Britain's hopes of returning to the Davis Cup's elite World Group are on hold for another year. In the absence of Andy Murray and James Ward, Leon Smith's team were always likely to struggle to beat Belgium, who secured victory in their Europe/Africa Zone Group One tie in Glasgow yesterday when David Goffin beat Josh Goodall 6-4, 6-4, 6-4 in the first of the reverse singles.

Britain will go into their Davis Cup tie against Belgium in Glasgow on Friday without their two leading singles players.

Andy Murray made it through to the semi-finals of the Miami Masters with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory over Janko Tipsarevic last night. But it was far from easy as the Scot battled illness in a lengthy match.

Great Britain's hopes of returning to the Davis Cup World Group have been dealt a significant blow by the absence of Andy Murray for next month's clash with Belgium in Glasgow.

Write off Roger Federer at your peril. Four months after ending one of the longest title droughts of his career, the former world No 1 last night claimed his sixth tournament in his last eight appearances when he won the Indian Wells Masters. Federer beat John Isner, of the United States, 7-6, 6-3 to win the Californian title for a record fourth time.

Who needs Andy Murray? The absence of the world No 4 left Britain's Davis Cup team with an uphill task in their Europe Africa Zone Group One tie against Slovakia, but his replacement, Dan Evans, rose to the challenge for the second time in three days yesterday to secure a memorable victory at Glasgow's Braehead Arena.

Andy Murray will miss Great Britain's Davis Cup tie against Slovakia in Glasgow next weekend in order to recover from "a few minor injuries" picked up in Australia.

Nobody feels that Caroline Wozniacki is the rightful world number one and the Dane owes her top ranking to a flawed WTA system, according to Martina Navratilova.

Because of a major systems failure there was no internet access around Melbourne Park for more than four hours yesterday. Officials here at the Australian Open had to stay in touch via walkie-talkies, umpires had to record scores by putting pen to paper rather than typing into hand-held devices, photographers were unable to send their pictures around the world and reporters had to rediscover the fact that reference books can be as good a research tool as Google.

Judy Murray is in talks with the Lawn Tennis Association over becoming the new Fed Cup captain, Press Association Sport understands.

It is said that form and world rankings count for little in the Davis Cup. David Nalbandian and Eduardo Schwank proved the point here yesterday with an outstanding 6-4 6-2 6-3 victory over Spain's Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco to keep alive Argentina's chances of winning the 111-year-old competition for the first time in their history.

The 2004 Davis Cup win that first hinted at his potential has revived tired world No 2 for this year's final

Glasgow's Braehead Arena will host its second consecutive Davis Cup tie when Great Britain take on Hungary in September, the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) announced yesterday.