Elina Svitolina

Defending champion Elina Svitolina eased into the third round of the WTA Italian Open on May 15 as three-time winner Maria Sharapova needed a marathon three sets to get past Australian Ashleigh Barty.

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.

Bulgaria's best tennis player Grigor Dimitrov, will be on the court tomorrow at about 6:00 am Bulgarian time for his third round match of the Australian Open against Russian Andrey Rublev. The match is the third in Rod laver Arena, with matches between Luksika Kumkhum  (Thailand) - Petra Martic (Croatia) and Martha Kostyuk (Ukraine) - Elina Svitolina (Ukraine).

Three of top 25 players are in action this week, as the tour heads to another pair of international events, starting with the TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Cup in Istanbul on July 20. 

MADRID - Serbia's highest ranked player on the WTA rankings, Ana Ivanovic, advanced to the second round of Madrid Open, after her first round opponent, Romanian Alexandra Dulgheru, retired from the match on Saturday.

Ivanovic was leading by 2-6, 7-6 (7-1), 4-0.

Top-ranked Serena Williams fended off three set points before going on a 10-game roll to beat Vera Zvonareva 7-5, 6-0 and move into the third round of the Australian Open.
     
Men's No. 1 Novak Djokovic had an easier run, spending a minute less than Williams on Rod Laver Arena in his 84-minute, 6-0, 6-1, 6-4 win over No. 88-ranked Andrey Kuznetsov on Thursday.
     

Top seeds Maria Sharapova and Ana Ivanovic booked their places in the semi-finals of the Brisbane International in vastly contrasting fashion on Jan. 8.
      
While world number two Sharapova cruised past Spaniard Carla Suarez Navarro 6-1, 6-3, Ivanovic was forced to recover from a horror start before edging Kaia Kanepi 4-6, 6-4, 6-3.
      

PARIS - Serbia's Ana Ivanovic reached the third round of the Roland Garros Grand Slam tennis tournament on Thursday by beating Elina Svitolina of Ukraine 7-5, 6-2.

Ivanovic eased past her second opponent in Paris with a good performance that suggested that she might go far at the tournament.

PARIS - Serbia's Ana Ivanovic defeated France's Caroline Garcia 6-1 6-3 on Tuesday to reach the 2nd round of Roland Garros.

Ivanovic dominated the match from the very start, denying Garcia any chance of a comeback.

She will next face Ukraine's Elina Svitolina, who got into the 2nd round after Petra Martic of Croatia retired from their match.

AP Photo/Michel Spingler

MADRID - Serbia's Jelena Jankovic got off to a winning start at the WTA Premier Series tennis tournament in Madrid by beating Elina Svitolina of Ukraine 6-4, 6-3 on Monday.

Justly seen as the favourite, Jankovic outplayed current world number 36 Svitolina without major difficulties, and now has a 2-0 head-to-head ratio against her.