Top seed Maria Sharapova dodged the showers on her way to a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Taiwan's Chan Yung-Jan to set up a third round encounter against Venus Williams at the Sony Ericsson Open on Saturday.
Injured Venus Williams will join her sister Serena on the Fed Cup sidelines with Vania King named to take her place on the US team that will play the quarter-finals in Antwerp against Belgium.
The American has targeted a return to the world's top 16 by the French Open.
Venus Williams is a two-time mixed doubles winner at Grand Slams, triumphing at the Australian Open and Roland Garros in 1998.
The former champion has withdrawn from the U.S. Open with a lingering stomach muscle injury.
Williams surrendered her Wimbledon crown last July when she lost to the 22-year-old Serb in the third round.
The competitive fire is still burning in Venus Williams and, unlike some of her contemporaries who extinguished their careers early, the five-times Wimbledon champion plans to stick around until at least the 2012 Olympics.
The 29-year-old American romped to a 5-0 lead against Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska and completed a 6-1 6-2 victory on auto-pilot as slumbering Court One fans applauded politely in temperatures soaring into the 30s Celsius again.
The Belgian beat Wimbledon champion Venus Williams for her third Stanford Classic title.
Grand Slam finalists Garbine Muguruza and Roberta Vinci stormed into the last four of the Wuhan Open in China on Thursday while Venus Williams ended the giant-killing run of Briton Johanna Konta.
Venus and Serena have not been beaten as a pair for 16 months now.
The world number two said her near-misses initially left her deflated and sick of tennis, but she was now over the pain.
It was the former world number one's earliest loss at Wimbledon since she went out in the opening round on her debut here in 1997.
Former world number one Venus Williams produced a vintage display to outclass Netherlands' Arantxa Rus in straight sets and storm into the second round of the Yarra Valley Classic.
Venus Williams beat local favourite Kim Clijsters 6-2, 6-3 to reach the semi-finals of the Antwerp Diamond Games tournament.
The Indian ace went down 3-6, 2-6 in the second round of the Stanford Classic women's singles tournament.
Venus Williams won her 40th singles title on Saturday by defeating unseeded Virginie Razzano 6-4, 6-2 to win the Dubai Championships. It was the 28-year-old American's seventh triumph in her last eight finals, with her last title coming at the WTA Championships in Doha in November.
A abdominal strain forced the former world No.1 to withdraw from the elite eight-woman event.\n\n
Sania Mirza set up a second round clash with multiple Grand Slam winner and second seed Venus Williams after edging past Sesil Karatantcheva 6-4, 6-4 in the first round of the US $1 million WTA Family Circle Cup in Charleston.
Wimbledon champion Venus Williams was pushed to the limit before beating third seed Jelena Jankovic of Serbia 4-6 6-1 7-6 on Wednesday to reach the US Open semi-finals.
Despite her poor recent track record against her sister Serena, Venus Williams will not just be "hanging out" in her first Grand Slam final in nine years at the Australian Open on Saturday.
The three-time former champion entered her sixth Wimbledon final, beating Serbian teenager Ana Ivanovic.
47-year-old Martina Navratilova and Lisa Raymond were also picked in the U.S. team for their Fed Cup first-round tie against Slovenia.
Spaniard Rafael Nadal, the Gentleman's Singles title winner and American Venus Williams, the Ladies' Singles champion, pose with their trophies at the Champions Dinner held at the Hotel Intercontinental Park Lane in London on Monday.
"I generally don't play with pain, but this is a Grand Slam and I just wanted to win," said the American.\n\n
Italy's Flavia Pennetta stunned Wimbledon champion Venus Williams with an impressive 6-4 7-6 win to reach the Bangkok Open final.
Venus Williams proved she was still a force to be reckoned with after a two-year battle with injuries and illness as she downed Romania's Monica Niculescu 6-2, 6-3 to win the Luxembourg Open title on Sunday.
Former US Open champion Venus Williams withdrew from the last Grand Slam of the year on Wednesday, revealing she is suffering from an autoimmune disease.
Venus Williams was knocked out of the US Open on Wednesday while Andy Murray raced through an entertaining drubbing.
The US faces the Czech Republic in the first round from April 26-27.
Images from all the action on Day 9 of the Australian Open at Melbourne Park on Tuesday
Former French Open winner Ana Ivanovic will draw on lessons from her last Wimbledon clash with Venus Williams when she plays the five-time champion on Monday for a place in the quarter-finals.
All her physical failings could well be a psychological weak spot that ends up driving her out of tennis.
Images from cation on day nine of the US Open being played at the Flushing Meadows.
Serena and Venus Williams lost 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 to former champions Yan Zi and Zheng Jie in the quarter-finals.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances