Serena and Venus Williams, three-time women's doubles Olympic champions, crashed out in the first round at the Rio Games on Sunday in one of the biggest upsets so far in women's tennis. The Williams sisters were beaten by the Czech Republic pair of Barbora Strycova and Lucie Safarova 3-6, 4-6.
Lucie Safarova made sure she left Roland Garros with at least one winner's trophy after the Czech left-hander and Bethanie Mattek-Sands won the women's doubles title on Sunday.
Bethanie Mattek-Sands and her partner Lucie Safarova won their first Grand Slam women's doubles title
The 13th seeded Czech proved too strong for Serb, who lifted the Suzanne Lenglen Cup in 2008, winning 7-5, 6-4.
Romanian fifth seed Simona Halep advanced to the third round of the U.S. Open with a 6-3 6-4 win over Lucie Safarova on Thursday in the first full match played under a closed roof at Arthur Ashe Stadium. The $150 million retractable roof was installed ahead of this year's tournament and guaranteed there would be at least some action on a muggy and overcast Day Four at the year's final grand slam.
World No 9 Lucie Safarova will miss this month's Australian Open as she has yet to regain full fitness following a bacterial infection last year, the Czech said on Friday.
World number one Serena Williams survived a mid-match meltdown to beat Czech Lucie Safarova 6-3, 6-7(2), 6-2 to win the French Open on Saturday, her 20th Grand Slam singles trophy.
Czech Lucie Safarova thrashed 2008 champion Ana Ivanovic 6-3, 6-3 to storm into the fourth round of the French Open in Paris, on Saturday.
Former champion Ana Ivanovic was at her brilliant, aggressive best on Tuesday. The seventh seed swept aside Ukraine's Elina Svitolina 6-3, 6-2 to storm into the French Open semi-finals.
World No 1 Serena Williams cruised into the quarter-finals of the Rogers Cup with a 7-5, 6-4 win over Lucie Safarova on Thursday but the Montreal tournament lost two of her potential title rivals when Maria Sharapova and Petra Kvitova were knocked out.
Images from the Australian Open women's final on Saturday.
Sania Mirza and her partner Bethanie Mattek Sands progressed to the third round of the women's doubles event with a three-set win over American pair of Lauren Davis and Megan Moulton-Levy in Paris.
Serena Williams is skipping practice on the eve of the French Open final as the World No 1 battles with illness, organisers said on Friday.
Czech Lucie Safarova took the final qualifying spot for the end-of-season WTA Finals after Spain's Carla Suarez Navarro was knocked out of the Kremlin Cup quarter-finals on Thursday.
Sania Mirza and her American doubles partner, Bethanie Mattek-Sands, made an early exit from the Madrid Open after losing their second round match in straight sets to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Lucie Safarova.
The fifth seed Indo-American pair had to work hard for a 7-6(3), 4-6, 10-4 victory over the Slovakian-Spanish combo of Daniela Hantuchova-Anabel Medina Garrigues.
Bethanie Mattek-Sands of the US and Czech Lucie Safarova fought back from the brink of defeat to steal the US Open women's doubles title, 2-6, 7-6(5), 6-4 over the French top seed partnership of Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic on Sunday.
Sania Mirza and her Czech partner Barbora Strycova suffered a straight-set loss against Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Lucie Safarova in the summit clash of the WTA Wuhan Open on Saturday. The third seeds lost 1-6 4-6 to the fifth seeded US-Czech pair of Mattek-Sands and Safarova in the finals of the USD 2,589,000 tournament that lasted a little over an hour.
Left-hander Safarova, the World No 17, broke Jankovic's opening serve before winning 6-1, 6-1 in front of a 14,000 capacity crowd at Prague's O2 Arena. She had won only one of their previous six encounters.
Maria Sharapova overcame more problems with her serve to beat Czech Lucie Safarova 6-2, 7-6 and reach the quarter-finals of the Pan Pacific Open on Wednesday.
