,000 Tashkent Challenger, on Thursday. The 155-ranked Raonic beat the 95th ranked Somdev 6-4, 7-6(3) in an hour and 18 minutes.
Somdev Devvarman and Praksh Amritraj moved to the pre-quarterfinals of the $1,25,000 ATP Challenger event in Seoul, Korea after winning their respective first round matches.
Following Serena Williams's 19th Grand Slam title, here is the list of Australian Open women's singles champions since the event began in 1922 (Australian unless stated)
Prakash Amritraj advanced to the singles pre-quarterfinals of the $50,000 ATP Challenger event in Calabasas in US when his opponent retired mid-way in the first round.
Prakash Amritraj and his American partner Alex Kuznetsov scripted a come-from-behind win to advance to the doubles quarter-finals in the US $50,000 ATP Challenger in Calabasas, United States. The fourth seeded Indo-US pair defeated the local duo of Rylan Rizza and Kaes Van't Hof 6-7(1), 6-2, 10-8 in the first round on Monday night.
Jose Mourinho's quest for a unique Champions League hat-trick began in style with Real Madrid on Wednesday, the nine-time winners beating Ajax Amsterdam 2-0 on a night of commanding wins for the main contenders.
Caroline Wozniacki's New Haven Open title defence and final warmup for the US Open opened smoothly on Wednesday with a clinical 6-4, 6-1 second round win over Slovakia's Dominika Cibulkova.
The first cargo aircraft of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation carrying relief goods for survivors of the devastating floods in Pakistan on Monday arrived at the military's Chaklala air base. In response to a request by the government of Pakistan, the NATO had on Friday decided to provide airlift and sealift for the delivery of aid to Pakistan flood survivors. The NATO started to airlift nearly 500 tonnes of relief supplies from Europe to Pakistan.
North Atlantic Treaty Organisation has announced plans for a large-scale airlift of relief supplies from Europe for the survivors of the devastating floods in Pakistan, as donors pledged more assistance after a slow start of aid efforts.
Mahesh Bhupathi is the lone Indian survivor at the ATP Rogers Cup as Somdev Devvarman, Leander Paes and Rohan Bopanna crashed out of the Masters Series event following defeats in their respective draws.
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