World No.5 Ana Ivanovic extended her head-to-head superiority over Jelena Jankovic to 4-1 defeating her 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 in an all-Serbian semifinal at the East West Bank Classic.

The Ivanovic vs. Jankovic match was a real thriller in which Ana showed her fighting spirit, and off course, her powerful serve, shooting 12 aces. I think that the best thing about Ana is that she plays point by point, which enables her to recover when she’s losing. In the Saturday’s semifinal, the 19-year-old fought off two match points, and came back from near-defeat on numerous other occasions throughout the match. She was as fantastic as in the Wimbledon quarterfinals against Nicole Vaidisova. Congratulations! Read more »

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The first known semifinalist of the Eastbourne International grass-court tournament was the defending champion Justine Henin, who crushed fifth-seeded Nicole Vaidisova 6-2 6-2.

I had expected much more from this match. Vaidisova serves well, so I thought the match would be much more undecided, but her serve had let her down, and she had no other weapons to use against the Belgian top seed. Within the first 20 minutes Vaidisova was 5-0 down, having held only one game point.

In the second quarterfinal match eight-seeded Marion Bartoli defeated fourth-seeded Elena Dementieva 6-1 6-0. This is Bartoli’s second consecutive win over the Russian, the previous one having been in this month’s Roland Garros. Furthermore, the Frenchwoman is now even with Dementieva on grass, 1-1.

FIRST SEMIFINAL: Henin vs. Bartoli >> So far, they’ve played only once, and that was four years ago. Henin defeated Bartoli on the hard-courts of Toronto. But in this case, the stats are not necessary; it’s clear who the favorite in this match is. Read more »

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Half of the women’s first round matches are finished, and players seeded number 31 and 11 are sent home.

On Monday, France’s Severine Bremond, seeded 31, was beaten 6-3 6-3 by Michaella Krajicek of the Netherlands (sister of Richard, the 1996 Wimbledon Champion). When her first serve was in, she won 78% of the points, while her seeded opponent won only 48%.

At her home Grand Slam, Bremond has made it past the first round only once, in 2005. This year, the 28-year-old has played six clay tournaments, but reached the second round only twice.

The second seed to fall was Nadia Petrova. Last year, she had a great clay season, but also lost in the first round of the French Open. The Russian, seeded 11, suffered a 5-7 7-5 0-6 lost to Czech qualifier Kveta Peschke.

Petrova, who pulled out of the Italian Open with a back problem, struggled with her movement and had treatment at the start of the second set.

The 24-year-old will have an MRI scan and fears she could miss Wimbledon. Petrova, a two-time semi-finalist at Roland Garros, missed Wimbledon last year because of a hip injury.

"I am trying to stay positive in my head, but I really don't know if I will be okay," she said.

"I just really hope that in the end it's not that serious. I don't want to miss the grasscourt season again." (source: BBC Sport)

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Internazionali BNL d'Italia is the most prestigious clay-court tournament after Roland Garros. It is a Tier I event with the prize money of $1,340,000.

Amelie Mauresmo of France is seeded at the top. She is the 2004 and 2005 winner, and in 2000, 2001 and 2003 she was in the final. Although world No. 4 has only recently returned to tennis, after a break caused by her appendix operation, she is still one of the favorites to take the trophy.

Second seed Svetlana Kuznetsova hasn't had a very satisfying year — she was a runner-up three times (in Doha, Indian Wells, and last week in Berlin). Still, without doubt, she has a potential to make Rome her first title of 2007.

World No. 5 Jelena Jankovic is definitely in good form. The Serbian has already collected two titles in 2007– Auckland and Charleston. We can expect a lot from her.

Although Serena Williams hasn't played since the Fed Cup first round in April, the 2002 champion, this year seeded 8th, is certainly someone we can't discount. She has been superb this season winning the Australian Open and Sony Ericsson Open. What more can you ask for?

Nadia Petrova of Russia is seeded fifth. She won three consecutive titles on clay last year. Her compatriot Dinara Safina, seeded sixth, reached the final on clay in Charleston, as well as last year in Rome when she was defeated by Martina Hingis.

Other players making up the top 8 seeds are Nicole Vaidisova and Anna Chakvetadze. We expect some good action from them as well.

We should also mention No. 12th seed Ana Ivanovic of Serbia who won a tournament in Berlin a few days ago and entered the top 10 for the first time in her career. In Rome's quarterfinals we might have a chance to watch a re-run of Berlin's final with Kuznetsova.

Maria Sharapova and Martina Hingis won't play this year because of injuries, while world No.1 Justine Henin didn't enter. (via Sony Ericsson WTA Tour)

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Russians Nadia Petrova and Anna Chakvetadze overcame the cold and wind and reached the second round of the J&S Cup. "The conditions were I think the worst," Petrova said. "It was cold, it was windy — before we went on it was a little bit drizzling."

Fifth seed Petrova downed Katarzyna Piter of Poland 6-3, 7-5. The 24-year-old Petrova, who won three clay-court titles last season, had little trouble overpowering her 17-year-old opponent. Still, she wasn't completely satisfied with her play — "I really had a difficult time because last week I didn't do much practising." In the second round, Petrova meets Mara Santangelo of Italy, who beat Severine Bremond of France 6-2, 6-3.

Sixth seed Anna Chakvetadze was better than her American opponent Jill Craybas. The Russian won in straight sets, 7-6 (8-6), 7-5. Anna's next opponent will be the winner of the match Tathiana Garbin vs. Laura Granville.

(sources: ESPN, BBC Sport)

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