Serena Williams saved a match point in the deciding set to defeat sister Venus Williams for the third time in a row.

Second-seeded Serena lost the first set, then won the second, and in the third set she established a two-break lead, 4-1. Seventh-seeded Venus, defending champion at the Sony Ericsson Championships, followed with winning five of the next six games to go up 6-5 and even earn a match point. Serena fought it off, held for 6-all and won a tiebreak for a 5-7 6-4 7-6(4) victory.

As already mentioned here on Women’s Tennis Blog, Serena will finish the year ranked No.1. Serena learned that after the match with Venus, as she secured the ranking by virtue of Dinara Safina’s withdrawal who played the preceding match. (via Sony Ericsson WTA Tour)

Defending champion Venus Williams and first-time qualifier Victoria Azarenka secured berths at the prestigious Sony Ericsson Championships in Doha, Qatar.

"Qualifying for the year-end tournament is always a goal I set for myself at the beginning of the season and I am excited to have an opportunity yet again to compete with the best players in the world," said the world No.3 Williams, who has qualified for the ninth time in her career.

The world No.9 Azarenka said: "Winning my first Tour title and reaching the Top 10 for the first time in my career has really made my year and I couldn’t think of a better place to finish it than in Doha. Having an opportunity to travel to the year-end Championships is an accomplishment I am very proud of."

As the top eight singles players of the season are competing at the season-ending Championships, and as five have already qualified (Dinara Safina, Serena Williams, Elena Dementieva, Caroline Wozniacki and Svetlana Kuznetsova), there is just one more berth left to fill.

Additional info: Venus Williams has also qualified for the doubles competition at the 2009 Sony Ericsson Championships. (source: On the Baseline)

Top seed Dinara Safina and third seed Venus Williams lost in the second round of the China Open, with the Russian making history, in a bad way though.

The world No.1 Safina, who is currently spending her 25th week on top of the rankings, lost to No.226-ranked Zhang Shuai 7-5 7-6(5), which is the biggest on-paper upset in Sony Ericsson WTA Tour history. Ouch!

Zhang is now the lowest-ranked player ever to beat a reigning No.1, bettering the No.188 ranking held by Julie Coin as she upset Ana Ivanovic at the 2008 US Open.

The 20-year-old Zhang has won 12 ITF titles, but has never before this week’s China Open won a main draw match on Tour.

"It's very disappointing, I'd like to take a break now. I'm very upset with myself," said Safina, who had an early break in both sets and a set point in the second set.

Last week Safina also lost in the second round of a tournament, falling to 132nd-ranked Chang Kai-Chen at the Toray Pan Pacific Open.

In addition, Safina will lose the No.1 ranking to Serena Williams, if Serena wins her match against Ekaterina Makarova on Tuesday.

The other upset of the day happened when world No.39 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova scored her second straight win over Venus Williams. The 18-year-old Pavlyuchenkova defeated the seven-time Grand Slam champion last week at the Toray Pan Pacific Open, and today at the China Open the Russian took out the world No.3 American with a score 3-6 6-1 6-4, in the second round as well. (via Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, photo: Jean-Sebastien Marceau)

Venus and Serena Williams have for the first time in their doubles career qualified for the doubles event at the Sony Ericsson Championships.

"I love playing doubles with Venus as we have so much fun on the court. This year, we actually decided to put more emphasis on our doubles careers and going to Doha has been on our mind all season," said Serena, who has already qualified for the singles event at the season-ending Championships.

During the 2009 season the Williams sisters have won three Grand Slam doubles titles (Australian Open, Wimbledon, US Open) and a title at the Bank of the West Classic in Stanford.

The world’s top eight singles players and top four doubles teams from the 2009 Sony Ericsson WTA Tour season will compete for a share of the record $4.55 million at the Sony Ericsson Championships in Doha, Qatar. (source: On the Baseline, photo via Sony Ericsson WTA Tour)

Top seed Dinara Safina, second seed Venus Williams and fifth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova all suffered upsets in the second round of the Toray Pan Pacific Open. The fact that so many of them got upset at the same time kind of makes their individual losses milder, and early losers Ana Ivanovic and Flavia Pennetta look better.

World No.1 and defending champion Dinara Safina fell to 18-year-old Taiwanese qualifier Chang Kai-Chen, ranked 132nd, 7-6(5) 4-6 7-5. Safina had an opportunity to close out the match in the third set, but double-faulted, dropped her serve, and went on to lose.

Venus Williams lost to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 7-6(6) 7-5, while Svetlana Kuznetsova, who just like Safina and Williams had a bye in the first round, lost 7-5 4-6 6-3 to Germany's Andrea Petkovic. (source: BBC, photo: Jean-Sebastien Marceau)