Champion Venus Williams powered through to her seventh Wimbledon final with a 6-1, 7-6 victory over Russian Elena Dementieva.
Venus Williams won her second match in two days at the season-ending WTA Championships on Wednesday when she beat Elena Dementieva 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 to leave herself on the brink of the semis with one round-robin match to play. Russian Vera Zvonareva also remained undefeated after a 6-3, 6-7, 6-4 victory over Serbia's Ana Ivanovic in the white group.
Top ranked women's doubles pair Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza had their 41-match winning streak halted on Thursday after they were beaten in the quarter-finals of the Qatar Open.
World number one Jelena Jankovic will face defending champion Elena Dementieva in the Kremlin Cup semi-finals. Both players had to fight hard to overcome their unseeded opponents Friday. Dementieva eliminated fellow-Russian Nadia Petrova 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 while Jankovic beat Italian Flavia Pennetta 7-6, 6-3.
Leander Paes got the better of compatriot Mahesh Bhupathi in a thrilling mixed doubles encounter to enter the third round at the Australian Open, in Melbourne, on Monday. He and Daniela Hantuchova beat eighth seeds Bhupathi and Elena Vesnina 6-0, 2-6, 10-6.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated tennis star Sania Mirza for becoming the first Indian to win the Wimbledon women's doubles title.
World number two Ana Ivanovic suffered a surprise 6-2, 7-5 defeat by Elena Dementieva in the semi-finals of the German Open.
Top seed Jelena Jankovic was bundled out of the Pan Pacific Open in a 2-6, 7-5, 7-5 defeat by Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova in Friday's quarter-finals. The defeat ended the Serb's hopes of recapturing the world number one ranking from Serena Williams this week following her recent loss to the American in US Open final.
Olympic champion Elena Dementieva was delighted to clinch an early berth in the season-ending WTA Championships after a 6-0, 6-3 win over France's Alize Cornet at the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo on Thursday. The Russian world number four, who captured gold at last month's Beijing Games, took just 69 minutes to book her place in the quarter-finals of the US $1.34 million Tokyo tournament.
Olympic champion Elena Dementieva maintained her hot streak to reach the US Open semi-finals with a 6-2, 6-3 win over Switzerland's Patty Schnyder on Tuesday. The fifth-seeded Russian extended her winning run to 11 matches when she became the first player to reach the last four at Flushing Meadows.
Jelena Jankovic reached the semi-finals of the Sony Ericsson Open after Elena Dementieva retired with a back injury.
Sania Mirza and Bethanie Mattek overcame a fighting Russian pair of Elena Vesnina and Vera Zvonareva to book a semi-final berth in the US $ 600,000 WTA East West Bank Classic tournament in Los Angeles. The Indo-American pair, seeded second, pipped the Russian duo 6-3, 1-6, 10-8 in one hour and 14 minutes in the quarter-finals of the Tier II hard court event on Friday night.
The second seeds pipped the American-Russian duo of Vania King and Alla Kudryavtseva 6-3, 6-4 in the first round.
Venus strongly denied any notion that she and Serena, who have faced each 15 times competitively, decide in advance who should win.
But matches between Venus and Serena are captivating, highly charged yet often disappointing affairs.
Fifth seed Elena Dementieva recovered from a mid-match meltdown to beat fellow Russian Nadia Petrova 6-1, 6-7, 6-3 on Tuesday and reach her first Wimbledon semi-final.
Dinara Safina reached the French Open final with a 6-3, 6-2 win over fellow Russian and fourth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova on Thursday.
Dinara Safina of Russia came from a set down to win the German Open on Sunday with a 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 victory over seventh-seeded compatriot Elena Dementieva.
Fifth seed Serena Williams reached the Family Circle Cup final by beating French teenager Alize Cornet 7-5 6-3 on Saturday. The 26-year-old next faces ninth seed Vera Zvonareva, who upset fellow-Russian Elena Dementieva, the fourth seed, 6-3, 6-7, 6-3 in a wildly fluctuating semi-final.
The 92nd Annual Academy Awards hardly had any surprises up its sleeves. Here's a quick look at the winners.
Local favourite Patty Schnyder eased into the second round of the Zurich Open on Tuesday after sixth seed Serena Williams retired injured at 6-0, 3-0 down.
The Indian top seed's title hopes were dealt a blow after she lost her 12th and penultimate round game against Elena Tairova of Russia in the World Junior Girls' Chess championship.
It was the eighth seed's first trophy since she won in Moscow in October while Kuznetsova suffered her second defeat in the final here, having also lost to Justine Henin in 2004.
Hungarian teenager Agnes Szavay battled it out for over two hours to overcome Russian Elena Dementieva 6-3 1-6 7-5 and reach the Paris Open final on Saturday.
An American, Russian and Italian lifted off atop a 400-foot golden flame into the night sky over Kazakhstan on Monday to begin a six month voyage of living and working aboard the International Space Station.
Top seed Maria Sharapova ended Anna Chakvetadze's 12-match winning streak and powered into the San Diego Classic final with a 6-3 6-2 victory over her Russian compatriot on Saturday.
The Indian ace had trouble returning Sharapova's serves and watched the Russian tear apart her second serve in the quarter-finals of the San Diego Classic.
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.
List of US Open women's singles champions, since 1912.
Leander Paes and Martina Hingis thrashed Austrian-Hungarian fifth seeds Alexander Peya and Timea Babos 6-1, 6-1 to win the mixed doubles title at Wimbledon.
Fifth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova had an easy time against the 16-year-old Austrian in her fourth round match at Wimbledon.
In the glossy "Love Life" book, the 15 top women players offered tips on everything from what to eat and what to pack through to how best to relax.
Hockey India (HI) has lifted the nine-month ban on Gurbaj Singh with immediate effect in the wake of Punjab and Haryana High Court's order that termed the suspension of the senior player "illegal".
FIFA boss Sepp Blatter unveiled the 2018 World Cup logo with cosmonauts in Moscow, which has a strong resemblance to an alien.
The unseeded Frenchwoman beat the top seed to set up a meeting with Russia's Elena Dementieva.
"That's why this year I've made a special effort to go and play in Beijing, just to see for myself what the atmosphere is going to be like next year," Dementieva told reporters after beating former world number one Serena in the Moscow final on Sunday.
Russia's Elena Dementieva gave herself an early birthday present when she rallied after dropping the first set to beat Serena Williams 5-7 6-1 6-1 and win her maiden Kremlin Cup title on Sunday.
Serena Williams overpowered top seed Svetlana Kuznetsova 7-6, 6-1 to reach her first Kremlin Cup final.
The Belgian was joined by Svetlana Kuznetsova, Jelena Jankovic and Tatiana Golovin in the semi-finals of the Stuttgart Open.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances