Caroline Wozniacki raced to the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships title without losing a set, including the final against Svetlana Kuznetsova, while playing the tournament only for the second time (last year she lost in the third round to Shahar Peer). Championship match score: 6-1 6-3.

The unfortunate Kuznetsova is still awaiting her first Dubai title, even though today's final was her third at the tournament – in 2004 she fell to Justine Henin and in 2008 to Elena Demetieva. The final appearance will still bring a nice improvement in world No.23 Kuznetsova's ranking – at least ten spots.

Not only did Wozniacki win the high-profile tournament of Dubai, but she also ensured her comeback to top ranking position, with a quarterfinal win over Shahar Peer. By further progressing in the event, and eventually winning the title, Wozniacki is projected to occupy the No.1 spot for at least next four weeks.

The title is Wozniacki's 13th and her first in 2011. As for financial gain, Wozniacki earned $360,000, while Kuznetsova earned $180,000. (photo via Dubai tournament)

Top seed Caroline Wozniacki defeated qualifier Ayumi Morita 6-1 6-0 to reach the quarterfinals of the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships, and ninth-seeded Israeli Shahar Peer, who says to be feeling like home in Dubai despite all the security measures, is the last obstacle standing between the Dane and her regaining of the No.1 ranking. Shahar was a semifinalist last year in Dubai, and her route to the final four included a straight set victory over Wozniacki in the third round.

Second-seeded Vera Zvonareva played one of her worst matches in a while, as she later stated, and lost to fellow Russian Alisa Kleybanova 6-3 6-2.

The third round also featured a rematch of the epic Australian Open third round encounter between Francesca Schiavone and Svetlana Kuznetsova. In Australia, Schiavone saved six match points and won the longest women's Grand Slam match in history, while today in Dubai she also saved six match points, but finally succumbed, 1-6 6-0 7-5.

"It's good, because I still have our last match in my heart. I still have this pain, because I fought so hard and I had so many chances and it was a Grand Slam. But it happens, I guess. I won this time," said Kuznetsova, who lost the first set. (via WTA Tour, photo: Ralf Reinecke)

On the left you can see the results of this weekend’s Fed Cup action in World Group.

The first thing I’d like to point out is that Russia recovered their Saturday’s two hurtful losses on home soil in Moscow (Svetlana Kuznetsova’s to Alize Cornet, and Maria Sharapova’s to Virginie Razzano) and defeated France 3-2 to reach the semifinals. At least on paper, the improvement happened when Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova replaced Maria Sharapova! Pavlyuchenkova defeated Cornet, Kuznetsova defeated Razzano, and the two of them together clinched victory for Russia by winning the deciding doubles over Julie Coin and Pauline Parmentier.

Russia will play holders Italy in April’s semifinals. Italy eased past Australia 4-1, and that result includes the repeat of the 2010 French Open final in which Francesca Schiavone beat Samantha Stosur.

The other semifinal will feature Belgium and the Czech Republic. Belgium won 4-1 against the United States, last year's runners-up. Kim Clijsters and Yanina Wickmayer both won their two singles matches. As for the Czech Republic, they earned an unassailable 3-0 lead with Petra Kvitova’s victory over Daniela Hantuchova in the first singles match on Sunday. Later, Czech Lucie Safarova retired from the match against Slovak Jana Cepelova in the third set, and the Slovaks won the doubles, so the final score is 3-2.

Additional info: You must be expecting me to update you on the Serbia vs. Canada World Group II tie. Well, Serbia won 3-2 after a deciding tight doubles match! By winning all the matches she played, Bojana Jovanovski just confirmed her status of a solid player rushing to the very top, but there is more great news – Serbia has a new tennis prospect lurking, Aleksandra Krunic took our hearts and showed that she is also the one to watch! The 17-year-old Krunic closely lost her singles match against Rebecca Marino on Saturday, but then didn't let the disappointment repeat and earned the victory for Serbia in the decisive doubles, teamed up with Bojana Jovanovski. (photo via Fed Cup)

As our reader Brenda from Argentina asked for my overview of the 2011 Australian Open tennis fashion, here it is – a little bit of every brand, a little bit of good and bad.

Let's not save the best for the last. Let's start with by far the biggest fashion attention-grabber of the tournament – Venus Williams. The American played three matches (actually two, but she started her third one) and showcased the same number of outfits. The following one is the unofficial ugliest tennis outfit of the decade.

Venus, a graduate in fashion design and the person behind clothing line EleVen, made the outfits herself.

Believe it or not, Venus' dresses, or whatever they can be called, have gained a fan base. Whoever likes Venus' latest EleVen dresses, please leave a comment! I'm sure the world would love to hear your reasoning.

I'd like to continue with Nadia Petrova, the representative of Ellesse. Petrova has also had some colorful and imaginative styles (remember her US Open 2010 outfit that had stripes of all the possible colors?). There might be sound logic behind Petrova's support of EleVen.

Another fashion favorite is always Aravane Rezai. Even though this time her family drama attracted more attention than her dress, the Frenchwoman stayed faithful to the touch of crazy uniqueness. Although, she definitely can do better!

Let's move on to adidas – plenty of it. Read more »

After a three-hour third set and six match points saved, Francesca Schiavone defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova and advanced to the quarterfinals of the 2011 Australian Open. It is now the longest women’s Grand Slam match in history. It lasted 4 hours and 44 minutes, and included a stunning 30-game third set. Final score: 6-4 1-6 16-14. During the course of the match, 358 points were played!

The match was 25 minutes longer than the previous longest women’s Grand Slam match – the 4 hours and 19 minutes encounter between Barbora Zahlavova-Strycova and Regina Kulikova at last year’s Australian Open. Read more »