Maria Sharapova reached the final of the Regions Morgan Keegan Champs / Cellular South Cup and is now just one win away of her first title of the season and the 21st of her career.

The top-seeded Russian won a tight first set and then rallied from 0-2 in the second set to beat fifth seed Petra Kvitova 6-4 6-3 in the semifinals. Sharapova’s opponent in the title match will be qualifier Sofia Arvidsson, who battled past Anne Keothavong 6-4 4-6 6-4.

The 102nd-ranked Arvidsson won the Memphis tournament four years ago, and has also taken out second seed Melanie Oudin at this year’s quarterfinals.

Sharapova defeated Arvidsson in the only match they played so far, but it was a long time ago, in 2003. (photo: KAZUHIRO NOGI/AFP/Getty Images)

Venus Williams reached the final of the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships by defeating surprise semifinalist Shahar Peer in the modest surroundings of Court Two, the court of choice because of safety reasons.

Third-seeded Williams defeated Peer 6-1 6-4 amid tight security that surrounded the Israeli all week. Even though Peer’s appearance in Dubai had to be accompanied by her being kept separate from other players, she enjoyed one of the most successful tournaments of her career.

"It was a different experience but a nice one," said world No.22 Peer who upset three seeds on her way to the semis. "I'm sure I will remember this tournament for the rest of my life."

Reigning champion Venus Williams will play fourth seed Victoria Azarenka in the final, as the Belorussian defeated seed No.7 Agnieszka Radwanska 6-3 6-4 in the final four. Williams and Azarenka have met only once so far – two years ago at the Beijing Olympics and the American won that match. (photo by our reader Bobby)

Top seed Maria Sharapova advanced to the semifinals of the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships & the Cellular South Cup, while home favorite and second seed Melanie Oudin got eliminated in the quarterfinals.

Sharapova beat eighth seed Elena Baltacha 6-2 7-5 and will next have No.5 seed Petra Kvitova for opponent. Kvitova defeated third seed Kaia Kanepi 1-6 6-3 7-6(0) after a tough match.

Unseeded 2006 Memphis champion Sofia Arvidsson was the one who upset American Oudin, with the final score 6-1 6-3. Arvidson's opponent in the final four will be Anne Keothavong, the Briton who reached her second straight semifinal in Memphis but is now playing her first WTA main draw event, having been sidelined by knee injury for more than six months. (photo: harjanto sumali)

Serbian former world No.1 tennis player Jelena Jankovic has decided to move to Dubai and make it her home base.

"I love so many things about this place," said the world No.8 who has lost in the third round of the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championship this week. "The people are good and the place is lovely as I can step out anytime and practice."

Does anyone know what happened to JJ's dream house in San Diego? I remember the talks about her building it, but I haven't heard of it being finished or anything, and now she's moving to Dubai. (source: ESPN via Forty Deuce)

Israel’s Shahar Peer has continued to advance at the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships, thus seriously testing the tournaments safety measures. The player that wasn’t even allowed to compete in Dubai last year has now reached the semifinals and will play none other than defending champion and top seed Venus Williams, who raised her voice the most about Peer’s visa denial in 2009.

The first Israeli woman ever to compete in the United Arab Emirates led seed No.8 Li Na 7-5 3-0 when the Chinese player retired with a back injury in the quarterfinals. So far at the tournament the 22-year-old Peer has played only on limited-access outside courts at the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships and that will remain the case for her semifinal. It could be interesting for you to check out insider blog of Shahar Peer’s coach Pablo Giacopelli highlighting his trainee’s run at the $2-million Dubai event.

The seven-time Grand Slam champion Williams reached the semifinals by a solid 6-3 6-4 win over Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who had defeated the American in their last two matches in the end of the last season, at Tokyo and Beijing.

The other semifinal will feature Victoria Azarenka and Agnieszka Radwanska. Fourth seed Azarenka routed No.12 seed Vera Zvonareva 6-1 6-3 to reach the final four. Seventh seed Radwanska ended the run of qualifier Regina Kulikova after battling for two hours and 17 minutes to win 3-6 6-4 6-3. (photo: Assaf Yekuel)

Unseeded Shahar Peer of Israel, who wasn’t even allowed to play at last year’s Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships due to visa denial, upset top seed Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark in the third round of the tournament.

