Second seed Victoria Azarenka of Belarus eased to her second title of the year with a 6-1 6-3 win over top seed Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark in the final of the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships & the Cellular South Cup.

The 19-year-old Azarenka won her first WTA Tour singles title earlier this year by winning the Brisbane International.

The world No.14 Belorussian is now 13-1 this season. That only loss this year was against Serena Williams at the Australian Open, when Azarenka disappointingly had to retire from the fourth-round match due to dizziness and illness.

Interestingly, after the singles final, Azarenka and Wozniacki teamed up in the doubles final and defeated Yuliana Fedak and Michaela Krajicek.

Victoria Azarenka is projected to reach a career-best ranking of No.11. (photo via RMK Championships)

Sixth seed Venus Williams won her 40th career Sony Ericsson WTA Tour singles title with a 6-4 6-2 win over unseeded Virginie Razzano in the final of the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships.

Dating back to the 2007 season, Williams has won seven of her last eight finals appearances, and that sole final she lost was to Razzano at the 2007 Japan Open. Razzano then defeated Williams in three sets, by saving as much as three match points in the second set tiebreak. Today’s Williams’ victory could therefore be seen as a nice revenge.

Venus Williams, currently ranked 6th, will move back to the world’s Top 5, for the first time since August 2003.

Despite the loss, the world No.58 Razzano can be more than satisfied with her success at the tournament, since she experienced the best week of her career. Her victory over world No.2 Dinara Safina was her first victory over a Top 5 player; and then a few days later came a win over world No.5 Vera Zvonareva, which was the longest match of the tournament.

"I have to congratulate Virginie on such a great week – she beat so many Top 10 players and just played so well today. She really had a better week than I did," Williams said.

By reaching the finals Razzano is projected to move into the Top 40. (photo via Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships)

The United Arab Emirates denied Israeli player Shahar Peer a visa last week, so she wasn’t able to compete in the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships. The Sony Ericsson WTA Tour has taken action in reference to Shahar Peer, Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Dubai Tournament to mend the situation and prevent it from happening again.

Here’s what, Larry Scott, Chairman & CEO of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, stated:

The actions taken today are intended to redress the wrongs suffered by Shahar Peer, who was victimized by an unjust policy of discrimination by the UAE. These actions are also intended to send a clear message that our Tour will not tolerate discrimination of any kind and that we will never allow this situation to happen again, in UAE or elsewhere. Thanks to the courage of Shahar, and all those individuals and organizations – including her fellow players – that supported her, the UAE has changed their policy and another barrier of discrimination has fallen.

Sony Ericsson WTA Tour actions in reference to Shahar Peer, Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Dubai Tournament:

• Shahar Peer Ranking Points: The awarding of 130 ranking points to Shahar Peer – an amount equal to the points that she earned during the same week in 2008 that she was unable to defend this past week in Dubai.

• Shahar Peer Prize Money: The awarding of US$44,250 to Shahar Peer – an amount equal to the average prize money that she earned per tournament (singles and doubles) in 2008. Read more »

Sixth seed Venus Williams advanced to the final of the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships with a three-set victory over sister Serena. Venus beat Serena 6-1 2-6 7-6 after winning a third set tiebreak 7-3.

The world No.1 and top seed Serena Williams was the first player to take a set off Venus Williams this year in Dubai. Winning the 19th meeting with her sister, Venus now leads their all-time series 10-9.

By reaching the semifinals, Venus Williams is projected to move into the Top 5 for the first time since the week of August 25, 2003.

In the title match of the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships, Venus will play a surprise finalist Virginie Razzano, who advanced by defeating Kaia Kanepi in the semifinals. Interestingly, the last time Razzano played Venus Williams, she saved three match points and won. (photo via Sony Ericsson WTA Tour)

World No.58 Virginie Razzano reached the biggest final of her career with a 6-1 6-2 victory over No.16 seed Kaia Kanepi at the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships.

The 25-year-old Razzano, who put out world number two Dinara Safina in the second round and followed up with fifth seed Vera Zvonareva, will relax with her boyfriend, a nice dinner and a glass of beer the night before facing Serena or Venus Williams for the title in Dubai.

The Frenchwoman has never played Serena and is 1-2 against Venus, having beaten the older Williams sister in three sets the last time they played, which was in 2007.

Razzano would like to play Serena this time: "Maybe it would be fun to try the new one. I've never played Serena so let's see who it would be." (source: M & C, photo: danlamouette)

Virginie Razzano, Kaia Kanepi, Venus Williams and Serena Williams reached the semifinals of the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships on Thursday.

France’s Virginie Razzano, who upset world No.2 Dinara Safina in the second round, defeated fifth seeded Russian Vera Zvonareva 7-6(7) 7-5 to advance to the final four where she’ll face Estonian Kaia Kanepi.

