Second seed Vera Zvonareva won an entertaining three-set Qatar Ladies Opensemifinal against fifth seed Jelena Jankovic, in which the winner was uncertain until the last moment.

The beginning of the match was very misleading - just as at 40-0 it seemed that Jankovic would confidently win her first service game and give great resistance in the match, Zvonareva won five straight points and broke the Serb. The set finished pretty much as miserably for Jankovic, as she lost it win only one game won.

The situation prepared Jankovic's fans for a meltdown, but Jankovic offered a surprise, slowly coming back, and bit by bit outweighing her downs with ups, she won the second set 6-2. Read more »

Semifinals of the Qatar Ladies Open in Doha will feature a clash of two potentially weak players – Vera Zvonareva may be tired from her 3 hours and 10 minutes long battle against Daniela Hantuchova in the quarterfinals and Jelena Jankovic who sustained a left knee injury in her quarterfinal.

Zvonareva avenged her defeat to Hantuchova in the recent semifinals of the PTT Pataya Open, but not before an exhausting 7-5 6-7(5) 7-5 match. The second-seeded Zvonareva, who hit 48 winners to Hantuchova’s 29, rallied from 5-3 down in the deciding set. Hantuchova committed a total of 57 unforced errors. Read more »

Tsvetana Pironkova, Dominika Cibulkova, Vera Zvonareva, Daniela Hantuchova and Jelena Jankovic took part in a photo shoot for Oriflame in Tokyo and I’d say it was a success. They all look great individually, but also as a group. Plus, it's nice to see Vera taking the spotlight.

Haha fellow blogger Forty Deuce has a sharp eye, Cibulkova taller than Hantuchova? In real life Cibulkova is 20 cm shorter, that’s about 7.9 inches!

Twice defending champion and top seed Vera Zvonareva suffered a straight sets defeat to Daniela Hantuchova in the semifinals of the PTT Pattaya Open. To make matters worse for Zvonareva, the match point that Hantuchova converted came when Zvonareva was penalized for swearing (after having been warned for smashing a racquet).

The 7-6(3) 6-4 victory has enabled the fourth-seeded Hantuchova to be one match way from her first title since Linz 2007. Her last obstacle will be eighth seed Sara Errani.

The final at the Open GDF Suez in Paris will feature seed No.1 Kim Clijsters, who will become WTA No.1 on Monday, and fourth seed and world No.18 Petra Kvitova. Clijsters defeated Kaia Kanepi 6-1 7-5 in the semifinals, while Kvitova cruised past Bethanie Mattek Sands 6-2 6-0.

Both Clijsters and Kvitova have already clinched a title this season: Clijsters won the Australian Open, while Kvitova won the Brisbane International. So far they have faced each other two times, both matches were in 2010, and Clijsters was victorious on both occasions, losing a total of just five games. (photo: Stephane Martinache)

Vera Zvonareva is now just two steps away from her third successive title at the PTT Pattaya Open in Thailand. The top-seeded Russian beat world No.40 Peng Shuai 6-4 4-6 6-4 and earned her 13th consecutive win at the tournament. The victory didn’t come without a challenge, as Peng had two break points to lead 5-3 in the third set. Zvonareva’s next obstacle is Daniela Hantuchova.

Second seed Ana Ivanovic lost in today’s Pattaya quarterfinals. The Serb was defeated by Roberta Vinci, the first time in their five meetings. Final score: 7-5 6-3.

A mention of Galina Voskoboeva’s Pattaya campaign I owe to our reader and contributor John Bolan. Voskoboeva lost in the quarterfinals to Sara Errani, 2-6 6-3 6-2. But this defeated came only after she won two qualifying matches, including one against Sania Mirza (Voskoboeva's first match back from almost a year long injury), and her second-round match against third seed Maria Kirilenko.

Elsewhere, that is in Paris, another tournament is in full swing. As we’re awaiting the spectacle of the day – Kim Clijsters vs. Jelena Dokic, which could earn Kim No.1 ranking – let’s mention a great match that happened between Andrea Petkovic and Bethanie Mattek Sands. Petkovic was in charge during the beginning of the match, her service games were strong and she earned a set point. However, Mattek Sands miraculously got back into the match, and in a tiebreak won that first set, leaving Petkovic in utmost frustration.  Even though the German won the second set, Mattek Sands repeated the history and advanced to the semifinals, 7-6(4) 2-6 6-3. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)