Top seed Jelena Jankovic moved into the East West Bank Classic semifinals with an impressive 7-5 6-4 victory over ninth seed Nadia Petrova and will next meet Russia's Dinara Safina, seeded fourth, who crushed Victoria Azarenka 6-3 6-1 in her quarterfinal.

Jankovic fought back from breaks down in both sets in the quarterfinal and is now two steps away from taking the No.1 ranking from fellow Serb Ana Ivanovic.

The biggest problem of J.J. are always her injuries, but she said her knee was holding up well and was satisfied with her movement. Despite constant health problems, her game has improved, and I especially like this quote of Petrova: "She's not just running on the baseline anymore, she's serving better and taking the ball earlier and coming forward."

In the other semifinal at the East West Bank Classic seed No.10 Flavia Pennetta, who beat 14th-seeded Sybille Bammer 7-6 3-6 6-1, will encounter unseeded American Bethanie Mattek, who defeated China's Yuan Meng 6-2 7-5. (source: BBC, Getty Images)

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Thai qualifier Tamarine Tanasugarn beat Roland Garros runner-up Dinara Safina of Russia 7-5 6-3 to take the Ordina Open trophy.

It is Tanasugarn’s second WTA title, the first one since winning Hyderabad in 2003. In today's Ordina Open final the world No.85 survived a break in the opening set, and won a difficult second set in which she saved eight break points.

"One day you play really good, the next day — I just was not myself on the court," said Safina, ranked 9th in the world.

"(Tanasugarn) plays very different, she has some unbelievable angles and just made me go crazy in the mind." (source: Reuters, photo via Yahoo)

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Defending champion Jelena Jankovic, last year's finalist Maria Sharapova, and the 2008 French Open finalist Dinara Safina have all decided to skip the DFS Classic in Birmingham, a Wimbledon warmup event which starts June 9.

World No.3 Jankovic withdrew from the grass-court tournament with the same arm injury that caused her to fly home to Belgrade after losing to Ana Ivanovic in the semifinals of the French Open.

Sharapova, who has won the DFS Classic twice, will skip the event after five consecutive years in the draw in order to be able to focus on Wimbledon better. The Russian world No.1 has also withdrawn from Eastbourne which means she will play no competitive grass-court tennis before Wimbledon.

Safina, ranked 14th in the world, pulled out of Birmingham with a bad back. (sources: ESPN, Reuters; photos: Tennis Channel, Getty Images)

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Serbia’s Ana Ivanovic defeated Dinara Safina of Russia 6-4 6-3 in Saturday’s final at the 2008 French Open to claim her first Grand Slam title.

The world No.2 Ivanovic was successful at her third attempt in a Grand Slam final. Last year at the French Open nerves got the best of her and she was demolished by clay-court specialist Justine Henin. Ivanovic also played the 2008 Australian Open final, but Maria Sharapova was too good for her then. Today, however, everything was just right for Ivanovic as her nerves, her game and her bullet-like forehand worked well. Comeback artist Dinara Safina, ranked 14th in the world, wasn't able to fight back this time.

Second seed Ivanovic broke Safina in the first game of the match, and then again in the fifth, without losing a single point. Read more »

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Seed No.13 Dinara Safina continued her impressive run at the 2008 Roland Garros defeating compatriot Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-3 6-2 and moving into her first ever Grand Slam final. Safina was a point from defeat in her previous two matches but she needed no miraculous recovery against Kuznetsova.

World No.14 Safina, who debuted in a Grand Slam semifinal, dominated over four-time Grand Slam semifinalist Kuznetsova and became the first woman to take a set from Kuznetsova at the 2008 French Open.

Safina established a 4-1 lead by breaking Kuznetsova twice in the first five games. Despite working her way back to 4-3, Kuznetsova was broken again and Safina served out the set. The second set started with an exchange of breaks, but then Safina broke again at 2-2, and again to take a 5-2 lead which signified the end of Kuznetsova.

On route to the final Safina defeated Kateryna Bondarenko, Magdalena Rybarikova, Jie Zheng, top seed Maria Sharapova, seventh seed Elena Dementieva, and finally fourth Svetlana Kuznetsova.

In the 2008 French Open final, Safina will play second seed Ana Ivanovic who has just won a difficult semifinal encounter against fellow Serb Jelena Jankovic. (photo: Getty Images)

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