Seed No.16 Kanepi is expected to become the first Estonian to break into the world's top 20 after following up her victory over Jelena Jankovic by ending qualifier Elena Vesnina’s run in Dubai, defeating her 6-3 7-5.

Sixth seed Venus Williams went past seed No.4 Elena Dementieva 6-3 6-3, while Venus’ younger sister Serena, ranked 1st in the world, beat Ana Ivanovic 6-4 6-4 in the last quarterfinal. Ivanovic leveled at 2-2 after being two games down in the first set, and was even leading 3-0 in the second, but Serena bettered the Serb to set up a semifinal with sister Venus. (photos: Stephane Martinache, Arijit Basak, danlamouette, Ralf Reinecke)

Third seed Jelena Jankovic was upset 6-2 7-5 by Estonian world No.24 Kaia Kanepi in the third round of the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships.

After taking the first set without giving Jankovic one break point, seed No.16 Kanepi raced to a 4-0 lead in the second set. The world No.3, however, managed to come back, leveling the score at 5-5. Still, at 6-5 for Kanepi, when Jankovic was serving to force a tiebreak, she failed to hold her serve and Kanepi won the match.

Estonian Kaia Kanepi will play Elena Vesnina in the quarterfinals. Vesnina, who upset Svetlana Kuznetsova in the second round, advanced to the final eight when Dominika Cibulkova retired through illness in the third set.

Other third-round matches finished so far on Wednesday:

Venus Williams beat Alize Cornet 6-3 6-2, while Virginie Razzano followed up her win over second seed Dinara Safina by beating Daniela Hantuchova 6-2 1-6 6-2. Defending champion Elena Dementieva defeated Anabel Medina Garrigues 6-1 6-3. Marion Bartoli also had to retire, because of blisters on both feet, so Vera Zvonareva went through. And finally, Ana Ivanovic put out Frenchwoman Camille Pin 6-2 7-6. The Serena Williams vs. Zheng Jie third-round match is currently in progress. (photo: Ralf Reinecke)

Second seed Dinara Safina was upset by Virginie Razzano 6-4 6-2 in the second round of the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships, while all the other seeded players progressed on Tuesday.

The Australian Open finalist Safina was erratic, inconsistent and hit 12 double faults.

"She played I think one of her best matches and I was not there," said the Russian world No.2. "I didn't give myself the chance to play. It was one of those days today and I'll just have to forget it and get ready for Indian Wells."

All the other seeds were victorious today, including top seed Serena Williams, Jelena Jankovic, Elena Dementieva, Vera Zvonareva, Venus Williams, Alize Cornet, Marion Bartoli, Dominika Cibulkova, Zheng Jie, Anabel Medina Garrigues and Kaia Kanepi. All their victories came in straight sets, except Serena Williams’ over Sara Errani (4-6 6-2 6-0), Marion Bartoli’s over Francesca Schiavone (7-6 3-6 6-3) and Zheng Jie’s over Samantha Stosur (3-6 7-5 7-5). (Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images via Sony Ericsson WTA Tour)

Dutch tennis star Michaella Krajicek, who was ranked as high as No.30 in the February of 2008, scored her first WTA main draw victory since June, beating seventh seed Alla Kudryavtseva 6-1 6-4 in the first round of the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships & the Cellular South Cup.

You must remember Kudryavtseva, she upset Maria Sharapova in the second round of Wimbledon 2008.

Krajicek, who missed most of last year with an injury, is currently ranked 201st. She was offered a wild card for the Memphis qualifications at the last minute, arrived at 1 am, and played her first qualification match that morning.

Krajicek has recently moved to the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy and is training full-time with her coach Allistair McCaw, while also taking advantage of the services of Nick Bollettieri, the IMG Performance Institute, and Bollettieri Sports Medicine.

The 20-year-old Krajicek will face Kristina Barrois of Germany in the second round of Memphis. (source: Nick’s Picks)

Eighth seed Ana Ivanovic defeated Alisa Kleybanova in the second round of the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships and in that way avenged the loss to the Russian in the third round of the Australian Open last month. The world number eight Ivanovic beat Kleybanova, ranked 27th, 7-5 6-4.

Ivanovic established a 3-0 lead in the first set, but Kleybanova managed to return from being one break down and eventually leveled at 4-4. Ivanovic, however, managed to break once again, in the 12th game, and take the first set 7-5. The second set saw no breaks of serve until the final game when Kleybanova surrendered to Ivanovic and lost the match on Ivanovic’s second match point.

The 21-year-old Serb, who is playing her first tournament since hiring coach Craig Kardon, will play either Urszula Radwanska or Camille Pin in the third round of the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships.