The No.3-seeded Barty and Dellacqua had a bit of a slow start, falling behind 4-2 in the first set, but they found their range right away and eventually made it past their unseeded opponents, 75 64.

There was particularly big serving from Barty – she hit six of her team’s seven aces in the match.

“We played really well this week,” Dellacqua said. “We lost in the Australian Open final and we hadn’t really played together since then, so it’s been great to get our focus back as a team this week.”

“It’s been an amazing week,” Barty said. “We’ve been pretty fortunate not to come on and off too often because of the rain. We had to wait a bit to play the final, but it turned out great. We’re heading to Wimbledon now – I’ve never played doubles there before so I’m really looking forward to that.”

Barty and Dellacqua, who were indeed runners-up at the Australian Open this year to Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci, won their first WTA doubles title together. It is Dellacqua’s second WTA doubles title, her first coming earlier this year at Pattaya City with Kimiko Date-Krumm, while Barty – who just recently turned 17 years old – collected the first WTA title of any kind in her blossoming career.

Returning to grass in his favorite warm-up for Wimbledon, the top-seeded Federer looked lethargic until the middle of the second set, when he started hitting shots with confidence.

Federer won his first title since Cincinnati in August and his sixth in Halle, the first since 2008. Four of Federer’s seven Wimbledon titles have come after victories in Halle.

The former top-ranked player, who is now No. 3, won his 77th career title.

Federer will be looking to extend his record of 17 Grand Slam championships when he defends his title at Wimbledon.

A year ago, Rafael Nadal surpassed Bjorn Borg for the most titles at Roland Garros. Today in Paris, Nadal made even greater history, becoming the first man to win the same major tournament eight times after defeating countryman David Ferrer 6-3, 6-2, 6-3 in heavy conditions Sunday.

“The feeling on court was great. The match[es] against David are always difficult,” Nadal said. “I think the score is much easier than what the match was today. I think for moments I played great. I think a few moments in the match, I played at very, very high level.

“Eight times here is a lot. I never thought about that. But I will keep practising with the same passion and intensity to bring my tennis to the highest level possible.”

In triumphing, Nadal broke a tie with six other players for the most titles at a single Grand Slam event (see chart below). The Mallorcan captured his 12th major trophy, moving into a third place tie with Roy Emerson on the all-time list. He was presented the Coupe des Mousquetaires by six-time Olympic gold medalist and track superstar Usain Bolt. Tears filled Nadal’s eyes as Spain’s national anthem was played.

The Bryan’s were forced to work hard as the French pair started to mount a comeback in the 2nd and 3rd sets. After dropping the opening set, Mahut and Llodra were holding serve easily and keeping the pressure on the former champions.

While Mahut and Llorda took an early 2-0 lead in the 2nd, the Bryan’s broke back to level the set. From here, the French team could continue to hold serve relatively easily with a series of quality shots and excellent net skills which prevents the Americans from generating any further break point chances.

Mahut and Llodra would break in the 10th game of the 2nd set, 6-4.

The French team continued their top form, out-playing the Bryan’s and looked favorite to upset the top seeds.

But in the critical moments of the final set, the Bryan’s were able to rise up as they have many times in the past and took the final set in a tie-break.

Final score: 6–4, 4–6, 7–6(4)

The Bryan’s have now won the first two Grand Slams of 2013 and now have a strong chance to complete a Grand Slam.

It has been 11 years (to the day) since Serena Williams won her first Roland Garros title in 2002, but Serena continued her top form and claimed her 16th Grand Slam singles title in straight sets.

Early signs from Maria Sharapova indicated that she was ready retain her title after winning the opening 2 games. But Serena quickly showed why Sharapova has not defeated her since 2004, as she claimed the next 4 games.

Sharapova did eventually level the match at 4-4 but Serena would break and serve out the opening set 6-4.

Having never won a Grand Slam title after dropping the first set, Maria Sharapova was unable to make any breakthrough against the Williams serve in the 2nd set and was only able to hit 6 winners to Serena’s 20.

Serena would serve out the match in the 10th game of the 2nd set.

The victory marks Serena’s 31st consecutive match win and moves within 2 Slam titles of Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert on the all-time Grand Slam leader-board. Above them, is also Helen Wills Moody, Steffi Graf and Margaret Court.

Since loosing in the first round of Roland Garros last year, Serena Williams has lost only 5 games and has claimed 11 singles titles: 2012 – London (Wimbledon), Stanford, London (Olympics), New York (US Open), Istanbul (Tour Championships). 2013 – Brisbane, Miami, Charleston, Madrid, Rome and Paris (Roland Garros).

