Nadia Petrova and Elena Vesnina beat Wimbledon champion Venus Williams and Lisa Raymond in the decisive doubles contest to give Russia a 3-2 win over the United States in their Fed Cup semi-final on Sunday in Stowe, Vermont.
Marion Bartoli had barely registered on the tennis scale before but that did not stop her from destroying Justine Henin's Wimbledon dream.
Ana Ivanovic became the second high-profile player to tumble out of the Kremlin Cup in two days after losing to Dominika Cibulkova 3-6, 6-2, 7-6.
The unseeded Frenchwoman beat the top seed to set up a meeting with Russia's Elena Dementieva.
Former world No. 1 Venus Williams made a triumphant return to tennis, easily beating Ashley Harkleroad in the first round at the Australian Open.\n\n
Top seed Ana Ivanovic crashed out of the Italian Open in her first game on Wednesday, losing 6-4, 5-7, 6-2 to Bulgarian qualifier Tsvetana Pironkova.
Serena Williams will be 'ready to go' when she returns to action this week in the United States' Fed Cup first round tie against the Netherlands, captain Kathy Rinaldi said on Wednesday.
In the semi-finals of the Luxembourg Championship the teenager will play Italian fifth seed Francesca Schiavone.
After her narrow 7-6, 6-4 defeat by Venus Williams in the Australian Open third round on Saturday, the Indian ace expressed disappointment, lamenting she paid the price for failing to take her chances.
Former World No 1 Kim Clijsters says, "I admire both Serena and Venus because they have a perseverance that is incredible. They're able to do a lot of things that other people can't do, physically and mentally, so I don't doubt that she will come back, I don't doubt it, but it just takes a little bit of time."
Iga Swiatek clinched her second French Open title after defeating American teenager Coco Gauff
World number one Serena Williams survived a scare to beat China's Li Na 4-6, 7-6, 6-2 on Wednesday and reach the Sony Ericsson Open semi-finals -- where she will meet her sister Venus.
Top seed Amelie Mauresmo, Kim Clijsters and Martina Hingis also revelled in improved conditions following the rain-soaked start to the French Open.
A round-up of the fourth day's play at the French Open.
Images from the matches played on Day 8at the Roland Garros on Sunday
Stephens sees success of Black women inspiring new generation.
The Russian beat Italy's Roberta Vinci 6-2, 7-6 in the Toronto Cup on Tuesday.
Marion Bartoli stunned top seed Justine Henin to reach the Wimbledon final on Friday, beating the world number one 1-6 7-5 6-1.
Ana Ivanovic will take on Venus Williams in the semi-finals.
The Swiss needs to win in Paris to join Don Budge and Rod Laver as the only men to hold all four slams at the same time.
The Russian won the Istanbul Cup after her opponent Aravane Rezai retired hurt.
The American doubles specialist ended French schoolgirl Tatiana Golovin's amazing Australian Open run with a crushing 6-2 6-0 win in the fourth round.
Maria Sharapova had to workk hard for a 6-0, 5-7, 6-2 win over Israel's Shahar Peer to reach the China Open quarter-finals
After four days of play, the French Open was left without a Williams sister in the draw on Wednesday when former runner-up Venus joined 2002 champion Serena in making an early exit.
The Indian ace defeated wild card Eleni Daniilidou of Germany 7-6(4), 2-6, 6-3 in the first round match on Tuesday.\n\n
The Russian ace was beaten by Nicole Vaidisova in the Family Circle Cup second round.
French Open champion Anastasia Myskina lost to 15-year-old Czech Nicole Vaidisova in the second round of the Family Circle Cup.
Serena Williams capped off yet another successful day at Wimbledon for America's premier tennis family as she followed up her singles triumph by winning the doubles title with sister Venus on Saturday.
She will face the Serbian in the first round of Cincinnati Open in Ohio on Monday.
Andy Ram became the first Israeli to win a Grand Slam tennis title when he partnered Russia's Vera Zvonareva to win the Wimbledon mixed doubles crown.
Victoria Azarenka is relishing her return to Melbourne Park as double defending champion and while Serena Williams is a hot favourite to deny her a hat-trick of titles, the Belarusian says she will not focus solely on the challenge from the World No 1.
Wimbledon women's champion Garbine Muguruza says she will savour her victory in order to prevent a similar slump in form to the one she suffered after winning the French Open in 2016.
Kim Clijsters beat Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova 7-5, 6-2 to win the Warsaw Cup
'I wasn't expecting it (the call) to happen. It was a surprise. Apparently, my sister told my mom to do it'
Serena Williams summoned all her fighting qualities to beat Victoria Azarenka 4-6, 7-6, 6-2 at the Australian Open on Wednesday after sister Venus's exit. Li Na earlier stunned Venus to become just the second Chinese to reach the semi-finals of a Grand Slam.
Martina Navratilova will have the chance to crown her remarkable career with Olympic gold in August.
