Victoria Azarenka

Elena Rybakina survived a gruelling Miami Open quarter-final against Maria Sakkari on Tuesday as the former Wimbledon champion advanced to the last four for a second straight year with a 7-5 6-7(4) 6-4 victory.

Romanian tennis player Simona Halep on Friday advanced to the fourth round of the ladies' singles event of the Wimbledon grand slam tournament after defeating Belarusian Victoria Azarenka 6-3 6-1 in a match between two former world number one players. Halep, 27, world number seven, prevailed in an hour and 6 minutes.

Romania's Simona Halep on Wednesday advanced to round three of the Wimbledon women's singles event after defeating her compatriot Mihaela Buzarnescu 6-3 4-6 6-2. Halep, 27, world number seven and a former number one, prevailed in one hour and 51 minutes over a 31-year-old Buzarnescu, world number 35. Buzarnescu managed one of her best matches this season.

Maria Sakkari of Greece upset third-seeded Venus Williams 6-4, 7-6 (2) on Friday night in the quarterfinals of the Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic.

Sakkari came back from 0-3 in the first set and 3-5 in the second set.

She advanced to face American Danielle Collins - with the reaching her first WTA final.

Former world number ones Andy Murray and Victoria Azarenka have been handed wild cards to compete at the Cincinnati Open next month, the tournament's organisers have said.

Four Romanian tennis players, Simona Halep, the world's leader, Mihaela Buzarnescu, Irina Begu and Sorana Cirstea, are on the main draw of the singles competition of the Rome tennis tournament (WTA), equipped with total prizes worth 3,251,720 US dollars, to kick off on Monday.

Venus Williams upended defending champion Johanna Konta 5-7 6-1 6-2 on March 26 to reach the Miami Open quarter-finals while a dominant Victoria Azarenka also advanced with a straightforward win over Agnieszka Radwanska.

Two-time Australian Open winner Victoria Azarenka, who has been locked in a custody battle over her baby son, was on Dec. 13 handed a wildcard into January’s Australian Open.

Five-time Grand Slam champion Maria Sharapova wins her opening match at Bank of the West Tennis Tournament 6-1, 4-6, 6-0 against Jennifer Brady, Mercurynews reports.

This was her first U.S. tournament since March 2015. She has not played in the Bank of the West since 2011 and has made just four appearances total in the event.

MADRID - Serbia's Ana Ivanovic lost to young American Louisa Chirico 5-7, 6-1, 6-3 after two hours of play in the second round of the Mutua Madrid Open WTA tournament on Tuesday.

The world No. 130 Chirico will next face Victoria Azarenka of Belarus.

The prize money in Madrid is EUR 4,771,360.

Photo: Tanjug video