Eighth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova was the first to enter the semifinals of the Sony Ericsson Open by overcoming Danish 13th seed Caroline Wozniacki 6-4 6-7(5) 6-1.

The 2006 Miami titlist defeated Wozniacki in 2 hours 54 minutes and will next play the winner of the Victoria Azarenka vs. Samantha Stosur quarterfinal, set to take place later on Tuesday.

Other quarterfinalists will take the courts on Wednesday. They include Serena Williams against Li Na and Venus Williams against Iveta Benesova. (photo by our reader Jacob)

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Jelena Dokic’s career-reviving run to the 2009 Australian Open quarterfinals has brought her some additional financial fruits in the form of an endorsement deal with Lacoste, believed to be potentially worth close to $4.4 million over three years.

We could see the 25-year-old Dokic dressed in Lacoste at the ongoing Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, where she reached the second round, but her further progress was stopped there by Caroline Wozniacki.

After becoming the most-talked about person at this year’s Australian Open, Dokic, who is now represented by management giant IMG, also entered into a lucrative arrangement with Australian budget airline Jetstar. (source: The Age, photo: Ralf Reinecke)

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Danish teenager Caroline Wozniacki added fourth seed Elena Dementieva to the list of top players who exited the tournament too early, which already includes Dinara Safina, Vera Zvonareva, Ana Ivanovic and Jelena Jankovic.

While the four women lost in the third round or earlier, Dementieva was a bit better,  falling to the WTA Tour's newcomer of the year 2008 7-5 6-4 in the fourth round.

The 18-year-old Dane, ranked 12th in the world, came back from a break down in both sets to reach her sixth quarterfinal of the season.

Wozniacki’s next opponent will be world No.8 Svetlana Kuznetsova, who comfortably won her match against fellow Russian Alisa Kleybanova 6-2 6-1. (source: Reuters, photo: Ralf Reinecke)

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Second seed Dinara Safina and seventh seed Ana Ivanovic are being as blue as their adidas outfits at the 2009 Sony Ericsson Open, as both exited the tournament in the third round already.

The Russian world No.2 Safina lost 6-1 6-4 to Australian Samantha Stosur, while last week’s finalist at Indian Wells, Serbia’s Ana Ivanovic, fell to unfortunately almost-forgotten Agnes Szavay of Hungary.

"It just bad match for me, it was just a disaster match," Safina commented.

After being upset Ivanovic said: "I hardly did anything well today. I was trying to come in and I was volleying pretty well at times, but I was really disappointed. I couldn't really hold my serve." (source: BBC, photos via Ana Ivanovic's website, Sony Ericsson Open)

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Jelena Jankovic’s terrible 2009 season is rapidly going even more downwards. After losing her opening match at the previous tournament, the BNP Paribas Open, Jankovic succumbed to Gisela Dulko in her opening match at the Sony Ericsson Open. Venus and Serena Williams, on the other hand, continued to do well, and both advanced to the third round in straight sets.

We have to mention that Dulko didn’t defeat the third-seeded Jankovic easily. Jankovic led 4-2 before losing the first set, and then in the second led 5-2 with two set points in that game and another at 5-3, and also led 5-2 in the tiebreak. The last year’s runner-up eventually lost 6-4 7-6(5).

Five-time Sony Ericsson Open champion Serena Williams, the No.1 seed, defeated American wildcard Alexa Glatch 6-2 6-3, while fifth-seeded Venus Williams was down a break in both sets against Shahar Peer, but won 6-3 6-3. (source: Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, photo: Ralf Reinecke)

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