Dinara Safina made a scrappy start to her Beijing duel with Serena Williams for the world number one spot by beating Italian Roberta Vinci 6-4, 6-4 in the first round of the $6.6 million China Open on Sunday.
IMAGES from Day 9 of the Wimbledon Championships, at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, London, on Tuesday.
Serena Williams' bid for a rare calendar-year Grand Slam came to a shuddering halt at the U.S. Open on Friday when the three-times defending champion suffered a stunning 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 loss to unseeded Italian Roberta Vinci.
Three fancied players did succumb on a cheerless day.
Top seeds Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci of Italy produced a great escape as they beat Russia's Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 to retain the Australian Open women's doubles title.
Flavia Pennetta reached her first grand slam semi-final after beating Roberta Vinci 6-4, 6-1 in their all-Italian quarter-final at the US Open on Wednesday.
Roberta Vinci, playing in her first grand slam singles final, lost twice at the US Open on Saturday after coming up short in an all-Italian clash against her closest friend on tour.
Inspired Vinci rallies to beat World No 1 and then tells US crowd: 'But today is my day. Sorry guys'
Williams reached the final of the mixed team event earlier this year with American compatriot John Isner to kick off a superb season where she won the Australian and French Opens and Wimbledon to take her grand slam singles haul to 21.
Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza and her Zimbabwean partner Cara Black were halted in their stride by the world No 1 Italian pair of Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci in the women's doubles quarter-finals at the Australian Open in Mlebourne on Tuesday. The sixth seeds lost 2-6, 6-3, 4-6.
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.
Flavia Pennetta beat unseeded Italian compatriot and childhood friend Roberta Vinci 7-6(4) 6-2 to win the US Open women's singles title on Saturday.
India's Sania Mirza and her American partner Bethanie Mattek-Sands crashed out of the Sony Open Miami Masters after losing their women's doubles quarter-final match against world No.1 pair of Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci in straight sets at Crandon Park.
Top-ranked Roger Federer continued his dynamic US Open form in near-tropical conditions on Saturday while fourth seed Serena Williams braved the steaming heat to avenge a shock defeat she suffered in January.
Sara Errani beat doubles partner Roberta Vinci 6-3, 6-3 in a subdued all-Italian semi-final at the Dubai championships on Friday.
Czech Petra Kvitova defeated titleholder Agnieszka Radwanska 6-2, 6-4 in the Dubai Championships on Thursday to set up a semi-final against Caroline Wozniacki.
'I was trying to play every match like it was my last one. Trying to play best all the time' 'For me it is easy to practise and stay in this life but sometimes it is hard to compete'
Serena Williams had been a vulnerable conqueror at this year's majors, living dangerously and dicing with defeat on numerous occasions as she tried to become only the fourth woman to complete the calendar Grand Slam.
Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina claimed their maiden grand slam title together by beating Italian top seeds Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci 7-5, 6-2 in the French Open women's doubles final on Sunday.
World No. 1 Victoria Azarenka and Maria Sharapova stayed on track for a mouth-watering showdown in the final of the Indian Wells WTA tournament while defending champion Caroline Wozniacki was beaten by Ana Ivanovic on Tuesday.
Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci wore down local hopes Ashleigh Barty and Casey Dellacqua 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 to become the first Italian pair to win the women's doubles at the Australian Open on Friday.
Rohan Bopanna and his Chinese partner Jie Zheng reached the mixed doubles quarterfinals at the Wimbledon with a straight-set victory over the Italian pair of Daniele Bracciali and Roberta Vinci.
Sara Errani warmed up for her singles final by teaming up with fellow Italian Roberta Vinci to win the French Open women's doubles title on Friday by beating seventh-seeded Russians Maria Kirilenko and Nadia Petrova 4-6, 6-4, 6-2.
Following is a list of biggest shocks in women's tennis after Italian outsider Roberta Vinci, ranked 43rd, beat world number one Serena Williams in the US Open semi-finals on Friday to deny the American a chance to complete a calendar year Grand Slam.
Sania Mirza and her American partner Bethanie Mattek-Sands entered the women's doubles third round with a straight-set win on a mixed day for the Indians in the US Open.
American tennis ace Serena Williams has maintained her No 1 spot, while German Angelique Kerber has slipped to the third in the latest women's tennis world rankings issued by the WTA.
India's tennis ace Sania Mirza and her Swiss partner Martina Hingis continued their stupendous run by clinching their 25th victory together to enter the final of the Brisbane International Tennis Tournament in Brisbane, on Friday.
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.
Leander Paes is in line for two titles at the Australian Open. The Indian ace and Russia's Elena Vesnina staged a grand recovery to enter the mixed doubles final, even as Sania Mirza and Mahesh Bhupathi bowed out after their semi-final defeat on Friday.
Russians Svetlana Kuznetsova and Vera Zvonareva ground down the Italian pairing of Roberta Vinci and Sara Errani 5-7, 6-4, 6-3 to win the Australian Open women's doubles title on Friday.
Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi dropped his busy weekend schedule and headed to New York on Saturday for the first all-Italian women's final at the US Open.
World number one Novak Djokovic received a free pass into the third round of the U.S. Open when Jiri Vesely of the Czech Republic withdrew from their match on Wednesday due to a left forearm injury. The walkover provided the top-seeded defending champion with an extended break to improve his niggling left wrist injury before his next match against either Guido Pella of Argentina or Mikhail Youzhny of Russia.
Sania Mirza and her Russian partner Elena Vesnina made a shock first round exit from the WTA Rogers Cup tennis tournament, losing to the Italian pair of Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci on Wednesday. he fifth-seeded Indo-Russian pair squandered a set's lead and eventually went down 6-2, 0-6, 7-10.
World number one Caroline Wozniacki suffered a shock exit from the Toronto Cup on Wednesday, falling 6-4, 7-5 to Italy's Roberta Vinci in windy conditions that played havoc with her game.
Francesca Schiavone repeated her French Open final triumph over Samantha Stosur on Sunday as Fed Cup holders Italy completed a 4-1 victory over Australia in their World Group last eight tie.
The following is a timeline charting her rise to the top of the women's game:
Simona Halep has moved back to the top five in the latest women's tennis world rankings issued by the WTA, after clinching her first title in over a year at the Madrid Masters.
Pavlyuchenkova finally reached a Grand Slam final in her 52nd appearance
Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza is back in the top 10 of the women's doubles ranking after rising two places to ninth.
'I don't know. It's tough to explain my emotion right now. Maybe tomorrow morning I can tell you something, but now it's amazing'
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