Caroline Wozniacki dragged herself back from the brink to power into the semi-finals of the Australian Open with a gritty 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 win over a dogged Francesca Schiavone on Tuesday.
Elena Dementieva lost 6-4, 6-2 to Italy's Francesca Schiavone at the WTA Championships on Friday before stunning the crowd by announcing her retirement from tennis.
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Caroline Wozniacki rolled up her sleeves and battled back from a set down to defeat Francesca Schiavone of Italy 3-6, 6-1, 6-1 at the WTA Championships on Thursday, sewing up the year-end world number one ranking.
Sania Mirza's campaign ended with a straight-set defeat in the women's doubles' third round on a disappointing day for the Indians at the Australian Open in Melbourne on Sunday.
Third seed and home favourite Mikhail Youzhny beat Serbia's Janko Tipsarevic 6-7, 6-0, 6-4 in a see-saw Kremlin Cup final on Sunday to win his fifth ATP title.
Italy's newly crowned French Open champion Francesca Schiavone fell at the first hurdle at Wimbledon on Monday, losing 6-7, 7-5, 6-1 to Russian Vera Dushevina.
It took 12 years of hard graft to finally realise her dream but Francesca Schiavone said the long wait made her French Open title taste even sweeter.
An inspired Francesca Schiavone became the first Italian woman to win a Grand Slam singles title on Saturday when she beat Australia's Samantha Stosur in the final of the French Open.
French Open champion Li Na was upset 6-2, 5-7, 7-6 by Czech qualifier Petra Cetkovska in the semi-finals of the New Haven Open on Friday. Cetkovska, ranked a career-high 40th, will face world number one Caroline Wozniacki in Saturday's final, the Dane having beaten Italy's Francesca Schiavone 7-6, 6-3 in the last four.
Francesca Schiavone can offer plenty of ideas about how to succeed on clay. When it comes to grass, however, she has only one suggestion.
Italian top seed Flavia Pennetta advanced to the final of the Auckland Classic after thumping doubles partner Francesca Schiavone 6-3, 6-0 in under an hour on Friday
A gale force in the shape of Roger Federer blew aside local favourite Gael Monfils 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 on a blustery Tuesday at the French Open as the Swiss set up a mouth-watering French Open semi-final with Novak Djokovic.
Sania Mirza suffered her fourth successive defeat, a straight set mauling, at the hands of Italian Francesca Schiavone and crashed out of the ASB Classic WTA tournament in Auckland on Wednesday. The Indian ace lost 0-6, 3-6 to her fourth seeded opponent in the second round of the US $220,000 hard court event, thus making a disappointing start to the season. She also lost in the doubles.
Indian tennis star Sania Mirza will pair up with former doubles number one Virginia Ruano Pascual of Spain in the Australian Open next month.
Svetlana Kuznetsova reached the final of the Dubai Championships by beating Serbian fourth seed Jelena Jankovic 5-7, 6-4, 6-3.
Sania Mirza and Francesca Schiavone's were handed a straight-set defeat by Spanirad Arantxa Parra Santonja and Edina Gallovits of Romania at the doubles event of the USD 220,000 Hobart International WTA tournament on Wednesday.
Sania Mirza, playing her first competitive match since a long injury lay-off, along with her Italian partner Francesca Schiavone reached the doubles quarter-finals of the USD 220,000 WTA Hobart International tournament on Monday.
Sania Mirza's brilliant run at the WTA Japan Open ended with a crushing 2-6, 1-6 mauling in the semi-final against world number 26 and fourth seed Francesca Schiavone in Osaka, on Saturday. Sania's defeat meant that the Indian has now lost all three encounters against her Italian friend.
The Indian tennis ace made the grade after Argentina's Marian Bartoli conceded their quarter-final when trailing 4-6, 0-2 in Osaka on Friday.
