The 31-year-old Novak Djokovic had to contend with a more stubborn Chardy in the second set.

Novak Djokovic reached his first title match for a year with a straight sets win over Jeremy Chardy at Queen's Club.

Nicolas Almagro withdrew from the Australian Open due to a calf injury when he was 0-4 down in the first set against France's Jeremy Chardy, but walked away with a Aus $50,000 (USD 37,400) cheque as a first-round loser

Leander Paes-Jeremy Chardy proved to be no match to Austria's Oliver Marach and Fabrice Martin of France, going down 2-6, 4-6 in the first round.

Leander Paes and Jeremy Chardy suffered a 2-6 3-6 defeat to to defending champions Bob and Mike Bryan.

Juan Martin Del Potro dispatched fifth seed Jeremy Chardy 6-2, 6-3 in the Delray Beach quarter-finals.

Leader Paes and Jeremy Chardy staged a strong comeback to register a 6-3, 4-6, 10-6 victory over Marcel Granollers and Sam Groth.

Juan Martin del Potro entered the ATP Delray Beach Open as a wildcard. This was his only the second match of his comeback after sitting out for nearly a year.

Leander Paes-Jermey Chardy brushed aside fourth seeded American combination of Eric Butorac and Scott Lipsky 6-4, 7-5 at the Delray Beach Tennis Center.

Roger Federer was outplayed for large parts of the match but lifted when it mattered to beat the eighth seeded Chardy in three sets 6-3, 6-7 (3/7), 6-3.

The top seed in Beijing remained on course to reclaim the title he won last year after he defeated Fernando Verdasco 7-5, 2-6, 6-2, while women's top-ranked player Serena Williams also edged into the last eight.

It was a comfortable win for the Spaniard Fernando Verdasco despite first set heroics by Somdev Devvarman. Verdasco faces Novak Djokovic in the next round.

Ranked 97, the Indian ace recorded a 3-6 7-6(5) 6-3 win over his rival, who is placed 12 places above Somdev, in the second and final round of the qualifying event.

Marc Lopez and Fernando Verdasco both won reverse singles matches on Sunday to give Spain a 5-0 sweep of Ukraine in their Davis Cup World Group playoff.

Spain lead Ukraine 2-0 in World Group play-off after the US Open champion thrashed Sergiy Stakhovsky 6-0, 6-0, 6-4.

The 15th seeded Monfils will Friday face off for a place in the final when he takes on Ukrainian tenth seed Alexandr Dolgopolov, who beat Lu Yen-hsun of Taiwan 7-6 (7/2), 6-3.

Federer will test his new larger racquet at the Swiss Open this week and will make a decision later on whether to use it in the run-up to the US Open.

It was the second ATP final of the 30-year-old Argentine's career.