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)