I sometimes think that a win over Justine Henin would be a greater career achievement for Jelena Jankovic than a Grand Slam title. Both are former world No.1s, but Jankovic has an embarrassing 0-10 record against Henin.

Jankovic was close to defeating Henin many times. They have played six three-setters so far, including today in the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix quarterfinals, but Jankovic never had the nerve or that important something to go all the way. Moreover, out of those six matches played in three sets, Jankovic won the first set five times, which was the case today as well.

The two hadn’t met since the 2007 Sony Ericsson Championships and today’s quarterfinal in Stuttgart was interesting because it was their first encounter since Henin came out of retirement. As many times before, things started well for the fourth-seeded Jankovic and she took the first set 6-3. In the second set Henin hit 24 unforced errors to Jankovic’s 11, but the Belgian wildcard had 24 winners compared to Jankovic’s 8. Nevertheless, Jankovic had a chance to win the set, as she lost only in the tiebreak which ended with the score 7-4. In the third set Jankovic came back from 0-2 to lead 3-2, but then the beginning of her end started and she finally lost the match 3-6 7-6(4) 6-3.

Henin’s opponent in the semifinals will be Shahar Peer of Israel, who advanced with a 6-3 6-2 victory over rusty Dinara Safina, seeded second. (photo: sr_cranks)

World No.3 Dinara Safina hadn’t played on the Tour since January and the Australian Open, and her first match since returning from the back injury was a victory — the Russian defeated Hungary's Agnes Szavay 7-6(5) 3-6 6-0 in the second round of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix.

The win over the 33rd-ranked Szavay is a good sign, as only days ago Safina said that the lower back injury could cause her long-term problems and seriously harm her career.

The unseeded Szavay quickly got to a 4-1 lead in the first set, but Safina fought back to win it in over an hour. After losing the second set, the Russian was in full command in the third.

"I don't know if I am more happy than tired or more tired than happy," said Safina, who turned 24 two days ago. "It is always nice to come back with a win, regardless how."

Safina, last year’s runner-up at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, will play Israel’s Shahar Peer in the quarterfinals. (source: Earth Times, photo: © Neal Trousdale)

The ankle injury Caroline Wozniacki sustained in the semifinals of the Family Circle Cup two weeks ago is still hampering the Dane’s movement and she lost to Lucie Safarova 6-4 6-4 in the second round of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart.

The 38th-ranked Safarova sensed that her opponent had troubles with movement and forced that part of her game. The top-seeded Wozniacki didn’t have a single chance to break Safarova’s serve, while the Czech won the match thanks to one break in each set.

It was the first encounter of Safarova and Wozniacki. The 23-year-old Safarova earned her fifth career win over a Top 5 player by defeating the world No.2 Wozniacki (her first four all came in 2007). (photo: © Neal Trousdale)

The last match of today’s play at the $700,000 Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart was an upset of defending champion Svetlana Kuznetsova. The third-seeded Russian lost to China's Li Na 6-3 7-5 in the second round.

The only other second-round match that took place on Wednesday happened to be an upset as well, with unseeded Shahar Peer of Israel defeating fifth seed Agnieszka Radwanska 6-3 6-7(4) 6-2. Peer had a match point in the second set, but wrapped up victory in the third to upset the Pole who had added to the slump of Ana Ivanovic in the first round.

No.4 seed Jelena Jankovic, No.6 seed Victoria Azarenka, No.7 seed Samantha Stosur, No.8 seed Yanina Wickmayer and unseeded wildcard Justine Henin were all victorious in their first-round matches.

Kuznetsova’s opponent in the last year’s Stuttgart final, Dinara Safina, is in action on Thursday and will play her first match since the Australian Open. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)

The second round of the GP de SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem was the last one for both defending champion Anabel Medina Garrigues and top seed Carla Suarez Navarro this year.

The third-seeded Medina Garrigues was eliminated by fellow Spaniard Laura Pous Tio 6-3 6-2. The 192nd-ranked qualifier broke the world No.48 Medina Garrigues seven times en route to victory and will next play No. 7 seed Iveta Benesova of the Czech Republic.

The top-seeded Suarez Navarro withdrew from her second-round match while leading 6-5 in the first set against Anne Keothavong. The reason for the Spaniard’s withdrawal was an ankle injury. Keothavong’s opponent in the quarterfinals will be Alize Cornet, who advanced with a 6-2 6-2 victory over Arantxa Parra Santonja.

The tournament, played on red clay, is the only WTA Tour event in Africa. (photo: Ralf Reinecke)

World No.8 Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland extended the slump of Serbia’s Ana Ivanovic by defeating the former world No.1 7-6(4) 6-4 in the first round of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart. Ivanovic’s last match prior to the tournament in Stuttgart had been another loss to Radwanska, in the third round of the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami.

