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)

Fifth seed and world number three Venus Williams went down to Alisa Kleybanova 6-3 3-6 7-5 in the second round of the Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open. Fourth seed Jelena Jankovic also played on Tuesday, but the Serb was victorious against world number 39 Daniela Hantuchova.

The 19- year-old Kleybanova fired seven aces and broke Williams' serve seven times in the match that lasted two hours and 12 minutes. The world No.26 Kleybanova, who is yet to win a WTA singles title, is now 1-1 with Williams in head-to-head statistics.

Remember? The Russian scored her first Top 10 win at this year’s Australian Open by upsetting Ana Ivanovic.

Jankovic beat Hantuchova 7-5 6-2. The Slovak was a tough opponent in the first set, but failed to convert any of seven break points in the second. Also advancing was seed No.9 Caroline Wozniacki, who had little trouble in seeing off Varvara Lepchenko 6-3 6-1.

Besides Venus Williams, one more seed fell on Tuesday: No.15 seed Zheng Jie lost 6-2 7-5 to Amelie Mauresmo in the second round. (photo by our reader Bobby)

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.

The wrap-up of the second day of the Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open doesn’t look bright for the seeded players, as only fourth-seeded Jelena Jankovic went through to the second round.

Jankovic lost her service early in both sets but broke Nuria Llagostera Vives a total of seven times to win 6-2 6-1. Other seeds were not as lucky. Tenth seed Agnieszka Radwanska fell to Samantha Stosur 7-6(4) 6-1, No.12 seed Flavia Pennetta lost to Agnes Szavay 6-3 6-7(2) 6-2, No.13 seed Alize Cornet was upset by qualifier Elena Vesnina 7-5 6-1, No.14 seed Anabel Medina Garrigues was defeated by qualifier Vera Dushevina 6-3 6-4, while No.16 seed Kaia Kanepi retired down 6-2 2-3 to Lucie Safarova because of a left hip injury.

Besides world No.4 Jankovic, the only player within the Top 20 that survived the second day of the $4.5-million tournament was world No.20 Patty Schnyder, who beat Sara Errani 6-2 6-3. (photo: Ralf Reinecke)

Quarterfinal matches were taking place today in Rome, and most notably, top seed and world No.1 Dinara Safina survived one more three-setter, while finally-noticeable Svetlana Kuznetsova defeated two-time defending champion Jelena Jankovic.

World No.48 Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez had scored victories over Amelie Mauresmo, seed No.11 Marion Bartoli and seed No.8 Nadia Petrova prior to meeting Dinara Safina in the quarterfinals. The 26-year-old Spaniard even took the first set from Safina, and had a 3-1 lead in the second, but the master of recovery won the match 4-6 6-3 6-0.

Safina will play fourth seed Venus Williams in the semifinals. Williams advanced with her first two-setter at the tournament, beating tenth seed Agnieszka Radwanska 6-1 6-2.

Seventh-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova has been in the shadow for quite some time, but her shiny days are back as last week she won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, and now she has reached the Internazionali BNL d’Italia semifinals taking out third seed Jelena Jankovic 6-1 7-6(3). After winning the first set, the Russian came through a nervy second-set tie break to avenge her defeat in the 2007 final.

Kuznetsova’s next opponent will be sixth seed Victoria Azarenka, who beat Kaia Kanepi 7-6(5) 6-3. (photo: Tennis Channel)