No.5 seeds Raquel Kops-Jones and Abigail Spears were ousted as the doubles event kicked off on Monday, but World No.4 doubles player Andrea Hlavackova slid through smoothly with Petra Martic.
Angelique Kerber and Maria Kirilenko will play for the first time in the semifinals in Monterrey. They are the second-highest-ranked pair not to have played each other - who's the highest?
The youngest and oldest players in the BNP Paribas Open main draw toughed out three set wins as the first round continued. And somewhere in between, Monica Niculescu was in crushing form.
Monica Niculescu survived triple match point in her first round match and another marathon in the final to capture her first WTA title at the inaugural WTA Brasil Tennis Cup in Florianopolis.
Olga Puchkova won an absolute nail-biter against No.1 seed Venus Williams in the semifinals of the WTA Brasil Tennis Cup on Friday night. Awaiting her in Saturday's final will be Monica Niculescu.
After years of struggles Olga Puchkova is hitting her stride on the WTA again, those big groundstrokes in full flight - and awaiting her in the WTA Brasil Tennis Cup semifinals is Venus Williams.
Venus Williams survived a big test against Garbiñe Muguruza in the second round of the WTA Brasil Tennis Cup on Wednesday night, rallying from 3-1 down in the third to beat the Spaniard.
Melinda Czink served up the first big upset of the WTA Brasil Tennis Cup on Monday, rallying to beat No.2 seed Yaroslava Shvedova. Monica Niculescu saved match points to score another upset.
