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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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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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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Here’s what, Larry Scott, Chairman & CEO of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, stated:

The actions taken today are intended to redress the wrongs suffered by Shahar Peer, who was victimized by an unjust policy of discrimination by the UAE. These actions are also intended to send a clear message that our Tour will not tolerate discrimination of any kind and that we will never allow this situation to happen again, in UAE or elsewhere. Thanks to the courage of Shahar, and all those individuals and organizations – including her fellow players – that supported her, the UAE has changed their policy and another barrier of discrimination has fallen.

Sony Ericsson WTA Tour actions in reference to Shahar Peer, Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Dubai Tournament:

• Shahar Peer Ranking Points: The awarding of 130 ranking points to Shahar Peer – an amount equal to the points that she earned during the same week in 2008 that she was unable to defend this past week in Dubai.

• Shahar Peer Prize Money: The awarding of US$44,250 to Shahar Peer – an amount equal to the average prize money that she earned per tournament (singles and doubles) in 2008.

• Anna-Lena Groenefeld Prize Money: The awarding of US$7,950 to Anna-Lena Groenefeld, who was to be Shahar Peer's doubles partner in Dubai. This amount is equal to the average prize money that she earned per tournament in doubles in 2008.

• Dubai Tennis Championships Financial Penalty: The fining of the Dubai tournament US$300,000 for breach of Tour Rules, By-Laws and conditions of membership related to the denial of entry to Shahar Peer. This fine amount represents the highest fine ever levied against a Tour member.

• Dubai Tennis Championships Financial Performance Guarantee: The posting by the Dubai tournament of a US$2 million financial performance guarantee by July 1, 2009 that the conditions described below will be satisfied.

• Dubai Tennis Championships Conditions for Continued Membership (to be included on the Tour's 2010 calendar):

1) confirmation of the written assurances already received that all players who qualify for the tournament shall, regardless of nationality, or any other reason, be allowed to play in the Dubai event and shall be issued entry visas or permits,

2) proof of approved UAE entry permit to enter the UAE for any Israeli player a minimum of eight weeks prior to the start of the 2010 Dubai tournament, and

3) guarantee that Peer shall be offered a wildcard to play the Dubai tournament in 2010 in the event that she does not qualify by ranking. (photo by Stephane Martinache)

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UAE have not explained the reason for not giving Peer a visa, but the country does not have diplomatic relations with Israel.

WTA chief executive Larry Scott said the women's tour was "deeply disappointed" by the decision.

"Ms Peer has earned the right to play in the tournament and it's regrettable that the UAE is denying her this right," he said.

"Ms Peer and her family are obviously extremely upset and disappointed by the decision of the UAE and its impact on her personally and professionally."

Peer was supposed to play 15th seed Anna Chakvetadze in the first round of the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships. (source: BBC, photo: AnalogKid203)

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"If I am not mistaken, this is the first year in my life from the perspective of tennis (and ranking) that I did not advance and I even went backwards, even though I do not have a doubt that it will only motivate me," said the 21-year-old Peer in her blog.

She spent one month training in South Africa, and is now back in her home country where she is participating in the Israel Championship.

"I don't feel that number 38 in the world is my true position. I won't remain there for long. I feel that I'm playing much better than that," said the Israeli world No.1.

"I don't think I want to erase and forget all about 2008. You can't always be on top and win every match. I think there's much to learn from this year. I matured in 2008 and learned a lot about myself. I learned how to deal with difficulties and how to recover from them."

Peer had been in Top 20 every week between first cracking it on November 13, 2006 until after this year’s Roland Garros. (source: The Jerusalem Post, photo: AnalogKid203)

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Three seeds fell on the first day of the 2008 US Open: Russians Anna Chakvetadze and Maria Kirilenko, and Shahar Peer of Israel.

Chakvetadze, seeded tenth, suffered her earliest Grand Slam defeat in more than three years falling 1-6 6-2 6-3 to compatriot Ekaterina Makarova, ranked 56th in the world. Chakvetadze took the opening set in 25 minutes and looked to be on a good way to victory, but in the end she became a first-round loser.

No.22 seed Kirilenko lost to Tamira Paszek of Austria 6-3 3-6 6-4 and this year’s result is her worst at the US Open, before she reached second or third round.

Peer, seed No.24, got eliminated by China’s Li Na 2-6 6-0 6-1 despite superb play in the opening set. "In the first set I felt like I was playing against a wall," said Li after her great turnaround. (photos: Getty Images)

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Shahar Peer comes from Israel, a country where military service is obligatory for both men and women. Being a celebrity, Shahar could have avoided the service, but she didn’t. Of course, as a tennis star, she had certain privileges and her military service was often just symbolic, but still, it’s nice that she wanted to do her part.

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