Seventh seed Jelena Jankovic became the seventh player to beat both the Williams sisters in one tournament, having thrashed Venus 6-1 6-0 in yesterday’s quarterfinal and now beating world No.1 Serena to advance to the final of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome.

The world No.7 Jankovic, who is aiming for her third Rome title after winning here in 2007 and 2008, won the semifinal against top-seeded Serena Williams 4-6 6-3 7-6(5) after 2 hours 47 minutes and a third-set tiebreak.

In the first set Serena had one crucial break to win 6-4. Jankovic then broke Serena to love two times to take the second set 6-3. Then Jankovic seemed to be losing the decider, but came back from a set down to win tense tiebreak with an equally tense score 7-5.

Everyone is hoping for a repeat of old Serbian glory, and even though we can already taste it, we could have an opportunity for a real celebration if Rome would see an all-Serbian final. But for that, Ana Ivanovic has to overcome Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez which will not be an easy task. (photo: Sony Ericsson WTA Tour)

I was reluctant to celebrate Ana Ivanovic’s second-round win over ninth seed Victoria Azarenka too much, simply in order not to jinx Ana or put pressure on her (who knows, she might be reading this blog ), but now I can say it: "Woohoo Ana is back!".

The Serb defeated sixth-seeded Elena Dementieva 6-1 7-6(5) and advanced to the quarterfinals of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia. I was watching just livescores (don't ask me why), but I am pretty sure Ivanovic didn’t have much trouble in the first set. Actually, in that first set Dementieva didn’t hold serve once and as the result shows won only one game.

The second set was longer and unpredictable. The first four games were breaks of serve, but then they both held serve until 6-6 and tiebreak which Ivanovic won 7-5.

This is Ivanovic’s first victory over Dementieva in their five meetings. Her next opponent on clay in Rome will be seed No.14 Nadia Petrova. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)

Martina Hingis said she might play on the WTA Tour again, but only in doubles competition. Her possible doubles partner would be Lindsay Davenport. Hingis won 37 WTA Tour doubles titles during her fruitful career, and was runner-up in doubles 14 times. In addition, the Swiss has one mixed doubles title, the 2006 Australian Open.

Hingis, who occupied the top position in both singles and doubles rankings, will play a veteran doubles event at Wimbledon with longtime doubles partner Anna Kournikova. Hingis and Kournikova won two Australian Open titles together in 1999 and 2002. The 29-year-old Hingis retired from the WTA Tour in 2007, the 28-year-old Kournikova hasn’t played since 2003. (via Women Who Serve, photo: Life.com)

World number one Serena Williams played three sets to win her second match since coming out of long injury absence, but as always the American was able to step up when needed and defeated unseeded Andrea Petkovic of Germany 6-2 3-6 6-0 in the third round of the Internazionali BNL d'Italia.

The top-seeded Williams won the first set with a five-game streak, but quickly found herself trailing the 49th-ranked Petkovic 4-1 in the second set, before losing it 6-3. In the decider Williams regained her concentration and wrapped up the set to love.

Serena’s older sister Venus Williams, seeded fourth, played next and recorded a 6-3 6-4 victory over Shahar Peer of Israel in the third round, so the Williamses are now on course to meet in the semifinals.

Serena’s opponent in the quarters will be Maria Kirilenko, who followed up her upset of fifth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova with a 4-6 6-1 6-1 win over Dominika Cibulkova. Venus’ next opponent will be seventh seed Jelena Jankovic, who showed good form in the 6-2 6-0 defeat of No.11 seed Yanina Wickmayer in the third round. (photo: Emmett Anderson)

It's not just a dream, Ana Ivanovic followed up her 6-1 6-3 victory over Elena Vesnina in the first round of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia with another straight sets victory, 6-4 6-4 against ninth seed Victoria Azarenka.

This is the most noteworthy Ivanovic’s win this season, and actually her best result in who knows how many months. In fact, Ivanovic’s website states that it is her first victory over a Top 10 player in some 20 months. In addition, with the triumph over Azarenka in Rome the 22-year-old recorded her first two successive straight sets wins since June 2009.

Alright, enough with the comparison with things Ana would like to forget. Will the win over Viktoria prove to be a positive turning point for the continuation of Ana’s career? I certainly hope so, but the pressure is the last thing Ana needs, especially having in mind that another Top 10 player, sixth seed Elena Dementieva, is awaiting in the third round. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)

World No.1 Serena Williams received a wildcard for the Internazionali BNL d’Italia and played and won her first match since claiming her fifth Australian Open title back in January. Serena had a first-round bye in Rome and in the second round the American defeated Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland 7-6(2) 6-1, despite the long period without competitive tennis due to the knee injury.

