Seventh-seeded Ana Ivanovic was the first one to reach the final four. She defeated the last year’s French Open finalist Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-0 3-6 6-1. Federer was definitely wrong when he said that Kuznetsova will take the trophy this year.

The rising 19-year-old from Serbia said that she has improved her physical fitness and that now she has more experience which helped her to be calmer in the match against Kuznetsova. Ivanovic will play Maria Sharapova for a place in the final.

Roland Garros was the one Grand Slam tournament in which Sharapova had never reached the semifinals — until Tuesday. In the quarterfinal match against Anna Chakvetadze, there was no evidence of Maria’s problems with the right shoulder. Maria, seeded second, scored the victory in straight sets 6-3 6-4.

"I really didn't know what to expect from [the shoulder]," Sharapova said. "I thought it was going to be worse than it was, so after the match, especially, I'm very pleased. But I wouldn't say I'm surprised or shocked by the situation."

I should mention that Sharapova last played Ivanovic in Tokyo back in February but retired with a hamstring injury trailing 1-6, 1-0. "She's had some good success this clay-court season," Sharapova said. "It will definitely be a very tough match."

Fourth-seeded Jelena Jankovic continues to be the most successful WTA player this year. She has now won 44 of 54 matches. In the quarterfinals she beat sixth-seeded Nicole Vaidisova 6-3 7-5.

In the semis Jankovic will play the defending champion and top-seeded Justine Henin, who overwhelmed Serena Williams 6-4 6-3 to set up a semifinal against the Serb. They played five times till now and all their matches were three-setters. Even though J.J. won the first set four times, she has never defeated the Belgian. Maybe it’s time for her to do it now.

Jankovic, despite her recent success, still has a reputation of being something of a head case. "I will focus on my objectives, and whether or not she buckled under pressure, I mean, it doesn't matter," Henin said. "You might think that's an asset for me, the fact that she's psychologically weak, but I don't pay attention to that. I will have to be cautious, in fact." (source: ESPN, photos: BBC Sport)

Justine Henin BEL (1) vs. Serena Williams USA (8)

According to many people, these two players are most likely to win the 2007 French Open. Henin already possesses three titles from Paris (winning it in 2003, 2005, and 2006), while her opponent in the final 16 has one, from 2002.

In their flourishing careers, they’ve met nine times, and Serena leads 6-3. But maybe it’s more important to point out that the one more successful on clay was Justine. She defeated the American three times (in the finals of Berlin and Charleston, and in the semifinal of Roland Garros). Serena beat Henin on clay only once, in the final of Rome.

Jelena Jankovic SRB (4) vs. Nicole Vaidisova CZE (6)

Vaidisova leads 1-0 on clay. She defeated Jankovic in 2006, in the semifinal of Strasbourg. If we include their matches on other surfaces too, Vaidisova is also better, leading 4-2. However, we mustn’t forget Jelena’s fantastic results this season. In 2007 she’s already won three trophies: in Auckland, Charleston, and Rome.

Ana Ivanovic SRB (7) vs. Svetlana Kuznetsova RUS (3)

Considering the matches they've played so far, Ana has better results, leading 2-1. On clay they played once, and Ana defeated Kuznetsova. That was in the last month’s final of Berlin.

Anna Chakvetadze RUS (9) vs. Maria Sharapova (2)

In this case, situation is clear – they played against each other three times and Chakvetadze has never beat Sharapova. Out of these three matches, they had only one on clay; in the last 32 of the 2005 Roland Garros when Sharapova defeated the compatriot in straight sets.

Internazionali BNL d'Italia is the most prestigious clay-court tournament after Roland Garros. It is a Tier I event with the prize money of $1,340,000.

Amelie Mauresmo of France is seeded at the top. She is the 2004 and 2005 winner, and in 2000, 2001 and 2003 she was in the final. Although world No. 4 has only recently returned to tennis, after a break caused by her appendix operation, she is still one of the favorites to take the trophy.

Second seed Svetlana Kuznetsova hasn't had a very satisfying year — she was a runner-up three times (in Doha, Indian Wells, and last week in Berlin). Still, without doubt, she has a potential to make Rome her first title of 2007.

World No. 5 Jelena Jankovic is definitely in good form. The Serbian has already collected two titles in 2007– Auckland and Charleston. We can expect a lot from her.

Although Serena Williams hasn't played since the Fed Cup first round in April, the 2002 champion, this year seeded 8th, is certainly someone we can't discount. She has been superb this season winning the Australian Open and Sony Ericsson Open. What more can you ask for?

Nadia Petrova of Russia is seeded fifth. She won three consecutive titles on clay last year. Her compatriot Dinara Safina, seeded sixth, reached the final on clay in Charleston, as well as last year in Rome when she was defeated by Martina Hingis.

Other players making up the top 8 seeds are Nicole Vaidisova and Anna Chakvetadze. We expect some good action from them as well.

We should also mention No. 12th seed Ana Ivanovic of Serbia who won a tournament in Berlin a few days ago and entered the top 10 for the first time in her career. In Rome's quarterfinals we might have a chance to watch a re-run of Berlin's final with Kuznetsova.

