Nicole Vaidisova news

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10. Ashley Harkleroad

riday's quarterfinals are set at the upset-ridden Barcelona Ladies Open, with fifth-seeded Carla Suárez Navarro and sixth-seeded Maria Kirilenko the only two seeds still standing.

Suárez Navarro topped lucky loser Emilie Loit, 62 75, on Thursday. The Spaniard is seeking her first Sony Ericsson WTA Tour title of any kind, though she came close last week, dropping a three-setter to Jelena Jankovic in the final at Marbella, which was also on red clay.

Roberta Vinci's 61 62 rout of fellow Italian Flavia Pennetta on Wednesday means none of the top four seeds at the Barcelona Ladies Open made it past Day 3 at the event.

Vinci defeated the second seed, who was the highest ranked player in the field at No.14, for the third time in five tries. One of those victories was in the semis of Bogotá in 2007 en route to Vinci's only Sony Ericsson WTA Tour singles title. Her quarterfinal opponent will be qualifier Anastasiya Yakimova, who got past Magdalena Rybarikova, 36 63 60.

Sixth-seeded Maria Kirilenko, the champion at last year's Barcelona Ladies Open in her first ever appearance at the event, looks to be in prime condition for a title defense, as she routed Camille Pin on Tuesday, 62 60. Three of the 22-year-old Russian's five career Sony Ericsson WTA Tour singles titles came last year, but she's still seeking her first of 2009.

Last week Conchita Martínez made her debut as a tournament director with the Andalucía Tennis Experience; this week it's the turn of another Spanish legend, Aranxta Sánchez-Vicario. The four-time Grand Slam champion is in fact a relatively old hand at the business, for this year's Barcelona Ladies Open represents her third year as co-director, and she has helped assemble the best field yet.

After the shock exit of top seed Serena Williams on Wednesday, order was restored to the clay courts of Marbella on Thursday, as all of the seeds in action made safe passage to the quarterfinals of the $500,000 Andalucía Tennis Experience. Aside from the world No.1, the only seed missing from the final eight list is No.8 seed Tsevtana Pironkova, who also fell in the first round.

Serena Williams' time as the queen of Spain, or at least the Andalucía Tennis Experience, came to an abrupt end in the first round on Wednesday, when the world No.1 fell to 95th-ranked Klara Zakopalova of the Czech Republic. The tournament's No.3 seed Kaia Kanepi was untroubled, though, pocketing the only other first round match still left to play after Tuesday.

Sorana Cirstea finally got her season back on track on Monday, winning her first match of the year as the first round of the inaugural Andalucía Tennis Experience began in Marbella, Spain.

Tsvetana Pironkova was the only seed to fall on the opening day of the Andalucia Tennis Experience.

Bulgarian Pironkova, seeded eighth, started well enough against Roberta Vinci of Italy, taking the first set on a tie-breaker.

However, Vinci battled back to progress to the second round with a 6-7 (4/7) 6-2 6-4 win.

Seventh seed Sorana Cirstea had no such problems as she beat fellow Romanian Ioana Raluca Olaru 6-4 6-2, while Nicole Vaidisova came from behind to beat Angelique Kerber 3-6 6-4 6-4.

With the springtime hardcourt swing done and dusted, attention turns to clay on both sides of the Atlantic this week, with International-series events in two new locations. While the MPS Group Championships are contested on the green clay of Ponte Vedra Beach in Florida, the European claycourt season kicks off on the red dirt at the $220,000 Andalucia Tennis Experience in Spain.

One of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour's all-time greats was on hand at Barcelona City Hall to announce this year's field for the Barcelona Ladies Open, which takes place in just over a week on the red clay courts of the Spanish city.

World No. 8 Svetlana Kuznetsova fought off a strong challenge from No. 12 Caroline Wozniacki 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-1 to reach the semifinals of the Sony Ericsson Open on Tuesday.

Serena and Venus Williams cruised into the fourth round of the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, Florida, on Sunday but second seed Dinara Safina crashed out.

Reigning Australian Open champion Serena Williams defeated China's Peng Shuai 7-5, 6-2 while US fifth seed Venus Williams, the reigning Wimbledon champion, beat Germany's Anna-Lena Groenefeld, 7-5, 6-3.

The sisters could meet in a semifinal at this nine million-dollar event, which saw its greatest upset yet when Australia's 42nd-ranked Samantha Stosur stunned Russian second seed Safina 6-1, 6-4.

Russian No. 2 seed Dinara Safina and Serbian seventh seed Ana Ivanovic both crashed out in shock third round results at the Sony Ericsson Open on Sunday.
Unseeded Australian Samantha Stosur stunned Australian Open finalist Safina 6-1, 6-4. The 42nd-ranked Stosur, who had lost to Safina in all three of their previous meetings, converted five of 12 break points to record victory in 79 minutes.

With only a couple of exceptions, the seeds came out in full and victorious force at the Sony Ericsson Open on Friday, as the bottom half of the draw played the second round at the $4.5-million tournament in Key Biscayne.