World No.9 Jelena Jankovic of Serbia stormed into her 23rd career Sony Ericsson WTA Tour final, and the first one since last October, with a 6-2 6-4 victory over Samantha Stosur at Indian Wells.

The sixth-seeded Jankovic was two points away from defeat in the third round against unseeded Sara Errani, but hasn’t really been troubled since, cruising past Shahar Peer, Alisa Kleybanova, and now Samantha Stosur to reach the final. In the semifinal against the eighth-seeded Stosur, Jankovic broke the Australian twice in each set and benefited from her opponent’s 36 unforced errors and four double faults.

Despite the loss, the world No.11 Stosur has nothing to be sad about – she can be proud of playing the semifinals of a Premier-level tournament and will move into the Top 10 for the first time when the new rankings are released on Monday.

Jankovic’s opponent in the final will be either Caroline Wozniacki or Agnieszka Radwanska. None of the two has ever defeated Jankovic. (photo: Upali Wickramasinghe)

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Tennis players took part in what proved to be a very successful tennis charity event called "Hit for Haiti", which raised over $185,000 for the victims of the recent earthquake.

Women's tennis players Serena Williams, Kim Clijsters and Samantha Stosur joined men's tennis stars Roger Federer, Lleyton Hewitt, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Andy Roddick.

The exhibition was organized on Roger Fereder's initiative, in less than one day, and still, the 15,000-seat Rod Laver Arena was packed.

Some players didn’t play in the exhibition, but donated the money. For example, Maria Sharapova contributed with $10,000. (source: The Canadian Press, photo via Great Tennis Photos)

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Poor Samantha Stosur, she had to go to Bali instead of Hawaii.

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World No.15 Samantha Stosur has been a strong competitor on the Tour – 22 doubles titles, a bunch of Top 10 wins, career high of No.1 in doubles and No.13 in singles – still, up to this day, there were no singles titles in her résumé.

At the HP Open in Osaka Stosur finally won a singles final, on her sixth attempt, defeating Francesca Schiavone 7-5 6-1. The third-seeded Stosur grabbed the first break of the match in the last game of the first set and confidently cruised through the second set. Schiavone, who was seeded fourth in Osaka, has now fallen to 1-10 in career finals.

Stosur didn’t lose a set en route to the semifinals, where she upset top seed and defending champion Caroline Wozniacki 6-0 4-6 6-4. (via Sony Ericsson WTA Tour)

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Third seed Samantha Stosur edged defending champion and top seed Caroline Wozniacki 6-0 4-6 6-4 to advance to the HP Open final where she will face fourth seed Francesca Schiavone, who beat Sania Mirza 6-2 6-1 in the semifinals in just 59 minutes.

The world No.15 Stosur has earned her sixth shot to win her first WTA Tour singles title, and it’s not that Schiavone’s record is any better – the Italian is 1-9 in WTA Tour singles finals (her lone title came in the Gastein Ladies in 2007). However, both Stosur and Schiavone have plenty of doubles titles - Stosur has 22, Schiavone has 7.

Stosur won the last three matches played against Schiavone, all in straight sets, and two of those three came this year. (photos via Sony Ericsson WTA Tour)

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As we’re slowly approaching the end of the 2009 season (for some players it’s already over), the first Grand Slam of the year is warming up for January’s action, by painting everything blue.

The 2010 Australian Open has released its TV commercial and the women's tennis stars featured are defending champion Serena Williams and home favorite Samantha Stosur.

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Stosur committed eight double faults and was broken four times, including three in the second set. In addition, the 25-year-old Stosur made 32 unforced errors, compared to Pennetta's 16.

Last year's LA finalist Pennetta pulled off two Top 10 upsets to reach the final. She defeated Nadia Petrova and Vera Zvonareva in back-to-back matches, before overcoming former world No.1 Maria Sharapova in the semifinals.

Pennetta is now on an 11-match winning streak, winning back-to-back titles in Palermo and Los Angeles. Doubles specialist Stosur, who has 22 doubles titles to her name, fell to 0-5 in singles finals after this latest defeat.

Winning the LA Women's Tennis Championships title Pennetta earned $107,000. Interestinlgy, although it's Pennetta's eighth singles title, it's only her second one from a non-claycourt tournament. (photo: Ralf Reinecke)

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Australian Samantha Stosur decisively defeated unseeded Romanian Sorana Cirstea 6-3 6-2 and advanced to her first final this season. The 19-year-old Cirstea, ranked 28th in the world, had upset Caroline Wozniacki and Agnieszka Radwanska en route to the semifinals.

No.13 seed Stosur has played four singles finals on the WTA Tour, and has won 22 doubles titles, but singles titles are still lacking in her résumé and she will be looking for her first one this weekend at the LA Women's Tennis Championships presented by Herbalife.

Tenth-seed Flavia Pennetta of Italy edged an unseeded Russian Maria Sharapova 6-2 4-6 6-3. Sharapova, still trying to find the form she lost due to the long shoulder-injury layoff, hit 61 unforced errors, which included 16 double faults.

The 61st-ranked Russian said she had made good accomplishments, but there was a lot of room for progress as well, which takes time.

Stosur was a semifinalist last week in Stanford, while Pennetta, last year’s runner-up in Los Angeles, is on a 10-match winning streak, having come to LA after winning the trophy in Palermo.

Stosur and Pennetta will play each other for the first time. (photos via Ralf Reinecke and chascow)

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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)

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The victory over the 2008 quarterfinalist and 2004 finalist gave Stosur her best ever result at Roland Garros. She reached the third round only once, in 2007, and now she’s in the fourth round for the first time.

Dementieva, the Olympic gold medalist, "didn't deserve to win" her second-round match, as she stated. She was down a set against Jelena Dokic, but the Australian retired in tears with an agonizing back injury, which I learned is believed not to be serious.

Stosur will play France’s Virginie Razzano in the fourth round. Razzano advanced with a 7-5 7-5 victory over Tathiana Garbin. (photo: Stephane Martinache)

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