James Quizon

So much for an all-Swiss final in the first Grand Slam of the year; the world number did not allow it and instead is aiming for the 14th majors title of his career.

It’s an unlikely pair in the women’s singles final of the 2014 Australian Open, thanks to huge upsets top seeds Serena Williams, Victoria Azarenka and Maria Sharapova in earlier rounds.

When Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer meet Friday evening in the semifinals of the men’s singles competition of the 2014 Australian Open, more than a Grand Slam championship seat is at stake at the Rod Laver Arena.

Even with Kobe Bryant, the Los Angeles Lakers have always struggled against the mighty Miami Heat in recent meetings between the two storied franchises. On Friday (Australia time), the Hollywood team, without their leader who is still out because of an injury, is a 12-point underdog against the Florida squad looking to build a winning streak after struggling in the last two weeks.

This is not the best time to visit the Moda Center in Portland. The Trail Blazers are coming off disappointing results in their last two games and are pegged to respond big time when they host the Denver Nuggets, which are hoping to avoid a three-game losing skid.

When Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer meet on the hard court (or grass or clay), all of the sports world rejoice. For the fans, it is another opportunity for all the fans to watch two all-time great put in work against each other.

USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo and head coach Mike Krzyzewski have identified the 28-player pool for the national team in preparation for the 2014 World Cup of Basketball in Spain. Team USA will have about six months before they cut it down to 12 players—plus two as injured reserve— who will make the trip to participate in the tournament to be held from Aug 30 to Sept 14.

Giant-killer Stanislas Wawrinka is not done slaying big names. Next up for the Swiss is a semifinals date with Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic in the 2014 Australian Open on Thursday afternoon in Melbourne.

A former NBA All-Star, an ex-NFL cheerleader, a poker pro and the president of a sports franchise. They are just among the cast of the new “Survivor” which will start airing on Feb. 26 on the CBS channel in the United States of America.

The women's singles semifinals of the 2014 Australian Open was set on Tuesday after Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia and Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland beat separate higher-seeded rivals. Cibulkova and Radwanska face each other on Wednesday afternoon right after the match between Eugenie Bouchard of Canada and Li Na of China meet earlier in the day.

The Oklahoma City Thunder are on a high after turning away a hard-fighting Portland Trail Blazers on Tuesday night. The Kevin Durant-led squad takes on another West powerhouse team when the face the San Antonio Spurs in Texas in the second game of a back-to-back.

Although the Washington Wizards have reached the 0.500 mark at this point of the regular season, the Washington front office is apparently not contented with just mediocrity and wants to make a splash either via trade before the deadline.

Here’s an easy way to become a billionaire overnight: send in perfect bracket for the NCAA March Madness in 2014 and win a $1 billion prize!

After two straight convincing road wins over West rivals, the Portland Trail Blazer fell back to earth with a blowout loss to the Houston Rockets Monday. They’ll try to get back to the win column but have a tough one Wednesday when they face the Oklahoma City Thunder on the road.

11th seed Simona Halep of Romania faces 20th seed Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia in the first semis match-up and 5th seed Agnieska Radwanska takes on 2nd seed Victoria Azaranka of Belarus later on the day.

It was only a matter of time when two elite players meet at the 2014 Australian Open. With the top four seeds advancing to the quarterfinal round, the first grand slam of the year gets a marquee match-up in the final eight when Andy Murray of Great Britain faces Roger Federer of Switzerland. In the other QF match in the men’s singles on Wednesday, top seed and World No. 1 Rafael Nadal takes on unheralded 22nd seed Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria.

When the Milwaukee Bucks signed center Larry Sanders to a multiyear multimillion contract last summer they were expecting him to be one of the core pieces for yet another season or so of rebuilding themselves to being a contender.

35-year-old Vanessa-Mae who was born in Singapore but grew up in London is set to represent his father’s home country, Thailand in a skiing competition at the 2014 Winter Olympics after passing the qualification round in Slovenia over the weekend.

Behind the league’s number one defense, the Indiana Pacers have raced to the NBA’s best record with 32 wins against 7 losses. They’ve showed their defensive prowess the last four games containing opponent to just 84.7 points per game—even better than the 88.2 PPG average they give up for the season.

World No. 1 and top seed Rafael Nadal of Spain and fourth seed Andy Murray of Great Britain beat separate opponents on Monday to advance to the quarterfinal round of the men’s singles competition of the 2014 Australian Open.

So much for an acid road test, the Portland Trail Blazers are supposed to be challenge in a current four-game stretch against Western Conference contenders but have already passed with flying colours after winning convincingly over the San Antonio Spurs and Dallas Mavericks in their last two games.

The Brooklyn Nets are coming off a recent success abroad after winning against the Atlanta Hawks in London. They hope to bring the same effort when they return home to New York and face off with the Knicks on Sunday night.

Rajon Rondo is back for the Boston Celtics, but with the trade deadline roughly a month away, his return for the green may be short-lived as the rebuilding squad will look to trade him this season.

After the second and third seeds of the 2014 Australian Open advanced Sunday, it’s now the turn of 1st seed Rafael Nadal of Spain and 4th seed Andy Murray of Great Britain to prove their worth as the world’s top players as they face dangerous opponents in the third round of the tournament in Melbourne.

Three of the world’s top eight players— Novak Djokovic, David Ferrer and Stanislas Wawrinka already booked a place in the quarterfinals after hacking out separate victories on Sunday. A day later, it's the turn of the other top seeds, including Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Andy Murray to try to join them in the elite eight of the 2014 Australian Open.

Except for close second and third sets in separate matches for David Ferrer and Novak Djokovic, the top seeds had little trouble in their respective third round match-ups in the men’s singles competition of the 2014 Australian Open.

Rajon Rondo will be back playing in the NBA this Friday when his Boston Celtics face the Los Angeles Lakers as confirmed by Celtics team’s president of basketball operations Danny Ainge. Rondo is coming off the first major injury in his career tearing the ACL in his right knee in the 2012-2013 NBA season.

The Portland Trail Blazers (29-9) have impressed the basketball world with a surprising start in this NBA regular season. They will be put to test—if they are indeed legit contenders—when they face quality West teams in a road trip beginning against the San Antonio Spurs (31-8) on Friday night.

Since being trade by his former team, James Harden could only muster one win in four regular season games against the Oklahoma City Thunder, which also ousted Harden’s Houston Rockets in the 2013 NBA Playoffs.