Hence the Fed Cup women's team tennis competition in New Delhi received another blow.
They were beaten by the top-seeded pair of Maria Elena Camerin and Gisela Dulko.
The ex-world number one is confident she can again become a dominating force on the WTA Tour.
American Stephens stayed calm and saw off an increasingly agitated Angelique Kerber in the winner-takes-all night match to complete round-robin play with a spotless 3-0 record after she wrapped up a 6-3, 6-3 victory against the German.
The Indo-Aussie combination were beaten 6-2, 6-4 by Alona Bondarenko and Anastasia Yakimova
The Indian ace will meet former champion Anatasia Myskina in her opening match in the women's singles.
Sania Mirza and Alicia Molik drubbed Jelena Kostanic and Angelique Widjaja 6-3, 6-3 in Istanbul
Russian Maria Sharapova ground down Carla Suarez Navarro 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 to win the Rome Masters final on Sunday, the 35th WTA Tour title of her career.
Top seed Jelena Jankovic battled to an impressive 7-5, 6-4 win over Nadia Petrova to reach the semi-finals of the Los Angeles Classic on Friday. Jankovic, who is closing in on the world No.1 ranking, will face Dinara Safina in the last four after the Russian crushed Victoria Azarenka 6-3, 6-1.
The Hyderabadi girl jumped one spot in the doubles rankings as well to reach 37.
The second seeded Russian will play her doubles partner Anna-Lena Groenefeld, in the Family Circle Cup.
Jennifer Capriati rallied to beat fellow American Meghann Shaughnessy at the Advanta Championships in Philadelphia.
Serena Williams pulled out of next week's Nasdaq Open in Miami on Friday, citing a knee injury and lack of training.
On a day of upsets at the Pacific Life Open, Australian Open runner-up Marcos Baghdatis beat 7th seed Gaston Gaudio.
They beat Antonella Serra Zanetti of Italy and Stephanie Foretz of France in the first round of the Pacific Life Open.
Nirupama Vaidyanathan salutes the Belgian ace, who retired earlier last month as world No. 1.
She along with Liezel Huber registered a straight-set victory in the women's doubles first round in France.
The 19-year-old, who is ranked 34th in the WTA Tour rankings, occupies the last seeded place.
Romanian teenager Sorana Cirstea upset third seed Anna Chakvetadze 6-2, 1-6, 6-2 in the second round of the Family Circle Cup.
The Indian ace reached a career-high 31st in the latest WTA Tour rankings despite being out of action for the last three weeks.
Russia's Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova said on Wednesday that she will not travel to New York to take part in the US Open later this month as organisers could not guarantee her health and safety amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The US Open is set to be played from August 31-September 12 even as the country leads the world with over 4.7 million confirmed COVID-19 cases and more than 157,000 deaths.
The Indian ace registered an easy 6-2, 6-1 victory over Italy's Roberta Vinci at the Forest Hills Women's Tennis Classic.
The third seeded Indian beat Israel's Shahar Peer 7-6, 6-1 at the Forest Hills Women's Classic in New York.
Sania Mirza entered the main draw after Chanda Rubin pulled out with an ankle inflammation at the WTA event.
They lost to top seeded pair of Kveta Peschke and Maria Emilia Salermi in Cincinnati.
The Indian tennis ace hopes to finish in the top 20 next season.
The Indian ace and partner Katarina Kachlikova of Solvakia lost in the second round of the doubles event.
Belgium's Kim Clijsters downed Maria Sharapova 6-3, 7-5 to win the Nasdaq-100 Open and claim her second consecutive title
The tennis legend and partner Svetlana Kuznetsova reached the second round of the Sparkassen Cup.
The Indian ace thrashed world no. 81 Morigami 6-4, 7-5 in the first round of the Pacific Life Open tennis tournament.
The Indian teenager upset world number 34 Jelena Kostanic 6-7, 6-4, 6-1 to enter the second round of the Dubai Open.
Former French Open champion Ana Ivanovic announced her retirement from tennis at the age of 29 on Wednesday because she no longer feels fit enough to compete at the highest level.
Serena had said on Monday that she "can't wait for the future" as she warmed up for her return to the WTA Tour at the Tie Break Tens exhibition at Madison Square Garden.
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