Sara errani conquer's de the Oracle Challenger Series WTA 125K

Last week, Sara Errani became the inaugural winner of the Oracle Challenger Series Indian Wells 125K, coming all the way through qualifying to win seven matches and wind up with the trophy - and the former Roland Garros finalist has been rewarded with a return to the Top 100.

Sara Errani has spoken to the media for the first time following a two-month suspension for an anti-doping rule violation.

MILAN, Italy 
Sara Errani has vowed to return "stronger than ever" when she completes a two-month suspension.

The ITF announced on Monday that the 30-year-old had been found to have committed an anti-doping rule violation.

She was banned from playing until October 3 and made to forfeit ranking points and prize money for the period between Feburary 16 and June 7, 2017.

At a media conference on Wednesday, Errani insisted that her positive test had been caused by food contaminated by her mother's medication for breast cancer and said: "I know I have done nothing wrong."

The Italian added that "it's a difficult situation" for her family "but we have managed to be even more united so I'm proud of them".

Kristina Mladenovic advances to third round of the French Open 2017

PARIS, France
Kristina Mladenovic showed marked improvement after her titantic first round win to defeat former finalist Sara Errani, 6-2, 6-3, to reach the third round at Roland Garros.

Sara Errani win's over strycova in dubai 2016

A former Top 10 fixture and french open finalist, Errani's greater big-match experience shone through as she romped to a 6-0, 6-2 victory after little more than an hour on court.

"I have no words. I'm sorry for Barbora - she's an amazing player, but I'm really happy to win this tournament. It's been a tough week for me, and I'm really happy for me, my team and my family and friends," Errani told Annabel Croft in her on-court interview.

The Italian looked in pensive mood when she stepped out on court, but hit the ground running. Perhaps sensing her opponent's own nerves, Errani won the toss and elected to receive, a decision that was rewarded by a string of unforced errors and a break to love.

With the occasion seemingly getting the better of her opponent, Errani showed no mercy, rattling through the next couple of games in the blink of an eye. When Strycova belatedly found her range, Errani was her equal, showcasing her extraordinary defensive capabilities to prevail in a 26-shot exchange and move 4-0 ahead.

After 29 one-sided minutes, Strycova surrendered the set after a couple more wild swings, and her mood darkened further when she frittered away a 30-0 lead to drop serve in the next game.

Much to the Czech's relief, she finally got on the scoreboard a few games, punching away a double-fisted volley to end the prospect of a first whitewash in a WTA final since 2014.

But whatever questions Strycova posed, Errani had an answer for, ploughing relentlessly towards the finishing line.

Caroline Garcia win 's over errani in fed cup 2016

MARSEILLE, FRANCE
Caroline Garcia fired 31 winners past Sara Errani to put France level with Italy at 1-1 in the Fed Cup by BNP Paribas World Group first round on Saturday.

The French crowd at the Palais des Sports sang the national anthem, supported by their own oompah band, as Garcia beat the former fifth-ranked Italian in an at-times stunning display of attacking tennis, 63 75.

“It’s always a great experience and a great feeling to play in front of your home crowd and to play for France,” Garcia said.

After Kristina Mladenovic had lost her opening match against Camila Giorgi, 16 64 61, the pressure was on for the 22-year-old Garcia and she didn’t crack.

Leading by a set and 3-2, Garcia dropped serve when she played a risky drop shot on break point. In the next game, Errani showed why only a year ago she was the top-ranked doubles player in the world as she saved a break point with a drop volley.

Sara Errani advances in sydney 2016. Jancovic out

SYDNEY, Australia - Sara Errani looked on course for a three-setter during her second round encounter with Jelena jancovic; the Italian managed to up her game at the right moment at the apia international sydney, saving a whopping seven set points to take out the former No.1, 7-6(3), 7-6(8), in two hours and 30 minutes.

The 2012 roland garros finalist, Errani had eked out the opening set against an opponent she had beaten in three of their last four meetings. But Jankovic won their last match at the Huajin WTA and appeared poised to extend the match to a decider when the Serb raced out to a 5-1 lead.

"Yeah, it was 5-1, but I had many games with 40-Love, 40-15, and advantage, and so it didn't really feel like 5-1," Errani said.

WILLIAMS INTO SEMIS OF THE FRENCH OPEN 2015

But the No.17-seeded Errani was no match for the No.1-seeded Williams in this quarterfinal clash, as Williams hit 39 winners to 23 unforced errors to cruise through in an hour and six minutes, 6-1, 6-3. 

