World No.3 Jelena Jankovic was too weak to defeat motivated Anna Chakvetadze Thursday at the Sony Ericsson Championships in Madrid. The Russian won 6-4 0-6 6-3 and secured her place in the semifinals (next to Justine Henin, Maria Sharapova, and Ana Ivanovic). My overall impression was that Chakvetadze was determined and motivated, while Jankovic looked tired and burned out.

After winning the opening set, Chakvetadze slept through the next seven games. The 20-year-old Russian entered the second set too relaxed, and quickly saw herself in a situation of being a break down in a decider. But from then on, things started to change. Jankovic permitted Chakvetadze to break back and revive her powerful game. In the third game of the final set, you could smell the end of Jankovic; revived Chakvetadze won her service game, and since then the Serb started being inferior and had to fight hard to stay in the match. But Chakvetadze was unstoppable! When Chakvetadze served for the match, Jankovic had her last chance — the Serb evened to 30-30, after an exhausting but fantastic defense. Still, Jankovic wasn’t strong enough to fight the motivated Russian and had to say goodbye to the semifinals of the Sony Ericsson Championships.

It’s sad that Jelena Jankovic, a player with such a great year, couldn’t collect enough energy to finish the season playing as well as she's capable of. (photo via Getty Images)

Belgian Justine Henin avenged her Wimbledon loss to Marion Bartoli, in style! The world number one defeated the Frenchwoman 6-0 6-0 in less than an hour.

I was disappointed with the match, I was hoping for some real action, at least a glimpse of the battle they had in Wimbledon this year, but what I got was the exact opposite. Too bad, but ok, it’s not the end of the world. I'm looking forward to watching Jankovic vs. Chakvetadze, it will start in a few minutes.

World No.10 Marion Bartoli got a chance to compete in the season-ending Championships after the withdrawal of injured Serena Williams. (photo via Getty Images)

The 2004 champion Maria Sharapova came from a set down to defeat world No.2 Svetlana Kuznetsova 5-7 6-2 6-2 at the Sony Ericsson Championships in Madrid.

The first set was tight, both the players made one break, but towards the end of the set, when Sharapova served to take the match to a tiebreak, she made two errors, and before you knew it, Kuznetsova won the set on her first set point.

The other two sets were a different story. In the second set Sharapova broke her opponent twice; the first time frustrated Kuznetsova slipped two times in a row and failed to return the ball, while the second time she double-faulted and gave Sharapova the huge lead. In the deciding set, Sharapova was definitely the dominant player. Again she broke Kuznetsova two times, and again Kuznetsova was devastated. The first time Sharapova broke her compatriot without losing a point, while the second time Kuznetsova was leading 40-0 but lost her serve very quickly!

Having lost this match, Svetlana Kuznetsova failed to qualify for one of the semi-final berths at the Sony Ericsson Championships. This means that both Maria Sharapova and first-time qualifier Ana Ivanovic join Justine Henin in the semis. (photo via Getty Images)

I’ve just heard on CNN that Serena Williams pulled out of the Sony Ericsson Championships in Madrid.

Unbelievable, both the Williams sisters had qualified for the season-ending event, but had to withdraw. Venus said some time before the tournament that she wouldn’t compete because of dizziness she had suffered during the US Open.

World No.5 Serena Williams retired from her match against Russian Anna Chakvetadze on Wednesday, due to left knee injury, but was hoping to continue her fight for the Sony Ericsson Championships title. What a disappointment!

The American will be replaced by France’s Marion Bartoli. (photo via Getty Images)

Serena Williams retired with a left knee injury while trailing 6-4 to Anna Chakvetadze at the Sony Ericsson Championships. The 26-year-old American, who won the event in 2001, hopes that she will be able to continue to compete in Madrid.

"Before the match I had taping for prevention since I was feeling a little tight in both knees. I thought I was tighter in the right knee but then, once I had to increase my range of movement, the left knee got worse," said world No.5 Williams.

"I've had issues with my knees before especially the left knee since that's the one I had surgery on in 2003. It's unfortunate it's happened now and I can't stress how disappointed I am.

"Right now it's swollen and I'm going off to have an MRI at the hospital to see exactly what the problem is. It is my intention to play on in this event."

I’m still waiting for the news whether Serena will continue to play in Madrid. If not, France’s Marion Bartoli will step in. (source: Reuters, photo via Getty Images)

The season-ending Championships order of play for Thursday, November 8, 2007:

From 18.00hrs (Madrid time)

1. Svetlana Kuznetsova vs. Maria Sharapova
2. Justine Henin vs. Serena Williams (not before 20.00hrs)
3. Jelena Jankovic vs. Anna Chakvetadze

Ana Ivanovic secured her second win at the 2007 Sony Ericsson Championships with a 6-2 7-6 (9) victory over Daniela Hantuchova.

The 20-year-old Ivanovic almost won the first set 6-0, but the Slovakian broke Ivanovic at 5-0, and prolonged the set. The second set was much more dramatic, there were many very long games and not to mention the tie-break! Hantuchova was a break down for the first part of the second set, but managed to even the result to 4-all. The hard-serving Serb later broke the Slovakian for a 6-5 lead, but Hantuchova didn’t give up and took the match to a tie-break. Ivanovic eventually won the long tie-break in which both the players had multiple match/set points. (photo via Getty Images)

Serena Williams was forced to retire from her first match at the 2007 Sony Ericsson Championships because of a left knee injury. Having lost the opening set 4-6, Williams shook hands with Chakvetadze, and left the court in tears.

The Russian was sad that she won the match in this way, but the triumph is very important to her since it keeps her in competition for the semifinals (Chakvetadze lost her first match at the WTA Championships to defending champion Justine Henin).

I still don't know if Serena will be able to quickly recover from the injury and continue to compete at the season-ending Championships, but if not, Marion Bartoli will take her place as she is the first alternate. (photo via Getty Images)

Jelena Jankovic’s nightmares continue; Justine Henin defeated her 6-2 6-2 today at the Sony Ericsson Championships in Madrid and is now 9-0 against the Serb.

Henin vs. Jankovic matches I used to consider a rivalry, but if you look at the facts now, you come to conclusion that their encounters have become clearly one-sided. The first five times they faced each other they played three sets, but from then on, Jankovic couldn’t take a set from Henin. On top of that, today in Madrid, in their ninth encounter, Jankovic was just a shadow of a player she can be (she seemed scared, was imprecise, started the match with a double fault, and I thought that she would have lost the match even if there was a third set and she was 5-0 up). Let’s just mention this: Jankovic permitted Henin to take seven consecutive games!

I have one suggestion for Jelena Jankovic. She should say this on a press conference: “I will never ever in my career beat Justine Henin,” and maybe that would put the pressure off her and bring her some good luck. (photo via Getty Images)

Sony Ericsson Championships order of play for Wednesday, November 7, 2007:

From 18.00hrs (Madrid time)

1. Jelena Jankovic vs. Justine Henin
2. Serena Williams vs. Anna Chakvetadze (not before 20.00hrs)
3. Ana Ivanovic vs. Daniela Hantuchova