Top seed and world No.1 Dinara Safina fought off a gutsy comeback from Lucie Safarova to beat the Czech 6-0 4-6 6-3. Safina raced through the first set, but stumbled in the second to twice lose her serve. In the decider the Russian made a crucial break in the sixth game and later wrapped up the win on the second match point.

Safina will play Alona Bondarenko in the quarterfinals. Bondarenko, who had upset Svetlana Kuznetsova in the previous round, defeated Anna Chakvetadze 6-0 2-6 6-3. The former world No.5 Chakvetadze still hasn’t reached any quarterfinals in 2009.

Fourth seed Jelena Jankovic swept past qualifier Elena Vesnina 6-2 6-2 to reach the quarterfinals of the Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open where she’ll play Patty Schnyder. Jankovic’s serve was broken two times during the third-round match, but still, she lost only four games to Vesnina.

Seventh-seeded Victoria Azarenka fell to Agnes Szavay 4-6 6-2 6-2 in the third round. Szavay will next face Amelie Mauresmo, who booked her place in the quarters yesterday, along with Vera Dushevina who will play Caroline Wozniacki, the winner over Alisa Kleybanova in their today’s encounter, with the score 6-2 6-2. By winning the match, Wozniacki will crack the Top 10. (photo by our reader Elisa)

Russian sixth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova exited the Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open in the second round already, and compatriots Elena Dementieva and Nadia Petrova followed her shortly after on Wednesday, in the third round though.

Eighth seed Nadia Petrova lost to unseeded Patty Schnyder at the Premier-level claycourt event. Petrova fought hard, forced and won the second-set tiebreak and even rallied from 4-1 down in the third set, but the Swiss eventually won 6-4 6-7(2) 7-6(5).

Third seed Elena Dementieva took the first set 6-1, but Amelie Mauresmo rallied back to beat the world No.5 1-6 6-4 6-2. The Frenchwoman, who had upset China’s seed No.15 Zheng Jie en route to the third-round encounter with Dementieva, now has a 10-6 career record against the Russian.

Not all Russian players lost on Wednesday: world No.1 Dinara Safina defeated Li Na 6-3 7-6(2), while qualifier Vera Dushevina beat Francesca Schiavone 6-3 4-6 6-2. (photo by our reader Jacob)

Svetlana Kuznetsova’s recent excellent results have come to a halt with a 6-3 6-2 defeat to Alona Bondarenko in the second round of the Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open.

This is Bondarenko’s third victory over Kuznetsova, while Kuznetsova has won only one of their career meetings. The two have clashed on claycourts three times, and each time the Ukrainian was victorious.

Kuznetsova, seeded sixth in Madrid, won Stuttgart two weeks ago, and was runner-up last week in Rome.

The 46th-ranked Bondarenko will next play Anna Chakvetadze.

Additional info: The world No.7 Kuznetsova has a new coach, former top-ranked doubles player and current Fed Cup coach Larisa Savchenko, who will help her during the claycourt season. Savchenko seems to have a good idea when to let Kuznetsova go her own way.

"She's very easy-going and relaxed and we have great communication," said the 23-year-old Kuznetsova.

"She tells me little things and it helps me find my way out. For me, external opinions help, but it doesn't have to be pushy and bring me down." (photo by our reader Elisa)

Fifth seed and world number three Venus Williams went down to Alisa Kleybanova 6-3 3-6 7-5 in the second round of the Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open. Fourth seed Jelena Jankovic also played on Tuesday, but the Serb was victorious against world number 39 Daniela Hantuchova.

The 19- year-old Kleybanova fired seven aces and broke Williams' serve seven times in the match that lasted two hours and 12 minutes. The world No.26 Kleybanova, who is yet to win a WTA singles title, is now 1-1 with Williams in head-to-head statistics.

Remember? The Russian scored her first Top 10 win at this year’s Australian Open by upsetting Ana Ivanovic.

Jankovic beat Hantuchova 7-5 6-2. The Slovak was a tough opponent in the first set, but failed to convert any of seven break points in the second. Also advancing was seed No.9 Caroline Wozniacki, who had little trouble in seeing off Varvara Lepchenko 6-3 6-1.

Besides Venus Williams, one more seed fell on Tuesday: No.15 seed Zheng Jie lost 6-2 7-5 to Amelie Mauresmo in the second round. (photo by our reader Bobby)

Second seed Serena Williams retired from her first round match against Francesca Schiavone with a knee injury, after losing the opening set 6-4.

Ahead of the Madrid Open, Williams criticized the WTA Tour injury rules commenting that players would be fined for pulling out of a tournament even if they were dead:

Unfortunately it doesn't matter if you're injured, if you're dead or if you're alive, if you don't play they're going to fine you heavily. So I have to play whether I am injured or not. That's just how it is so I have no choice.

