Francesca Schiavone today became the first Italian woman through to a grand slam final after a tearful Elena Dementieva dramatically quit their French Open semi-final.

FRENCH Open giant killer Robin Soderling insisted he never stopped believing he could end his hoodoo against Roger Federer after finally toppling the defending champion last night.

Francesca Schiavone today produced one of the most complete performances of this year's French Open to stun Caroline Wozniacki and become the first woman into the semi-finals.

Top seed Elena Dementieva continued her fine form to reach the final of the Malaysian Open in Kuala Lumpur.

Top seed Elena Dementieva moved into the third round of the Malaysia Classic with a straightforward win over Serbia's Bojana Jovanovski.

Top seed Elena Dementieva fought back from a set down to claim the title at the Open GDF Suez in Paris with a hard-fought 6-7 (5-7) 6-1 6-4 victory over Lucie Safarova.

Fifth seed Elena Dementieva ensured the anticipated second-round meeting with Justin Henin will take place after beating Vera Dushevina 6-2 6-1 at the Australian Open today.

Russia’s Elena Dementieva served notice of her Australian Open intent with a thumping win over world number one Serena Williams in the final of the Medibank Sydney International today.

American teenager Melanie Oudin knocked out former champion Maria Sharapova to continue her amazing run at the US Open.

RUSSIA’S Elena Dementieva and Serbia’s Jelena Jankovic became the first big name casualties at the US Open.

Women’s fourth seed Elena Dementieva became the first big-name casualty of the 2009 US Open when American teenager Melanie Oudin claimed another grand slam scalp today.

Former champions Kim Clijsters and Venus Williams stayed on course for a last-16 showdown at Flushing Meadows after both coming through their US Open second-round ties.

Elena Dementieva stunned red-hot favourite and second seed Serena Williams today to set up a Rogers Cup final with fellow underdog Maria Sharapova.

Serena Williams believes she will have “nothing to lose” when she takes on sister Venus in tomorrow’s Wimbledon final.

VENUS WILLIAMS ensured the Wimbledon final would be another family affair with a devastating performance against Russia’s Dinara Safina at SW19 yesterday.

Serena Williams fought back from the brink of a shock defeat to stay on course for a third Wimbledon title with victory over Elena Dementieva in the longest women’s semi-final in history.

SERENA WILLIAMS claimed she would be prepared to match the men by playing five-set matches after making a perfect run through to the Wimbledon semi-finals.

Elena Dementieva reached her second successive Wimbledon semi-final with an easy victory against Italian Francesca Schiavone in the baking heat on Court One.

ROGER FEDERER will face Robin Soderling in the fourth round at Wimbledon in a rematch of the recent French Open final.

Fourth seed Elena Dementieva today needed just 59 minutes to book her place in the fourth round at Wimbledon by thrashing fellow Russian Regina Kulikova.

SERENA WILLIAMS has warned her Wimbledon rivals there is more to come after demolishing Jarmila Groth on Court One yesterday.

German teenager Sabine Lisicki shocked second seed Venus Williams at the Family Circle Cup in Charleston by beating the American 6-4 7-6 (7/5) to advance to the quarter-finals.

Dinara Safina and Ana Ivanovic crashed out of the Sony Ericsson Open in the third round today, while sisters Venus and Serena Williams advanced.

Serena Williams is into her 13th grand slam final after overcoming fourth seed Elena Dementieva 6-2, 6-4 in their Australian Open semi-final today.

Elena Dementieva has expressed surprise that the roof on Rod Laver Arena was not closed prior to the start of her quarter-final against Carla Suarez Navarro.

Elena Dementieva has shrugged off suggestions she is the favourite to win the women’s title at the Australian Open after she extended her winning run to 14 matches with an easy 6-2 6-2 fourth-round win over Dominika Cibulkova.

Elena Dementieva stretched her winning run to 12 matches as she booked her place in the third round of the Australian Open with a 6-4 6-1 win against Iveta Benesova.

Serena Williams today insisted she was still the best player in the world despite being seeded second for next week’s Australian Open and humbled in the semi-finals of the Sydney International.

Serena Williams and Ana Ivanovic have withdrawn from the season-ending Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Championship in Doha.

VENUS WILLIAMS reached the semi-finals of the Sony Ericsson Championships yesterday with a hard-fought 5-7 6-1 6-0 win against her sister Serena to stay undefeated in three matches in Doha.

Jelena Jankovic stormed back from a dismal start to beat defending champion Elena Dementieva in the semi-finals of the Kremlin Cup.

Ana Ivanovic's late-season slump continued today as she suffered a 6-1 1-6 6-2 defeat by Russian Nadia Petrova during their second-round match at the Pacific Open.

Elena Dementieva has maintained her recent run of fine form by cruising into the quarter-finals of the Pacific Open.

JELENA JANKOVIC reached the first Grand Slam final of her career after seeing off Elena Dementieva in the semi-finals of the US Open on Friday.

ROGER FEDERER admitted he was a relieved man after narrowly avoiding a fourth-round upset at the US Open late on Tuesday night.

Elena Dementieva believes there is still room for improvement despite continuing to build on an excellent season by reaching the semi-finals of the US Open with a 6-2 6-3 victory over Patty Schnyder of Switzerland yesterday.

Elena Dementieva continued her dazzling form today to clinch a place in the US Open semi-finals at the expense of Patty Schnyder.

SECOND seed Jelena Jankovic and fifth seed Elena Dementieva have booked their spots in the quarter-finals of the US Open.

ROGER FEDERER booked his place in the third round of the US Open last night after easing to a straight-sets victory over Brazilian qualifier Thiago Alves.

Olympic champion Elena Dementieva brought British number one Anne Keothavong’s surprise run at the US Open to a close in straight sets in New York.

Rafael Nadal will celebrate his rise to the top of the world on Monday as the new Olympic champion after a straight sets victory over Chilean Fernando Gonzalez in Beijing today.

Elena Dementieva overcame a familiar attack of nerves to snap her Russian compatriot Dinara Safina’s 15-match winning streak and claim the Olympic women’s singles title.

SERENA WILLIAMS will face sister Venus for the third time in a Wimbledon final tomorrow after bringing Zheng Jie’s incredible run to an end with a 6-2 7-6 (7-5) win.

Number five seed Elena Dementieva, of Russia, loses women’s singles semi-final against Venus Williams of the United States, 6-1 7-6 (7/3).