The French Open has not produced a lot of happy memories for Venus Williams in recent times, but now that she's reached the third round for the first time in six years, the American hopes her 2016 adventure won't come to an abrupt end.
Defending champion Jelena Jankovic ousted fellow Serb Aleksandra Krunic to reach the Hong Kong Open third round on a rain-hit Wednesday with the other singles matches suspended. Jankovic, the seventh seed, took less than 90 minutes to seal a 6-4 6-3 win over Krunic, who made six double faults and was broken twice in the opening set. "She (Krunic) is a player who is very talented and I've known her a long time," Jankovic told reporters. "I used to be her mentor and now I play against her. It's amazing to see her grow up and come to this stage.
India's miserable campaign at the Wimbledon ended as defending mixed doubles champions Leander Paes and Martina Hingis were knocked out in the third round by scratch pair of Britain's Heather Watson and Finland's Henri Kontinen, who played their first match together.
Venus Williams avoided another early exit with a routine win over fellow American Alison Riske at the Volvo Car Open in South Carolina while Swiss second seed Belinda Bencic was ousted by Russian qualifier Elena Vesnina.
Hewitt, the 2001 champion, received his wildcard via a reciprocal agreement with Tennis Australia, which will grant an American a wild card into next year's Australian Open, and was among 16 players who received wildcard entries.
Indian tennis star Sania Mirza received a confidence booster ahead of the US Open Grand Slam tournament beginning, on Monday, with a doubles title victory at the Connecticut Open with Monica Niculescu of Romania, in New Haven, USA.