The last match of today’s play at the $700,000 Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart was an upset of defending champion Svetlana Kuznetsova. The third-seeded Russian lost to China's Li Na 6-3 7-5 in the second round.

The only other second-round match that took place on Wednesday happened to be an upset as well, with unseeded Shahar Peer of Israel defeating fifth seed Agnieszka Radwanska 6-3 6-7(4) 6-2. Peer had a match point in the second set, but wrapped up victory in the third to upset the Pole who had added to the slump of Ana Ivanovic in the first round.

No.4 seed Jelena Jankovic, No.6 seed Victoria Azarenka, No.7 seed Samantha Stosur, No.8 seed Yanina Wickmayer and unseeded wildcard Justine Henin were all victorious in their first-round matches.

Kuznetsova’s opponent in the last year’s Stuttgart final, Dinara Safina, is in action on Thursday and will play her first match since the Australian Open. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)

The biggest Israeli tennis star Shahar Peer led the annual March of the Living in Poland on Monday to pay tribute to the victims of the Auschwitz concentration camp and to tell the world that "Denying History Will Lead to its Repetition."

Peer was accompanied by her grandmother, a survivor of Auschwitz, high officials and 10,000 students from around the world. Israeli Ambassador Zvi Rav-Ner held speech in Hebrew, English and Polish, standing by the biggest reminder of the dreadful events that happened in Auschwitz, the infamous gate with the sign reading "Arbeit Macht Frei," or "Work makes you free" .

Besides being a top-ranked Israeli tennis player, Peer is also famous for crossing boundaries by playing at this year’s tournament in Dubai, under tight security restrictions, thus becoming the first Israeli woman ever to compete in the United Arab Emirates, while last year she was denied visa for that country. To remind you, not only did Peer take part in the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships, but she reached the semifinals of the $2-million tournament. (source: The Jerusalim Post, photos via Tennis Forum)

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)

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)

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.)