Elena Rybakina put on a brilliant performance to defeat favourite Aryna Sabalenka 64, 46, 64 and lift her first Australian Open trophy.
The last of the reigning women's Grand Slam champions was shown the door at the US Open Tuesday when error-prone French Open winner Li Na succumbed to unseeded Romanian teenager Simona Halep 6-2, 7-5.
Roger Federer battered Adrian Mannarino so badly in a 6-2, 6-3, 6-2 romp on Thursday that the Wimbledon crowd began to root for the sorry Frenchman rather than their beloved six-times champion.
Images from the Friday's play at the Australian Open.
Images from the women's singles final at the French Open in Paris on Saturday.
Kim Clijsters won her second straight Grand Slam title and the fourth of her career beating China's Li Na to clinch the Australian Open crown on Saturday.
As the 2025 French Open looms, all eyes may be on reigning champions and top seeds - but lurking just beneath the surface are several players quietly building momentum, ready to crash the party in Paris. From seasoned champions finding renewed form to rising stars with something to prove, here are four dark horses who could shake up the women's singles draw at Roland Garros.
Dominika Cibulkova grabbed control from the first game and overwhelmed fifth seed Agnieszka Radwanska 6-1, 6-2 to become the first Slovakian to reach a Grand Slam final at the Australian Open on Friday.
Retired Australian Open champion Li Na told the centre court crowd at Melbourne Park on Monday that she was expecting her first child with her husband and former coach Jiang Shan.
Madison Keys is the second-oldest woman to claim her first Australian Open singles title in the Open era.
Images from Day 10 of the 2025 French Open at Roland Garros in Paris on Tuesday.
Disillusionment with negative reporting in her home media nearly saw Li Na give up the game last year in the wake of her early French Open exit, the Chinese No 1 said at the Australian Open on Wednesday.
Swiss tennis star Martina Hingis has said that Li Na's retirement was a loss to world tennis, while also crediting the Chinese ace of raising the game's profile in her home country and across Asia.
China's Zheng Qinwen reached the semi-finals of the WTA Finals in Riyadh after claiming an impressive 6-1 6-1 win over Italian fourth seed Jasmine Paolini on Wednesday.
China's Li Na continued her giant-killing run at the Australian Hardcourt Championships, beating fourth seed Patty Schnyder to reach the final.
The 24-year-old became the first Chinese player to reach a Grand Slam singles quarter-final, toppling Czech number 10 seed Nicole Vaidisova.
China's top tennis official has questioned Li Na's mental toughness following her early exit from the US Open last week.
China's Li Na sent a wayward Maria Sharapova crashing out of the Australian Open semi-finals on Thursday and says there will be no repeat of her capitulation to Kim Clijsters in the 2011 Melbourne Park final.
French Open champion Li Na was upset 6-2, 5-7, 7-6 by Czech qualifier Petra Cetkovska in the semi-finals of the New Haven Open on Friday. Cetkovska, ranked a career-high 40th, will face world number one Caroline Wozniacki in Saturday's final, the Dane having beaten Italy's Francesca Schiavone 7-6, 6-3 in the last four.
A disappointed Li Na admitted to an attack of stage fright in her humbling U.S. Open semi-final loss to Serena Williams and said she would have lost to any opponent she faced on Friday.
German Sabine Lisicki sent another seismic shockwave through Wimbledon on Monday when she sent five-times champion Serena Williams packing in fourth round, while Li Na and Petra Kvitova advanced to the quarter-finals.
Li Na upset Svetlana Kuznetsova 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 to become the first Chinese player to reach the singles fourth round at Wimbledon
China's Li Na scored an emphatic 6-2, 6-2 win over ninth seed Dinara Safina in the Australian Open third round.
China's Li Na was forced into a dogfight in the heat before overcoming dogged American Christina McHale 7-6, 7-5 to reach the second round of the Sydney International on Monday.
Maria Sharapova and Li Na set up a French Open semi-final clash of styles after Russian elegance and Chinese determination powered them past their last-eight opponents on Wednesday.
Maria Sharapova saved a match point to beat Li Na 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7/5) in the Italian Open final on Sunday after a two-hour rain break effectively turned the match into a tiebreak shootout.
China's No 1 Li Na has ruled herself out of playing at the 2016 Rio Olympics, the 31-year-old said at the Australian Open on Friday.
Victoria Azarenka retained her Australian Open title with a tense 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 victory over China's Li Na, who suffered a sickening ankle injury in the second set and hit her head in the third when she twisted the joint for a second time.
China's Zheng Qinwen beat a struggling Elena Rybakina 7-6(4) 3-6 6-1 in a grueling WTA Finals group stage match on Monday, notching her first career win over the Kazakh in their third meeting.
China's Li Na beat last year's champion Francesca Schiavone 6-4, 7-6 in the French Open final on Saturday to become the first player from an Asian nation to win a grand slam singles title.
China's Li Na showed plenty of character as she fought back to beat German Angelique Kerber 1-6, 6-3, 6-1 and win the Cincinnati Open title on Sunday.
Li Na was pushed to the limit before she sealed a spot in the French Open quarter-finals on Monday but winning machine Novak Djokovic did not need to hit a ball to take his place in the men's last four.
Kim Clijsters recovered from a set down to beat Li Na 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 to win the Australian Open on Saturday after the Chinese imploded under pressure in the second set and took out her frustrations on her country's fans.
Notorious slow starter Li Na seems to produce her best tennis teetering on the brink of defeat but the Chinese hopes to hit the ground running against Kim Clijsters in Saturday's Australian Open final.
Tournament favourite Serena Williams withdrew from the Italian Open on Saturday with a lower back injury, the WTA said.
China's Li Na overcame an attack of nerves and weathered a feisty challenge from Dominika Cibulkova before roaring to a 7-6 (7-3), 6-0 victory to win her first Australian Open title on Saturday.
China's Li Na defeated a battling Venus Williams 7-5, 3-6, 6-1 to reach the final of the Cincinnati Open on Saturday after an enthralling two-hour nine minutes encounter.
Trailblazer Li Na already has the distinction of being Asia's first to break into a Grand Slam singles final after her brilliant run at the Australian Open in January.
China's Li Na made it a hat-trick of White Group victories, overpowering back-injury victim Victoria Azarenka 6-2, 6-1 on Friday to march through to the semi-finals of the WTA Championship.
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