 Williams has always thrived in this match-up - she's now an impressive 9-0 lifetime against Errani. "The last four French Opens in a row she's been to the quarterfinals or better, so I knew I had to be really focused today," Williams said. "She does so well here, and she really fights for every point."

ITALY 2 FRANCE 0, GIORGI AND ERRANI WINS.

GENOA, ITALY
Camila Giorgi overcame French No. 1 Alize Cornet to give the home side a 2-0 lead after the first day's play in Italy's Fed Cup by BNP Paribas tie with France. 
Sara Errani had earlier defeated Caroline Garcia in straight sets to end the Frenchwoman’s undefeated record in the competition. 

Cornet, ranked 12 places higher than the Giorgi, had edged two of their three meetings in 2015, but the Italian had won their only clay court encounter, in Strasbourg. And Giorgi started the stronger, winning the only break in a tight first set and closing it out in 46 minutes. 
The Italian then accelerated away from Cornet, capitalising fully on the two break point opportunities that came her way in the second set. Despite some good play from the Frenchwoman to force Giorgi to serve it out, she was unable to stop the young Italian from recording a 64 62 win in one hour and 18 minutes, and put Italy firmly in charge of the tie. Errani had got the home side off to the perfect start in the day's opening rubber as she got the better of Caroline Garcia in two tight sets. The 21-year-old Frenchwoman had won both of her previous two singles and two doubles matches, not to mention both of her two career meetings with Errani - on clay in Madrid and on the grass of Wimbledon last year – but there was to be no repeat on Saturday. 
In a first set that witnessed eight breaks of serve, the two battled to a tiebreak that was dominated by the Italian. Errani continued to pressure her opponent and achieved the decisive break to win the match, 76(2) 75 in just over 2 hours and give the hosts the opening point of the tie.

Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci have been voted WTA Doubles Team Of The Year 2014

Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci finished 2014 as the WTA Year-End World No.1s presented by Dubai Duty Free in doubles, and there's some icing on the cake - they've been voted WTA Doubles Team Of The Year. 

 "We're feeling amazing and really happy about this award," Errani said. "Three years in a row is something special. It's been a fantastic year for us and getting the Career Grand Slam is something we'll never forget. We want to thank our families, our teams for constantly supporting us, and especially all the beautiful fans around the world. Without you we're nothing. 
 "We're looking forward to a wonderful 2015 - see you back on the court soon!" Having finished 2013 as co-World No.1s, Errani and Vinci had targets on their backs all year, and they even surrendered the top spot to Asian trailblazers Hsieh Su-Wei and Peng Shuai for a few months. But all in all they handled the pressure extremely well, winning five WTA doubles titles - including Grand Slams at the Australian Open and Wimbledon - and finishing co-World No.1s again.

Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci are officially sharing WTA doubles Year-End World No.1

That Wimbledon triumph gave Errani and Vinci a Career Doubles Grand Slam, making them just the fifth doubles team in the Open Era to achieve the feat after Martina Navratilova and Pam Shriver, Kathy Jordan and Anne Smith, Gigi Fernández and Natasha Zvereva, and, of course, the Williams sisters. 

 There's more - having already finished as co-No.1s in 2013, repeating the feat in 2014 makes them just the second team in WTA history to finish multiple years as co-No.1s, after Cara Black and Liezel Huber (the Zimbabwean-American duo achieved the feat three times in 2007, 2008 and 2009). 
The only other team to achieve the feat was Lisa Raymond and Samantha Stosur (who did it once in 2006). 
 This will be Errani and Vinci's 60th career week as co-World No.1s in doubles together, the second-longest stint as co-No.1s in WTA history. 

Here's the full list in order of most weeks... 

27 weeks - Cara Black &Liezel Huber 
60 weeks - Sara Errani & Roberta Vinci 
39 weeks - Lisa Raymond & Sam Stosur 
20 weeks - Liezel Huber & Lisa Raymond

WOZNIACKI INTO SEMIS OF THE US OPEN 2014.

Caroline Wozniacki, one of just two Top 10 seeds left in the draw (the other is Serena Williams), sailed into the semifinals with a 6-0, 6-1 drubbing of the underpowered 13th seed Sara Errani of Italy. 

With a chance to reach her second US Open final, the 24-year-old Dane, the 10th seed, advances to play the unexpected, unseeded semifinalist Peng Shuai.

Coming off a confident upset of the fifth seed Maria Sharapova, Wozniacki streaked to a 6-0 first set in just 29 minutes. With the winds swirling inside Arthur Ashe Stadium, it appeared that the Dane was in a hurry to get off court ahead of an incoming storm system – even though nearly every point was a protracted rally of eight or more shots.

