Top seed Dinara Safina and ninth seed Caroline Wozniacki will meet in the Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open final to play each other for the first time.

The world No.1 Safina defeated Patty Schnyder 6-4 6-2 in Madrid semifinals. Schnyder had defeated two Top 10 opponents in Madrid, No.10 Nadia Petrova in the third round and No.4 Jelena Jankovic in the quarterfinals, but she fell to Safina, who has moved into her third straight final, and will be going for her second straight title.

This week in Madrid, Safina has reached her 12th final in 20 tournaments. Also, since ascending to the top of the rankings, the Russian has posted a 13-1 record.

In the first semifinal of the day, Caroline Wozniacki beat Amelie Mauresmo 7-6(1) 6-3.

The 19-year old Wozniacki, who has since May 2008 played more matches at Tour level events (including Fed Cup) than any other player, will become the first Danish WTA player to reach the Top 10. She can even climb to No.9 if she defeats Safina in the final. Safina will stay No.1 nevertheless. (photos: Ralf Reinecke, Tennis Channel)

Top seed and world No.1 Dinara Safina fought off a gutsy comeback from Lucie Safarova to beat the Czech 6-0 4-6 6-3. Safina raced through the first set, but stumbled in the second to twice lose her serve. In the decider the Russian made a crucial break in the sixth game and later wrapped up the win on the second match point.

Safina will play Alona Bondarenko in the quarterfinals. Bondarenko, who had upset Svetlana Kuznetsova in the previous round, defeated Anna Chakvetadze 6-0 2-6 6-3. The former world No.5 Chakvetadze still hasn’t reached any quarterfinals in 2009.

Fourth seed Jelena Jankovic swept past qualifier Elena Vesnina 6-2 6-2 to reach the quarterfinals of the Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open where she’ll play Patty Schnyder. Jankovic’s serve was broken two times during the third-round match, but still, she lost only four games to Vesnina.

Seventh-seeded Victoria Azarenka fell to Agnes Szavay 4-6 6-2 6-2 in the third round. Szavay will next face Amelie Mauresmo, who booked her place in the quarters yesterday, along with Vera Dushevina who will play Caroline Wozniacki, the winner over Alisa Kleybanova in their today’s encounter, with the score 6-2 6-2. By winning the match, Wozniacki will crack the Top 10. (photo by our reader Elisa)

The Sony Ericsson WTA Tour celebrated Mother’s Day, which I've learned is on the second Sunday of May in the United States, as opposed to March 8th here in Serbia, with a couple of videos.

One is featuring Serena Williams, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Dinara Safina, Victoria Azarenka and Aleksandra Wozniak talking about the role of their mothers in their lives. I absolutely love Kuznetsova’s eloquent statement: "For mom, without mom I wouldn’t be here, so it’s great." This "so it's great" part is my favorite, haha.

In the other video is Jelena Jankovic with her always-present mother Snezana, who is telling us about Jelena’s childhood and how spoiled Jelena was. Of course, she’s having a lot of praise for her daughter, too. Sneki and Jeca are very cute together, and I’m happy to see Sneki healthy and active again.

World No.1 Dinara Safina claimed her first title since climbing to the top of the rankings with a 6-3 6-2 victory over fellow Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome.

Safina has won her first singles title in 2009, playing her fourth final of the season. Last week Safina and Kuznetsova faced each other in the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix final, but Kuznetsova then won 6-4 6-3. It was Kuznetsova’s first title in seven final appearances and first trophy since 2007. Oops, her curse in title matches may be back already.

The world No.8 Kuznetsova is projected to climb to No.7 in the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Rankings for the week of May 11, 2009, while Safina will remain No.1.

Winning the Internazionali BNL d’Italia, Safina has won €620,000. Runner-up Kuznetsova has earned €310,000. (photos by our reader Elisa)

Magnificent Dinara Safina beat magnificent Venus Williams 6-7(3) 6-3 6-4 in a powerful battle of two hard-hitters and one of the best matches of the season, to reach the final of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia. The semifinal lasted three hours and nine minutes, and I believe that tells enough.

The fourth-seeded Williams won the first set after a one hour and 10 minutes long fight. Safina had come back from a break down to level at 5-5, but lost in the tiebreak (isn’t it horrible when a player recovers from a bad situation only to lose in a tiebreak?). Nevertheless, Safina took the match to the third set. The decider was full of breaks, with Williams always coming back from behind, but as I said, always coming back, Safina never kept the lead for long. Finally, at 5-4 Safina was serving for the match and after saving some break points, the Russian world No.1 finally converted her third match point to beat the American.

It’s a real joy to watch Safina play when she has consistency, and against a great opponent such as Venus Williams, there’s nothing more you can ask for.

In-form Svetlana Kuznetsova, who ended her title drought in Stuttgart last week, reached her second consecutive final by defeating sixth seed Victoria Azarenka 6-2 6-4 in the semifinals. The seventh-seeded Kuznetsova will be Safina’s opponent in an all-Russian final in Rome.

As for world No.5 Venus Williams, she will retake the No.3 ranking on May 11. She hasn't been ranked that high in six years. (photos: Tennis Channel)