Victoria Azarenka's hopes of a remarkable comeback Australian Open victory crumbled under Angelique Kerber's winners on Wednesday but the Belarusian was pleased with solid three weeks Down Under that made her feel she had turned a corner.
Czech Karolina Pliskova stopped upset-maker Varvara Lepchenko in the semi-finals at the Bank of The West Classic in Stanford, California, on Saturday.
Serena Williams' relaxed outlook on life spilled over even in defeat on Saturday when she appeared to be almost as happy that Angelique Kerber had won her first Grand Slam final as the German herself.
Novak Djokovic will begin his Australian Open title defence against Frenchman Jeremy Chardy, while reigning women's champion Sofia Kenin meets wild card Maddison Inglis, following the draw for the year's first Grand Slam on Friday.
Fast-rising talent, Canadian Eugenie Bouchard thrashed German eighth seed Angelique Kerber 6-1, 6-2 to claim a quarter-final spot, crunching 30 winners in 52 dazzling minutes to stretch her winning run on clay to nine matches, at the French Open on Sunday.
At this year's Australian Open, the ladies brought back shorts centrestage.
World number one Ash Barty became the first Australian woman to win the Wimbledon singles title for 41 years on Saturday when she defeated Czech Karolina Pliskova in the final.
With professional tennis tours closed down until mid July at the earliest because of the coronavirus pandemic, an esports version of the claycourt event is being staged online. Nadal showed impressive fingerwork to beat young Canadian Denis Shapovalov in his opening round-robin match on a digital representation of the Spanish capital's Manolo Santana Stadium.
Venus Williams is planning to return to Wimbledon next year to make her 20th appearance confident in the belief that there is no such thing in life as impossible. The oldest woman in the draw at 36, Williams lost 6-4 6-4 to Germany's Angelique Kerber on Thursday but has enjoyed something of a renaissance in reaching her first grand slam semi-final since 2010. She returned to the world's top 10 last year following a frustrating run of results since she revealed in 2011 that she had been diagnosed with Sjogren's syndrome, an auto-immune disease that leaves her short of energy.
Following is a list of American Serena Williams' 22 grand slam singles titles as she equalled Steffi Graf's professional era record with victory at Wimbledon on Saturday
Images from Sunday's action at the Australian Open, in Melbourne.
Johanna Konta's exhilarating run at the Australian Open was finally halted by Angelique Kerber in the semi-finals on Thursday, but the Briton leaves Melbourne Park 'hungry' for more Grand Slam success.
Denmark's Caroline Wozniacki battled back after a mid-match slump to beat Angelique Kerber of Germany on Friday and book a place in the semi-finals of the Pan Pacific Open.
The year's final grand slam began with an upset as 13th-seeded Frenchman Richard Gasquet was upended 6-2 6-2 6-3 by Britain's world number 84 Kyle Edmund at the U.S. Open on Monday. Gasquet, who has reached the last 16 at Flushing Meadows four times in his career, was outplayed throughout and his U.S. Open experience lasted just one hour, 41 minutes.
Tennis Grand Slam champions Serena, Osaka and Kerber are top 3 in the famed list
Garbine Muguruza continued her dream debut at the WTA Finals by completing round robin play with a perfect 3-0 record to advance to the semi-finals after a hard fought 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 victory over Petra Kvitova on Friday.
Wozniacki battles past Kerber into Eastbourne final
Three-time US Open champion Djokovic, who comes into the tournament having won his fifth Wimbledon title, is followed in the seedings by 2017 winner Rafael Nadal.
Novak Djokovic barely got out of first gear but had more than enough in the tank to beat Briton Kyle Edmund 6-3, 6-3 in the second round of the Miami Open on Friday.
'I knew I was the underdog and I was just enjoying it'
So it is over. Two weeks of intriguing tennis where the world's best competed for the year's first Grand Slam. While the match-fixing report cast a shadow over the start of the Australian Open, the tournament gained momentum as it progressed. Rediff.com encapsulates the best moments from the Rod Laver Arena.
Former champion Caroline Wozniacki battled through a marathon encounter to upset fourth-seeded German Angelique Kerber 2-6, 6-4, 7-5 on Friday and reach her third BNP Paribas Open final in four years.
Andy Murray overcame a slow start and a third set service break to beat Taro Daniel 1-6, 6-2, 6-4 in the first round of Indian Wells on Friday and notch his 700th career win.
IMAGES from Day 2 of the US Open played at Flushing Meadows in New York on Tuesday.
A fan favourite, Naomi Osaka has struggled with uneven play since she withdrew from Roland Garros earlier this year amid a public row with tournament officials over required media appearances.
Standing in Czech Karolina Pliskova's way of achieving a first Grand Slam title is top seed Barty who is aiming to lift the Venus Rosewater Dish for the first time herself.
What happened on Day 3 of the French Open was more surprising. Two of the top five seeded women exited.
Victoria Azarenka moved a step closer to securing the year-end No. 1 ranking with a 6-7, 7-6, 6-4 win over Germany's Angelique Kerber at the WTA Championships on Wednesday.
The British number one will play Croatian Donna Vekic, 7-6(5), 3-6, 7-6(4) victor over Czech Lucie Safarova in the day's second semi-final, in the climax to the Wimbledon warm-up tournament on Sunday.
IMAGES from the Australian Open matches played on Monday
Wildcard Harriet Dart was probably surprised, therefore, when she looked up to see the Duchess of Cambridge sat in the front row of seats on Court 14 on Tuesday.
Defending champion Maria Sharapova will take on Li Na of China in the Italian Open final after a confident 6-3, 6-4 victory over Germany's Angelique Kerber in Rome on Saturday.
Challengers to Serena Williams' throne have proved as fickle as a Paris spring and as the year's second grand slam starts the veteran American is again seemingly in a league of her own. The 34-year-old's charge to overhaul Margaret Court's record 24 grand slam singles titles may have stalled since she chalked up major number 21 at last year's Wimbledon. But after fine-tuning her claycourt game by winning last week's Italian Open she will begin the defence of her French Open title as the strong favourite. With twice French Open champion Maria Sharapova suspended pending the findings of an anti-doping hearing after she tested positive for Meldonium in Australia this year, the list of players capable of toppling a fully firing Williams is short.
Kim Clijsters waved goodbye to Wimbledon on Monday after she was thrashed 6-1, 6-1 by German eighth seed Angelique Kerber.
Nadal set to face Kyrgios clash in second round
Serena Williams creates ripples with her latest outfit.
Images from Day 7 of the 2022 Australian Open at Melbourne Park on Sunday.
Rafael Nadal celebrated his 1,000th tour level match with a come-from-behind victory over German veteran Philipp Kohlschreiber to reach the fourth round of the Miami Open.
The 23-year-old Wimbledon champion, who climbed to the top of the WTA rankings on Monday, hardly broke sweat against the Frenchwoman, ranked 20th in the world, on her way to victory in an hour and 20 minutes.
Breeze though the outfits that caught the maximum shutterbugs at the final Grand Slam of the year.
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