Seed No.19 Nadia Petrova survived three match points against home favorite Aravane Rezai in the third round, but her next match against second seed Venus Williams saw less drama as the Russian won 6-4 6-3 to advance to the French Open quartefinals. It’s Petrova’s first win over Venus in their five meetings (this fifth match was their first on clay).

In the quarterfinals, the 2003 and 2005 French Open semifinalist Petrova will play fifth seed Elena Dementieva, with whom she is tied at 7-7 in career meetings.

Third-seeded Caroline Wozniacki earned her quarterfinal berth the tough way as she played the longest match of the 2010 French Open so far to beat seed No.14 Flavia Pennetta 7-6(4) 6-7(5) 6-2. Wozniacki’s next opponent will be Francesca Schiavone, seeded 17th. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)

It took top seed and world No.1 Serena Williams just 55 minutes to win her second round match against Julia Goerges 6-1 6-1 at the 2010 French Open. Serena made no double faults in the encounter postponed by rain, compared to Goerges’ five, and hit just four unforced errors, compared to Goerges’ 20. Serena’s opponent in the third round will be seed No.29 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who beat Jill Craybas 6-4 6-1.

Second-seeded Venus Williams also advanced, but to the fourth round, with a 6-3 6-4 victory over No.26 seed Dominika Cibulkova. The Slovakian played the semifinals last year in Paris, and entered the match with a 1-0 record against Venus, but the American hit 20 winners, twice as many as Cibulkova, and reached her first fourth round at the French Open since 2006.

Maria Sharapova and Justine Henin won their second rounds stopped by darkness yesterday and ensured a blockbuster third round match at the French Open. Both Sharapova and Henin advanced with the score 6-3 6-3: the 12th-seeded Sharapova defeated Kirsten Flipkens, the 22nd-seeded Henin defeated Klara Zakopalova. (photo: 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 »

Unseeded Aravane Rezai played some magical tennis on the clay of the Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open and defeated fourth seed Venus Williams 6-2 7-5 in an entertaining and competitive Premier-level final to win the biggest title of her career. The world No.24 Rezai played a game of powerful and precise groundstrokes, and her determination and self-confidence were on just as high level.

By breaking Venus in the third and seventh games, Rezai won the first set 6-2 in just about half an hour. But the second set was the one which has probably given Rezai plenty of new fans. Rezai was trailing Venus 5-2, but giving up was the last thing on her mind. The Frenchwoman won five successive games to win the match on her first match point, but only after saving six set points, five of which were at Venus’ 5-4 lead.

Here is Rezai’s far from easy route to victory: Justine Henin in the first round, then Klara Zakopalova, Andrea Petkovic, seventh seed Jelena Jankovic, Lucie Safarova (retired), and finally Venus Williams.

World No.3 Venus, who will as of tomorrow be No.2, was denied her 44th career title, while Rezai won her third (after Strasbourg and Bali in 2009). Not only did Rezai win the biggest title of her career, but she won an inspiring sum of money, €620,000, while Venus took home €310,000 with her runner-up finish in singles.

Venus had previously won the 2010 Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open doubles title with her sister Serena, as they ended the great streak of Gisela Dulko and Flavia Pennetta with a 6-2 7-5 victory over the Argentinean-Italian pair in the final. The recent victories of Dulko and Pennetta include Miami, Stuttgart and Rome titles. (photos: Stephane Martinache)

Venus Williams and Aravane Rezai reached the final of the Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open on Saturday.

Venus, at No.4 the only seeded player in the semifinals, has retained her perfect career record against Shahar Peer by beating the Israeli for the fifth time to reach the Madrid final. Williams and Peer traded breaks to take the score to 3-3 in the first set, but then the American won nine straight games to win the match. After this 6-3 6-0 victory, Williams is 5-0 against Peer in career meetings.

In order to win her 10th clay court title, Williams will have to get past France’s Aravane Rezai, ranked 24th in the world, who advanced to the final when her semifinal opponent, Lucie Safarova, retired with a left thigh injury after Rezai won the first set 6-1. Williams and Rezai faced each other twice before, both times in 2007, both times on clay, and are tied at 1-1.

Venus Williams has also reached the doubles final at the Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open. Together with her sister Serena she will play against Gisela Dulko and Flavia Pennetta. (photos: Stephane Martinache and reader Tony)