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.
Russian Maria Sharapova also cruised into the third round, brushing aside Bethanie Mattek 6-0, 6-0 at the Family Circle Cup.
Former world number one Jelena Jankovic was reduced to despair at her poor shot selection after slumping to a shock 7-6, 6-3 loss to China's Peng Shuai in the second round of the Australian on Thursday.
Top seed Jelena Jankovic was knocked out of the Australian Open fourth round by an aggressive Marion Bartoli on Sunday. The Frenchwoman capitalised on the Serbian's poor service game and blasted winners at every opportunity before she ended the world number one's misery 6-1, 6-4 in just 82 minutes.
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.
Former world number one Maria Sharapova won her second Pan Pacific Open title after Jelena Jankovic retired with a wrist injury in Saturday's final. It was Sharapova's first title since shoulder surgery last October and the 20th of her career. Her last tournament win came at Amelia Island in April 2008.
World number one Jelena Jankovic pulled out of the Hong Kong World Team Challenge with a stomach ailment on Saturday, organisers said.
Former world number one Maria Sharapova stormed into the Pan Pacific Open semi-finals by outfoxing Czech Iveta Benesova 6-4 7-5 on Thursday.
The former world No 1's second round victory set up a quarter-final meeting with Russia's Anastasia Rodionova at the Bangalore Open.
Svetlana Kuznetsova reached the final of the Dubai Championships by beating Serbian fourth seed Jelena Jankovic 5-7, 6-4, 6-3.
Svetlana Kuznetsova reached the semi-finals of the Dubai Championships on Thursday after holding off a strong second set challenge to beat France's Amelie Mauresmo 6-1, 7-6.
The Bangalore Open has received another boost with Serbian world number four Jelena Jankovic confirming her participation in the tennis tournament to be held in Bangalore from March 3-9.
Fifth seed Caroline Wozniacki ousted defending champion Jelena Jankovic 6-3, 6-4 in the semi-finals of the Hong Kong Open on Saturday.
Serb Jelena Jankovic has rediscovered her form in time for the U.S. Open, while compatriot and fellow former world number one Ana Ivanovic is still looking to turn her season round.
Russian Maria Sharapova and Serbia's Jelena Jankovic waited for a deadly storm to pass before thundering into the Toronto Cup quarter-finals on Thursday. World number two Serena Williams avoided all the nasty weather, racing into the quarter-finals with a 6-1, 6-4 demolition of Ukrainian Alona Bondarenko before the storms hit.
A rejuvenated Jelena Jankovic upset world number one Dinara Safina 6-4, 6-2 to win the Cincinnati Open on Sunday. The fifth-seeded Serb took advantage of an error-strewn display from the Russian to clinch her second title of the year.
World number one Dinara Safina will take on a rejuvenated Jelena Jankovic in the final of the Cincinnati Open after hugely contrasting wins on Saturday. Russian Safina stormed into her eighth final of the year with a 6-2, 6-0 demolition of Italian Flavia Pennetta, while fifth seed Jankovic saved four match points to beat fourth seed Elena Dementieva 7-6, 0-6, 7-6 after two hours and 46 minutes.
Defending champion Serena Williams was knocked out by Jelena Jankovic in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open.
Third-seeded Serb Jelena Jankovic beat the defending champion in straighht sets in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open.
Serena Williams and Justine Henin fought off nerves and tricky conditions in their first-round matches at the Australian Open.
Serbia's Jelena Jankovic celebrated her imminent return to the top of the world rankings with an easy 6-4, 6-3 victory over Nadia Petrova in the Stuttgart Grand Prix final on Sunday.
Jelena Jankovic won a fierce scrap with Venus Williams 6-7, 7-5, 6-2 on Saturday to set up a Stuttgart Grand Prix final against Nadia Petrova. Unseeded Russian Petrova's 6-4, 6-4 victory over Victoria Azarenka of Belarus in the opening semi-final was straightforward by comparison.
