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.
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.
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.
Former world number one Maria Sharapova made a winning comeback to the tour on Wednesday following her 15-month doping ban, beating Italian Roberta Vinci in straight sets in the first round of the Stuttgart Grand Prix.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
World number one Dinara Safina scrambled past Italian Roberta Vinci 2-6, 7-5, 6-4 to reach the third round of the Cincinnati Open on Tuesday. World number 46 Vinci served for the match at 5-4 in the second set but her nerve failed her at the crucial time.
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.
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.
Inspired Vinci rallies to beat World No 1 and then tells US crowd: 'But today is my day. Sorry guys'
The Swiss beat third seed Francesca Schiavone 6-1, 6-2 at the Qatar Open
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.
Sara Errani beat doubles partner Roberta Vinci 6-3, 6-3 in a subdued all-Italian semi-final at the Dubai championships on Friday.
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.
'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'
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.
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.
Italian Roberta Vinci crushed the world number one's hope of completing a calendar grand slam by reaching the women's singles US Open final for the first time in her career.
Roberta Vinci beat her opponent and the rain to storm into the quarter-finals of the US Open on Monday just before a thunderstorm forced play to be suspended.
Defending champion Marin Cilic and unseeded Roberta Vinci were the first through to the quarter-finals of the US Open in New York, on Tuesday, and both needed to go the distance against tough French resistance.
Three fancied players did succumb on a cheerless day.
Following her US Open quarter-final win over elder sister Venus, the 21-year-old tennis player said that she did not want to answer any media queries, according to E! Online.
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.
India's Sania Mirza and Zimbabwe's Cara Black entered the final of the WTA China Open, shocking top seeds Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci of Italy 6-4, 6-4 on Friday. In doing do they extended their unbeaten run to eight matches, and Sania put herself in line for her fifth title of the season.
Roger Federer, who missed the French Open through injury, plays Guido Pella in the first round. Second seed Andy Murray faces an all-British first round against wildcard Liam Broady. Fourth seed Stan Wawrinka, Murray's prospective semi-final opponent, begins against American teenager Taylor Fritz.
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.
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.
'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'
In the ATP doubles, Leander Paes slid to 25, a loss of four places.
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.
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.
Pavlyuchenkova finally reached a Grand Slam final in her 52nd appearance
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.
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.
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.
The US Open women's semi-finals scheduled for Thursday evening have been postponed due to the threat of rain.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances