Third seed Venus Williams became the first member of the final four at the 2010 Sony Ericsson Open, beating seed No.6 Agnieszka Radwanska 6-3 6-1 in the quarterfinals. The 29-year-old Williams fired eight aces and lost just seven points on her first serve against the Pole. The American seven-time Grand Slam champion has now won 14 matches in a row and is just two wins away from her third straight tournament title, the feat she accomplished in 2002.

Awaiting Williams in the semifinals is Marion Bartoli, seeded 13th, who defeated No.12 seed Yanina Wickmayer in their first meeting. Bartoli managed to hold serve after six straight breaks to win the first set, and then came back from triple set point down at 4-5 in the second set to win the match 6-4 7-5.

Williams and Bartoli have played twice so far and are tied at 1-1. (photos: chascow, Emmett Anderson)

Indian tennis star Sania Mirza is going to marry Pakistan's former cricket captain Shoaib Malik. The couple met in February, during Mirza’s participation in the Dubai tournament, and the marriage will take place next month.

"Thanks for all your support. And the news of me marrying to Sania is true. Inshallah (god willing) will get married in April," said the 28-year-old Malik on social networking website Twitter.

According to the father of the Indian tennis and youth icon who was the first Indian to win a WTA Tour event in 2005, the couple will be based in Dubai, as Malik has a residence there.

News about Mirza’s new love surprised me a bit, as she called off her engagement to childhood friend Sohrab Mirza only in January this year. India and Pakistan are also stunned by the announcement of this marriage, because the two countries are not having the best of relations and have fought three wars since gaining independence from Britain in 1947.

I would like to thank our faithful reader Karunya for keeping us updated on the latest developments in Sania Mirza’s life. (source: Times Online)

After a first-round bye at the Sony Ericsson Open, the 2009 US Open champion Kim Clijsters defeated Petra Kvitova 6-1 6-1 in the second round, Shahar Peer 6-0 6-1 in the third round, and now fourth seed and last year's champion Victoria Azarenka with almost equally impressive scoreline 6-4 -6-0.

Belgian No.14 seed Clijsters will next play ninth seed Samantha Stosur, who ended Jelena Jankovic’s eight-match winning streak by defeating the Serb 6-1 7-6 (9) in their fourth career encounter. Remember, world No.8 Jankovic defeated Stosur 6-2 6-4 in the Indian Wells semifinals last week, on her way to the title.

The winner of both career clashes between Clijsters and Stosur was the Belgian, in straight sets. Their last meeting was three years ago, at this very tournament, the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami. (photo: Esther Lim)

Ana Ivanovic is desperately trying to find her form and the Serbian tennis star who was always there for her Fed Cup team has decided to skip the next month’s tie against Slovakia, believing that it is the right thing to do having in mind her current bad career situation.

The Serbian Tennis Federation and the world No.58 discussed the issue and agreed that it would be best for her not to play this time.

"We all know that Ana has been through some very tough experiences lately and we support her in her efforts to do everything possible to return to the top. Ana has all the time in the world, she is only 22, and she’ll be back soon," said the President of the Federation Slobodan Zivojinovic. (source: Ana Ivanovic's official website, photo: Twenty90seven)

The 2007 Wimbledon finalist Marion Bartoli defeated top-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-3 6-0  in the fourth round of the Sony Ericsson Open and scored her first victory over the two-time Grand Slam champion.

The 13th-seeded Bartoli broke Kuznetsova twice in the first set and converted all three of her break chances in the second set in which her opponent won just eight points. However, we have to mention that Kuznetsova’s performance was affected by a shoulder problem, and the Russian had three medical treatments during the match.

The world No.4 Kuznetsova, who is yet to win a title this season, won this tournament four years ago and reached the semifinals the last two years. Bartoli advanced to the quarterfinals in Miami only for the second time, while in her five other attempts she had won one match.

Bartoli’s record against Top 5 players has got even better today, as the French world No.15 earned her seventh win in her last 11 matches against the members of the elite. (photo: chascow)

Both Belgian former top-ranked players Justine Henin and Kim Clijsters defeated their third-round opponents at the 2010 Sony Ericsson Open in Miami and progressed to the fourth round of the Premier-level tournament.

Seven time Grand Slam champion Henin, who entered the event as a wildcard, continued her solid display with a 6-4 6-4 victory over seed No.26 Dominika Cibulkova. Earlier in the day, two-time US Open champion Clijsters, who had beaten Petra Kvitova 6-1 6-1 in the second round, lost just one game against 17th seed Shahar Peer to win her third-round match 6-0 6-1.

Clijsters won the Sony Ericsson Open in 2005, while Henin held a double match point in the 2007 final against Serena Williams, but failed to make that last step and lost the thrilling match. (photos: Esther Lim)

Ana Ivanovic vs. Agnieszka Radwanska was a highly-anticipated Miami encounter as we all wanted to see whether Ivanovic could follow up her second-round victory over qualifier Pauline Parmentier (yes, nowadays we count such wins when it comes to Ana) with a victory over Radwanska – and, unfortunately, the answer is "no".

Radwanska is ranked ninth, seeded sixth at the Sony Ericsson Open, and is coming off her semifinal appearance at Indian Wells last week. However, Ivanovic had a 3-1 record against the Pole and with the new coach by her side we were hopeful Radwanska could be a surmountable obstacle. Still, the Serb, who was believe it or not seeded at the Sony Ericsson Open, fell to Radwanska 7-5 7-5. (photo: Twenty90seven)

Serena Williams is traditionally using her time off to enjoy water activities. The Sony Ericsson Open may be missing its five-time champion this year, but the American world No.1 doesn’t seem to be desperate about having to skip the event due to a knee injury.

Now that I think about it, the fact that you're injured doesn't mean you have to stay home and get bored. You should always make the best out of the worst, and riding a jetski and chilling with friends in Miami beach show good taste in having fun. (photos: The Double Bagel via Just Jared)

Wildcard Justine Henin advanced to the third round of the Sony Ericsson Open with a 6-3 6-2 victory over world No.6 Elena Dementieva.

The former world No.1 Henin, now ranked 33rd, faced no break points in the first set and broke the fifth-seeded Dementieva three times in the second set to beat the Russian once again this year, after their second-round encounter at the Australian Open.

The win over a strong players such as Dementieva is important for Henin who is still building up her comeback, since she lost early at her last tournament (Indian Wells) and has been working hard since then.

The 27-year-old Henin will play seed No.26 Dominika Cibulkova in the third round. (photo: Esther Lim)

Fourth seed Victoria Azarenka of Belarus won her second-round match against Romanian Alexandra Dulgheru 6-3 6-2 at the Sony Ericsson Open, on the same court where she defeated five-time Miami champion Serena Williams in the final last year.

The 20-year-old Azarenka reached the third round shortly before the arrival of the rain which caused delays of the following matches. Her next opponent will be Lucie Safarova who beat seed No.29 Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez 4-6 7-6(3) 6-2 in the second round.

The world No.49 Dulgheru was making her debut at the Sony Ericsson Open. Last year she won the Warshaw Open as a 201st-ranked qualifier, playing the first Tour main draw of her career, and became the fifth non-Top 200 player ever to win a Tour singles title. (photo: Stephane Martinache)