Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin were forced to draw on their vast experience to avoid being eliminated from the Brisbane International on Thursday. The two Belgians, both back on the professional circuit after retiring from the sport, scraped through their quarter-finals to remain on course for a possible showdown in Saturday's final.
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.
Alisa Kleybanova won a riveting three hour, 16 minute 6-7, 7-6, 6-2 slugfest over fifth-seeded Serb Jelena Jankovic and her gritty performance earned her a loud ovation from an appreciative crowd and a Saturday date with Maria Sharapova.
World number two Serena Williams brushed aside qualifier Lucie Safarova 6-3, 6-2 on Friday to reach the semi-finals of the Toronto Cup and set up a mouth-watering clash with Elena Dementieva.
Top seeded pair of Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis suffered their second defeat since joining forces, losing 7-6(5), 3-6, 9-11 to Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Lucie Safarova, at the Madrid Masters Open on Thursday.
World number one Dinara Safina took a first step towards a second consecutive claycourt title by battling to a 6-3, 7-6 victory over Li Na at the Madrid Open on Wednesday.
Lucie Safarova ensured that Mauresmo's prayers went unanswered by humbling her 6-3, 7-6 in the third round.
A battle-tested Serena Williams booked her spot in the semi-finals of the Toronto Cup on Friday after overcoming a sluggish start to grind out a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 win over Czech Lucie Safarova.
World No 1 Williams, 33, could not practise on Friday, still suffering from an illness that left her coughing and spluttering during her three-set semi-final win over Swiss Timea Bacsinszky.
Former world number one Martina Hingis' first comeback tournament ended in the semi-finals when she was beaten by fourth seed Flavia Pennetta 1-6, 7-6, 6-2 at the Australian hardcourt championships on Friday.
Justine Henin is likely to be favourite to win the Australian Open but Serena said she believes she could retain the trophy.
World number one Roger Federer moved closer to a Sony Ericsson hat-trick on Monday, easing into the fourth round of the Masters Series event with 7-5 6-3 win over Spain's Nicolas Almagro.
China's Na Li kept the Asian interest alive as she beat ninth seed Dinara Safina 6-2, 6-2.
Mauresmo stayed on course to defend her Australian Open title with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Czech Eva Birnerova in the third round on Friday.
Venus Williams beat Czech Lucie Safarova 6-1, 6-4 in the second round of the Italian Open
Top seed Nadia Petrova fired five aces in securing her 22nd victory of the year at the Amelia Island tournament.
The third seeded Indian beat Israel's Shahar Peer 7-6, 6-1 at the Forest Hills Women's Classic in New York.
Spain's Garbine Muguruza moved to the brink of the WTA Finals last four with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Angelique Kerber on Wednesday after Petra Kvitova opened her account with a 7-5, 7-5 victory over fellow Czech Lucie Safarova.
Serena Williams backed the searing Perth conditions as perfect preparation for her Australian Open title bid but the weather proved too hot for Canadian Eugenie Bouchard.
Hot favourites Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis fell by the wayside at the French Open, beaten by seventh seeds Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Lucie Safarova in the quarter-finals of the women's doubles
World number eight Caroline Wozniacki pulled out of her first match at the Sydney International with a wrist injury on Monday.
Defending champion Petra Kvitova used a dominant serve to beat Lucie Safarova 6-7(6), 6-2, 6-2 in their all-Czech final at the Connecticut Open on Saturday.
French Open champion Stanislas Wawrinka has moved up five places to number four in the official ATP world rankings released on Monday.
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.
American Bethanie Mattek-Sands, whose agonising on-court injury shocked Wimbledon, says she will need surgery and faces being sidelined from the game.
Rohan Bopanna gained three places to be world number 21, and is now country's top ranked player in the ATP doubles chart.
Maria Sharapova remained on course for consecutive Madrid Open titles when she recovered from dropping the second set to beat Caroline Wozniacki 6-1, 3-6, 6-3 on Thursday and book a spot in the semi-finals.
Indian ace Sania Mirza and Switzerland's Martina Hingis entered the semi-finals of the WTA Finals after beating Taiwanese combination of Hao-Ching Chan and Yung Jan Chan 7-6 (12-10) 7-5 in Singapore on Friday. The Indo-Swiss pair will be pitted against the winner of the match between top seeds Caroline Garcia-Kristina Mladenovic and Bethanie Mattek-Sands- Lucie Safarova. It was a hard-fought two sets where both the teams held their service game till they reached 5 games all. It was in the 11th game of the first set that Sania and Hingis were broken. But the joy of their opponents was shortlived as they broke back in the very next game to take the first set into a tie-breaker.
World number one Karolina Pliskova needed just 46 minutes to defeat American Jennifer Brady 6-1, 6-0 at Arthur Ashe Stadium and punch her ticket to the quarter-finals at the US Open on Monday.
Mattek-Sands was playing Romania's Sorana Cirstea on outside Court 17 when she appeared to slip as she approached the net at the beginning of the third set then collapsed awkwardly to the grass.
As the world No 2 women's player focuses on the next big Grand Slam, Wimbledon, Rediff.com takes readers through her glamorous life via her instagram posts.
India's tennis star Sania Mirza retained her numero uno status in women's doubles for the second consecutive year, despite failing to defend the WTA Finals Singapore title with partner Martina Hingis. Defending champions Sania and Hingis had lost to Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina in the semi-finals of the WTA Finals Singapore on Saturday.
Maria Sharapova is renowned for her sheer determination in the face of adversity but in Singapore on Saturday, the Russian was quick to cast doubt over her chances of winning the WTA Finals after an injury-ravaged second half of the season.
World number four Petra Kvitova sealed the Fed Cup title for the Czech Republic with a thrilling win over Germany's Angelique Kerber, giving her country its third success in the premier team tournament in women's tennis in the last four years.
American tennis ace Venus Williams has entered the top ten of latest WTA ranking following her victory in the Zhuhai Masters in China.
Czech second seed Karolina Pliskova avenged her Australian Open quarter-final loss to Mirjana Lucic-Baroni with a 6-3, 6-4 win over the 26th-seeded Croatian to secure a spot in the Miami Open semi-finals on Tuesday.
Venus Williams avoided another early exit with a routine win over fellow American Alison Riske at the Volvo Car Open in South Carolina while Swiss second seed Belinda Bencic was ousted by Russian qualifier Elena Vesnina.
Russians Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina won the Wimbledon women's doubles title for the first time, while Poland's Lukasz Kubot and Brazil's Marcelo Melo won the Wimbledon men's doubles crown.
Pliskova, a finalist at last year's US Open who reached the semi-finals at Indian Wells last week, relied on her booming groundstrokes and strong returning to dispatch her American opponent in 59 minutes.
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.
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