Second seed Serena Williams has again beaten herself, as she likes to say, following her older sister Venus out of the Western and Southern Financial Group Women’s Open in Cincinnati by falling to unseeded Sybille Bammer 7-5 6-4 in the third round.

Serena Williams is not giving Bammer the pleasure of enjoying one of the best wins of her career, stating: "Anyone could have beaten me today."

The second-ranked American made loads of unforced errors and partly blamed her sore throat for the defeat.

World No.29 Sybille Bammer will next play fifth seed Jelena Jankovic, who edged ninth seed Victoria Azarenka 7-5 7-6(4) to advance to the quarterfinals. (photo by our reader Colleen)

Share This

Sybille Bammer won her second career WTA Tour singles title, and first since 2007, by beating Francesca Schiavone 7-6(4) 6-2 in the final of the ECM Prague Open.

The second-seeded Bammer was close to defeat twice at the tournament, once in the first round when she was 6-2 5-2 down against Tsvetana Pironkova, and the second time when she edged No.7 seed Lucie Hradecka 7-5 5-7 7-5 in the quarterfinals. In other matches Bammer didn’t drop a set, including the Sunday’s final against top seed Schiavone.

The victory in Prague is a great improvement for Bammer, who had only once since last year’s US Open won back-to-back matches.

The Bondarenko sisters took the doubles title, their third, beating top seeds Iveta Benesova and Barbora Zahlavova Strycova 6-1 6-2. (source: Sony Ericsson WTA Tour)

Share This

Second seed Jelena Jankovic advanced into the US Open semifinals in straight sets, with a 6-1 6-4 victory over 29th seed Sybille Bammer.

"I'm happy about winning in two sets," said the 23-year-old Jankovic, who struggled earlier in the tournament. "I feel that every day I'm better and better. I'm moving a lot better. I'm feeling my shots a lot better."

Jankovic made only 14 unforced errors, compared with 40 from Bammer.

The Serb will try to reach her first Grand Slam final in her fifth attempt. Her second US Open semifinal Jankovic will play against fifth seed Elena Dementieva who advanced with a win over Patty Schnyder. (source: Reuters, photo: Getty Images)

Share This

Swiss 15th seed Patty Schnyder and Russian fifth seed Elena Dementieva joined Jelena Jankovic and Sybille Bammer in the quarterfinals of the US Open.

Schnyder advanced with a 4-6 6-3 6-3 win over Slovenian Katarina Srebotnik, while Olympic champion Dementieva defeated China’s Li Na 6-4 6-1.

In the beginning of the match Srebotnik displayed form which enabled her to upset Svetlana Kuznetsova in the third round, but Schnyder was not lagging behind with her game – her groundstrokes were consistent and she seized her chances. As for Dementieva, who is wearing Yonex denim by the way, she showed off her improved serve which the 36th-ranked Li broke only once.

Schnyder and Dementieva will meet each other in the quarters. Dementive leads their head-to-head record 9-7, while she also won there last three meetings. (source: Reuters, photos: Getty Images)

Share This

Austrian Sybille Bammer became the second player to move into the quarterfinals of the 2008 US Open with a 7-6 0-6 6-4 victory over No.12 seed Marion Bartoli of France.

Seed No.29 Bammer reached her first Grand Slam quarterfinal winning the match that lasted three hours three minutes which equaled the longest women's match at the US Open on record.

The 28-year-old Bammer will face second seed Jelena Jankovic for a place in the semis. (photo: Getty Images)

Share This