Only the second day of the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships is in progress, and we have already seen many interesting results.

The latest one saw the seventh seed Svetlana Kuznetsova falling to fellow Russian Elena Vesnina, failing to win even one game in the deciding set. Final score of this second-round match was 6-4 3-6 6-0.

Vesnina had defeated China’s Li Na in the first round, in three sets, too: 1-6 6-4 6-4.

The second day of the tournament is not over yet, but ninth seed Agnieszka Radwanska and 15th seed Anna Chakvetadze said goodbye in the first round. Agnieszka lost to her sister Urszula Radwanska 6-4 6-3, while Anna lost to world No.74 Ayumi Morita 7-5 6-2. Morita is the lucky loser who entered the tournament with Israeli Shahar Peer being denied a visa for the United Arab Emirates.

No other seeds have fallen on day 2 yet, although one interesting matchup is in progress at the moment. Ana Ivanovic is playing Alisa Kleybanova, the Russian who upset herin the Australian Open third round last month.

Let’s also mention that Agnes Szavay and Maria Kirilenko lost in the first round yet again. Their defeats happened on day 1, on Sunday. (photo: vesnina-elena.com)

Amelie Mauresmo only had one win over a Top 10 ranked opponent in 2007 and 2008, but today she beat one of the most successful players this season Elena Dementieva 7-6(7) 2-6 6-4 and scored her fourth Top 10 victory in 2009.

Mauresmo, who advanced to the finals by defeating world No.10 Agnieszka Radwanska in the quarterfinals and world No.3 Jelena Jankovic in the semifinals, clinched her third title at Paris, having already won the tournament in 2001 and 2006.

"I have had hard times. I did some soul searching by the end of last year and there is a new dynamic, a good preparation during the winter," said eight-seeded Mauresmo.

Falling to the Frenchwoman, third-seeded Dementieva failed to score her 500th career win. (photo via Open GDF SUEZ)

Israeli world No.48 Shahar Peer has been denied entry into the United Arab Emirates for the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships, and will hence not be able to play the tournament which features all the world's top-10 ranked women's players and for which she is qualified by ranking.

UAE have not explained the reason for not giving Peer a visa, but the country does not have diplomatic relations with Israel.

WTA chief executive Larry Scott said the women's tour was "deeply disappointed" by the decision.

"Ms Peer has earned the right to play in the tournament and it's regrettable that the UAE is denying her this right," he said.

"Ms Peer and her family are obviously extremely upset and disappointed by the decision of the UAE and its impact on her personally and professionally."

Peer was supposed to play 15th seed Anna Chakvetadze in the first round of the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships. (source: BBC, photo: AnalogKid203)

Top seed Vera Zvonareva defeated Sania Mirza 7-5 6-1 in the final of the PTT Pattaya Open to win her eighth career title.

The Russian world No.5 was tested in a long first set, but showed her class in the second when she finished off the error-prone Indian.

The world No.126 Mirza was making her fourth career Tour final appearance and first since 2007 Stanford, where she lost to Anna Chakvetadze, while Zvonareva had lost her three previous finals, all in 2008. (source: Reuters)

Amelie Mauresmo defeated Jelena Jankovic 6-2 0-6 6-1 in the semifinals of the Open GDF SUEZ. The other semifinal wasn’t played, as world No.1 Serena Williams pulled out of her encounter with Elena Dementieva.

Mauresmo handily won the first set 6-2, but Jankovic stormed back by winning seven games in a row to take the second set and lead 1-0 in the third. Jankovic, who is yet to impress with her game this year, lost all the following games and is now trailing Mauresmo 6-1 in head-to-head meetings.

Mauresmo’s next opponent will be Elena Dementieva, who was granted a walkover into Sunday's championship match as top seed Serena Williams pulled out with a right knee injury.

Williams on her injury:

I wasn't moving at all in practice, so there was really no chance for me to play today. I think I hurt it towards the end of my quarterfinal match. I guess I didn't have enough time to recover.