Nadal, who is chasing his 8th Roland Garros title on Sunday, has reached the final of every tournament he has played this year. Winning titles in Brasil, Acapulco, Indian Wells, Barcelona, Madrid and Rome. He was a runner up in Viña del Mar and Monte Carlo.

Halle tournament Director, Ralf Weber understands the decison Nadal has made to withdrawal.

“It is a pity and unfortunate that Rafael cannot come

But I understand his decision…his health is the top priority.

Rafael Nadal next scheduled tournament (following Roland Garros) will be the Wimbledon Championships, which he won in 2008 and 2010.

Novak Djokovic had a chance to take a 5-3 lead in the final set, but he fell onto the net while putting away an easy smash and gave Nadal a break-back point which he converted.

The World No. 5 currently holds a 58-5 record at Roland Garros, with his only defeat in Paris back in 2009 to Robin Soderling in the 4th round.

Nadal will contest the final on Sunday in bid to become the first man in history to win eight titles at one Grand Slam tournament.

Standing in his way is compatriot David Ferrer, who upset the French crowed y defeating Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in straight sets - 6-1, 7-6(3), 6-2. The victory marked the first time that David Ferrer has reached a Grand Slam final having lost all five of his Grand Slam semif-final matches.

Head-to-head, Rafael Nadal leads David Ferrer 19-4, however Ferrer has yet to drop a set all tournament.

The 2013 Roland Garros men’s final will be shown live at The Tennis Bulletin and will be available here.

The No. 1-ranked Williams’ opponent Saturday will be defending champion Maria Sharapova, who defeated Victoria Azarenka 6-1, 2-6, 6-4.

Against Errani, the runner-up last year, Williams took control by winning 26 of 34 points in the opening set. The match was 37 minutes old before Errani won a game, and the crowd responded with a roar as the Italian raised her arms in mock jubilation.

Williams was undeterred and extended her career-best winning streak to 30 consecutive matches. She improved to 20-3 in major semifinals.

The 15-time Grand Slam champion won her only Roland Garros title 11 years ago, beating sister Venus in the final.

The pair, who faced off in last year’s final, played over two days and won by Nadal in four sets, meet in the semi-finals this year after the Spaniard was seeded third following seven months out with a knee injury.

Nadal showed he had put his sluggish start to the tournament behind him with a convincing display against Wawrinka.

The Swiss ninth seed became frustrated early, smashing his racquet twice into the ground until it was a twisted mess after he failed to win a difficult rally while trailing 1-5 in the first set.

Wawrinka recovered enough to hold serve in that game but the damage was done.

Nadal was broken in the second set, allowing his opponent to move to 3-3, but he broke straight back and again in the last game to seal the set.

When the Spaniard raced away to a 5-0 lead in the third, there was little Wawrinka could do.

After dropping the opening set in each of his first two matches, Nadal has undoubtedly raised his level in his last two, extending his win-loss record at Roland Garros to 57-1.

“I’m happy the way that I played today especially, it was my best match in the tournament without any doubt,” Nadal said.

“I said I need to make a change. I was confident that I can do it and I did. So now I am in the semi-finals, three matches in a row without losing a set. Last two matches, I only lost one serve.

“That’s starting to be very positive numbers. Only numbers, but the most important thing at the end is the feeling, and the feeling is completely different. If I was not happy five days ago about my level, today I say I am happy that I am in the semi-finals.”

Djokovic, who has won six major titles, is trying to become the eighth man in history to complete a career Grand Slam by winning the only one that eludes him.

Things looked very shaky for Sharapova in the first set, with five winners being far outweighed by 20 unforced errors, and a rock solid Jankovic – who had just four unforced errors – rolling through it at love in just 29 minutes. Sharapova had never come back from a love first set in her whole WTA career – in fact, all five times it had happened before, she had never even pushed the match to a third set.

But she’s where she is in history for a reason, and right from the start of the second set the No.2-seeded Sharapova buckled down, putting together even numbers the rest of the way – 25 winners, 25 unforced – and willing her way past the No.18-seeded Jankovic after an hour and 58 minutes.

“I started the match off with a large number of unforced errors and her playing really well, smart, doing the right things, being consistent,” Sharapova said afterwards. “It was really the opposite for me.

“So I was really happy I was able to win the first two games of the second set. That was really important. You know, at least give her something to think about – she was a bit in cruise control for a long period of time. That was really important, and I’m really happy that I pulled through.”