Maria Sharapova and Martina Hingis won't play this year because of injuries, while world No.1 Justine Henin didn't enter. (via Sony Ericsson WTA Tour)

Today, at the Qatar Telecom German Open, 19-year-old Ana Ivanovic won her third career title. This is Ana's second Tier I title and 430 points she earned today put her in the top ten for the first time in her career (as of tomorrow she will be ranked 8th in the world).

The Serb beat Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia 3-6 6-4 7-6 (7-4). It was a tough match for both players — Svetlana was tired because shortly before the match against Ana she had finished her semifinal match against Justine Henin, while Ana had problems with her left ankle.

Still, both Ana and Svetlana played superbly, with lots of powerful strokes. It was definitely a very close match.

How often do injured players retire when closer to victory, and how often when they are losing? Which players are more likely to retire, and which stay in match even though they are losing?

Tennis Magazine, who did this research, took into account the top 20 players and calculated the proportion of times they retired when close to losing a match. The aim of their work was to determine which players retire when they see that defeat is near, which, as they believe, tells a lot about a person's attitude. So, matches where a player retired before the completion of the opening set, as well as those when a player withdrew while less than two games behind, were not included.

Some players are more prone to injuries, but you can see that some of them withdraw when they see that they can't win. It's evident that player's retirement affects the opponent as well as spectators. The opponent can't enjoy the victory as much, because things were left unfinished.

One of favorite WTA players, Kim Clijsters, had lots of injuries in her career, but retired while losing only once. Ana Ivanovic, Shahar Peer, Nicole Vaidisova and Martina Hingis have never left the match when behind.

On the other hand, an unbelieveable 11.4 % of Jelena Jankovic's defeats are retirements while losing, which is more than one in every nine losses. Players following Jankovic are Serena Williams and Anna Chakvetadze.

A spokesperson for the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, who saw the results of the research, said: "There is no evidence that WTA Tour players do anything other than compete their very best." However, John Lloyd, British Davis Cup captain and former Australian Open finalist, claims that "really good champions don't feel they're going to lose until the last point, so they never throw in the towel."

I don't really agree with the view that players who are prone to retiring while losing are players with worse attitude and not real champions. It shows a certain part of their character, but it doesn't make them worse people, or worse players. They are simply like that (it's normal to lose interest when you see you have no chance to win), and after all, it's not forbidden to withdraw while behind.

(more at Tennis Magazine website)

The first player to enter the semifinals at Amelia Island was sixth-seeded Ana Ivanovic who defeated second seed and compatriot Jelena Jankovic 7-5, 6-3. In the following match, Venus Williams was ousted by France's Tatiana Golovin 6-2, 6-3. The third member of the last four is Austria's Sybille Bammer who crushed Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia 2-6, 6-2, 6-2. The last match of the quarterfinals was played by two Russian players; Nadia Petrova, the defending champion, advanced to the semifinals by beating fifth-seeded Dinara Safina 6-4, 7-5. The semifinal matches are scheduled to start today at 1:00 PM local time.

The world No. 17 Ana Ivanovic overwhelmed Jelena Jankovic ranked 9 to reach the semifinals of the Bausch & Lomb Championships in Florida. The younger player won 7-5, 6-3. This victory extends Ivanovic's head-to-head record over 22-year-old Jankovic to 3-1 . Ana's opponent in the final four will be either Tatiana Golovin or Venus Williams whose match is currently in progress.

Sixth seed Ana Ivanovic of Serbia is the first known member of the semifinals. We're still waiting for the results of the following matches: Tatiana Golovin (FRA) vs. Venus Williams (USA), Daniela Hantuchova (SVK) vs. Sybille Bammer (AUT), and Nadia Petrova (RUS) vs. Dinara Safina (RUS). Let me just remind you that Petrova is the reigning champion at Amelia Island.

I'll keep you up with the latest results!

Second seed Jelena Jankovic and sixth seed Ana Ivanovic will face each other in the fight for semifinals of the Bausch and Lomb Championships. They both needed less than one hour to defeat their opponents in the third round. Jankovic crushed Alona Bondarenko of the Ukraine in straight sets 6-2, 6-0, while Ivanovic easily beat world No. 43 Nathalie Dechy 6-1, 6-1.

In their matches Ivanovic leads 2:1 — Ivanovic overwhelmed Jankovic in Zurich and Tokyo, while Jankovic won in Los Angeles. I personally think that Jankovic has slightly higher chances to take the victory. We'll see the result on Friday.

Ana Ivanovic's first ever competitive outing on green clay almost ended up disappointingly. In the 40th minute of the match, Peng Shuai lead 6-1, 2-0 and faced two break points at 15-40. But then, Ana's determination and strength took the lead. She made one of her most impressive comebacks by fighting off those break points and eventually winning the match.

Ana's opponent in the third round is Nathalie Dechy. So far, they played two times, and the score is 2-0 for Ivanovic.

(source: Ana Ivanovic's website)

Tennis admirers, I simply have to share my amazement with Ana Ivanovic's website with you. I have never seen a website of a tennis player that is more beautiful, more professional and more informative than this one. It is regularly updated, and it has all sorts of things – latest news and photos (plenty of beautiful photos), Ana's diary (both video and written), you can ask Ana questions, you can read interviews she gave for various magazines, you can watch Ana's live matches – it has everything you can think of. But no, that's not the end – they are always introducing some new things – the latest one is a podcast! Wow! However, what I like most about the site is that it is magnificently organized, it can't get any better than that. Keep up the good work!