The following is a timeline charting her rise to the top of the women's game:
Roberta Vinci sent Italy into the Fed Cup final for the fifth time in eight years with a 6-2, 6-7, 6-3 victory over CzechRepublic's Lucie Safarova in Palermo on Monday.
Top seed Simona Halep was pooled with grand slam winners Maria Sharapova and Flavia Pennetta in a formidable looking Red Group for the end-of-season WTA Finals on Friday.
American Bethanie Mattek-Sands and the Czech Republic's Lucie Safarova claimed their third consecutive grand slam doubles title with a convincing 6-2, 6-1 victory over Australian duo Ashleigh Barty and Casey Dellacqua at the French Open on Sunday.
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova overpowered Lucie Safarova 6-2, 6-4 in the second reverse singles to pull Russia level with the Czech Republic at 2-2 in their Fed Cup final on Sunday.
World number one and local favourite Caroline Wozniacki thrilled a rowdy crowd to win the Danish Open on Sunday for the second consecutive year.
Nothing, absolutely nothing could stop Serena Williams from completing the magnificent TWO-O on Saturday and the American joyously bounced around as she hoisted a Grand Slam singles trophy for the 20th time with victory at the French Open.
Kim Clijsters surged into the quarters-finals of the Eastbourne grasscourt tournament on Wednesday with a 6-1, 6-0 thrashing of Lucie Safarova.
Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin were forced to draw on their vast experience to avoid being eliminated from the Brisbane International on Thursday. The two Belgians, both back on the professional circuit after retiring from the sport, scraped through their quarter-finals to remain on course for a possible showdown in Saturday's final.
A battle-tested Serena Williams booked her spot in the semi-finals of the Toronto Cup on Friday after overcoming a sluggish start to grind out a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 win over Czech Lucie Safarova.
Former world number one Ana Ivanovic's alarming slump was prolonged by Czech Lucie Safarova in the first round of the Pan Pacific Open on Sunday.
Alisa Kleybanova won a riveting three hour, 16 minute 6-7, 7-6, 6-2 slugfest over fifth-seeded Serb Jelena Jankovic and her gritty performance earned her a loud ovation from an appreciative crowd and a Saturday date with Maria Sharapova.
World number two Serena Williams brushed aside qualifier Lucie Safarova 6-3, 6-2 on Friday to reach the semi-finals of the Toronto Cup and set up a mouth-watering clash with Elena Dementieva.
Third seed Venus Williams found herself on the brink of defeat before rediscovering her touch to beat Czech Lucie Safarova 6-7, 6-2, 7-5 and reach the third round of the French Open on Thursday. The American, who saved a match-point in the 10th game of the decider, will next face Hungary's Agnes Szavay, seeded 29th.
World number one Dinara Safina took a first step towards a second consecutive claycourt title by battling to a 6-3, 7-6 victory over Li Na at the Madrid Open on Wednesday.
Czech Lucie Safarova stunned world number five Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia 6-3, 6-4 to set up a semi-final clash with Belgium's Justine Henin at the Paris Open on Friday.
World No 7 Elena Dementieva came from a set down to defeat Czech Lucie Safarova 6-7, 6-1, 6-4 to win the Paris Indoor Open for the first time on Sunday.
Number one seed Elena Dememtieva reached the final of the Paris Indoor Open for the second year running on Saturday when she recovered from a set down to beat 18-year-old American Melanie Oudin 4-6, 6-3, 6-3. The Russian, ranked number seven in the world, will face Lucie Safarova in the final after the Czech also came from a set down to overturn the Italian second seed Flavia Pennetta 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Lucie Safarova ensured that Mauresmo's prayers went unanswered by humbling her 6-3, 7-6 in the third round.
Unseeded Safarova will take on Russian Nadia Petrova, who beat holder Amelie Mauresmo of France in the other semi-final.
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