Serena Williams, who on Monday stated that she was the real No.1 and not Dinara Safina, suffered a 6-2 2-6 6-1 defeat by Patty Schnyder in the second round of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia.

The world No.20 Schnyder was upset by Sabine Lisicki in the first round of Stuttgart last week, but this week in Rome she managed to keep her record on clay against Serena Williams perfect and improved it to 3-0.

The match between "the best in the world", as Williams called herself on Monday, and Patty Schynder was postponed until 11pm because of rain.

The world number two Williams has now lost her last three matches (Miami final, Marbella first round, and this latest one in Rome) – only the second time this has happened in her career. (photo: Ralf Reinecke)

Unseeded world No.44 Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria has ended Patty Schnyder’s hopes of a second title at the Moorilla Hobart International, defeating the Swiss second seed 6-2 6-4 in the first round.

"To beat the number 14 is a big win, I've only had three or four top 20 wins so this is a big win for me," Pironkova said.

Eighth seed Tamarine Tanasugarn also lost in the first round, being defeated by Czech Iveta Benesova 7-5 7-5. Surviving a scare was seventh seed Alona Bondarenko, who overcame Romania's Monica Niculescu 6-4 2-6 6-2. (source: Reuters, photo: Tennis Channel)

Seventh seed Anna Chakvetadze of Russia was upset in the first round of the Tennis.com Zurich Open by Romanian qualifier Monica Niculescu 3-6 6-3 6-2. Sixth seed Patty Schnyder of Switzerland lost to qualifier Petra Kvitova 6-4 3-6 6-4.

The world No.66 Niculescu won 10 of the final 13 games with her left thigh heavily strapped.

Chakvetadze was the second seeded player to lose at the Tennis.com Zurich Open as eighth seed Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia fell to Maria Kirilenko of Russia on Monday.

Later on Tuesday, Schnyder was upset by the world No.57 Kvitova of the Czech Republic, in three sets like Chakvetadze.

Other today’s results: Italy’s Francesca Schiavone beat Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark 7-6(3) 6-2, and Marion Bartoli of France defeated Hungarian Agnes Szavay 6-4 6-0. (via IHT, photo: chakvetadze-anna.com)

Second seed Patty Schnyder ended a three-year title drought by beating Austrian Tamira Paszek 6-3 6-0 to win the Commonwealth Bank Tennis Classic.

The 29-year-old Schnyder earned her 11th Sony Ericsson WTA Tour singles title with her 500th career victory. The Swiss veteran had lost seven straight WTA finals since lifting her last trophy in Cincinnati three years ago.

The winner gave the 17-year-old Paszek full credit and tipped her as a future star. "She pushed me all the way," said Schnyder. "I had to do my best and move well."

The 94th-ranked Paszek, who reached the Bali final by upsetting top seed Daniela Hantuchova in the semis, as well as third and seventh seeds Flavia Fennetta and Sara Errani in earlier rounds, failed to win her second career title following success in Portoroz in 2006. (source: Bangkok Post, photo via Bali Classic)

Tamira Paszek upset top seed Daniela Hantuchova in the semifinals of the Commonwealth Bank Tennis Classic and second seed Patty Schnyder is awaiting the young Austrian in the title match.

Schnyder downed number four seed Nadia Petrova 7-5 6-1 to reach the Bali final, while Paszek beat Daniela Hantuchova 6-2 5-7 6-4 to advance to her second career final. The Slovakian faced more late disappointment in Bali as she was defeated by American Lindsay Davenport in the final of the Commonwealth Bank Tennis Classic last year.

Schnyder and Paszek are tied at 1-1 in career meetings. The first time they played Paszek won in three sets, it was at the 2007 US Open. Schnyder won their second clash in straight sets; it was this year in Doha.

Schnyder will be playing for her 11th career title, Paszek for her second.

