Elena Rybakina put on a brilliant performance to defeat favourite Aryna Sabalenka 64, 46, 64 and lift her first Australian Open trophy.
Russian world number one Dinara Safina beat Italian Sara Errani 6-7, 6-1, 7-5 to win the Slovenia Open tournament on Sunday.
World number one Dinara Safina gained swift revenge over Svetlana Kuznetsova on Saturday, thrashing her fellow Russian 6-3, 6-2 to win the Italian Open in their second consecutive final meeting.
Swiatek downs Gauff to meet Sabalenka in Italian Open final
Images from day three of the Australian Open 2012 tennis tournament in Melbourne, on Wednesday.
Belgium's Yanina Wickmayer began the defence of her Auckland Classic title with a enthralling, hard-fought 6-3, 6-7, 6-1 first-round victory over former world number one Dinara Safina on Tuesday.
Barely a month after considering quitting the sport, Russian Dinara Safina celebrated being back in the winner's circle at the Indian Wells WTA tournament on Monday.
Former World No. 1 Dinara Safina has no chance of making a comeback from injury and will soon announce her retirement, according to big brother Marat Safin.
Dinara Safina's French Open preparations suffered a shock setback when she lost 7-6, 7-6 to Czech qualifier Klara Zakopalova in the Madrid Open first round on Monday.
Images from Tuesday's play at the Australian Open.
Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy staged a magnificent recovery to beat South Africa's Wesley Moodie and Belgium's Dick Norman and win the men's doubles title at the French Open on Saturday.
Dinara Safina and Svetlana Kuznetsova, the world's best women claycourters in 2009, relied on their wealth of experience to set up an all-Russian final at the French Open on Thursday.
Former World No 1 Dinara Safina celebrated her return to Stade Uniprix with a 6-3, 6-3 win over Germany's Andrea Petkovic at the Montreal Cup on Monday and declared herself 100-percent pain-free after a horror run of injuries.
Russia's Elena Dementieva lost 6-1, 6-3 to compatriot Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the second round of the rain-hit Cincinnati Open on Wednesday, but Maria Sharapova and Kim Clijsters both advanced to the third round.
Elena Dementieva overpowered Serena Williams 6-3, 6-1 at the Sydney International on Thursday to set up an all-Russian final against Dinara Safina.
When Dinara Safina replaced Serena Williams at the top of the women's world rankings in April, the Russian said she had achieved a childhood dream.
Serena Williams returned to the top of the world with a routine win at the China Open on Tuesday but Andy Roddick and Jelena Jankovic plumbed the depths when their title defences ended in their opening matches.
Dinara Safina was forced to once again defend her number one ranking after squeezing by unheralded Kristina Barrois at the US Open on Thursday, her second successive struggle against an unseeded opponent.
Japanese veteran Kimiko Date Krumm stunned former world number one and last year's finalist Dinara Safina 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 in the first round of the French Open on Tuesday.
Two years after Justine Henin stunned the sport by announcing her retirement at the age of 25 on the eve of her French Open defence, the Belgian is back and eager to show Roland Garros what it has been missing.
An annoyed Dinara Safina has had enough of people questioning whether she can justify being the world number one, despite not having won a grand slam title.
World number one Dinara Safina sailed through to the Slovenia Open quarter-finals when she beat fellow Russian Ksenija Pervak 6-1, 6-2 on Wednesday.
Svetlana Kuznetsova won her second grand slam title when she outplayed fellow Russian and world number one Dinara Safina 6-4 6-2 in the French Open final on Saturday.
World number one Dinara Safina continued to bulldoze her way through the French Open draw when she flattened France's Aravane Rezai 6-1 6-0 to reach the quarter-finals on Sunday.
Andy Murray relied on brains and Dinara Safina banked on brawn to reach the third round of the French Open on Wednesday. But two decades of experience could not prevent sentimental French favourite Fabrice Santoro taking his final singles bow at Roland Garros.
A brief look at the strengths and weaknesses of the leading contenders for the women's title at the French Open which begins on Sunday.
Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova stunned world number one Dinara Safina 6-4, 6-3 to win the Stuttgart Grand Prix on Sunday. Kuznetsova, the world number nine, was more consistent than fellow Russian Safina, holding her serve throughout to clinch her first tournament of the year after an hour and 19 minutes.
World number one Dinara Safina staged a comeback to beat Italian Flavia Pennetta 3-6, 7-5, 6-0 on Saturday and reach the Stuttgart Grand Prix final where she will face fellow-Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova. Fifth seed Kuznetsova crushed compatriot and number two seed Elena Dementieva 6-4, 6-2 in just 67 minutes.
World number nine Svetlana Kuznetsova marched into the Stuttgart Grand Prix final on Saturday, crushing fellow Russian Elena Dementieva 6-4, 6-2 in just 67 minutes.
Russia's Dinara Safina will replace Serena Williams as world number one in the WTA's next official rankings, the organisation said on Wednesday.
A back injury has forced Russia's Dinara Safina to pull out of next month's Brisbane International, one of the main lead up events to the Australian Open.
Second seed Dinara Safina slumped out of the Dubai Tennis Championships in the second round on Tuesday after losing 6-4 6-2 to Virginie Razzano of France.
Serena Williams continued her love affair with Melbourne by easing to an emphatic 6-3, 6-4 victory over an in-form Elena Dementieva to advance to a fourth Australian Open final in Melbourne on Thursday. The 27-year-old Williams will meet another Russian in the title match, taking on third seed Dinara Safina, who overpowered compatriot Vera Zvonareva 6-3, 7-6.
Second seed Serena Williams admitted closing the roof on Rod Laver Arena because of the soaring temperatures helped her battle back from a first set deficit to beat Svetlana Kuznetsova 5-7, 7-5, 6-1 on Wednesday. The American's victory prevented a Russian sweep of the Australian Open semi-finals and she will now play Elena Dementieva in the last four on Thursday.
Elena Dementieva beat fellow Russian Dinara Safina 6-3, 2-6, 6-1 in the final of the Sydney International on Friday to complete a perfect buildup to next week's Australian Open.
Spain's Rafael Nadal and Jelena Jankovic of Serbia have been confirmed as the top seeds for this year's Australian Open, which begins on Monday.
Slovakia's Dominika Cibulkova and Dominik Hrbaty ripped up the form book to win the Hopman Cup with victory over Russia in Perth on Friday.
Serena Williams rarely backs down in a scrap but she was spared a fight for the honour of ending the year as world number one on Wednesday when her rival Dinara Safina quit the WTA Championships with injury.
Serena Williams stayed on course to end the year as world number one when she beat Russia's Svetlana Kuznetsova 7-6, 7-5 on the opening day of the WTA Championships after sister Venus suffered a shock defeat on Tuesday.
The equation could not be simpler: whoever performs best out of Russian Dinara Safina and American Serena Williams at next week's WTA Championships in Doha will end the year as world No 1.
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