Graeme McDowell emerged from a tightly packed field to snatch the early clubhouse lead in the US Open on Friday while several top players battled with the challenging Pebble Beach course.

World number one Rafael Nadal looks set for a tricky first week at Wimbledon with top seed Roger Federer having a potentially easier ride through to the quarter-finals after the draw for the third Grand Slam of the season made here on Friday.

Pebble Beach stymied the world’s top two golfers as Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson failed to find a birdie on Thursday in the first round of the US Open championship.
England’s Paul Casey, Zimbabwe’s Brendon de Jonge and American Shaun Micheel shared the first-round lead on two-under 69, squeezing past a group that had held sway on one-under 70.

South African openers Graeme Smith and Alviro Petersen got their team off to a bright start in the second Test against the West Indies here on Friday.
The visitors were 104/1 when rain stopped play forcing the players to take early lunch on day one. After electing to bat first at Warner Park, skipper Smith and Petersen were off the blocks quickly scoring at six per an over, as pacers Kemar Roach and Ravi Rampaul erred in length.

Australia’s Lleyton Hewitt defeated top seed Roger Federer of Switzerland to lift the ATP grass-court tournament here on Sunday.
Eighth seed Hewitt rallied from a set down to beat five-time Halle champ Federer 3-6, 7-6 (7/4), 6-4. Hewitt, the 2002 Wimbledon champion, moved closer to 100 grass-court match wins as he improved to a 98-23.

Morne Morkel served up a devastating spell of fast bowling as West Indies limped to 65/3 at lunch on the third day of the first Test against South Africa at the Queen’s Park Oval at Port of Spain in T

Former world number ones Roger Federer and Lleyton Hewitt are set to renew their rivalary when they meet in the final of the ATP grass-court Halle tournament here on Sunday.

Roger Federer made a victorious start to the grass court tennis season with a 6-4, 6-4 defeat of Finland’s Jarkko Nieminen in the first round of the ATP event here on Tuesday.

Top-ranked Serena Williams was eliminated in the French Open quarterfinals on Wednesday, squandering a match point and losing to Australian spoiler Samantha Stosur, 6-2, 6-7 (2), 8-6.

Lewis Hamilton took full advantage of a crash involving his two Red Bull rivals to claim victory and head Jenson Button home in a dramatic McLaren one-two in Sunday’s Turkish Grand Prix.