Vera Zvonareva

World number 10 Vera Zvonareva was on Wednesday named in Russia's Fed Cup team for the World Group semifinal against Serbia on April 21-22.

Zvonareva has had a season punctuated by injury and illness, but Russia's captain Shamil Tarpishchev said: "Zvonareva wants to play, she's our team member.

"She will practice here together with the other girls. We can substitute one player with another 24 hours before the match starts.

"I count on her and believe Vera (Zvonareva) will manage to avoid injuries and will play against Serbia."

A slew of former champions made the quarters of the Family Circle Cup on Thursday, though the day didn't all go to form, most notably Polona Hercog scoring her first Top 10 win over Marion Bartoli. Hercog came into Charleston on somewhat of a low, losing first round at nine of her last 10 tournaments (and only reaching the second round of the other). But after back-to-back wins in her first two rounds, the momentum may have swung.

Playing her first match on clay in almost two years Serena Williams showed the skills that once took her to the French Open title, shining on both offense and defense to beat Elena Vesnina, 63 64. The last time Williams played on clay was the French Open in 2010, and the last time she played in Charleston was when she won the title in 2008. But it was hard to believe anywhere near that time had passed as she fired 11 aces and broke serve three times en route to the win over 2011 finalist Vesnina.

Alisa Kleybanova's first tournament after recovering from cancer was stopped at the second-round stage by fellow Russian Maria Kirilenko.

Kirilenko won 7-6 (1), 6-3 on Friday to set up a third-round meeting at the Miami Masters with compatriot Ksenia Pervak, ending Kleybanova's tournament, but not her comeback.

An absolutely packed field, including the top-ranked players in the world as well as three former World No.1s making their comebacks to WTA action, has descended on Miami for the Sony Ericsson Open, one of the biggest tournaments on the WTA calendar outside the Grand Slam events. The Top 8 seeds at the Premier-level tournament are the Top 8 players in the world, led by Victoria Azarenka, the World No.1 who has gotten off to the best start to a season in 15 years, going 23-0 in collecting titles at Sydney, the Australian Open, Doha and Indian Wells.

Former French Open winner Francesca Schiavone and reigning Wimbledon champ Petra Kvitova joined the growing list of players forced to pull out of the Indian Wells tennis.

The 31-year-old Italian was a set down (6-2) in her third round match against Czech Lucie Safarova when she packed it in Monday, joining several others who have withdrawn or retired because of a virus.

Schiavone is a two-time French Open finalist and a winner in 2010. Last year she lost in the Roland Garros final to China's Li Na.

There's a wave of young Americans working its way up the WTA rankings, with Christina McHale at the front of it - and on Sunday the 19-year-old from New Jersey pulled off the biggest upset so far at the BNP Paribas Open, outlasting World No.3 Petra Kvitova in three sets, 26 62 63.

The third round of the BNP Paribas Open gets underway on Sunday, with several of the pre-tournament favorites in action, including Victoria Azarenka and Petra Kvitova .

Sunday, Third Round

Ninth seed Vera Zvonareva entered this year’s BNP Paribas Open as one of six former women’s champions in the draw. The Russian became just the second WTA player to win both the singles and doubles events at Indian Wells in 2009, joining elite company with Lindsay Davenport.

Following her second-round victory over Kimiko Date-Krumm Friday, the Russian reflected on her 2009 performance and revealed the artist she would most want to perform with at the Grammys in this champion spotlight feature for BNPParibasOpen.com.  

For the 24th year in a row the biggest stars of the WTA descend on Indian Wells for the BNP Paribas Open, one of the most prestigious stops on the calendar - and $1 million going to the winner. Check out the main draw for Indian Wells right here!