The world No.22 Peer beat seed No.13 Yanina Wickmayer in the first round, then last year's finalist Virginie Razzano in the second round, and has today defeated Wozniacki 6-2 7-5. Wozniacki, top-seeded at an event of this size for the first time in her career, faced break points in all of her 10 service games and was broken eight times. In the end she showed a lot of resistance, but Peer finally closed it out on her fourth match point.

Second seed Svetlana Kuznetsova also lost today. Her conqueror was world No.99 and fellow Russian Regina Kulikova, who had never before defeated a Top 30 player. After three hours and 16 minutes qualifier Kulikova, known as a marathon woman because one of her matches is the second longest women’s singles match in the Open Era, upset Kuznetsova 5-7 7-6(2) 6-4.

Third seed and reigning champion Venus Williams is the highest seed left in the $2,000,000 tournament. The American saw off Belorussian Olga Govortsova 7-5 6-0 in the third round.

Besides Wozniacki and Kuznetsova, three seeds fell in the third round on Wednesday: seed No.11 Marion Bartoli, No.6 Jelena Jankovic, and No.10 Flavia Pennetta. However, the three of them lost to other seeded players: No.8 Li Na, No.12 Vera Zvonareva and No.7 Agnieszka Radwanska. (photo: angela n.)

Last week I did a review of Serena Williams' autobiography called "On the Line" and I announced that one lucky answerer to the question about the release date of the autobiography will get the book. Of course, the correct answer was September 1st, 2009. The winner was randomly chosen and I'm happy to announce that it is Argy.

Congratulations to you, Argy, and enjoy reading the book which I will send to you shortly. First, of course, I will contact you to give me your address.

Thank you all for participating. I'm sure there will be more competitions on Women's Tennis Blog and that those of you who were not that lucky this time will test their chances as soon as possible.

I'm sure you've all missed once-promising Nicole Vaidisova and now I'm happy to share that the Czech won one match at the Regions Morgan Keegan Champs / Cellular South Cup.

The former world No.7, a wildcard in Memphis, defeated world No.224 Laura Granville of the USA 6-4 6-2 to score both her first victory in 2010 and since her opening-round win in Barcelona last April.

Vaidisova, now ranked 192th, is playing her first WTA tournament of the season. She has competed in two ITF events this year, but lost right away at both.

"I haven't been playing much this year yet," Vaidisova said. "I've been trying to practice and work out and get back into things. I'm going to try and play indoors and see how it goes."

The only thing regarding Vaidisova that attracted the attention of the tennis audience in the recent past was her relationship with Radek Stepanek and the continual talks about how he may have been the cause of her slump.

Vaidisova, however, attributes her inconsistency to a lingering right wrist injury that has only recently healed.

"For the most part now, I have it under control," said the 20-year-old. "I'm happy about that. It's always hard when you have to worry about your wrist, or your health."

I hope the time has come to talk about her tennis successes on this blog. (via Commercial Appeal, photo: Jean-Sebastien Marceau)

Three-time Grand Slam champion Maria Sharpova started the 2010 season with a first-round loss to Maria Kirilenko at the Australian Open, but has now scored a very convincing victory at the International-level event called Regions Morgan Keegan Champs / Cellular South Cup.

Top-seeded Sharapova finished her second match of the season in just 51 minutes, losing only three points on her first serve and a total of two games to defeat world No.101 Shenay Perry 6-0 6-2 and reach the second round.

The Russian world No.15 is making her second appearance in Memphis. Six years ago she reached the semifinals at the tournament. (photo Mister E)

Two Russians took the two tournaments that finished this weekend: Elena Dementieva won the Open GDF SUEZ in her ninth attempt, and Vera Zvanareva successfully defended her PTT Pattaya Open title.

Dementieva, top-seed and last year’s finalist in Paris, recovered from losing the first set to beat Czech Lucie Safarova 6-7(5) 6-1 6-4 and finally win the indoor event in the capital of France.

"I have been trying to win this tournament for so many years – it's been one of the most difficult wins of my career and I am so happy," said Dementieva after winning her second title of 2010.

Meanwhile, in the other part of the world, Vera Zvonareva won the PTT Pattaya Open for the second successive year and thus became the first player to do such a thing in the 19-year history of the tournament. Top-seeded Zvonareva beat home favorite Tamarine Tanasugarn 6-4 6-4 in the final and collected her 10th career title. (photos via Sony Ericsson WTA Tour)