Maria Sharapova squeezed past Samantha Stosur in a gruelling Porsche Tennis Grand Prix quarterfinal, in a match that was long and steady, mostly going with serve, where nuances decided the advantageous player.

Sharapova and Stosur were both solid in the first set, Stosur a bit more, and despite wasting two break opportunities, one of which was a set point at 5-4, in the tiebreak Stosur completed the task and took the first set.

The second set continued to go with serve until 3-3 and finally in the 19th game of the match Stosur stopped the pattern and broke Sharapova. However, that proved not to be the turning point, as the always-determined Sharapova complicated the matters and the tournament organizer's schedule plans. The fifth-seeded Stosur was serving for the match at 5-4, but Sharapova broke to level 5-5 and then we had another tiebreak in which the second-seeded Russian came out as a winner, considerably prolonging the match. Read more »

Two Williams sisters was too big a chunk for Sam Stosur to swallow. The Australian seed No.2 was solid and precise yesterday against Venus in the quarterfinals of Charleston, but the younger Williams was merciless, cutting today's semifinal short by a routine 6-1 6-1 victory in 59 minutes.

Maybe Stosur was exhausted from the two three-setters she played on Friday, but whatever the reason may be, the 2008 Charleston champion Serena held her serve throughout the match, hit 7 aces to Stosur's 3, 29 winners to Stosur's 7, while committing only 6 unforced errors more, 15 to 9.

Serena's opponent in the final will be the winner of the match between Polona Hercog and Lucie Safarova, which is currently in progress. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)

In all the four previous meetings of Venus Williams and Samantha Stosur, Williams was the winner in straight sets, while Stosur's maximum was to win four games in a set, which happened only on one occasion. Today in the quarterfinals of the Family Circle Cup, Stosur quickly equaled those four games in a set, and then straightforwardly won the opening set, before working her way to a 6-3 4-6 6-3 victory in two hours and 41 mintutes. Stosur's triumph means that there will be no all-Williams showdown in the semis.

The victory is even bigger for Stosur as she played another match today before the quarterfinal, another three-setter, against Galina Voskoboeva, which was continued from 4-2 15-0 in the first set. Stosur won 6-3 4-6 6-2 in two hours and two minutes.

Stosur pretty comfortably won the first set against Williams, by breaking the American in the sixth game, for 4-2, and not having any break points against herself in the entire set. Read more »

Three former world No.1s and at the same time three former champions at the BNP Paribas Open – Maria Sharapova, Caroline Wozniacki and Ana Ivanovic – won their third round matches at the tournament, while the highest seed to fall on the day was No.6 Samantha Stosur.

The second-seeded Sharapova defeated Simona Halep 6-3 6-4, but only after the Romanian took four games in a row from 3-6 0-5 and saved four match points.

Ivanovic, seeded 15th, had a 5-3 lead in the first set against Ksenia Pervak and later had a set point in the tiebreak, but still she lost the set. However, the 2008 Indian Wells champion did manage to grind out a 6-7(8) 6-3 6-2 win in close to three hours.

Defending champion Caroline Wozniacki, fourth seed this year, did not have an initial lead, on the contrary, the score was against her 3-6 4-5 when she won six straight games to get back and manage to beat Sofia Arvidsson 3-6 7-5 6-2. Wozniacki will now meet Ivanovic in the fourth round, and Ivanovic will be able to avenge her recent Dubai loss to the Dane.

Sixth seed Samantha Stosur fell at the hands of Nadia Petrova, whom she had defeated at the 2011 US Open in the longest women's match ever at the tournament, but this time it was the Russian's day, and after two hours and 47 minutes Petrova came out on top, 6-1 6-7(6) 7-6(5). The dominant first set Petrova finished with three straight aces. (sources: WTA Tour, Women Who Serve, photo: Johan Rivera, follow him on Twitter @HobbiesPlus)

In the first quarterfinal of the day at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, Jelena Jankovic was stable throughout her encounter with Samantha Stosur, and showed the reigning US Open champion the way out of the tournament with a 6-4 6-2 win. Last year Jankovic was also fatal for seed No.4 Stosur in Dubai quarters, before losing to Caroline Wozniacki in the semis.

In the first set the eighth-seeded Jankovic was in absolute control, and after an exchange of breaks in the second, from 2-2, Jankovic won four straight games. Jankovic primarily praises her return as a crucial factor in taming Stosur's serve.

Fifth seed Agnieszka Radwanska will be Jankovic's next opponent. The Pole defeated ninth seed Sabine Lisicki 6-2 6-1 in the quarterfinals. (photo: Johan Rivera, follow him on Twitter @HobbiesPlus)