Dinara Safina handed a match to Jelena Jankovic, pulling out from the Sony Ericsson Championships in Doha when serving at 1-1 in the first set. The reason for the Russian’s withdrawal is a back injury, which is likely to prevent her from playing the start of the next season, including the 2010 Australian Open.

Safina said the bone structure in her lower back is "starting to fracture", and that she has had the injury for three months. Today, she couldn't handle the pain.

Jankovic lost her first round-robin match to Victoria Azarenka, so this present from Safina must have been welcome.

Safina regained the top-ranking on Monday, but she will again hand it to Serena Williams, who will finish a season at No.1 for the second time in her career.

Earlier in the day, Caroline Wozniacki beat Victoria Azarenka 1-6 6-4 7-5, recovering from a first set blowout and saving a match point in the third set. Azarenka was leading by a break four times in the decider, but Wozniacki fought back each time. It was Wozniacki's first match at the Sony Ericsson Championships ever. (photo via Sony Ericsson WTA Tour)

Immediately after qualifying for the Sony Ericsson Championships in Doha, Jelena Jankovic crashed out of the Kremlin Cup, losing to Alisa Kleybanova 6-4 6-3 in the quarterfinals. Fourth seed Daniela Hantuchova was dumped out by unseeded Shahar Peer in the other tournament of the week, played in Luxembourg.

Second seed Jankovic, who failed to defend her Kremlin Cup title, said she wasn’t saving herself for Doha which starts October 27, rather, she simply couldn’t cope with Kleybanova at the time.

Russian Kleybanova will take on Olga Govortsova in the semifinals.

At the BGL Luxembourg Open, Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova lost her quarterfinal match against Shahar Peer of Israel in straight sets, 6-2 7-6(4).  Peer’s next opponent will be sixth seed Sabine Lisicki. In the quarters, the German defeated Patty Schnyder, who had taken out the 2009 US Open champion and five-time titlist in Luxembourg Kim Clijsters in the previous round. (photo: Ralf Reinecke)

Vera Zvonareva lost to Tsvetana Pironkova 6-0 6-2 in the second round of the Kremlin Cup, which automatically qualified Jelana Jankovic for the Sony Ericsson Championships.

Jankovic is now five points ahead of Zvonareva in the race to the Sony Ericsson Championships and will be among the elite eight players of the season competing in the singles competition in Doha. The Serb has joined Dinara Safina, Serena Williams, Caroline Wozniacki, Elena Dementieva, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Venus Williams and Victoria Azarenka.

Russian Zvonareva, top seed at the Kremlin Cup, lost to Bulgarian qualifier Pironkova who secured only her fourth win on tour this season and her first since April. Still, Zvonareva is not disappointed about the outcome: "Maybe I'm even happy. Finally I will have time to restore my health and start the new season in full strength."

Defending Kremlin Cup champion Jankovic, who has now qualified for the season-ending Championships for the third time in her career, followed up her guaranteed qualification by beating Lucie Safarova 7-6(5) 6-3 in the second round in Moscow.

Zvonareva and Agnieszka Radwanska will be alternates for the Sony Ericsson Championships. They both had their chance to earn that last Doha berth at the Kremlin Cup, but Jankovic prevailed. (source: BBC, photo: Ralf Reinecke)

Defending champion Jelena Jankovic moved into the second round of the Kremlin Cup by beating Yaroslava Shvedova 6-4 5-7 6-1. Kim Clijsters also won her opening-round match on Tuesday, defeating Meghann Shaughnessy 6-2 6-2 at the BGL Luxembourg Open.

Shvedova had upset Jankovic in the second round of the US Open in September, but the Serb avenged the defeat by winning five successive games in the third set to defeat the Kazakh in Moscow. Jankovic’s next opponent will be Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic.

At the BGL Luxembourg Open, the other tournament played this week, second seed Kim Clijsters won her eighth straight singles match and the first one since capturing the 2009 US Open title. It’s worth noting that the Belgian is a five-time champion of the Luxembourg tournament.

Reminder: At the Kremlin Cup, the second-seeded Jankovic is competing with Vera Zvonareva and Agnieszka Radwanska for the remaining spot in Doha. (photos via Sony Ericsson WTA Tour)

Three players are in the battle to take the last qualifying spot of the 2009 Sony Ericsson Championships – Jelena Jankovic, Vera Zvonareva and Agnieszka Radwanska – and which one of them will qualify will be determined during this week’s Kremlin Cup in Moscow.

World No.7 Vera Zvonareva and world No.9 Jelena Jankovic are the Top 2 seeds at the Kremlin Cup and the main contenders for the last berth at the season-ending Championships. Here's how things are standing:

1) if they both lose prior to the quarterfinals, Jankovic will be the one to qualify for Doha;
2) if they both reach the quarterfinals, whoever does better from then on will have more points for Doha;
3) if they both lose in the same round from the quarterfinals and on, Zvonareva will have more points for Doha.

The first condition for world No.10 Agnieszka Radwanska to qualify for the Sony Ericsson Championships is to win the Kremlin Cup, and the second condition is that neither Zvonareva nor Jankovic reach the final.

Players that have already qualified include: Dinara Safina, Serena Williams, Caroline Wozniacki, Elena Dementieva, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Venus Williams and Victoria Azarenka. (source: Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, photos: Ralf Reinecke, Stephane Martinache)