Today at the Gastein Ladies, Austrian world No.148 Sybille Bammer ended her career and her last match was a defeat to compatriot Yvonne Meusburger 6-2 6-1 in the second round. The 31-year-old from Linz had actually ended her career during Wimbledon 2011, after her first-round exit, but made a last-minute decision to play once more.

Bammer played her first WTA main draw in 2000 after five long years on the ITF Circuit and in qualifying rounds. In 2001 she got a baby and it was a positive thing for her career as the daughter helped her shift mind from tennis after matches.

Bammer considers the peaks of her career her two WTA titles (Pattaya and Prague), her 2007 Indian Wells semifinal, her 2008 US Open quarterfinal and her 2-0 head-to-head record against Serena Williams. The highest ranking Bammer reached was No.19 in 2007.

Now that she's retired, Bammer, who was often referred to as a successful mother on the WTA Tour, is looking forward to enjoying time with her family in Austria. Her daughter Tina will soon turn 10.

In the future, Bammer would like to become a coach. (source: WTA Tour, photo: © Neal Trousdale)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

Second seed Svetlana Kuznetsova lost to fifteenth seed Sybille Bammer 6-3 7-6(8) in the third round of the $2.5 million Qatar Total Open.

Kuznetsova, who was runner-up last year in Doha, had her chances to stay in the match. In the second set she had multiple set points, and also managed to save three match points.

The fourth Bammer's match point, which in the end closed out the match, was very tense. In the windy conditions the players struggled — Kuznetsova to stay in the match, Bammer to finally finish it – and three times their long rallies were interrupted by a flying paper. The two of them were very concentrated, and didn’t seem to be distracted by this, but the rallies were so tense and long and the fact it was on the match point was stressful to watch.

In the quarterfinals, Austria’s Sybille Bammer will play Russia’s Vera Zvonareva, who beat eleventh-seeded Dinara Safina. (photo via Getty Images)

New WTA Tour rankings have come out today, and top 10 looks the same. Justine Henin is still the leader with 4457 points, while Maria Sharapova remains second ranked, despite 430 points earned with the victory at the Acura Classic in San Diego on Sunday. Read more »

The first player to enter the semifinals at Amelia Island was sixth-seeded Ana Ivanovic who defeated second seed and compatriot Jelena Jankovic 7-5, 6-3. In the following match, Venus Williams was ousted by France's Tatiana Golovin 6-2, 6-3. The third member of the last four is Austria's Sybille Bammer who crushed Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia 2-6, 6-2, 6-2. The last match of the quarterfinals was played by two Russian players; Nadia Petrova, the defending champion, advanced to the semifinals by beating fifth-seeded Dinara Safina 6-4, 7-5. The semifinal matches are scheduled to start today at 1:00 PM local time.