Venus Williams reached the final of the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships by defeating surprise semifinalist Shahar Peer in the modest surroundings of Court Two, the court of choice because of safety reasons.

Third-seeded Williams defeated Peer 6-1 6-4 amid tight security that surrounded the Israeli all week. Even though Peer’s appearance in Dubai had to be accompanied by her being kept separate from other players, she enjoyed one of the most successful tournaments of her career.

"It was a different experience but a nice one," said world No.22 Peer who upset three seeds on her way to the semis. "I'm sure I will remember this tournament for the rest of my life."

Reigning champion Venus Williams will play fourth seed Victoria Azarenka in the final, as the Belorussian defeated seed No.7 Agnieszka Radwanska 6-3 6-4 in the final four. Williams and Azarenka have met only once so far – two years ago at the Beijing Olympics and the American won that match. (photo by our reader Bobby)

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Israel’s Shahar Peer has continued to advance at the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships, thus seriously testing the tournaments safety measures. The player that wasn’t even allowed to compete in Dubai last year has now reached the semifinals and will play none other than defending champion and top seed Venus Williams, who raised her voice the most about Peer’s visa denial in 2009.

The first Israeli woman ever to compete in the United Arab Emirates led seed No.8 Li Na 7-5 3-0 when the Chinese player retired with a back injury in the quarterfinals. So far at the tournament the 22-year-old Peer has played only on limited-access outside courts at the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships and that will remain the case for her semifinal. It could be interesting for you to check out insider blog of Shahar Peer’s coach Pablo Giacopelli highlighting his trainee’s run at the $2-million Dubai event.

The seven-time Grand Slam champion Williams reached the semifinals by a solid 6-3 6-4 win over Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who had defeated the American in their last two matches in the end of the last season, at Tokyo and Beijing.

The other semifinal will feature Victoria Azarenka and Agnieszka Radwanska. Fourth seed Azarenka routed No.12 seed Vera Zvonareva 6-1 6-3 to reach the final four. Seventh seed Radwanska ended the run of qualifier Regina Kulikova after battling for two hours and 17 minutes to win 3-6 6-4 6-3. (photo: Assaf Yekuel)

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Unseeded Shahar Peer of Israel, who wasn’t even allowed to play at last year’s Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships due to visa denial, upset top seed Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark in the third round of the tournament.

The world No.22 Peer beat seed No.13 Yanina Wickmayer in the first round, then last year's finalist Virginie Razzano in the second round, and has today defeated Wozniacki 6-2 7-5. Wozniacki, top-seeded at an event of this size for the first time in her career, faced break points in all of her 10 service games and was broken eight times. In the end she showed a lot of resistance, but Peer finally closed it out on her fourth match point.

Second seed Svetlana Kuznetsova also lost today. Her conqueror was world No.99 and fellow Russian Regina Kulikova, who had never before defeated a Top 30 player. After three hours and 16 minutes qualifier Kulikova, known as a marathon woman because one of her matches is the second longest women’s singles match in the Open Era, upset Kuznetsova 5-7 7-6(2) 6-4.

Third seed and reigning champion Venus Williams is the highest seed left in the $2,000,000 tournament. The American saw off Belorussian Olga Govortsova 7-5 6-0 in the third round.

Besides Wozniacki and Kuznetsova, three seeds fell in the third round on Wednesday: seed No.11 Marion Bartoli, No.6 Jelena Jankovic, and No.10 Flavia Pennetta. However, the three of them lost to other seeded players: No.8 Li Na, No.12 Vera Zvonareva and No.7 Agnieszka Radwanska. (photo: angela n.)

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More than three years went by without Shahar Peer winning a title, but the Israeli is back in the winner’s circle with back-to-back titles at last week’s Guangzhou International Women’s Open and this week's Tashkent Open.

Peer, seeded second at the International-level tournament in Tashkent, defeated Akgul Amanmuradova of Uzbekistan 6-3 6-4 in the final.

The world No.113 Amanmuradova was playing her second career singles Tour final, having been a runner-up to Michaella Krajicek in Tashkent four years ago.

Peer, ranked 46th in the world, has earned her fifth career title, and impressively, she didn't drop a set en route to the two successive titles. (source: Sony Ericsson WTA Tour)

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Shahar Peer of Israel defeated Alberta Brianti of Italy 6-3 6-4 to win the Guangzhou International Women's Open, her first Sony Ericsson WTA Tour title in more than three years and the fourth one in her career.

Both the 57th-ranked Peer and 85th-ranked Brianti reached the Guangzhou Open final without losing a set. However, Brianti had never been beyond the semifinals on Tour, while Shahar had more experience, with Prague, Istanbul and Pattaya City titles to her name. (source: Sony Ericsson WTA Tour)

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