Month of August , 2009

Maria Sharapova and Nadia Petrova have had some classic wars before, including their 8-6 in the third set dust-up just a couple of months back at Roland Garros.

But if it wasn’t clear then, when Sharapova was playing just her fifth match since returning from shoulder surgery and still managed to gut out the win, it’s clear now, that Sharapova enjoys the rapid fire exchanges and is a little better in every department.

Top-seeded German Tommy Haas survived a see-sawing opening set to beat Russian Marat Safin 7-6 6-2 on Friday and book his place in the semi-finals of the LA Open.

Tournament champion in 2004 and 2006, Haas broke his eighth-seeded opponent in the fifth and seventh games of the second set to seal victory in one hour, 49 minutes under the floodlights at the LA Tennis Center.

Newly reinstated Top 10 member Nikolay Davydenko won his eighth successive ATP World Tour match by defeating Italian Simone Bolelli 7-6(10), 6-1 Friday to reach the semi-finals of the ATP Studena Croatia Open, an ATP World Tour 250 tennis tournament in Umag.

The Russian regained his place in the Top 10 at No. 9 in the South African Airways 2009 ATP Rankings after winning five matches to capture his 15th ATP World Tour title in Hamburg last week, defeating Paul-Henri Mathieu in the final.

Never short on provocative comments, esteemed tennis coach Nick Bollettieri uncorked a beauty at this year's Wimbledon, proclaiming Venus and Serena Williams "the greatest female athletes in history." And thus the debates began.

Fifth-seeded Vera Dushevina reached the semifinals of the Istanbul Cup on Friday by routing No 3 Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain 6-1, 6-2.

Dushevina won 16 of 19 points on Medina Garrigues's second serve and broke her opponent five times. The Russian will next play Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland, who needed just 50 minutes to beat Urszula Radwanska of Poland 6-0, 6-1.

In the other semifinal, Andrea Petkovic of Germany will play eighth-seeded Lucie Hradecka of the Czech Republic.

Serena Williams squeezed past Samantha Stosur in their last meeting. Today, Stosur made sure Williams ran out of wiggle room in Stanford.

The 20th-ranked Australian advanced to her second semifinal of the season with a 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 triumph over the top-seeded Williams at the Bank Of The West Classic.

Venus Williams crushed Maria Sharapova 6-2 6-2, while her younger sister Serena was upset by Samantha Stosur in the quarter-finals of the Stanford Classic.

Seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus had not beaten Sharapova in three previous matches on hard courts, but she was the more aggressive and accurate in the hard-hitting rallies while destroying the Russian's second serves.

Sharapova only hit 11 winners and committed 30 forced errors.

No.5 seed Vera Dushevina is now the top seed left at the Istanbul Cup after routing No.3 seed Anabel Medina Garrigues, 61 62, in quarterfinal action on Friday. The 22-year-old Russian, who upped her career record to 2-1 against Medina Garrigues, had lost her three previous Sony Ericsson WTA Tour quarterfinals of 2009 in Pattaya City, Madrid and Eastbourne.

The Top 4 seeds were part of an all-star quarterfinal line-up at the Bank of the West Classic on Friday, but only two made it into the semis, as Serena Williams and Jelena Jankovic were both ousted.

Rank outsider Thomaz Bellucci removed another favourite from the Gstaad ATP tournament on Saturday when he beat third seed Igor Andreev 6-4 7-5 to reach the final.

The left-handed Brazilian qualifier, ranked 119th, previously ousted top seed and local favourite Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland and Nicolas Kiefer, the sixth seed, after the German retired hurt.

Bellucci, who reached his first ATP final in Costa da Sauipe in his homeland earlier this year, broke in the ninth game to take the first set.

Ana Ivanovic will launch her North American summer hard-court season in Carson next week with a streamlined support team.

Scott Byrnes, Ivanovic's long-time strength and conditioning trainer, and Ivanovic have parted company, concluding a three-year partnership. Byrnes is planning to take a break from the rigorous travel schedule of the WTA Tour and return to his native Australia.

Russian fifth seed Vera Dushevina and Lucie Hradecka of the Czech Republic reached the final of the 220 000-dollar WTA Istanbul tournament on Saturday.

The 22-year-old Russian, ranked 49 in the world, enjoyed a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland.

Dushevina endured a nervy second set when she let slip a 4-0 lead to allow her opponent to close the gap to 5-4, but the experienced Russian held her nerve to clinch the tie.

"After winning the first set I was comfortable, but you shouldn't lose concentration," the Russian said.

Venus Williams reached her 65th career singles final on Saturday with a 6-0, 6-1 rout of fourth seeded Russian Elena Dementieva at the WTA Bank of the West Classic.

Williams, seeded third and the champion here in 2000 and 2002, will face either Australia's Samantha Stosur or 2007 Wimbledon finalist Marion Bartoli of France in Sunday's final.

Stosur clinched what she called the greatest victory of her career by knocking out top seed Serena Williams in the quarterfinals on Friday.

She says she's '100 percent' back from shoulder injury and ready to compete against World No. 1 Safina, and 10 others in World Top 15

Another first-time champion will join the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour winners' circle on Sunday, as Vera Dushevina and Lucie Hradecka do battle for the $220,000 Istanbul Cup. It will be the first meeting between the two players, who between them have been to five Tour finals before, but left empty-handed on each occasion.

Venus Williams took one step closer to her third Bank of the West Classic title on Saturday, crushing Elena Dementieva in the first match of Semifinal Saturday at the Premier-level tournament.

American Venus Williams crushed Russian Elena Dementieva 6-0 6-1 in the semi-finals of the Stanford Classic.

Williams will face Marion Bartoli in the final after the Frenchwoman battled to a 6-3 1-6 6-1 victory over Australia's Samantha Stosur.

Second seed Williams nailed 20 winners and converted 16 of 18 approaches at the net to ensure she reached the Stanford final for the seventh time in eight appearances.

The 24-year-old French women's tennis star, ranked among the world's top 15 players, has an eye for beauty, whether it's facing down an opponent in the heat of the moment in front of a sellout crowd or staring at a blank canvas in the quiet of her studio.

Either way, Bartoli can imagine the finished product before making a stroke. Her imagination carries well from the hardcourts to the landscape. She can envision her dreams and take the appropriate steps to make them reality.

The truth about Venus Williams is that she needs a hardcourt title. Forget the U.S. Open, at least for the moment; any hardcourt would suffice. In fact, the one at Stanford's Taube Stadium sounds perfect.

Williams dominated in her Saturday semifinal at the Bank of the West Classic, crushing Elena Dementieva 6-0, 6-1. If Williams wins today's final against Marion Bartoli, who defeated Samantha Stosur 6-3, 1-6, 6-1 in the evening semifinal, it would be nothing short of a breakthrough. Williams hasn't won a U.S. tournament on this surface since 2002.

It was fourth time lucky for Vera Dushevina on Sunday, as she won her first Sony Ericsson WTA Tour singles title in her fourth such final at the Istanbul Cup, crushing Lucie Hradecka in 41 minutes.