Serena Williams was installed as the new Wimbledon favourite after powering into the fourth round, and declared: “I wouldn’t bet against me.”

Maria Sharapova raced through to the fourth round at Wimbledon this afternoon with a crushing win over Klara Zakopalova.

Serena Williams will resume her title defence in the more grand surroundings of Court One today after the All England Club acquiesced to the champion’s plea to move away from the outer reaches of Wimbledon.

Former world number one Dinara Safina claimed back-to-back wins for the first time since the Australian Open in January to reach the third round of the Rogers Cup in Montreal.

Former world number one Dinara Safina claimed just a third win in her past 11 matches after beating first-round opponent Andrea Petkovic at the Rogers Cup in Montreal.

FOUR-TIME French Open champion Rafael Nadal is braced for a tough battle as he faces Lleyton Hewitt at Roland Garros today.

Serena Williams today admitted she is taking great pleasure from silencing those who claimed she and sister Venus would never again hold the top two spots in the world rankings.

RAFAEL NADAL last night insisted he always plays badly in the first round of the French Open after a straight-sets success against plucky French teenager Gianni Mina.

Justine Henin celebrated her French Open comeback with a straight-sets win after coming through a tricky first-round match against Tsvetana Pironkova.

ROGER FEDERER feared for his French Open existence during his testing second-round win over Argentina’s Jose Acasuso yesterday.

The Williams sisters both made it into round three of the French Open today - but in very contrasting styles.

Second seed Serena Williams found some welcome form on clay today to cruise into the third round of the French Open.

THIRD seed Novak Djokovic had only a brief workout in his opening match at the French Open as he was given a helping hand into the second round.

Venus Williams is relishing the chance to begin the defence of her Wimbledon title as she prepares to face British wild card Naomi Cavaday on Centre Court today.

LLEYTON HEWITT breezed into the second round of the US Open with a straight-sets victory over American Amer Delic yesterday.

RAFAEL NADAL was one point away from losing the first set before rallying to take command of his first-round match with American Robert Kendrick to move into the second round of the Australian Open in Melbourne.

Second seed Justine Henin-Hardenne shrugged off a 90-minute rain delay to open her US Open campaign with a straight-sets win.