Sania Mirza tamed world No 51 Anna-Lena Groenefeld 6-2, 2-6, 6-2 to advance to the second round of the ladies singles at Wimbledon on Monday. The Indian ace next faces 28th seed Sorana Cirstea of Romania, who beat countrywoman Edina Gallovits 7-5, 6-1.
With a heavy rain expected to hit Flushing Meadows later in the day, Serb Jankovic relied on her trademark dogged retrieving to beat Russian Elena Dementieva 6-4, 6-4 before the muscular Williams swept away Dinara Safina 6-3, 6-2 in the women's singles semi-finals at the US Open.
Serbian fifth seed Jelena Jankovic was outfoxed by Romanian teen-ager Sorana Cirstea's devastating net play Monday and lost 3-6, 6-0, 9-7 in the French Open fourth round. The Romanian reached her first Grand Slam quarter-final against Australian 30th seed Samantha Stosur, who beat France's Virginie Razzano 6-1, 6-2.
Jelena Jankovic was upset 7-5, 6-2 by Slovakia's Dominika Cibulkova in the quarter-finals of the Montreal Cup on Friday.
Serena Williams' bid for the Italian Open was squashed in her first match on Tuesday when the American second seed lost 6-2, 2-6, 6-1 to Swiss Patty Schnyder. French Open champion Ana Ivanovic beat Italian Francesca Schiavone 6-3, 6-4 and seventh seed Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia had a comfortable 6-3, 6-3 win over Slovak Daniela Hantuchova.
Italian Flavia Pennetta caused an upset by beating third seed Jelena Jankovic 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 in the Stuttgart Grand Prix quarter-finals on Friday.
Dinara Safina shattered Jelena Jankovic's chances of securing the women's number one ranking with a 7-6, 6-1 victory in the semi-finals.
World number four Jelena Jankovic battled to a 6-3 3-6 6-3 win over Carla Suarez Navarro on Sunday to claim her first title of the season at the Andalucia Tennis Championships.
World number four Jelena Jankovic fought back from a set down to beat Italy's Roberta Vinci 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 in the quarter-finals of the Andalucia Tennis Championships on Friday. The Serbian second seed, by far the highest-ranked player left in the tournament after Wednesday's shock exit of world number one Serena Williams, found it tough going against the 67th-ranked Vinci on the clay in Marbella.
Players should stop grumbling about playing on the outside courts at Wimbledon and get on with their real jobs, world number one Roger Federer said on Monday. On the sixth day of the grasscourt championships, Serena Williams and Serbian world number two Jelena Jankovic hit out at organisers after they were shunted off the two main showcourts at the All England Club.
World number three Jelena Jankovic, eliminated in the second round for the second tournament in a row, said she had lost her confidence after a poor start to the season.
Ana Ivanovic will become the first player representing Serbia to be ranked world number one when the new WTA rankings are released on Monday. The 20-year-old Serb dislodged Russia's Maria Sharapova from the top when she defeated compatriot Jelena Jankovic to reach the final of the French Open on Thursday.
Pre-tournament favourites Jelena Jankovic and Elena Dementieva suffered shock defeats in the second round of the WTA event in Indian Wells on Saturday.
American fifth seed Serena Williams withdrew from her Italian Open quarter-final with French qualifier Alize Cornet on Friday because of a back injury, organisers said.
Russia's Maria Sharapova battled past Denmark's Caroline Wozniacki to move into the Italian Open quarter-finals with a 6-4, 7-6 win on Thursday.
Venus Williams edged sister Serena 6-1, 2-6, 7-6 (3) on Friday to reach the final of the Dubai Championships.
Sania Mirza's challenge in the WTA Dubai Open ended on Thursday when she, along with her Italian partner Mara Santangelo, were beaten by the American-Zimbabwean combine of Liezel Huber and Cara Black in the second round.
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