Eighth seed Elena Dementieva defeated Francesca Schiavone 5-7 7-5 6-2 in the second semifinal of the day, and will face fellow Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova in the Saturday’s final of the $1.5 million Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships.

Despite trailing 3-5 in the first set, Schiavone – who sensationally ended Justine Henin's unbeaten run in the tournament – took the early initiative by winning four successive games to claim the set. But world No.11 Dementieva, who is making her event debut in Dubai, began to impose her authority and closed out for the match without too many difficulties.

Earlier in the day, second-seeded Kuznetsova defeated Jelena Jankovic to advance to the final, her second this season (the first one was in Sydney where she lost to Justine Henin).

The 2007 US Open runner-up Kuznetsova is 5-3 lifetime against Dementieva, including a victory in the 2004 US Open final. (via BBC, photo Getty Images)

At the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships, second seed Svetlana Kuznetsova came out as a winner of a seesaw semifinal against fourth seed Jelena Jankovic. Final score 5-7 6-4 6-3.

Amazingly, there were a total of 43 break points during the match. Jankovic converted 14 out of 21, and Kuznetsova 16 out of 22. The match was long and undecided, but it seemed to me that world No.4 Jankovic let the victory slip through her fingers as she was more confident and emotionally stable and seemed more likely to win throughout the match. Actually, even though I believe a few of Jankovic’s wasted chances gave Kuznetsova the victory, towards the end of the match, Jankovic's tiredness and Kuznetsova's physical fitness and energy also had their share in deciding the winner. Read more »

Nine-year-old Australian, Lauryn Edwards, has been banned from playing tennis by her local club because she grunts too loudly.

Lauryn will be permitted to play only if her father can guarantee she won’t grunt on court.

Mr Edwards said: "How can I guarantee that? She's been doing it since she was really little. She's her own person. What do they want me to do? Put Band-Aids over her mouth? They made her cry on the court when they told her. She was in such a state I had to bring her home mid-match."

Maria Sharapova, Lauryn's favorite tennis player, and Monica Seles must be so proud. (source: Adelaide Now)

Eighth-seeded Elena Dementieva of Russia beat third-seeded Ana Ivanovic of Serbia 5-7 6-3 6-3 to reach the semifinals of the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships.

The match was very close. Both players faced many break points. World No.2 Ivanovic was the first to be a break up in the deciding third set. However, she wasted that opportunity, as well as the fact that she could come back in the game when Dementieva was serving for the match, as she saved astonishing five match points.

In the semifinals, world No.11 Elena Dementieva plays unseeded Francesca Schiavone, who upset Justine Henin, previously unbeatable in Dubai. The other semifinal features Svetlana Kuznetsova and Jelena Jankovic. (photo via Getty Images)

Top seed Justine Henin suffered a straight-set loss to unseeded Italian Francesca Schiavone in the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships quarterfinals. Both sets were decided in tiebreaks and the final result was 7-6 (3) 7-6 (4).

This loss must be especially hard for world No.1 Henin as she has never been defeated at the Dubai tournament, and already has four Dubai titles (2003, 2004, 2006, 2007; she didn't play in 2005 because of an injury). World No.24 Schiavone ended the Belgian’s impressive17-match winning streak at Dubai.

Schiavone was powerful and determined and although she didn't manage to close out the match on her first match point at 5-4 in the second set, she stayed strong and finished it in the tiebreak. The 27-year-old Italian definitely earned this victory.

"To beat Justine you have to play very good, at a high level, and I did today. I think for me it is my best win," said Schiavone. "Maybe she missed some balls, but personally I think I didn't give the possibility and the chance to come up and come up like she does every time."

Schiavone was 0-7 lifetime against Henin prior to this quarterfinal. (photo via Yahoo)

Svetlana Kuznetsova and Jelena Jankovic are the first known semifinalists of this year’s Barleys Dubai Tennis Championships and they will play each other on Friday. In the quarterfinals, Kuznetsova defeated Amelie Mauresmo, while Jankovic advanced with Anna Chakvetadze retiring before even starting the second set.

