Six-times champion Rafael Nadal booked his place in the third round of the Barcelona Open with a comprehensive 6-1 6-2 victory over Spanish compatriot Guillermo Garcia-Lopez today.

Andy Murray enjoyed a comfortable passage through his opening match at the Barcelona Open with a straight-sets victory over Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky today.

Venus Williams marked her return to competitive action for the first time in over six months with a straight-sets win over Kimiko Date-Krumm in the first round of the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami.

Novak Djokovic was pleased to have continued his untroubled progress through to the third round of the Australian Open today.

Serena Williams beat Bojana Jovanowski in the last 16 of the Brisbane International today – but then pulled out of the tournament with a sprained ankle.

Roger Federer was victorious if not entirely convincing in a 6-4 6-3 6-2 first-round win over Colombia's Santiago Giraldo at the US Open tonight.

Former world number one Andy Roddick won his first match since Wimbledon when he enjoyed a regulation straight-sets victory over Edouard Roger-Vasselin at the Winston-Salem Open.

RAFAEL NADAL stayed up late to watch his friend Rory McIlroy win golf’s US Open but was still fresh enough to start the defence of his Wimbledon title with a straight-sets win over Michael Russell yesterday.

Rafael Nadal got the defence of his Wimbledon crown off to a winning start as he saw off the challenge of the unheralded American Michael Russell on Centre Court this afternoon.

World number one Rafael Nadal was one of a host of seeds to progress into the third round of the Madrid Open today, with a mouth-watering showdown against Juan Martin Del Potro awaiting the Spaniard tomorrow.

Juan Martin Del Potro eased into the second round of the Sony Ericsson in Miami today.

Defending champion David Ferrer secured an easy passage though to the second round of the Abierto Mexicano Telcel Open in Acapulco.

Rafael Nadal continued his smooth progress at the Australian Open today to set up a third-round meeting with home favourite Bernard Tomic.

Top seed David Ferrer of Spain survived a scare to advance to the quarter-finals of the ATP Heineken Open in Auckland today but fourth-seeded compatriot Albert Montanes crashed out.

Andy Roddick made an impressive start to his 2011 season today with a straight-sets defeat of Australian Marinko Matosevic at the Brisbane International.

World number two Roger Federer was scarcely troubled as he progressed into the third round of the Paris Masters with a comfortable win over home favourite Richard Gasquet.

Marcos Baghdatis today became the biggest casualty of the US Open so far, the 16th seed losing in five sets to veteran Frenchman Arnaud Clement.

Two-time champion Andy Roddick was pushed to three sets before beating 46th-ranked Sergiy Stakhovsky in the opening round of the Cincinnati Masters today.

John Isner will put a sign on his door when he returns to Florida this weekend following his record-breaking Wimbledon marathon - gone fishing!

Roger Federer began the defence of his French Open title today with a comfortable victory over world number 71 Peter Luczak.

Novak Djokovic survived a second-set wobble to book his place in the French Open second round with a four-set opening victory over Evgeny Korolev.

Marat Safin’s French Open campaign was ended at the second-round stage by Serbia’s Janko Tipsarevic on Wednesday.