Roger Federer finally overcame his nemesis Gilles Simon today although it took him five enthralling sets to reach the third round of the Australian Open.

Fernando Verdasco saved three match points on his way to a stunning victory over Serbia’s Janko Tipsarevic in the second round of the Australian Open today.

Teenager Bernard Tomic has been granted a wild card for next week’s Australian Open along with Carsten Ball, Sally Peers and Sophie Ferguson, Tennis Australia announced today.

David Nalbandian was a convincing first-round winner at the Legg Mason Tennis Classic, but former champion James Blake was defeated in Washington.

Alex Bogdanovic has been overlooked for a wild-card entry into this year’s Wimbledon despite being Britain’s second-highest ranked player.

RAFAEL NADAL last night insisted he always plays badly in the first round of the French Open after a straight-sets success against plucky French teenager Gianni Mina.

Marat Safin began his final home tournament in style, beating Richard Gasquet 7-6 (7/5) 6-4 in the first round of the St Petersburg Open today.

The top two seeds in the men's draw at the Pilot Pen tournament in New Haven progressed into the third round today - although it was far from easy for Nikolay Davydenko.

LLEYTON HEWITT is targeting more Wimbledon success after dumping fifth seed Juan Martin Del Potro out in the second round.

Andy Roddick despatched Russian Igor Kunitsyn in four sets at Wimbledon today to set up a third-round clash with Jurgen Melzer.

World number two Roger Federer made a successful return since his Australian Open final defeat with a 7-6 (7/4) 6-4 win over Frenchman Marc Gicquel in the second round of the BNP Paribas Open.

Four-time defending champion Roger Federer began his bid for a first Grand Slam win of the season with a comfortable first round victory over Argentina’s Maximo Gonzalez at the Billie Jean King Tennis Center.

RICHARD GASQUET’S stay at the US Open was a short one after he lost 6-7 (3-7) 6-4 5-7 7-5 6-2 in the first round to Tommy Haas.

Only half of the eight seeded players remain in the draw heading into the quarter-finals of the Thailand Open.

RAFAEL NADAL was one point away from losing the first set before rallying to take command of his first-round match with American Robert Kendrick to move into the second round of the Australian Open in Melbourne.

Two-time former champion Lleyton Hewitt was knocked out of the ATP Next Generation Adelaide International on Thursday after losing his round-robin encounter with Russia’s Igor Kunitsyn in three sets.

The Kremlin Cup lost its two top seeds on Friday, but only one of them was beaten on the court.

Greg Rusedski was knocked out in the second round of the Kremlin Cup by Russian Igor Kunitsyn in Moscow.

Greg Rusedski believes his hard work in training is about to pay off as he closes in on taking over the British number one spot from Tim Henman.

Greg Rusedski eased into the second round of the Kremlin Cup with a straight-sets victory over Michael Llodra.