“I knew it was going to be really tricky with the wind, but I served really well,” said Wozniacki.

Wozniacki and Errani, two of the game’s best retrievers, had split their two previous tour meetings. But the former world No. 1 thoroughly dominated this encounter, striking 26 winners and committing just 10 unforced errors.

To take a commanding 5-1 lead in the second set, Wozniacki ran the length of the court to retrieve a dipping short ball and crush a running backhand down the line for a winner.  

Wozniacki has worked hard in the last 12 months to generate more offense in her game, and Errani has perhaps the most attackable serve among the elite women. Notably, Wozniacki has beefed up her serve and looked to hit her forehand more aggressively, stepping inside the baseline and looking to end, rather than merely extend, points.

SARA ERRANI IN QFS OF THE US OPEN 2014

Sara Errani doesn’t mind running around a tennis court all day. She also doesn’t mind playing the spoiler role – for the second consecutive match in Arthur Ashe Stadium.

The No. 13 seed made a return to the US Open quarterfinals with a 6-3, 2-6, 6-0 win over 32-year-old Mirjana Lucic-Baroni on Sunday just two days after she had beaten another 30-something by the name of Venus Williams on the same court.

The loss of Williams from the tournament was an obvious point of “Aw, too bad” for American tennis fans, but the Lucic-Baroni exit summoned a similar response as the former teen prodigy made the second week of a major for the first time since 1999, coming through qualifying and shocking world No. 2 Simona Halep of Romania in the third round.

It was a contrast of styles from the start, with the big-hitting Lucic-Baroni trying to produce her patented go-for-broke tennis against the loopy, spin-laden game of the Italian, a semifinalist here in 2012.

Errani, 27, captured the first set in 33 minutes, but it was a nearly five-minute medical timeout between sets that seemed to right the ship for Lucic-Baroni. After playing the next game with the tape on her right knee, she promptly removed the tape and suddenly was playing her best, blasting winners from both sides of the court to grab the middle set.

In the final set, Lucic-Baroni’s tennis abandoned her as fast as she had found it, Errani running – literally – into the quarterfinals when the Croatian blasted an eye-popping 69^th unforced error for the match, at the one-hour 36-minute mark.

“I like to run. I love running,” Errani said on court after the win. “I try to be consistent to run and be in every point. I want to fight. The other [players] have bigger strokes than me, but I try to stay in the match that way.”

Lucic-Baroni had 46 winners to go along with her unforced error stat, but the cleaner, sturdier Errani won out on this day, hitting only four winners and nine unforced errors.

“It was a tough match, I felt good mentally,” said Errani.

SARA ERRANI AND VINCI ARE THE FIRST DOUBLES TO QUALIFY SINGAPORE 2014

SINGAPORE 
 Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci are the first doubles team - and first players at all - to qualify for the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global.

Just days after conquering Wimbledon and reclaiming the co-World No.1 doubles ranking together, Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci have some more good news - they are the very first players to qualify for the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global. 
 The eight best singles players and eight best doubles teams throughout the 2014 season will qualify for the legendary year-end event, which is going to be held in Singapore for the first time this year.

SERENA WILLIAMS CONQUERS ROME 2014. INTERNAZIONALI BNL D'ITALIA

WILLIAMS_ERRANI 63 60
Order was restored in the Eternal City on Sunday. The first set was tricky - the No.1-seeded Williams needed 51 minutes to win it, 6-3, and wasn't truly in full flow, hitting an even 16 winners and 16 unforced errors. Meanwhile, the No.10-seeded Errani had four winners to 10 unforced errors. The second set was one way traffic. Williams had a +13 differential of winners to unforced errors (15 to 2) and barely lost points (24 to 5). The second set lasted 21 minutes. Williams won, 6-3, 6-0. 
 Williams finished the match with her 31st winner of the day, a massive backhand down the line. By The Numbers Beyond match numbers, there were major implications from Williams' win, and not just the implication that she's once again a strong favorite for the French - she's now 53-2 on clay since the start of the 2012 clay court season, the only losses in that stretch coming in the first round of the 2012 French Open (to Virginie Razzano) and in her opening match at Charleston this year (to Jana Cepelova).

Maria Sharapova progresses to final Stuttgart Porsche Tennis Grand Prix 2014

It has not been the easiest of starts to the season for Sharapova, with early exits at both the Australian Open and Indian Wells putting her place in the Top 10 under threat. However, over the past few years, the Russian has often saved her best tennis for the clay and after a slow start in Stuttgart her game looked back to its best during her quarterfinal win over Agnieszka Radwanska. An intriguing subplot to her semifinal against Errani concerned the rankings, with the winner assured of a place in the Top 10 on Monday. 