Despite facing disappointment after disappointment the world No.57 Ivanovic is staying positive, or at least she is trying to project such an image:

It was a tough loss but what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. I have to be positive. I’m trying to make every shot perfect and it’s just not coming every time. I just need to relax more. A few mistakes here and there are costing me matches. I just have to be patient.

The 22-year-old Ivanovic, champion at the clay-court Grand Slam of Roland Garros in 2008, was playing her first match on clay in 11 months at this year's Porsche Tennis Grand Prix.

The fifth-seeded Radwanska will play Shahar Peer of Israel in the second round. (photo: sr_cranks)

Dinara Safina hasn't competed since withdrawing from the fourth round of the Australian Open in January and resumed training only on April 3. The Russian former world No.1 entered the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart this week, the tournament at which she was runner-up last year, but will have to watch the state of her back closely in order for the potentially career-threatening injury not to reappear.

"Everybody, including my brother Marat (Safin), told me to take my time but it was really difficult because I wanted to come back on court so badly," said the 24-year-old Safina, seeded second at Stuttgart. "Right now I feel safe and comfortable, but I need to watch closely that it stays that way."

Safina is worried that the injury, which started bothering her in late 2009, could have a serious impact on her future: "My back injury is the worst you can get, because if things go wrong again, that might be it for my professional career altogether." (source: Yahoo, photo: Upali Wickramasinghe)

Serena Williams is now spending her 100th week at the top position of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour rankings. The American is only the seventh player to have joined the "100 Club", while nineteen players have held the No.1 ranking.

The 12-time Grand Slam champion Williams was top-ranked from July 8, 2002 to August 10, 2003 (57 weeks), from September 8 to October 5, 2008 (four weeks), from February 2 to April 19, 2009 (11 weeks), from October 12 to 25, 2009 (two weeks), and has been occupying the No.1 position from November 2, 2009, where she is now spending her 26th straight week.

The other six players to have achieved the feat are Steffi Graf (377), Martina Navratilova (332), Chris Evert (260), Martina Hingis (209), Monica Seles (178) and Justine Henin (117). (source: Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, photo: Emmett Anderson)

Rumors from this month's Family Circle Cup when Liezel Huber played with Nadia Petrova turned out to be true - Cara Black and Liezel Huber have split up, which ends one of the most legendary doubles teams of the era.

"On a personal note, my regular doubles partner, Cara Black and I are taking a mutual break from being exclusive doubles partners," Huber wrote.

"Both Cara and I are entered in Stuttgart with different partners but we continue to strive to do what we love most and that is to compete on the tennis court. I just wanted to thank everybody for their support. It was not any easy decision but we announced it today. We both want to be better players and right now it is best for us to just take a little break. We might get back together and we might not."

"Do not be surprised to see us playing with each other or with someone else in the next couple of months," Huber said. "It was not an easy decision. We have had a great partnership and we are appreciative of all the fan support."

Black and Huber shared the No.1 doubles ranking for over two years and won 29 titles together, including four Grand Slams and two Sony Ericsson Championships titles.

Black has spent the second most weeks in Tour history as the world's No.1 doubles player, trailing only Martina Navratilova. Huber has spent the third most weeks at No.1.

Cara Black entered the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix with Shahar Peer, while Liezel Huber's partner at the tournament is Jelena Jankovic. (source: On the Baseline, photo via Sony Ericsson WTA Tour)

There’s always something good in something bad. Serbia’s Ana Ivanovic wasn’t able to play the Fed Cup tie against Slovakia and her replacement, 18-year-old Bojana Jovanovski, who had her first main draw appearance on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour earlier this year in Kuala Lumpur, turned out to have used the opportunity to the full to get some experience and exposure.

The world No.117 Jovanovski lost her first singles match against world No.23 Daniela Hantuchova 6-2 6-2, but as I have already mentioned, the match was much tougher for the Slovakian than the result suggests. On the second day of play, the Serbian rising star beat Slovakian world No.53 Magdalena Rybarikova 6-1 7-6(4), after a lot of long games and saved break points.

We had known Jovanovski has what it takes to beat Rybarikova, but the score in the first set was better than any supporter of the Serbian team could have asked for. In addition, even though inexperienced, Jovanovski won four successive games after trailing 2-0 in the second set. In the end, the winner was decided in a tiebreak and Jovanovski pulled it off despite cramps and tiredness.

The winner of the tie will be decided after the doubles match, as Slovakia’s Daniela Hantuchova defeated Serbia’s Jelena Jankovic in the first match on Sunday and the teams are now tied at 2-2. Whoever wins the doubles match and this Fed Cup World Group Play-offs, I am glad that Bojana Jovanovski had an opportunity and courage to give her best and gain exposure in the tennis world. (photo: Stephane Martinache)