Sania Mirza crashed out of the women's doubles after losing a thriller but Mahesh Bhupathi advanced to the second round of the mixed doubles at the US Open in New York. Fourteenth seeds Sania and Francesca Schiavone of Italy made a smart recovery from a set down but failed to deliver at crucial points in the decider to lose 2-6, 6-1, 5-7 against the unseeded duo of Gisela Dulko of Argentina and Shahar Peer of Israel in a 125-minute second round match.
Sania Mirza and her Italian partner Francesca Schiavone crashed out of the doubles event of the US$ two million Cincinnati Open following a straight sets defeat against top seeds Cara Black and Liezel Huber. The unseeded Indo-Italian pair lost 4-6, 3-6 to the Zimbabwean-American combination in one hour and 14 minutes in the second round of the WTA event.
A jet-lagged Andy Murray won his opening match of the year on Monday but it was not enough to prevent Britain from losing 2-1 to Italy in the Hopman Cup mixed team event.
World number three Venus Williams followed her sister Serena out of the Madrid Open Tuesday when she was beaten 6-3 3-6 7-5 by unseeded Russian teen-ager Alisa Kleybanova in the second round.
World number two Serena Williams retired from her first-round match against Francesca Schiavone at the Madrid Open Monday with a knee injury after losing the first set to the Italian.
Italy overthrew champions Russia 4-1 on Sunday to book a Fed Cup final meeting with the United States, who staged a stunning comeback to grab a 3-2 win in the Czech Republic.
Italy overthrew champions Russia 4-1 on Sunday to book a Fed Cup final meeting with the United States, who staged a stunning comeback to grab a 3-2 win in the Czech Republic. Francesca Schiavone beat Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 7-6, 4-6, 6-2 to seal victory in the fourth rubber of the semi-final for 2006 winners Italy, who were at home on clay at Castellaneta Marina.
Anabel Medina Garrigues and Virginia Ruano Pascual claimed the women's doubles crown at the French Open.
Flavia Pennetta and Francesca Schiavone gave Italy a shock 2-0 lead over champions Russia, while the United States and the Czech Republic were level at 1-1 after day one in the Fed Cup semi-finals on Saturday. Pennetta swept past an out-of-sorts Anna Chakvetadze 6-4, 6-0 in windy conditions at Castellaneta Marina before Schiavone fought back to beat Svetlana Kuznetsova 1-6, 6-2, 6-3.
The 19-year old Indian and Ana Ivanovic of Serbia beat Italy's Maria Elena Camerin and Tathiana Garbin at the Nasdaq 100 Open.
Pavlyuchenkova finally reached a Grand Slam final in her 52nd appearance
Venus Williams remained on course for a strong end to an inconsistent season when the American beat Italy's Francesca Schiavone 6-3, 6-3 to reach the Zurich Open semi-finals on Friday. Third-seeded Williams will face Serbian second seed Ana Ivanovic on Saturday after the world number four saw off Czech qualifier Petra Kvitova 6-1, 6-4.
Svetlana Kuznetsova and Anna Chakvetadze recorded contrasting victories against Italian opponents in Moscow.
They beat wild cards Svetlana Kuznetsova and Amelie Mauresmo 6-4, 6-4 in the first round at the Dubai Open.
The Russian swept aside Slovenia's Katarina Srebotnik at the Linz Open on Tuesday.
In the semi-finals of the Luxembourg Championship the teenager will play Italian fifth seed Francesca Schiavone.
Leander Paes, who teamed with Martin Damm for his seventh Grand Slam triumph on Saturday, moved into the top 10 of the doubles rankings.
Svetlana Kuznetsova beat Francesca Schiavone 4-6, 7-6, 7-5 to give Russia their third Fed Cup title.
The Indian ace was beaten by Francesca Schiavone of Italy at the Ordina Open.
They beat Australia's Nicole Pratt and Bryanne Stewart 6-2, 6-3 in the quarter-finals of the Bausch and Lomb Championships.
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