After 251 straight Grand Slam matches Venus Williams pulled out of her Australian Open third round match on Friday against Germany's Andrea Petkovic, after suffering from a muscle strain.
Andy Murray moved a step closer to a bid for his first Grand Slam title after an impressive triumph, as did Rafael Nadal (pictured). Reigning women's champ Kim Clijsters advanced easily into the last 16 along with US third seed Venus Williams.
France's top tennis woman Marion Bartoli had her hopes for a Miami open final dashed by Venus Williams, who logged a 6-3, 6-4 victory on her way to a fourth title bid.
Serena Williams dug deep to come out winner against Victoria Azarenka while China's Li Na upset Venus Williams(pictured. Na's win puts two Chinese players in the semifinals.
World number one Roger Federer demolished hapless Romanian Victor Hanescu to qualify alongside with Serbia's Novak Djokovic and Russia's Nikolay Davydenko. In the women's tournament, the Williams sisters cruised to the third round.
Serena Williams (pictured) reaffirmed her dominance of women's tennis with a 6-2 7-6 win against her sister Venus, in the final of the WTA Championships in Doha.
Defending champion Venus Williams (pictured) and her sister Serena will face each other for the 23rd time in their careers on Sunday in the final of the 4.55 million dollar WTA Championships.
Dinara Safina of Russia has bounced back to the top of the WTA ranking on the eve of the season-ending Doha tournament, where the top eight players on the women's circuit will face-off for the $4.55 million jackpot.
Venus Williams's poor run of form continued at the Toronto Open, where she lost in the second round to Ukraine's Kataryna Bondarenko, while Australia's Samantha Stosur ousted Russian sixth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova in straight sets.
World number 14, Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli, beat American Venus Williams 6-2 5-7 6-4 to win the Stanford Classic on Sunday. This was 24-year-old Bartoli's first win at WTA Premier level.
