Tennis: AFP

NEW YORK (AFP) - Newly-crowned world number one Rafael Nadal of Spain will launch his assault on the US Open trophy with an opening round match against a qualifier, after the draw ceremony in New York on Thursday.

NEW HAVEN, Connecticut (AFP) - Second seed Daniela Hantuchova earned a dramatic victory here on Wednesday to slip into the quarter-finals of the WTA and ATP tournament.

SYDNEY (AFP) - Australia's Lleyton Hewitt said Wednesday he had withdrawn from this month's US Open after having surgery for a nagging hip injury.

NEW YORK (AFP) - Rafael Nadal, of Spain, will be the top seed in a grand slam for the first time in his career at this year's US Open.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Juan Martin del Potro won his fourth title in as many weeks by beating Viktor Troicki 6-3, 6-3 in the final of the 500,000 dollar Legg Mason Classic on Sunday.

PARIS (AFP) - Spain's Rafael Nadal has replaced Roger Federer as the new world number one in the ATP rankings released on Monday.

CINCINNATI, Ohio (AFP) - Nathalie Dechy reached her first final in four years by beating Amelie Mauresmo 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 in the semi-finals of the WTA Western and Southern Financial Group on Saturday.

LOS ANGELES (AFP) - Olympic absentee Andy Roddick's decision to give the Beijing Games a wide berth seems not to have been in vain after the American top seed reached the semi-finals of the ATP Los Angeles Classic on Friday.

LOS ANGELES (AFP) - John McEnroe says Pete Sampras is surely breathing a sigh of relief with Roger Federer's impending drop from the world number one spot after four and a half years of domination.

SYDNEY (AFP) - World number one and French Open champion Ana Ivanovic will headline Australia's inaugural Brisbane International in 2009, organisers said Friday.

LONDON (AFP) - The ATP Tour on Wednesday expressed relief as a US court threw out a multimillion dollar antitrust case brought by the German Tennis Federation (DTB) against the dropping of Hamburg's Masters Series status.

LOS ANGELES (AFP) - Olympic absentee Andy Roddick confessed that he will surely have second thoughts about his decision to skip the Summer Games when the action begins this weekend in Beijing.

MONTREAL (AFP) - Russia's Dinara Safina steamrolled Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova 6-2, 6-1 to capture the WTA Rogers Cup for her third title in her last six events here on Sunday.

LOS ANGELES (AFP) - Serbian tennis star Jelena Jankovic is to replace compatriot Ana Ivanovic at the top of the world rankings, the WTA said on Saturday.

CINCINNATI, Ohio (AFP) - Rafael Nadal marked a changing of the guard in tennis with a quarter-final victory at the Cincinnati Masters, which will insure he replaces Roger Federer atop the rankings this month.

LOS ANGELES (AFP) - Maria Sharapova, her hopes of Olympic gold dashed by a shoulder injury that prompted her withdrawal from the Beijing Games, said Friday she would also miss the US Open.

CINCINNATI, Ohio (AFP) - Reigning French Open and Wimbledon champion Rafael Nadal has slammed the ATP for a hardcourt tournament schedule which is taking its toll on the players.

CINCINNATI, Ohio (AFP) - Roger Federer has shrugged off the impending danger posed by Rafael Nadal's seemingly unstoppable march towards his world number one spot.

TORONTO (AFP) - Rafael Nadal lifted Spanish hopes of a dramatic change at the top of world tennis with his Toronto Masters victory on Sunday, the same day countryman Carlos Sastre won cycling's Tour de France.

TORONTO, Canada (AFP) - Defending champion Novak Djokovic progressed into the last eight of the Toronto Masters on Thursday with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Sweden's Robin Soderling.

TOKYO (AFP) - Serbia's one-two punch in women's tennis, Ana Ivanovic and Jelena Jankovic, will lead a star-studded field at the Pan Pacific Open in September, organisers said Thursday.

TORONTO (AFP) - British football icon David Beckham provided an unscheduled rainy Wednesday's entertainment for Britain's Jamie Murray as the Scottish tennis player watched a Major League Soccer All-Star Game workout.