Having ended a successful year with victory in the WTA Tour Finals, Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza has set her sights on becoming the doubles world number one next season.
The future of the $2 million Dubai Tennis championship was questioned by the WTA on Sunday after Israeli player Shahar Peer was denied an entry visa to the United Arab Emirates.
The world number 27 withdrew from the tournament because of a wrist injury.
The Indian had made the first round exit at the Tier I tournament at Key Biscayne in Miami last week.
Four-times Grand Slam winner Naomi Osaka fired off 18 aces as the Japanese former world number beat Swiss Belinda Bencic 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 on Thursday to reach her first Miami Open final.
Maria Sharapova happily admits that patience is not her strongest trait but the Russian will temper her expectations as she begins her Australian Open title campaign.
'The panel will provide a forum for players to provide their input and have their say on how the tour is run and will be a further opportunity for the ITF to engage with the player community'
The 16-times Grand Slam champion, who has been slightly ill lately, was kept on his toes before racing to victory to set up a meeting with seventh seed Stefanos Tsitsipas.
Sunitha, a Florida-based US citizen ranked 181 in the world, played brilliantly making good use of her flowing forehands to progress to the next stage with a 6-4 2-6 7-5 win over Russian eighth seed Manasieva Vesna.
The Russian proved too good for defending champion Mara Santangelo in the final.
Miami is one of the favourite stops on the WTA Tour because of the city's hip, youthful vibe but the final of Sony Open on Saturday was more about the golden oldies as Serena Williams and Li Na took centre stage.
American teenage sensation Coco Gauff became the youngest player to win a WTA title in 15 years as she beat former French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko in the Linz Open final on Sunday.
Wimbledon officials on Tuesday said they are continuing plans for the grasscourt major to start on June 29 as scheduled even though French Open organisers postponed the claycourt Grand Slam to September due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Li Na is destined for more grand slams and a place in the Hall of Fame after the Australian Open win cemented her position as the most influential female player of the last decade, said former great Chris Evert.
The former World No 1, who returned to the tour in April following a 15-month doping ban, started the stronger, breaking Sabalenka in her opening service game, but struggled on serve and soon found herself trailing 4-1 in the first set.
The Indian ace lost to Meghann Shaughnessy in the US $200,000 Istanbul Cup tennis tournament
The Indian ace was beaten by Anna Tatashvili of Georgia in the first round of the Nasdaq 100 Open.
Former world number one Justine Henin is set to play in next month's Sydney International after being granted a wildcard by organisers. Henin, who announced her comeback to the women's tour in September after a 15-month absence, makes her return in Brisbane in early January before playing in the Sydney tournament as part of her preparations for the Australian Open the following week.
Former world number one Karolina Pliskova is confident that splitting with coach David Kotyza will not be a hindrance as she attempts to go it alone over the home stretch of the season, leading up to the WTA Finals in Singapore next month.
World number two Simona Halep beat Maria Sharapova 6-2, 6-2 in the China Open third round on Wednesday for her first win over the Russian in eight attempts.
Roger Federer called on Wednesday for a merger between the men's ATP Tour and the WTA, which runs the women's circuit, as tennis wades through a lengthy coronavirus shutdown with lower-level professionals in deep financial crisis. The tennis season was suspended in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the hiatus will continue at least until mid-July, depriving lower-level players, who depend solely on tournament winnings, of the chance to earn a living.
Sunitha Rao, ranked 161 in the world, replaces German Marlene Weingartner, who pulled out of the WTA event.
The third seeds went down to Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan of the US in the semi-finals of the Legg Mason tennis tournament.
The Indian ace was granted a place in the singles draw at the WTA Grand Prix at Casablanca, from April 5 to 11.
The Indian teenager will take on seventh seed Anna-Lena Groenefeld at the USD 170,000 Cincinnati Open.
The decision marks Clijsters' second return to the sport after first retiring in 2007.
The president of the Russian Tennis Federation Shamil Tarpischev has been fined $25,000 and banned from the women's tour for a year after referring to Serena and Venus Williams as "the Williams brothers" on a television chat show last week.
India's Prarthana Thombare came tantalisingly close to registering an upset victory in her debut match on the WTA tour before losing 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 against Chang Liu of China in the opening round of Indian Open Challenger tournament in Pune.
India will field a second-string tennis contingent in this month's Asian Games after allowing frontline players, including Leander Paes and Sania Mirza, to play on the professional tours instead to revive their rankings.
Top-seeded Elina Svitolina of Ukraine, wearing her national colors of blue and yellow, won on "a special night for me," beating Russia's Anastasia Potapova 6-2, 6-1 on Tuesday in the first round of the Abierto GNP Seguros in Monterrey, Mexico.
Winning an Olympic medal may remain an unfulfilled dream for Sania Mirza but the Indian tennis ace is not losing sleep over it and would continue to push her battle-hardened body to win one or two Grand Slam titles before ending her career.
A lingering shoulder problem has given world number two Kim Clijsters increased cause for concern with the WTA Tour's claycourt season fast approaching.
Russia's Maria Sharapova beat World No. 1 Victoria Azarenka 6-1, 6-4 in the Stuttgart clay court final on Sunday to claim her first WTA tour title of the year and end a two-match losing streak against the Belarussian.
The former world number one beat Aravane Rezai of France 6-2, 6-2 in the final of the Auckland Classic.
World number one Victoria Azarenka's 26-match winning streak finally came to an end on Wednesday with a 6-3, 6-3 defeat to France's Marion Bartoli at the Sony Ericsson Open.
A final decision on a new tournament schedule aimed at shortening the season and getting the top players facing each other more regularly should be agreed by March 2007.
A major overhaul of women's tennis will be completed by 2009, the WTA Tour said on Tuesday.
Venus Williams made a triumphant return to the WTA Tour on Wednesday, winning her first round match at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami.
Germany's Angelique Kerber stunned home favourite Marion Bartoli 7-6, 5-7, 6-3 to win the Paris Open on Sunday and seal the first WTA tour title of her career.
This year's WTA championships pays the winner $1 million, equalling the largest prize in women's sport.
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