Svetlana Kuznetsova may have survived four match points against Andrea Petkovic in the second round of the French Open, but the defending champion was not as lucky in the next round and fell on the third match point by fellow Russian Maria Kirilenko.

The sixth-seeded Kuznetsova had a point for a 3-0 lead in the third set, but seed No.30 Kirilenko won four games in a row. Kuznetsova then had a chance to level at 5-5, but that was not to happen as Kirilenko held her nerve and recorded one of the best wins of her career to finish the match 6-3 2-6 6-4 and reach the fourth round of the French Open for the first time.

"I mean, it was very hard to defend my title with the tennis I have been playing this season," said Kuznetsova, who also lost to Kirilenko in the second round of Rome earlier this month.

Kirilenko’s opponent in the fourth round will be Italy's Francesca Schiavone, seeded 17th. (source: Reuters, photo: Ralf Reinecke)

Germany’s No.1 player Andrea Petkovic had four match points against defending champion Svetlana Kuznetsova, but the Russian scraped through the rain-affected match to reach the third round of the French Open. Kuznetsova had actually lost to Petkovic one, their last meeting in Tokyo in 2009.

The world No.41 Petkovic had triple match point at 6-4 5-4 and another one in the same game. The sixth-seeded Kuznetsova saved them all and won the second set 7-5. The Russian then stormed into a 5-2 lead in the third set, but the decider didn't end so quickly, as Petkovic saved three match points before Kuznetsova eventually won 4-6 7-5 6-4.

Next for Kuznetsova is fellow Russian Maria Kirilenko, seeded 30th, who beat Yvonne Meusburger 6-3 6-3 in the second round. (photos: Stephane Martinache)

Grand Slams are the places where tennis players want to look their best and sponsors want to use the opportunity of huge publicity to market their products. Let's have a look at what women's tennis stars are sporting during one such event, Roland Garros 2010 in Paris.

Venus Williams raised many eyebrows by her lingerie-like black dress. But the dress raises all the eyebrows when in action!

Sorana Cirstea lost on Day one to Svetlana Kuznetsova, but her adidas dress can win all the awards, if you asked me. Just like Ana Ivanovic's.

Bethanie Mattek-Sands is wearing her cool tube socks and looks sporty. Well, Venus took Bethanie's role of ball boy distractor. Caroline Wozniacki, nice dress but nothing new, really nothing. Read more »

Things were not looking good for holder Svetlana Kuznetsova at the beginning of her first-round match at the 2010 French Open against Romanian world No.34 Sorana Cirstea, when the sixth-seeded Russian lost the first three games. However, from 3-0 for Cirstea in the first set, Kuznetsova won 12 of the next 13 games and won the match 6-3 6-1.

The victory over Cirstea in Paris is only Kuznetsova’s second win in five matches this clay season – the world No.6 won her opening match in Stuttgart, but lost both her Rome and Madrid openers.

Kuznetsova’s opponent in the second round of the 2010 French Open will be world No.41 Andrea Petkovic, who defeated Elena Vesnina in the first round. Kuznetsova defeated Petkovic on Stuttgart clay last season, en route to the title, but Petkovic won their last meeting in Tokyo last fall. (photo: Stephane Martinache)

Maria Kirilenko defeated fellow Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-2 3-6 6-4 in the second round of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome.

After failing to defend her title at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix last week, and losing in the second round already, Kuznetsova continued with another early exit, in the same round of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia, the tournament at which she played the final last year. On top of that, the Internazionali BNL d’Italia is a key warm-up event for the French Open, which Kuznetsova won last season.

The fifth-seeded Kuznetsova lost her serve in the first game of today's match against unseeded Kirilenko and surrendered the first set because of many unforced errors. Kuznetsova won the second set and in the decider fought back from 4-1 down to level, but then dropped serve and let the match slip in the last game.