The 20-year-old Bacsinszky was in command during the opening set, first with a 4-1 lead and then with a 5-3 lead. Bacsinszky even had three set points in the tenth game. However, Williams leveled at 5-5, and then forced a tiebreak which she won 7-2. That was pretty much the end of Bacsinszky.

Williams was victorious at the Italian Open in 2002 and followed it with her only Roland Garros title two weeks later.

Earlier in the day, Serena’s sister Venus took out another Swiss player from the tournament, world No.45 Patty Schynder. (photo: sr_cranks)

The 1999 Rome champion Venus Williams cruised to the third round of this year’s tournament with a 6-2 6-2 victory over Patty Schnyder. The fourth-ranked Williams, who had a bye in the first round, was playing her first match since a decisive loss to Kim Clijsters in the Sony Ericsson Open final in the beginning of March. The reason for Williams’ layoff was a knee problem, but the time out didn’t prevent the American from extending her career record against Schynder to 10-0.

Defending champion Dinara Safina, seeded third, is still under the radar because of her back injury and the fact that her second-round match in Rome was only her third since January. The Russian world No.3 came back from 4-0 down to level to 4-4 in the first set against Romanian world No.43 Alexandra Dulgheru, before quickly losing the initiative and the set. Safina managed to win the topsy-turvy second set in the tiebreak, before crushing in the decider. Final score: 6-4 6-7(5) 6-1.

I would like to mention one more result: seed No.7 Jelena Jankovic defeated good friend Bethanie Mattek-Sands 6-3 3-6 6-1 in the second round. (photos: sr_cranks)

Prior to her first match at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia Ana Ivanovic had lost nine of her last 11 matches, so the victory in the first round of the clay-court tournament in Rome is kind of a relief. Plus, it’s not just any kind of victory. The former world No.1 Ivanovic defeated Elena Vesnina of Russia, who is at No.32 ranked 26 spots higher than the Serb. And that’s not all, Ivanovic won in straight sets 6-1 6-3. And the icing on the cake is that Ivanovic's serve wasn’t broken at all during the encounter with Vesnina, even better, she didn’t even face break points.

It was the first career meeting between Ivanovic and Vesnina. Vesnina was a semifinalist in Ponte Vedra four weeks ago, and had won five of her last seven matches before losing to Ivanovic.

Ivanovic's opponent in the second round will be ninth seed Victoria Azarenka of Belorussia. They have played only once so far, last year at the French Open, and Azarenka won in straight sets. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)

Maria Kirilenko defeated fellow Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-2 3-6 6-4 in the second round of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome.

After failing to defend her title at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix last week, and losing in the second round already, Kuznetsova continued with another early exit, in the same round of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia, the tournament at which she played the final last year. On top of that, the Internazionali BNL d’Italia is a key warm-up event for the French Open, which Kuznetsova won last season.

The fifth-seeded Kuznetsova lost her serve in the first game of today's match against unseeded Kirilenko and surrendered the first set because of many unforced errors. Kuznetsova won the second set and in the decider fought back from 4-1 down to level, but then dropped serve and let the match slip in the last game.

The world No.5 Kuznetsova hasn’t played one quarterfinal whole season. (photo: Stephane Martinache)

Former world No.1 Justine Henin returned to the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour in January and today at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart she won her first comeback title, having finished runner-up at Brisbane and Australian Open. The Belgian’s opponent in today's final was Australian Samantha Stosur, whom she was playing for the first time.

The 26-year-old Stosur entered the Stuttgart final on an 11-match winning streak on clay, but it was not rocket science that her first meeting with four-time French Open champion Henin would be a real challenge. Henin, a wildcard now projected to return to the Top 20, didn’t need more than one break point to take her opponent’s service game and then the first set. In the following set, the Australian seventh seed, a wildcard as a late entrant, held serve throughout and broke Henin two times to win 6-2. In the decider, Henin was strong on her serve and allowed Stosur to win only one game. Final score: 6-4 2-6 6-1.

Henin won her 42th WTA singles title and her second at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix. Prize for the winner was $107,000 and a Porsche sports car, while the runner-up took home $56,000. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)