Fourth seed Elena Dementieva avenged her Wimbledon loss to Serena Williams in the semifinals of the Rogers Cup, while Maria Sharapova has continued to climb back to where she belongs and despite persistent struggles with her serve, she beat Alisa Kleybanova to reach her first final in over a year.

The second-seeded Williams had faced only one break point all week, but was broken five times during the semifinal which Dementieva won 7-6(2) 6-1 to move into her fourth final of the year.

It’s amazing how the Williams sisters are unbeatable at a Grand Slam stage. Serena ended Dementieva’s hopes for her first Grand Slam title two times this year, at the Australian Open and Wimbledon, the tournaments Serena eventually won.

Sharapova defeated Kleybanova 6-2 4-6 6-4, despite producing 12 double faults and converting only 5 of 22 break points. It only shows Maria's well-known strongest asset – her undying will.

Additional info: Sharapova will be seeded at the 2009 US Open, as she’ll move from No.49 to the Top 32 in the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour rankings. (source: Reuters, photos via Sony Ericsson WTA Tour)

Maria Sharapova is among the three Russians to join American Serena Williams in the final four of the Rogers Cup. The semifinal pairs are: Alisa Kleybanova vs. Maria Sharapova, Elena Dementieva vs. Serena Williams.

World number two Serena Williams brushed aside qualifier Lucie Safarova 6-3 6-2 after a 57-minute quarterfinal. Serena hasn’t lost more than five games in any match at the 2009 Rogers Cup.

Elena Dementieva had a more difficult fight for the semifinal spot, coming from a set down to beat Samantha Stosur 6-7(3) 6-1 6-3.

Reminder: Williams and Dementieva had an insane last matchup in the semifinals of Wimbledon, which Williams edged 8-6 in the third set. It was the best match of Wimbledon 2009.

Fifth seed Jelena Jankovic, who defeated Kim Clijsters in the previous round, got upset by Alisa Kleybanova, but only after three hours and 16 minutes. Kleybanova failed to convert five set points in the first set, and then Jankovic won it in a tiebreak. The second set Kleybanova won in a tiebreak, and swept through the last four games of the decider to win one of the best matches of her career. Final score: 6-7(6) 7-6(7) 6-2.

Maria Sharapova is still working her way back to the top, very successfully I would say. Her latest victim was 14th seed Agnieszka Radwanska. Sharapova came back from 5-2 down in the second set to claim a 6-2 7-6(5) victory. (source: Reuters, photo: Ralf Reinecke)

The quarterfinals of the LA Women’s Tennis Championships are over and we have our semifinalists: Maria Sharapova will play Flavia Pennetta, and Samantha Stosur will face Sorana Cirstea.

Maria Sharapova claimed a straight-set win over Poland’s Urszula Radwanska, but it was far from easy – the Russian broke Radwanska only once in the first set, in the 18-point third game, and was 3-5 down in the second set. The final score was 6-4 7-5.

Seed No.10 Flavia Pennetta defeated second seed Vera Zvonareva 6-4 6-2, and thus earned her tenth Top 10 win. Pennetta is now on a nine-match winning streak, having won in Palermo prior to playing the LA tournament.

Sharapova and Penneta will meet in the semis. They have played each other two times so far, but their last encounter was over three years ago.

No.13 seed Samantha Stosur rallied from 6-4 3-1 down to beat No.14 seed Zheng Jie 4-6 6-3 6-4, the winner over world No.1 Dinara Safina in the third round. Stosur will play Soraca Cirstea in the semis, after the Romanian won a marathon with No.8 seed Agnieszka Radwanska 7-6(4) 1-6 7-5.

Stosur easily won the only meeting with Cirstea, which was in this year's French Open quarterfinals. (photos courtesy of Stephane Martinache and Bobby)

China's Zheng Jie recorded one of the biggest wins of her career by beating world No.1 Dinara Safina 7-5 4-6 6-4 at the $700,000 2009 LA Women’s Tennis Championships presented by Herbalife.