The world No.5 Kuznetsova hasn’t played one quarterfinal whole season. (photo: Stephane Martinache)

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 2007 Wimbledon finalist Marion Bartoli defeated top-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-3 6-0  in the fourth round of the Sony Ericsson Open and scored her first victory over the two-time Grand Slam champion.

The 13th-seeded Bartoli broke Kuznetsova twice in the first set and converted all three of her break chances in the second set in which her opponent won just eight points. However, we have to mention that Kuznetsova’s performance was affected by a shoulder problem, and the Russian had three medical treatments during the match.

The world No.4 Kuznetsova, who is yet to win a title this season, won this tournament four years ago and reached the semifinals the last two years. Bartoli advanced to the quarterfinals in Miami only for the second time, while in her five other attempts she had won one match.

Bartoli’s record against Top 5 players has got even better today, as the French world No.15 earned her seventh win in her last 11 matches against the members of the elite. (photo: chascow)

Top seed Svetlana Kuznetsova was upset by Carla Suarez Navarro 6-4 4-6 6-1, who earned her second Top 10 win, having famously beaten then-No.6 Venus Williams at last year's Australian Open. Kuznetsova came back from a set and a break down to force the third set, but lost it very quickly and became the first No.1 seed in eight years to lose her first match at Indian Wells, since 2002 when Kim Clijsters fell to now-retired Nathalie Dechy.

Ana Ivanovic, seeded 24th this year, was defeated 6-2 6-4 by world No.63 Anastasija Sevastova in the second round, and Ivanovic won't be even a Top 50 player any more. The Serb hired a new coach, the former one of tennis legend Steffi Graf, but the light at the end of the tunnel is still nowhere to be seen.

Two-time Indian Wells champion Kim Clijsters defeated Barbora Zahlavova Strycova 6-2 6-1, while seed No.21 Daniela Hantuchova, another former champion in this year’s draw, suffered a 6-3 7-5 upset by Roberta Vinci. (photo: Tidalist)

The long-awaited Billie Jean King Cup in the BNP Paribas Showdown took place on Monday night in New York and the winner is seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams.

Firstly, the one-set, no-ad semifinals were played at the Madison Square Garden. Kim Cijsters defeated Serena Williams’ replacement Ana Ivanovic 7-6 (7-2), while Venus Williams took care of Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-4. I would like to point out a non-promising statement of Ana Ivanovic, who has a new coach: "It was a tough match. I was actually very nervous, but it makes it an important match. I just wanted to do so well." I can't believe we are listening to the same old story.

The final between Venus Williams and Kim Clijsters followed. Williams, who lost in the finals to her sister Serena last year, defeated Clijsters 6-4 3-6 7-5 in front of the crowd of 11,702 and earned $400,000 of the astonishing $1.2 million prize money. Good on you, Venus, for earning $787,000 in prize money in the past two weeks and one day ($350,000 for Dubai victory, $37,000 for winning Acapulco, and now these latest $400,000).

Billie Jean King herself did not attend the event because she is recovering from a recent double-knee replacement. (source: ESPN)

The first day of the Fed Cup meeting between Russia and Serbia ended with both teams winning one match. Somewhat surprisingly, especially after the talks about her injury, Jelena Jankovic upset Svetlana Kuznetsova on Day 2, which gave Serbia a 2-1 lead on home soil. Congratulations to Jankovic for winning both her singles matches!

So, Jankovic defeated Kuznetsova 6-3 4-6 6-3, but her countrywoman Ana Ivanovic couldn’t finish off the tie and lost to Alisa Kleybanova 6-2 6-3 in the following match. Ivanovic’s free fall ended a long time ago, but the sad thing is that she is still lying wounded on the ground.

With the result tied at 2-2, the decisive doubles match was played, and as Jankovic and Ivanovic are not used to playing doubles, they were knocked out by Kuznetsova and Kleybanova 6-1 6-4.

Four-time Fed Cup champions Russia thus entered the Fed Cup semifinals which will be played on 24-25 April. Their opponent will be the US, who won 4-1 in France, without the Williams sisters. (photo via Blic)