The 2008 Bali champion will collect $35,000. (source: The Sports Network, photos: Getty Images)

Fifth seed Elena Dementieva eased past 15th seed Patty Schnyder 6-2 6-3 to reach her fourth US Open semifinal.

The Russian broke twice to take the first set. In the second set the Swiss broke back to level at 3-3, but Dementieva broke back again and didn’t lose another game until the end of the match. The gold medalist at the Beijing Olympics Dementieva has now won 11 matches in a row.

In the semifinals Dementieva will play either second seed Jelena Jankovic of Serbia or 29th seed Sybille Bammer of Austria. (source: BBC, photo: Getty Images)

Serena Williams defeated Patty Schnyder 7-5 6-3 in the Bangalore Open final on Sunday for her first title of the season.

American world No.11 Williams was inconsistent for the most part but drew from her wealth of experience to edge out Swiss world No.12 Schnyder in 83 minutes and win 29th career WTA Tour singles title.

The Bangalore Open was Serena's second tournament of the season. After reaching the Australian Open quarterfinals, where she lost to Jelena Jankovic, Williams skipped tournaments in February to recover from gum surgery.

On the way to the title, third-seeded Serena beat Tzipora Obziler, Anastasia Rodionova, sister Venus Williams, and finally fourth-seeded Patty Schnyder. Winning the Bangalore Open, the 26-year-old Williams earned $95,500

The next tournament Serena Williams will play is the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami which starts March 24. The American is defending champion there, in last year's final she beat Justine Henin. (photo via Yahoo)

The Williams sisters played each other for the first time after almost three years and the younger one, Serena Williams, won the thrilling Bangalore semifinal 6-3 3-6 7-6 to ensure a meeting with world No.12 Patty Schnyder in the final of the Indian tournament.

Beating sister Venus, world No.11 Serena now has a 8-7 lead in their head-to-head record.

With the buzz surrounding the battle of siblings, the Swiss Schnyder quietly cruised into the final with a 6-3 6-4 victory over 54th-ranked Chinese Yan Zi, who yesterday upset world No.4 and top seed Jelena Jankovic.

Tomorrow's championship match will be tenth career meeting between Serena Williams and Patty Schnyder, and the stats are on the side of the American as she leads 6-3. However, their last two encounters, and the only ones in 2007, Schnyder won.

Both the players are debutants at the Bangalore Open. The one who wins it will earn $95,500. (photos: Getty Images)

Fourth seed Patty Schnyder was upset in the quarterfinals of the Proximus Diamond Games by unseeded Italian Karin Knapp who won 6-2 6-7 7-6.

The match was tight, and the 20-year-old Knapp almost spoiled the great opportunity to reach her first semifinal of the season as Schnyder's experience started to dominate. Still, Knapp managed to defeat the favorite by gathering her power towards the end of the match. The Italian won the third set tiebreak 7-2.

The 13th-ranked Schnyder was playing an Antwerp quarterfinal for the fifth time, winning only one back in 2002.

World No.47 Knapp will next face either ninth seed Na Li of China or Sweden's Sofia Arvidsson who advanced to the quarterfinals by upsetting second-seeded Anna Chakvetadze. (photo via Yahoo)

Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova won the 2007 Generali Ladies Linz with a 6-4 6-2 victory over Swiss Patty Schnyder on Sunday.

Second-seeded Hantuchova was 4-2 down in the first set, but then won five games in a row to win the set and take a lead in the second. Sixth-seeded Schnyder lost her serve again at 2-1 in the second set and then missed two chances to break back. Hantuchova held her serve and finished off the match on her second match point on Schnyder's serve.

With the Linz title Hantuchova collected enough points to take the eighth and last spot in the race to the Sony Ericsson Championships in Madrid. This means that Maria Sharapova hasn’t qualified for the prestigious event this year, since she’ll be ranked ninth in the race to the season-ending WTA Championships.

Being 2007 Linz champion, Hantuchova earned $88,265. (via Yahoo!)