Top seed Rafael Nadal had to battle from a set down against big-serving Croatian Ivo Karlovic to secure himself a semi-final date with Juan Martin del Potro at the BNP Paribas Open.

THEY outlasted the scoreboard, which broke down trying to keep up with them, and little wonder.

Defending champion Rafael Nadal set up a blockbuster quarter-final against Andy Murray after they both overcame big-serving opponents at the Australian Open.

Reigning champion Rafael Nadal overcame a slow start to get the defence of his Australian Open crown off to a winning start against Peter Luczak in Melbourne today.

The Czech Republic and Spain both have one foot in the Davis Cup final after opening up 2-0 leads in their respective semi-final matches yesterday.

Roger Federer and Andy Murray stayed on course for a Wimbledon final clash with straight-sets victories in the quarter-finals today.

Roger Federer tamed the huge serve of Ivo Karlovic to glide into his 21st consecutive grand slam semi-final with the minimum of fuss on Centre Court.

ROGER FEDERER will face Robin Soderling in the fourth round at Wimbledon in a rematch of the recent French Open final.

Roger Federer will face Robin Soderling in the fourth round at Wimbledon in a rematch of the recent French Open final.

Rafael Nadal moved into the fourth round at the US Open after a push in the second set opened up a closely contested match, lifting him to a 6-4 6-3 6-0 victory over Viktor Troicki of Serbia yesterday.

Andy Murray booked his place in the Cincinnati Masters final with a commanding win over big-serving Croatian Ivo Karlovic.

Roger Federer’s grip on the world number one spot could be loosening after the Swiss crashed out of the Cincinnati Masters at the hands of Ivo Karlovic last night.

Rafael Nadal beat Tommy Haas in the third round of the Western & Southern Financial Group Masters in Cincinnati last night to edge closer to ending Roger Federer’s record run as world number one.

Roger Federer crashed out of the Cincinnati Masters at the hands of Ivo Karlovic.

After wins for Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic, it was Rafael Nadal’s turn to begin his Wimbledon campaign today with a first-round match against Germany’s Andreas Beck.

For the first time since 1990 the top four seeds were today contesting the semi-finals in the Artois Championships, but Andy Murray’s injury was the talk of Queen’s Club yesterday.

Andy Murray advanced to the quarter-finals of the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells by edging to a 7-6 (9/7) 6-7 (3/7) 6-3 over world number 20 Ivo Karlovic.

Top seed Roger Federer eased past Nicolas Kiefer 6-3 6-2 on Friday to secure a semi-final place in the Davidoff Swiss Indoors event.

Roger Federer rolled into the quarter-finals of the 1.2 million Swiss Indoors tournament Thursday with a 6-1 6-4 victory over unseeded Argentinian Juan Martin Del Potro.

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

Tommy Haas relinquished his place in the world top 10 after crashing out of the US Clay Court Championships, while James Blake battled into the last four with a hard-fought victory over Argentinean Juan Monaco.

Mark Philippoussis is relishing his big Centre Court showdown with in-form Marat Safin today.

TIM HENMAN won his first-round match against Ivo Karlovic in the US Open at Flushing Meadows yesterday. The British number one was 2-1 down but grafted his way to a fifth set before out-classing his opponent in the decider.

Wimbledon number one seed Roger Federer stormed into the quarter-finals with a straight-sets dismissal of towering Croat Ivo Karlovic on court one.

ANDY RODDICK and Venus Williams had the Stars and Stripes flying proudly over centre court as the two Americans powered into the fourth round at Wimbledon yesterday.

Ivo Karlovic – the tallest man in Wimbledon history – stretched his improbable Wimbledon progress into the third round today.

TOWERING Ivo Karlovic starred in his own fantastical Wimbledon fairytale yesterday, beating champion Lleyton Hewitt to create history on the world’s most famous tennis stage.

Lleyton Hewitt began the defence of his Wimbledon crown in impressive style this afternoon when he won the first set of his first round match against Ivo Karlovic.