Williams, who is currently remodeling a house, added:

I'm not into throwing away thousands and thousands of dollars. I don't know about anyone else but $75,000 is a lot of money to me. That's like my whole furniture bill, and some stairs, rugs.

Additional info: Ana Ivanovic pulled out prior to the Madrid Open, also with a knee injury. Ivanovic will have to visit the Madrid area within the next 51 weeks and perform promotional activities to avoid a fine and suspension. She will also forsake up to $250,000 in Top 10 Bonus Pool payments. (sources: Reuters, BBC; photo by our reader Jacob)

Maria Sharapova announced on her website that we’ll finally see her play competitively, and this time in singles, unlike her brief return in March. The Russian has received a wildcard and will compete at next week’s Warsaw Open.

Here’s what Sharapova, who has fallen to No.65 in the rankings, said about her comeback and how she's been spending her time:

I am very happy to report that I will make my singles return to the tour in Warsaw Poland, the week of May 18. Although it has not been an easy process these last few months, I really believe it's made me a much stronger person in so many areas of my life professionally and personally […] I have been training quite a lot in Florida and as you may well know, there's not much to do here except train and cook. My cooking abilities have certainly risen in the last few months, and I actually find it quite therapeutic.

(photo: Ralf Reinecke)

The Sony Ericsson WTA Tour celebrated Mother’s Day, which I've learned is on the second Sunday of May in the United States, as opposed to March 8th here in Serbia, with a couple of videos.

One is featuring Serena Williams, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Dinara Safina, Victoria Azarenka and Aleksandra Wozniak talking about the role of their mothers in their lives. I absolutely love Kuznetsova’s eloquent statement: "For mom, without mom I wouldn’t be here, so it’s great." This "so it's great" part is my favorite, haha.

In the other video is Jelena Jankovic with her always-present mother Snezana, who is telling us about Jelena’s childhood and how spoiled Jelena was. Of course, she’s having a lot of praise for her daughter, too. Sneki and Jeca are very cute together, and I’m happy to see Sneki healthy and active again.

The wrap-up of the second day of the Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open doesn’t look bright for the seeded players, as only fourth-seeded Jelena Jankovic went through to the second round.

Jankovic lost her service early in both sets but broke Nuria Llagostera Vives a total of seven times to win 6-2 6-1. Other seeds were not as lucky. Tenth seed Agnieszka Radwanska fell to Samantha Stosur 7-6(4) 6-1, No.12 seed Flavia Pennetta lost to Agnes Szavay 6-3 6-7(2) 6-2, No.13 seed Alize Cornet was upset by qualifier Elena Vesnina 7-5 6-1, No.14 seed Anabel Medina Garrigues was defeated by qualifier Vera Dushevina 6-3 6-4, while No.16 seed Kaia Kanepi retired down 6-2 2-3 to Lucie Safarova because of a left hip injury.

Besides world No.4 Jankovic, the only player within the Top 20 that survived the second day of the $4.5-million tournament was world No.20 Patty Schnyder, who beat Sara Errani 6-2 6-3. (photo: Ralf Reinecke)

Unseeded Belgian Yanina Wickmayer and sixth seed Ekaterina Makarova, rivals in the Estoril Open final, were both looking for their first Sony Ericsson WTA Tour title while contesting their second Tour final, but Wickmayer won the match 7-5 6-2.

Makarova lost her previous final just one week ago, at Fes. The 19-year-old Wickmayer, on the other hand, hasn’t played a final since June last year, when she lost to Kateryna Bondarenko at Birmingham.

This week Wickmayer won back-to-back Sony Ericsson WTA Tour-level matches for the first time this year. She beat three other seeds en route to the Estoril Open final, including fifth seed Petra Kvitova in the first round, third seed Sorana Cirstea in the quarterfinals and seventh seed Shahar Peer who retired with right foot injury in the semifinals.

At No.88, Wickmayer is currently the top-ranked Belgian; at No.43, Makarova is the Russian No.10. (via Estoril Open)

World No.1 Dinara Safina claimed her first title since climbing to the top of the rankings with a 6-3 6-2 victory over fellow Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome.

Safina has won her first singles title in 2009, playing her fourth final of the season. Last week Safina and Kuznetsova faced each other in the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix final, but Kuznetsova then won 6-4 6-3. It was Kuznetsova’s first title in seven final appearances and first trophy since 2007. Oops, her curse in title matches may be back already.

The world No.8 Kuznetsova is projected to climb to No.7 in the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Rankings for the week of May 11, 2009, while Safina will remain No.1.

Winning the Internazionali BNL d’Italia, Safina has won €620,000. Runner-up Kuznetsova has earned €310,000. (photos by our reader Elisa)