'She's a fighter on the court. She's playing really great, especially on the grass. She's attacking that ball really well. She doesn't let anything limit her'
Serena Williams stands just one match away from setting up another family showdown in the Wimbledon final after she hurtled into the last four with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Belarussian Victoria Azarenka on Tuesday.
They were each handed a torch in the Jardin des Tuileries after several top sporting names, including French soccer great Zinedine Zidane, Spain's 14-times French Open tennis champion Rafael Nadal, American 23-times Grand Slam winner Serena Williams and Romanian gymnastics great Nadia Comaneci.
The tournament will now begin on Tuesday, February 13.
Serena Williams' tactic of staying in her hotel room and being "boring" appears to be paying off after the world number one and top seed swept past Sara Errani into the final of the Madrid Open on Saturday.
The players from the States have won 34 Grand Slam singles titles in the last decade alone
Serena Williams beat France's Mathilde Johansson 6-2, 7-5 while Andy Murray disposed clay-specialist Jose Acasuso 6-4, 6-0, 6-4.
Jelena Jankovic reached the semi-finals of the Sony Ericsson Open after Elena Dementieva retired with a back injury.
The 37-year-old knows that if she wants to hoist the Rosewater Dish for an eighth time, she needs to improve in all departments.
Defending champion Roger Federer was paired with familiar foe Alejandro Falla when the draw for next week's Wimbledon championships was made at the All England Club on Friday. Women's holder Serena Williams will face Portugal's Michelle Larcher di Brito.
Victoria Azarenka suffered a stunning meltdown and blew three match points against world number one Serena Williams before losing 7-6(5), 3-6, 7-6(1) in the third round of the Madrid Open on Wednesday.
Champion Serena Williams, top seed Justine Henin and Rafael Nadal had things their way while booking fourth round slots at the Australian Open.
Angelique Kerber said her dreams came true in just over two hours on Rod Laver Arena on Saturday when she upset defending champion Serena Williams 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 to win the Australian Open.
A display of violent hitting from Robin Soderling on Saturday showed why it is always unwise to ignore a Swede at the business end of Wimbledon as Serena Williams gave herself a 'must do better' report as she eased into round four.
The American pulled out of the Hopman Cup match against Sania Mirza on Saturday after being down with a mild illness.
World number one Serena Williams kept her Wimbledon title defence on track on Sunday, downing Germany's Annika Beck 6-3, 6-0 with a crushing display of power and booming serves to chalk up her 300th grand slam victory.
The Australian Open champion pulled out at the last minute due to sickness.
Top seed Serena Williams and her older sister Venus led a foursome of American women into the Australian Open fourth round on Saturday.
World No 1 Williams, 33, could not practise on Friday, still suffering from an illness that left her coughing and spluttering during her three-set semi-final win over Swiss Timea Bacsinszky.
Serena was drawn on Friday to play doubles in a potentially decisive fifth rubber in this week's Fed Cup first round tie against the Netherlands in what will be her first competitive match in over a year. The doubles rubber, which is scheduled for Sunday on an indoor hard court in Asheville, North Carolina, will be played even if one side clinches the best-of-five match series through the opening four singles matches.
World No 1 Serena Williams fought her way to a 7-5, 7-5 win over defending champion Li Na to reach the final of the Western and Southern Open on Saturday and close in on one of the few titles to elude her.
Shikha Uberoi has been given a wild card entry to the Bangalore Open.
The world number one who won the Dubai Open on Saturday is hot favourite to complete a Gulf double at the Qatar Open.
Agassi and Mauresmo, both seeded fourth, hammered their way into the third round of the opening Grand Slam of the year.
Maria Sharapova has offered her congratulations to pregnant rival Serena Williams.
Poland's Iga Swiatek could become only the third woman since tennis turned professional in 1968 to win all of her first six major finals, joining Margaret Court and Monica Seles, but Swiatek is not taking the big-hitting Anisimova lightly.
Top seeds Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams face challenging early tests at the US Open following Friday's draws for the year's last Grand Slam starting on Monday.
Serena Williams has never been one to approach the net until it is time to exchange post-match pleasantries with an opponent but on Thursday she broke from tradition and it paid off with a trip to the U.S. Open final.
IMAGES from the Australian Open matches played on Friday.
Women's tour needed to change its rules for players that take maternity leave.
When it comes to tennis parties, there is none bigger than the WTA Pre-Wimbledon Party. Check out some images from the party.
Serena Williams has only played a handful of matches since her comeback from foot surgery and a life-threatening illness, but that won't deter her from attempting to reclaim the top spot as soon as possible.
Summary of sports events and persons who made news on Tuesday
World number one Serena Williams was at her lethal best as she crushed Romanian Simona Halep 6-0, 6-4 to romp into the semi-finals of the Western and Southern Open on Friday.
Russia's Ekaterina Makarova etched her name into Australian Open folklore on Monday by stunning Serena Williams 6-2 6-3 in their fourth-round match to end the American's aura of invincibility at Melbourne Park.
Sania jumped 35 places to 99 in the latest world rankings.