Still, the American is optimistic about her recovery:

I've just been playing a lot of tennis, so maybe this is a sign I'll need to take a day or two off and get ready for the next event, which is in two days. I'm going to make the effort to play there and do my best, and we'll just see what happens.

Mauresmo vs. Dementieva head-to-head record is very interesting. They have played 14 times so far, and Mauresmo leads 8-6. It goes into Dementieva’s favor that she has won their last two meetings in straight sets. However, their only meeting at the Paris tournament, which was in 2003, was won by Mauresmo 6-0 6-0. It was the only double bagel loss of Dementieva's career. (source: Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, photos: Ralf Reinecke)

Second seed Jelena Jankovic reached the semifinals of the Open GDF SUEZ in Paris with a hard-fought victory over home favorite Alize Cornet, seeded fifth.

The Serb won the quarterfinal 7-5 4-6 6-4 on her second match point, after long 2 hours and 37 minutes of play. Unbelievably, out of 32 games played, as much as 19 were breaks of serve. I think that fact describes the match pretty well.

Let’s just mention one more thing: Jankovic had a 5-2 lead in the first set and was serving to win it, but the world No.13 Cornet won five consecutive games and earned herself the initial lead.

The world No.3 Jankovic will play either Amelie Mauresmo or Agnieszka Radwanska in the semifinals. (photo: Ralf Reinecke)

World number one Serena Williams reached the quarterfinals of the Open GDF Suez without losing a single point on her first serve against Croatian qualifier Karolina Sprem in the second round.

The American top seed defeated Sprem 6-1 6-2 and will face France's Emilie Loit for a place in the semifinals.

Other quarterfinal pairs include Amelie Mauresmo vs. Agnieszka Radwanska, Alize Cornet vs. Jelena Jankovic, and Elena Dementieva vs. the winner of the Natalie Dechy vs. Patty Schnyder match which is currently in process. (photo: Ralf Reinecke)

World number three Jelena Jankovic reached the quarterfinals of the Open GDF SUEZ with a 6-0 3-6 6-2 victory over China’s Li Na.

Due to a right knee injury, Li hadn’t played any tournaments in 2009 prior to this one in Paris, and after the first set it looked as if Jankovic would make short work of the Chinese world No.28.

The second set continued in the similar manner, with Jankovic dominating, but after a 3-1 lead for the Serb, Li won all the following games in the set.

Eventually, Jankovic managed to win the third set, finishing it with being two breaks up.

Fifth seed Alize Cornet, who defeated Daniela Hantuchova 1-6 6-4 6-2 earlier today, will be Jankovic’s opponent in the quarterfinals. (photo: Ralf Reinecke)

World number one Serena Williams advanced to the second round of the Open GDF SUEZ with a 6-1 6-4 victory over Czech Iveta Benesova on Wednesday.

Hehe, check out this amazing quote of Serena’s: "For now, my goal is to win the French Open and all the tournaments I play. Starting with this one!" Wow, that's called setting your goals high. Respect.

Williams, the top seed, will next face qualifier Karolina Sprem of Croatia for a quarterfinal spot.

By the way, take a look at Ralf Reinecke’s photos of Serena. They are fresh, taken in Paris today.

It’s official, Ana Ivanovic has finally solved her coaching problem, appointing American Craig Kardon as her new tennis coach.

Ivanovic will work with the 47-year-old Kardon on a trial basis. Their collaboration will start at next week’s Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships.

Ivanovic on the partnership with Kardon:

I’m happy to begin working with Craig. We’re going to see how it goes in the beginning and then I’ll make a decision about the longer-term future.

I feel like I made good progress during the Fed Cup tie and I’m not so far away from finding my old form. Craig has a lot of experience, he encourages attacking tennis and I am hopeful we will achieve some good results together.

Kardon used to coach eighteen-time Grand Slam champion Martina Navratilova (they worked together during the last of her nine Wimbledon titles), Lindsay Davenport, Mary Pierce and Jennifer Capriati.

Scott Byrnes will remain Ivanovic’s strength and conditioning coach. (source: Ana Ivanovic's official website, photo: ivanovic-ana.com)