Patty Schnyder's hopes of qualifying for the WTA Championship in Madrid were dealt a blow when she was beaten 6-2, 7-5 by Slovak Daniela Hantuchova in the first round of the Zurich Open.
India's Sania Mirza and her Swiss partner Martina Hingis stormed into the final of the women's doubles after a straight-sets victory against Germany's Julia Georges and Karolina Pliskova, at the Australian Open in Melbourne, on Wednesday.
Russia has appealed to Olympic authorities to restore its Olympic status and allow its athletes to march with the national flag on Sunday at the Winter Games closing ceremony, but it could be waiting until the last minute for a decision.
Indian tennis stars Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna advanced to the quarter-finals of the women's and mixed doubles events respectively after notching up contrasting victories with their partners at the Australian Open.
The 23-year-old Federer dominated the men's game this year, winning 11 titles including three Grand Slams and the Masters Cup.
Russian whistleblower Yulia Stepanova will not appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport over her ban on running as an independent athlete at the Rio Olympics, she said on Friday.
She will face the Serbian in the first round of Cincinnati Open in Ohio on Monday.
Sania Mirza slipped to 41 in WTA rankings after a first round exit at the French Open
The Russian said it is an open secret that Sania did not like playing on clay.
The Indian ace lost 6-4, 6-1 to Anastasia Myskina in the first round of the Grand Slam
The Indo-Aussie combination were beaten 6-2, 6-4 by Alona Bondarenko and Anastasia Yakimova
The Indian ace will meet former champion Anatasia Myskina in her opening match in the women's singles.
After losing a 38-stroke exchange midway through the second set, Myskina responded by cracking her racket.
India's tennis ace Sania Mirza and Cara Black showed nerves of steel as they saved three match points in the Super Tie Break against Kveta Peschke and Katarina Srebotnik to cruise into the summit clash of the WTA year-end finals, in Singapore on Saturday.
Anastasia Myskina won the singles and doubles titles at the Sunfeast Open
On a day of upsets at the Pacific Life Open, Australian Open runner-up Marcos Baghdatis beat 7th seed Gaston Gaudio.
Sania Mirza, world No. 17 Karolina Sprem of Croatia and Thai star Tamarine Tanasugarn have also confirmed for the September 19 to 25 WTA tournament.
"If someone wants to make a fashion statement they should go on stage, not on a tennis court," she said with Sharapova in mind.
Anastasia Myskina kept Russia's Fed Cup hopes alive by beating Moscow-born Tatiana Golovin in the second singles of the competition final against holders France.
Hot favourites Russia will take on an under-strength France in the Fed Cup final after both nations completed 5-0 wins in the semis.
The world number two said she wants to concentrate on the 2005 season.
The Russian ace was beaten by Nicole Vaidisova in the Family Circle Cup second round.
French Open champion Anastasia Myskina lost to 15-year-old Czech Nicole Vaidisova in the second round of the Family Circle Cup.
Russian Anastasia Myskina scraped past Israeli teenager Shahar Peer 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 to reach the third round of the Amelia Island Championship.
The American ace has won all 10 semi-finals she played this season and never failed to reach the title match in Zurich in the six years she has played the event.
"There was a misunderstanding with the translation because I didn't say that I'm not going to play at all," said Myskina.
Croatia's Karolina Sprem toppled an injured Elena Likhovtseva, the second seed in the semi-finals.
The Russian top seed beat Florida-based Shikha Uberoi to join Estonia's Kaia Kanepi and Croatia's Karolina Sprem in the last four stage of the Sunfeast Open.
The cool-as-cucumber Indian broke her rival in the second game, but was immediately broken back. However, Shikha kept up the good show to demolish Fujiwara in the fourth and eighth games to take the set.