Second-seeded Kuznetsova beat Mauresmo 6-1 7-6(4). Former world No.1 Mauresmo won the Dubai title in 2002 and finished runner-up last season. This defeat means that the Frenchwoman still hasn’t won three matches in a row since losing her Wimbledon title eight months ago.

Fourth-seeded Jankovic advanced to the semis when her opponent, sixth-seeded Anna Chakvetadze, retired with a left thigh injury. Jankovic confidently took the first set 6-1.

Russia’s Svetlana Kuznetsova and Serbia’s Jelena Jankovic are tied at 2-2 in their career meetings. The last time they played each other was last year in the final of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome, when Jankovic won the title. (photos via Getty Images)

At the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships, top seed and defending champion Justine Henin had to work really hard to overcome Slovenian Katarina Srebotnik 7-5 6-7(6) 6-3, while Ana Ivanovic confidently defeated Nicole Vaidisova 6-4 6-0.

Belgian world No.1 Justine Henin, who won the tournament in Dubai four times in five years, was pushed hard in her opening match on Wednesday. World No.28 Srebotnik lost the first set after a tough battle, and one could have easily expected that being disappointed she would lose the second set much easier. But that was not the case. Srebotnik continued to fight and took the match to the third set. The decider was also very close, and nuances decided the winner. After three hours, Henin advanced to the quarterfinals where she'll meet Francesca Schiavone. Read more »

Belgian former world number one Kim Clijsters gave birth to a daughter on Wednesday, nine months after retiring from tennis at the young age of 23.

The former US Open champion and her husband, US basketball player Brian Lynch, got married last year in July, and shortly before that, Kim’s father had announced Kim’s pregnancy.

The couple named their baby daughter Jada, and everyone is feeling fine in this family.

"The parents and the baby are in great shape," spokesman Jeroen Jespers said.

The baby was born at a hospital in Tongeren, Belgium. (source: Chicago Sports, photo via Clijsters' official website)

Top seed and defending champion Venus Williams was upset in the opening round of the Cellular South Cup on Tuesday by Czech qualifier Petra Kvitova. Earlier in the day, the tournament's No. 2 seed, Tatiana Golovin, was beaten by American Bethanie Mattek.

Defeating the six-time singles Grand Slam champion 2-6 6-4 6-3, Kvitova won only the second WTA Tour match of her career. Additionally, the 17-year-old, ranked 143rd, played in only her 14 career WTA match.

"She had a good serve and she was left-handed," world No.8 Williams said. "She mixed it up really well. I'm not happy about the result of the match, but she played well."

In the other upset, Mattek, a 22-year-old ranked 131st, played one of the best matches of her career defeating France’s world No.13 Tatiana Golovin 6-4 6-4.

"Honestly, I was really seeing the ball really well and I was there to every shot she hit," Mattek said. "I just stuck to my game plan. My goal was to get on top and get as many points right away as I could. I just came out firing." (source: ESPN, photos: Getty Images)

Maria Sharapova has withdrawn from the $1.5 million Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships citing a viral illness.

On her official website, Sharapova, who won the Qatar Total Open two days ago and is unbeaten in 2008, revealed that she was playing with a bad cold throughout the last week's tournament in Doha.

The 20-year-old Russian explained the cause of her withdrawal:

I flew to Dubai right after my final and woke up this morning feeling really fatigued and stuffed up with a cough. After trying to hit a little bit this evening I came to the conclusion that I'm realistically not going to be ready to play 5 matches in the next 5 days.

It's been such a great and healthy start to the year, and I don’t want to jeopardize that by making the wrong decisions, as I have in the past. The plan is to have a nice week of 'nothing' and start up training for Palm Springs healthy and fresh.