Dominika Cibulkova

Jelena Jankovic's French Open preparations took another hit on Monday, as she lost to Simona Halep in the first round of the Brussels Open - her fourth first round loss in four clay court events this year. The No.6-seeded Jankovic, who had dropped opening matches at Stuttgart, Madrid and Rome too, battled Halep for two hours and 54 minutes and looked like she was on the verge of snapping the losing streak, holding three match points in the third set - two at 5-3, one at 5-4 - but she fell, 62 36 76(3).

Li Na and Maria Sharapova rounded out the quarterfinal line-up at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia on Thursday night, both surviving tight first sets then cruising to victory at the Premier-level tournament in Rome. The No.8-seeded Li was the first to advance, allowing Chanelle Scheepers to catch up from 5-2 to 5-all before closing out the first set in a tie-break, then reeling off four games in a row to close out a confident 76(3) 62 victory.

Serena and Venus Williams both made it into the last eight of WTA Rome with comfortable straight sets victories.

Ninth seed Serena beat Spain's Anabel Medina Garrigues 6-3 6-1 while Venus beat fifth seed and reigning US Open champion Sam Stosur 6-4 6-3.

Fourth seed Petra Kvitova needed three sets to see off the challenge of Sorana Cirstea 6-2 5-7 6-2 and reach the quarter-finals.

The Wimbledon champion began the match impressively enough, forcing three break points and taking two of them in the first set to waltz into the lead.

Defending women's champion Maria Sharapova came through a tough test by American world number 36 Christina McHale before winning 7-5 7-5 to reach the third round at WTA Rome.

The Russian trailed 4-1 and 5-3 in the opener before hitting back to take the set and then held off a spirited challenge from the 20-year-old McHale before squeezing through.

After the slippery clay of last week's Madrid Masters, the players had to cope with gusting winds which disturbed their fluency.

It was a meaningful day in many ways for Sara Errani on Sunday, as she not only swept the Barcelona Ladies Open singles and doubles titles, but she also made a special dedication to a fallen countryman. The No.7-seeded Errani didn't lose a set en route to the final and brought out that top form again, keeping her errors down and using her heavy topspin groundstrokes to outdo No.3-seeded Dominika Cibulkova for the title, 62 62.

Dominika Cibulkova and Sara Errani cruised to straight-set victories Saturday to set up a final at the Barcelona Open.

Cibulkova routed Sorana Cirstea of Romania 6-1, 6-1, while seventh-seeded Italian Errani was a 6-1, 6-2 winner over Spain's Carla Suarez Navarro.

Errani's ninth straight victory on clay put her into a second final of the season. The 33rd-ranked Italian looks to follow up her Acapulco triumph in February.

Dominika Cibulkova has split from her coach, Zeljko Krajan, the Slovak News Agency (SITA) reports. World No. 17 Cibulkova worked with Krajan, who previously coached former No. 1 Dinara Safina, for almost two years. When the two began working together, Cibulkova was sputtering and was ranked No. 46. Cibulkova is at the Barcelona tournament with her physio Marian Drinka and hitting partner Peter Miklusicak and is looking for a new coach. She will play Sara Errani in the final there.

Second seed Julia Goerges suffered a comprehensive 6-2 6-3 defeat at the hands of Sara Errani in the quarter-finals of the Barcelona Open.

The German had been stretched in a three-set tussle in the previous round, and was a clear second-best against her Italian opponent.

Errani, seeded seven in Spain, forced 10 break points and converted half of them as she wrapped up victory in 76 minutes.

Next up for Errani is a showdown against home hope Carla Suarez-Navarro, who was equally clinical in a 6-4 6-1 demolition of Simona Halep.

It was a tough day for everyone at the Barcelona Ladies Open on Thursday, with all five matches on the schedule going to three sets. But in the end there were five winners and they made the quarterfinals. The first match on the schedule produced a breakthrough result for Ukrainian qualifier Yuliya Beygelzimer, who survived some tense moments late in the second set and early in the third but eventually scored a 62 67(5) 64 upset over No.5 seed Flavia Pennetta.

Serena Williams says her US Open final loss to Sam Stosur wasn't on her mind as she beat the Australian 7-5 6-3 at the Miami Masters.

Williams recovered from a break down in both sets on Monday to defeat Stosur and advance to the quarter-finals.

Williams, bidding for a record sixth Miami title, avenged a loss to Stosur when they last met in the US Open final in September.

"That wasn't in my mind," Williams said.

"I just thought, 'This is a new game'."

Williams matched a career-high 20 aces in the win.