Rogers Cup

One of the most in-form players from the clay court season only seems to be getting even hotter on summer hardcourts. Playing a final for the fifth time in her last six events, Dinara Safina was immaculate against Dominika Cibulkova at the Rogers Cup presented by National Bank, cruising to her third Sony Ericsson WTA Tour title of the year with a 62 61 victory.
 

Russian Dinara Safina battled to a 6-0 2-6 6-3 win over Victoria Azarenka on Saturday to reach the final of the Montreal Cup.
 
Seventh seeded Safina, bidding for back-to-back titles after winning in Los Angeles last week, will meet Dominika Cibulkova in Sunday's final after the unseeded Slovakian rallied past 10th seeded Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli 4-6 6-4 6-3.
 
After a three-hour rain delay, Safina raced through the opening set in just 22 minutes and was 1-0 up in the second before her Belarusian opponent started firing back.
 

One player's summer continued to get hotter while the other continued her career-best week, and on Sunday afternoon the two will battle it out for the trophy at the $1.34-million Rogers Cup presented by National Bank title.
 

With Ana Ivanovic and Maria Sharapova going out of the tournament earlier in the week, Jelena Jankovic and Svetlana Kuznetsova's quarterfinal losses completed a Top 4 shut-out on Friday at the $1.34-million Rogers Cup presented by National Bank.
 

The upsets continue at the Uniprix Stadium Friday night when Russian Dinara Safina, the seventh seed, eliminated her compatriot Svetlana Kuznetsova 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 to reach the semifinals of the Rogers Cup presented by National Bank.
 
The first hour of the match didn’t look like it was leading towards a Safina victory. Kuznetsova took the first set 6-2 and was leading 2-0 in the second when her rival lifted the level of her game.
 

Eleventh seeded Belarusian Victoria Azarenka completed the final four of the Rogers Cup presented by National Bank at the Uniprix Stadium Friday night, ending the dream run of 17-year-old Austrian Tamira Paszek, with a 6-4, 7-5 win.
 
Azarenka, who turned 19 the night before, gave herself a wonderful birthday gift by knocking off a dynamic rival who eliminated the No.1 player in the world, Ana Ivanovic, to reach the quarter-finals.
 

Tenth seed Marion Bartoli needed all of her courage to defeat Japan’s Ai Sugiyama 6-2, 6-3 and advance to the semifinals of the Rogers Cup presented by National Bank.
 
After a problem-free first set, the 23-year-old Frenchwoman started off the second set slowly, losing her serve and allowing the Japanese 10 years her senior to jump to a 3-1 lead.
 

Second-seeded Jelena Jankovic lost yet another opportunity to claim the world No. 1 ranking when she was ousted Friday from the US$1.34 million Rogers Cup by Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova 7-5, 6-2.
 
Jankovic could have claimed the world's top spot from fellow Serb Ana Ivanovic had she reached the final here, but she instead became Cibulkova's third seeded-victim of the tournament after she knocked out fifth-seeded Elena Dementieva and 12th seed Nadia Petrova.
 

Ana Ivanovic was stunned 6-2 1-6 6-2 by 17-year-old Austrian Tamira Paszek in the third round of the Montreal Cup, opening the door for fellow Serbian Jelena Jankovic to claim her number one world ranking.
 
Jankovic, reached the last eight with 6-3 6-2 demolition of Canadian Stephanie Dubois, sits just 88 points behind Ivanovic in the WTA rankings and can nudge her out of top spot by making it to Sunday's final.
 

The challengers certainly weren't discouraged at the $1.34-million Rogers Cup presented by National Bank on Thursday, as the entire third round line-up took the court with their eyes on quarterfinal berths at the Tier I tournament.