 In four previous meetings with Sharapova, Errani had never taken a set and the early signs in their latest encounter were ominous. After holding serve to love in the opening game, Sharapova unleashed an inside-out forehand winner to capture the early break and it was not long before she was wrapping up the set with another imperious service game. There was a brief glimmer of hope for Errani when she broke at the start of the second, but it was soon snuffed out. Sharapova reestablished her dominance thanks to two more breaks of her own, and, with the on-court clock still one minute shy of the hour mark, yet another inch-perfect backhand put the finishing touches to a 61 62 victory. 

That backhand was the 30th winner to come from the Russian's racquet and this statistic - allied to just nine unforced errors - goes a long way to explaining the one-sided scoreline. Errani also struggled on serve throughout; she was broken five times and failed to win a point on her second serve until she was 4-2 down in the second set.

Elina Svitolina win with a victory over Sloane Stephens

Svitolina broke three times en route to an early 5-1 lead and though things tightened up a bit from there, it was too late - Svitolina slid past the No.5-seeded Stephens in straight sets, 64 64. "I feel more frustration when I'm down 5-1 and I've made like 58 unforced errors in like 12 minutes," Stephens said afterwards. "But after that, you're just like, 'That sucked, but I have to get over it, because I know there are things I can do better.' So it was frustrating, but it's not like I dwelled on it. "I did well to get it back but it's tough when the other person has momentum and is playing so well." 

 As for Svitolina, she continues an absolute breakthrough year. Not only has she scored all four of her Top 20 wins so far this year - Svetlana Kuznetsova at the Australian Open, Roberta Vinci in Paris, Eugenie Bouchard at Indian Wells and Stephens here - but this week she became the No.1 teenager. "I started to believe more in myself that I can compete with players like this, top level, Top 20 and Top 10," Svitolina said afterwards. "I think this belief is the key, and also tactical things like playing more solid from the baseline, trying to go forward and be more aggressive and finishing the points earlier. "And of course, I'm getting used to life on the tour more. That's the most important thing when you're just coming up from juniors, building the confidence that you can win against these kinds of players." Sabine Lisicki, the No.4 seed this week, restored some order in the next match on center court, rallying from 2-0 down in the third to edge Vania King, 75 46 63. Lisicki blasted 12 aces in the match. 
 "Usually I'm at home for at least five or six days to prepare to go from hardcourt to clay, and this time I only had two days to prepare, so it was tough in the beginning," Lisicki said. "But the longer the match went on, the better I started to time the ball and I was making less unforced errors out there. "It was up and down a bit, but I think I was getting better throughout the match today." No.3 seed Sara Errani restored more order in the next match on center, though maybe not the way she wanted - Dutch qualifier Kiki Bertens retired with a low back injury after dropping the first set, 6-3.

ANASTASIA PAVLYUCHENKOVA WINS 22 GDF SUEZ OPEN

PAVLYUCHENKOVA_ERRANI 36 62 63

Paris: Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia beat third-seeded Sara Errani of Italy 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 Sunday in the final of the Open GDF Suez for her sixth career title. Pavlyuchenkova captured her first title of the season and her first since winning the Portugal Open in May 2013. Errani won seven straight games to rally from a 3-1 deficit in the first set and lead 2-0 in the second. 
But Pavlyuchenkova responded by also winning seven straight games to even the match and lead 1-0 in the third. In the final set, Pavlyuchenkova hit a backhand return winner to break for a 5-3 lead and sealed the victory with a forehand winner.

Errani and Vinci retain Australian Open title. 24 January 2014.

ERRANI/VINCI_MAKAROVA/VESNINA 64 36 75

Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci took a three-set win Friday over Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina and repeated as Australian Open women's doubles champions. Errani and Vinci rallied from a third-set deficit for a 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 victory. 

The win marked the fourth Grand Slam doubles title for Errani and Vinci, who needed to win the title in Melbourne to retain the world No. 1 ranking in women's doubles. 

 Makarova and Vesnina, seeded No. 3, had beaten the Italian team the last two times they played and seemed in control when they won five straight games for a 5-2 lead in the third set. Errani and Vinci, however, answered with a five-game winning streak of their own and won the championship. 

 "It was very strange, very difficult," Errani said. "We went from 2-0 up in the third set to 5-2 down in the third set, and we weren't really playing very well at that time. But from there we knew we had to keep going and we were able to make it." Makarova and Vesnina defeated Errani and Vinci for the French Open women's doubles title last year.

 If the Russians had won Friday, Vesnina would have taken over the No. 1 ranking in women's doubles.