Former world number one Maria Sharapova stormed into the Pan Pacific Open semi-finals by outfoxing Czech Iveta Benesova 6-4 7-5 on Thursday.
The 26-year-old American, winner of eight Grand Slam titles, had pulled out of the event last year due to illness.
Champion Serena Williams, top seed Justine Henin and Rafael Nadal had things their way while booking fourth round slots at the Australian Open.
Sania Mirza tamed world No 51 Anna-Lena Groenefeld 6-2, 2-6, 6-2 to advance to the second round of the ladies singles at Wimbledon on Monday. The Indian ace next faces 28th seed Sorana Cirstea of Romania, who beat countrywoman Edina Gallovits 7-5, 6-1.
Former winner Maria Sharapova, her Russian compatriot Anna Chakvetadze and Serb Ana Ivanovic joined world number one Justine Henin in the semi-finals of the WTA Championships on Thursday.
Serena Williams' bid for the Italian Open was squashed in her first match on Tuesday when the American second seed lost 6-2, 2-6, 6-1 to Swiss Patty Schnyder. French Open champion Ana Ivanovic beat Italian Francesca Schiavone 6-3, 6-4 and seventh seed Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia had a comfortable 6-3, 6-3 win over Slovak Daniela Hantuchova.
The Indo-US duo beat Severine Bremond and Jelena Jankovic in the first round of women's doubles.
Venus Williams edged sister Serena 6-1, 2-6, 7-6 (3) on Friday to reach the final of the Dubai Championships.
Sania Mirza's challenge in the WTA Dubai Open ended on Thursday when she, along with her Italian partner Mara Santangelo, were beaten by the American-Zimbabwean combine of Liezel Huber and Cara Black in the second round.
Local favourite Amelie Mauresmo reached the final of the Paris Open with a 6-2, 0-6, 6-1 victory over second seed Jelena Jankovic on Saturday. The Frenchwoman, who won the tournament in 2001 and 2006, next faces Olympic champion Elena Dementieva after the third seed from Russia went through when Serena Williams pulled out injured.
Serena Williams thrashed Russia's Dinara Safina 6-0, 6-3 on Saturday to win the Australian Open title and reclaim the world number one ranking. The American raced to victory in just 59 minutes to capture her fourth singles title at Melbourne Park, after her previous wins in 2003, 2005 and 2007, and her 10th Grand Slam overall.
Serbia's tennis titans locked in their second round Australian Open spots on Monday while Andy Roddick scorched a sacrificial Swede and Roger Federer schmoozed his way through on Day One of the year's first Grand Slam. Ana Ivanovic, Jelena Jankovic and Novak Djokovic flew through early at Melbourne Park as did Roddick. Federer was a delight under the stars, finessing his way to round two with a 6-1 7-6 7-5 win over Italy's Andreas Seppi.
Venus Williams secured her place in the semi-finals of the WTA Championships when she completed her round-robin matches with a comprehensive 5-7, 6-1, 6-0 win over her sister Serena on Thursday. It was the first time Serena had lost a set 6-0 since the 2007 Miami final, after which she recovered to defeat Justine Henin for the title.
Serena Williams hurled her racket skyward and bounded up and down in joy after winning her third US Open title with a 6-4, 7-5 victory over Jelena Jankovic of Serbia in the women's final on Sunday.
Sania Mirza dropped 10 places to 60 while Somdev Devvarman rose to 320 in the rankings list released on Monday.
Dinara Safina reached the French Open final with a 6-3, 6-2 win over fellow Russian and fourth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova on Thursday.
Roger Federer, Venus Williams and Jelena Jankovic all ran into a spot of bother on Monday before emerging unscathed to kick-start their French Open campaigns.
Serena Williams reached the Family Circle Cup semi-finals on Friday by beating number two seed Maria Sharapova 7-5, 4-6, 6-1 while Vera Zvonareva upset top seed Jelena Jankovic 6-2, 3-6, 6-2. Sharapova, who won only nine of 35 points in a final set during which Williams made only one unforced error, lost to the American for the fifth time in seven career matches.
The writing was on the wall only a couple of games into the match. Patty Schnyder had come with a specific game plan and she executed it to perfection. The fourth seeded Swiss beat China's Zi Yan 6-3, 6-4 in an hour and 15 minutes to advance to the final of the WTA Tier II Bangalore Open on Saturday.
Second seed Venus Williams avoided a second defeat within 24 hours at the hands of Shuai Peng as she scraped past the Chinese in the second round of the WTA Bangalore Open on Thursday evening.
The Russian swept aside Danish teenager Caroline Wozniacki to set up a clash with Polish teenager Agnieszka Radwanska.
Fifth seed Maria Sharapova crushed Jelena Jankovic, while Ana Ivanovic recovered from a terrible start to beat Daniela Hantuchova in the Australian Open semi-finals.
Russian Maria Sharapova produced a blistering performance to overpower world number one Justine Henin 6-4 6-0 in the Australian Open quarter-finals on Tuesday.
Justine Henin and Maria Sharapova set up an explosive Australian Open quarter-final with crushing wins.
Justine Henin qualified for the WTA Championships semi-finals with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Jelena Jankovic.
World No 1 Serena Williams showed her determination to defend her WTA Championships title by sweeping to a 6-3, 6-1 win over Angelique Kerber at the season-ending event on Tuesday.
The Belgian was joined by Svetlana Kuznetsova, Jelena Jankovic and Tatiana Golovin in the semi-finals of the Stuttgart Open.
Lindsay Davenport defeated second seed Daniela Hantuchova 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 to win the Bali Classic.
World number one Justine Henin and second seed Jelena Jankovic refused to be blown off course by recording quarter-final wins on a wild and windy day at the Toronto Cup on Friday.
The world number one beat China's Peng Shuai 7-5, 6-2 in the third round.
Maria Sharapova pulled out before her Los Angeles Classic semi-final against Nadia Petrova with a strain in her lower left leg.
The Indian ace was shown the door by the eighth seeded Italian in the second round of the Birmingham DFS Classic.
Novak Djokovic beat Russia's Igor Andreev 6-3, 6-3, 6-3 to reach the semi-finals of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time.
Maria Sharapova made it to her maiden semi-finals of the French Open by beating fellow Russian Anna Chakvetadze 6-3, 6-4.
The third seeded Russian rallied to beat the American to reach the semi-finals of the Warsaw Cup.
Top seed Nadia Petrova made short work of China's Zheng Jie with a 6-2, 6-3 victory to move into the quarter-finals of the Amelia Island championship on Thursday.
Top seed Justine Henin rallied from a set down to beat Jelena Jankovic and reach the final of the Qatar Open.
Justine Henin knocked out Swiss Patty Schnyder 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 to reach the Qatar Open semi-finals.
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