The 23nd-ranked Zheng had beaten a world No.1 before – Ana Ivanovic in the third round of last year's Wimbledon – but had never beaten Safina.

"She’s a good player and it’s tough to play her," said Safina after the third-round defeat. "In this match I didn’t do the right things. I should have played better. Today, she took her chances and beat me."

Zheng, the 14th seed, will next face Australian 13th seed Samantha Stosur, who dominated current world No.11 Ana Ivanovic 6-3 6-2 in the third round. Stosur has scored her sixth win over a Top 15 opponent this year. Also, she has defeated former top-ranked players in consecutive weeks, having beaten Serena Williams in the Stanford quarterfinals.

World No.61 Maria Sharapova, after upsetting third seed Victoria Azarenka in the previous round, rebounded from a slow first-set start for the second straight day and defeated Alona Bondarenko 4-6 6-0 6-3. In the quarterfinals, Sharapova will face Poland's Urszula Radwanska, who got a walkover from No.12 seed Li Na due to a right knee injury. (photo via Sony Ericsson WTA Tour)

Russia's Maria Sharapova advanced to the second round of the LA Women's Tennis Championships by defeating Slovakia's world No.60 Jarmila Groth 6-0 6-4.

Sharapova said after the match that Groth's plan was to attack from every possible angle. However, Sharapova returned many of those balls, and advanced despite being inconsistent in the second set.

World No.61 Sharapova will next face third seed Victoria Azarenka.

BTW: The winner last week at Stanford, Marion Bartoli, withdrew from the LA Women's Tennis Championships due to a right calf strain. (photo: Ralf Reinecke)

Maria Sharapova is continuing her comeback by going past fifth seed and world No.10 Nadia Petrova 6-1 6-2 to advance to the quarterfinals of the Bank of the West Classic.

The 62nd-ranked Sharapova beat Petrova for the second time since returning from shoulder injury, having also won over the fellow Russian in the second round of Roland Garros.

Her 18th match since coming back from the injury Sharapova will play either against Venus Williams or Alla Kudryavtseva.

Also advancing to the quarterfinals were third seed Elena Dementieva who defeated Maria Kirilenko 6-1 6-2, Daniela Hantuchova who upset seventh seed Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland 4-6 7-6(6) 6-1, and Samantha Stosur who beat Monica Niculescu 6-1 7-5. (photo: Ralf Reinecke)

Maria Sharapova will be participating in this year’s Arthur Ashe Kids’ Day on August 29th.

The annual event kicks off the 2009 US Open at the USTA Tennis Center in New York. Other personalities taking part in the full-day tennis and music festival are ATP player Andy Roddick, American Idol Winner Jordin Sparks, rising stars Honor Society and Justin Bieber, as well as comedian Will Ferrell.

Additional tennis players participating will be announced shortly. (photo: Ralf Reinecke)

Former world No.1 Maria Sharapova, now ranked 61st, declared that her troubled shoulder had fully healed and that she was ready to play competitively for the first time since her second-round loss at Wimbledon.

"I am a hundred percent," Sharapova said Wednesday night before making an appearance for the Newport Beach Breakers in their World Team Tennis match against Kansas City.

"I mean, if I wasn't at that point, I certainly wouldn't be playing. That's why I took my time and gave myself a chance to really go out there and to feel like I didn't have any excuses."

Despite the favorable outcome of the recovery from the career-threatening injury, Sharapova’s shoulder will continue to demand extra attention.

"It's not something you just stop when it feels good," said the Russian. "You have to keep working on it. You have to keep getting it stronger.

"For the rest of my career I'll be doing shoulder exercises. It won't be as fun as I want it to be. It's all a routine. But everyone has to do it. Everyone has injuries. It's part of the game."

Sharapova is scheduled to play the Bank of the West Classic in Stanford, California, followed by the tournament in Los Angeles and the US Open. (source: ESPN, photo: Ralf Reinecke)