Venus Williams, originally in seventh place in the Race to the Sony Ericsson Championships points standing, has been forced to withdraw. Williams suffered dizziness during the US Open earlier this year and has been told by doctors not to play in the November 6-11 Madrid event.

As you know, only eight singles players can compete for a share of the $3-million prize purse at the world’s richest annual women's sporting event. Justine Henin, Jelena Jankovic, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Ana Ivanovic, Serena Williams and Anna Chakvetadze had qualified before. In my previous post I wrote that Maria Sharapova didn’t qualify because Daniela Hantuchova won the Generali Ladies Linz title, but now that Venus Williams has pulled out of the tournament, both the Russian and the Slovakian will play in Madrid.

This will be Sharapova’s fourth and Hantuchova’s second appearance in singles at the Sony Ericsson Championships. Sharapova was a champion at the event in 2004 and has been a semifinalist each of the last two years.

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Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova won the 2007 Generali Ladies Linz with a 6-4 6-2 victory over Swiss Patty Schnyder on Sunday.

Second-seeded Hantuchova was 4-2 down in the first set, but then won five games in a row to win the set and take a lead in the second. Sixth-seeded Schnyder lost her serve again at 2-1 in the second set and then missed two chances to break back. Hantuchova held her serve and finished off the match on her second match point on Schnyder's serve.

With the Linz title Hantuchova collected enough points to take the eighth and last spot in the race to the Sony Ericsson Championships in Madrid. This means that Maria Sharapova hasn’t qualified for the prestigious event this year, since she’ll be ranked ninth in the race to the season-ending WTA Championships.

Being 2007 Linz champion, Hantuchova earned $88,265. (via Yahoo!)

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Second-seeded Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova and sixth-seeded Swiss Patty Schnyder will meet in the final of the Generali Ladies Linz on Sunday.

World No.10 Daniela Hantuchova stormed back from a third-set deficit and also saved a match point against fifth seed Nicole Vaidisova to win 2-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7-3) and advance to the Linz final. This was the first time Hantuchova defeated Vaidisova.

The Slovakian will seek her third career title on Sunday, and her second title of 2007 (after winning Indian Wells in March).

In the other semifinal match Patty Schnyder beat third seed Marion Bartoli of France 7-6 (7-5), 6-3. Bartoli came back twice from a break down in the first set, but Schnyder won the tie-break. At 5-1 in the second, Schnyder missed three match points on Bartoli's serve and was broken afterward, but then closed it out on her fourth match point as Bartoli hit a forehand wide.

The 17th-ranked Swiss hopes that on Sunday she will win her 11th career title, and the first one since 2005.

Hantuchova and Schnyder have met 16 times so far, and they are 8-8, but the Slovak won five of their last six matches. (photos via Yahoo!)

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Sixth-seeded Patty Schnyder needed only 39 minutes to crush top-seeded Anna Chakvetadze 6-1, 6-0 Friday and reach the semifinals of the Generali Ladies Linz.

Look at these facts: Chakvetadze made 24 unforced errors, scored only six points on her opponent’s serve, and she won her only serving game after facing two break points! No wonder the Russian described the Linz Open quarterfinal as her worst match of the year.

Chakvetadze is now withdrawing from an event next week in Quebec in order to prepare for the season-ending Championships in Madrid but her confidence is low.

"Now I'm already thinking if it's a good thing that I qualify for there because with this kind of game I don't know what I'm going to do there," Chakvetadze told reporters.

In the semifinals Patty Schnyder will face third-seeded Marion Bartoli, who defeated Julia Vakulenko in the quarterfinals. Second seed Daniela Hantuchova also reached the semis, and will play against either Nicole Vaidisova or Dinara Safina. (sources: ESPN, Reuters)

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Third seed Marion Bartoli of France defeated Austrian teenager Tamira Paszek 6-2 6-1 to reach the quarterfinals of the Generali Ladies Linz on Thursday. The 2007 Wimbledon finalist seemed completely unaffected by the knee injury that forced her to retire in Zurich last week.

"My knee was not 100 percent but still okay and I was able to play," Bartoli, who lost only one point on serve in the first set, told reporters.

"I feel sometimes a little pain especially when I have to take a hard step on my left foot, so I tried not to hit too hard and just put the ball to the right spot."

All the Linz Open quarterfinalists are known now: Anna Chakvetadze, Patty Schnyder, Marion Bartoli, Julia Vakulenko, Nicole Vaidisova, Dinara Safina, Alona Bondarenko, and Daniela Hantuchova. (photo via Getty Images)

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