American Venus Williams and Russian Vera Zvonareva have clinched the two remaining singles spots in the Sony Ericsson Championships to be played in Doha from November 4 to 9, 2008.

Aiming for the season-ending title and a share of the record prize money of $4.45 million, the best eight singles players and four doubles teams of the 2008 season will take part in the prestigious competition.

It will be Venus Williams’ third appearance at the event. The previous two times, in 1999 and 2002, she was a semifinalist. Zvonareva will be making her second appearance, having fallen in the round robin stage in 2004.

Six players had qualified for the Sony Ericsson Championships before Venus Williams and Vera Zvonareva: Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic, Serena Williams, Dinara Safina, Elena Dementieva, and Svetlana Kuznetsova. (photos: Getty Images)

I hope Jelena Jankovic finally proved to be worthy of occupying the No.1 spot in the rankings by winning her third title in 15 days (after China Open and Stuttgart). The top-seeded Serb prevented Russian Vera Zvonareva from scoring victory in a Tier I final for the first time.

Both players were competing in their sixth final of the year, but Jankovic was more successful, defeating the seventh-seeded Muscovite 6-2 6-4 and taking home her fourth title of the 2008 season.

On her way to the Kremlin Cup trophy and $196,900 in Moscow, the 23-year-old Jankovic defeated Vera Dushevina, Flavia Pennetta, third seed Elena Dementieva, and eventually Vera Zvonareva.

BTW: World No.4 Elena Dementieva said this about Jankovic's tennis: "Her defensive game is just phenomenal, and it's almost impossible to hit a good shot from the baseline because she can cover the whole court. No matter what shot you hit, she is able to get to it and hits everything back at you. It seems like she can cover not only a tennis court but a whole soccer field." (photo via Yahoo)

Seventh seed Vera Zvonareva progressed to the quarterfinals of the Kremlin Cup in her home Moscow with a dominant 6-1 6-0 victory over Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova. Also advancing was top seed Jelena Jankovic who beat Russian Vera Dushevina 6-7(6) 6-3 6-2.

Hantuchova scored only five points on Zvonareva’s serve! "I know that one can only have one or two such easy matches in a season," said the Russian.

Jankovic appeared to struggle with a hip injury, and could have lost in straight sets as the world No.77 Dushevina came from behind in the first set, and broke early in the second. But Jankovic stepped up a gear and defeated nervous Dushevina for a place in the quarterfinals.

Also progressing on Thursday were Nadia Petrova and Flavia Pennetta. Petrova's second-round opponent Caroline Wozniacki retired with breathing problems, while Italian Pennetta beat Ekaterina Makarova of Russia 3-6 6-4 6-4.

The quarterfinals are set: Jankovic vs. Pennetta, defending champion Dementieva vs. Petrova, Zvonareva vs. Cibulkova (the conqueror of Ana Ivanovic), and Kuznetsova vs. Safina. (via BBC, photos: Getty Images)

Top seed Jelena Jankovic of Serbia overcame Russian seed No.5 Vera Zvonareva 6-4 2-6 6-4 to reach the final of the China Open in Beijing.

The world No.2 Jankovic was in the China Open final last year too, when she was stunned by sixth-seeded Agnes Szavay of Hungary after leading 7-6 5-1.

In this year’s championship match Jankovic will face either Svetlana Kuznetsova or local favorite Zheng Jie who are to play their semifinal later on Saturday. (photo: Getty Images)

Top seed Vera Zvonareva came from a set down to beat fourth seed Peng Shuai 6-7(4) 6-0 6-2 and deny the Chinese star her first WTA title.

Winning the Guangzhou Open (its full name is TOE Life Ceramics Guangzhou International Women's Open), the world No.9 Zvonareva claimed her seventh career title and second of the 2008 season. In addition, the Russian won singles bronze at the Beijing Olympics and recently helped her country win the Fed Cup title.

Vera Zvonareva will collect $28,000 for the win at the tournament in southern China's Guangdong province, while Peng Shuai earned $14,650. (photo via Yahoo)