Seventh seed Venus Williams clinched her first title at the Sony Ericsson Championships with a 6-7(5) 6-0 6-2 victory over Vera Zvonareva in the last match of the 2008 WTA tennis season.

Zvonareva started off very well, breaking Williams’ first service game, and holding the lead up until what could have been the Russian’s victory in the first set. Namely, Zvonareva served to close out the opening set at 5-3, but wasted four set points and Williams managed to return the break, and later to force a tiebreak.

In the tiebreaker American Venus Williams established what seemed to be a solid lead (5-1), but Zvonareva remarkably fought back, which I didn’t think she was capable of doing as I though the momentum totally switched to Venus. Eighth-seeded Zvonareva won six successive points to take the first set. Read more »

Vera Zvonareva’s fantastic form continues to bring fruitful results, as the eighth seed defeated fellow Russian Elena Dementieva 7-6(7) 3-6 6-3 to reach the final of the Sony Ericsson Championships in Doha.

In the first set, which featured as much as eight breaks of serve, fifth-seeded Demetieva had a 4-1 lead, but Zvonareva recovered and forced a tiebreak which she won 9-7.

Dementieva then broke Zvonareva’s first service game in the second set, and holding that initial lead the fifth seed won the second set, in which Zvonareva, by the way, had only 38% first serve percentage.

In the third set, Zvonareva was the one who established a 4-1 lead, but later on, in the seventh game, Dementieva managed to break back. Zvonareva, however, rebroke right away, and served out the match in the following game to reach her first final of the Sony Ericsson Championships.

Prior to today’s meeting, Dementieva held a perfect record on hardcourts against her compatriot.

Zvonareva will next play either Venus Williams or world No.1 Jelena Jankovic, depending on whom of the two wins the semifinal. (photos: Getty Images)

Ana Ivanovic lost another match at the Sony Ericsson Championships in Doha – on Tuesday the French Open champion fell to fellow Serb Jelena Jankovic, while on Wednesday she lost the first career three-setter against Russian Vera Zvonareva.

Eighth-seeded Zvonareva defeated fourth-seeded Ivanovic 6-3 6-7(5) 6-4 after two hours and 28 minutes of play.

It was the second match at the 2008 Sony Ericsson Championships for both players. Zvonareva went past compatriot Svetlana Kuznetsova on Tuesday.

Ivanovic and Zvonareva have one more round-robin match in their White Group.

Just like in the match against Jankovic, Ivanovic again had breathing problems. Near the end of the first set today, Ivanovic received medical help, and I hear it was due to a virus.

Before today's clash at the Sony Ericsson Championships, the last time Ivanovic and Zvonareva met was in the final of the Generali Ladiez Linz ten days ago, and the Serb was victorious then in straight sets.

Gossip info: Fernando Verdasco was again in the stands supporting Ana. (photos: Getty Images)

Top seed Ana Ivanovic confirmed her return to form by impressively defeating Vera Zvonareva 6-2 6-1 in the final of the $600,000 Generali Ladies Linz.

After winning Roland Garros and becoming world No.1, Ivanovic’s slide slowly started. She had won just seven of her previous 14 matches entering Linz, but in today’s final the Serb let the Russian take only three games in a 50-minute match. Ivanovic faced only one break point in the encounter, but broke second-seeded Zvonareva six times, using every chance for a break.

Ivanovic’s road to the title at the Generali Ladies Linz included victories over Sybille Bammer, seventh seed Flavia Pennetta, third seed Agnieszka Radwanska, and finally second-seeded Vera Zvonareva, who lost her fifth final of 2008 (this year the Russian won titles at Prague and Guangzhou). (photo via Yahoo)

Second seed Vera Zvonareva and top seed Ana Ivanovic reached the final of the Generali Ladies Linz on Saturday.

Russia’s Zvonareva defeated her semifinal opponent Marion Bartoli 6-0 6-1 in just 51 minutes. The Frenchwoman won only six points on serve in the first set, while in the second she didn’t earn a game point until the 11th game. Earlier this month Zvonareva and Bartoli also played each other; it was in Stuttgart, and Bartoli managed to win just two games.

In the final of the Generali Ladies Linz Zvonareva will face Serbia’s Ana Ivanovic, the 6-2 3-6 7-5 winner over Polish third seed Agnieszka Radwanska. Good for the world No.4 Ivanovic to finally live up to the expectations and go far into a tournament.

The Generali Ladies Linz final is Ana’s first since winning the French Open in June. Last week she lost in the semis of the Tennis.com Zurich Open to eventual champion Venus Williams, and that semifinal was also a sort of improvement of Ana’s recent results, but this Linz final is definitely a good sign. (photos: Getty Images)