Maria Sharapova and Vera Zvonareva are in Taipei for their Thursday exhibition and both commented on the WTA schedule, now that the season is slowly approaching the end. The two Russians have opposing views: while Sharapova is satisfied, Zvonareva could use more rest, believing that the current schedule can be exhausting at times, thus provoking injuries.

Here's what the world number two Sharapova said:

(The schedule) is so much better than it was years ago. We finish two or three weeks before the men do. You can say that's nothing but it's huge in our sport, it gives us more time to take a breather whereas before after the season you could maybe take a week off. Now you can take two weeks off and not feel guilty about it.

The fourth-ranked Zvonareva would like to have more flexibility and choice:

With this kind of schedule we have to play every single weekend and sometimes you feel good but sometimes you don't feel good but you still push yourself hard and at the end of the day you could get sick or get injured.

Zvonareva added that there are players who want to play more and those that want to play less, but that it is important to discuss and find balance. My impression is that more players would side with Zvonareva. If it's difficult for me to follow all the events as a blogger, I can't even imagine how difficult it is to play so much and travel all the time. (source: Reuters, photos: sr_cranks)

Dear readers, Florian Meier from OnlineTennisInstruction.com is back to preview the US Open quarterfinals. One of his and actually the world's biggest favorites Maria Sharapova was eliminated early, but Serena Williams is still doing strong. Let's see what Florian's predictions look like now.

US Open quarterfinals preview: Serena still the tournament favorite

We are now at the quarterfinals stage of the tournament and Serena looks almost unbeatable to me at this point (join our poll to vote who has the best chance of shaking Serena's dominance this US Open). Let’s have a closer look at the upcoming quarterfinal match-ups.

CAROLINE WOZNIACKI versus ANDREA PETKOVIC

Wozniacki has had a really good draw so far in this tournament and to me she was not all that convincing in her victory against Svetlana Kuznetsova. I am not sure how strong her form actually is. She was down 4-1 in the second set against Kuznetsova who is also not in her best form at the moment.

Andrea Petkovic looked convincing in her last two matches but she has not faced any really strong players so far in this tournament. Petkovic is also playing with an injured knee but it seems to be holding up fine so far in the tournament. Wozniacki and Petkovic are 1-1 in their career matches. Petkovic won this year on a hard court in Miami and Wozniacki won on an indoor clay court in Stuttgart.
In order to beat Wozniacki you have to be able to get by her with some firepower and be patient enough to work the point a few times. I believe Petkovic has these capabilities. Andrea is fired up like I have never seen her before and I think she is also mentally ready to beat someone like Wozniacki in a Grand Slam quarterfinal.

Assuming that Petkovic’s knee holds up, I pick her as my favorite in a very close match.

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In the semifinals of the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati Vera Zvonareva will play Maria Sharapova and Andrea Petkovic will face Jelena Jankovic.

To reach the final four, world No.2 Vera Zvonareva toughed it out against Daniela Hantuchova. Their second set lasted one hour and 13 minutes and Hantuchova managed to earn a set point even though Zvonareva had a match point at 5-4. However, the Russian finished the match in a tiebreak 6-3 7-6(6). Zvonareva will next play Maria Sharapova, whose quarterfinal against Samantha Stosur lasted shorter than Zvonareva's second set. Sharapova cruised past Stosur, 6-3 6-2 and their head-to-head is now 9-0! Read more »

Agnieszka Radwanska ignored her heavily taped shoulder injury and defeated top seed Vera Zvonareva in the final of the Mercury Insurance Open 6-3 6-4 without dropping serve.

"Everything was working. Even though I had two really tough matches in the quarters and semifinals, I played very well today," said the third-seeded Pole who played from all over the court and mixed up her groundstrokes.

Zvonareva was on a nine-match winning streak with her Baku Cup title, but in the final against Radwanska her footwork wasn't good enough and she blames it for her 28 unforced errors.

The last time Radwanska played a WTA final was also at the Mercury Insurance Open, last year when she finished runner-up to Svetlana Kuznetsova. The 2011 Carlsbad title is Radwanska’s second Premier-level victory and her fifth WTA title.

En route to the trophy the 22-year-old Radwanska defeated Elena Baltacha, Christina McHale, Daniela Hantuchova, Andrea Petkovic, and finally Vera Zvonareva. The prize money for winning is $111,000. (photo via WTA Tour)

Ana Ivanovic squeezed in the company of Top 3 seeds – Vera Zvonareva, Andrea Petkovic, Agnieszka Radwanska - in the semifinals of the Mercury Insurance Open.

After starting with a 4-1 deficit against fourth-seeded Peng Shuai, Ivanovic won 11 of the next 13 games and finished the match by winning the last 14 points. Final score: 6-4 6-2. Her next opponent will be top seed Vera Zvonareva who, as expected, had a tough test against Sabine Lisicki. In a marathon third set which lasted more than an hour, Zvonareva saved 7 of 8 break points and finally defeated Lisicki 6-3 3-6 6-4 on the fifth match point.

Injured Agnieszka Radwanska recovered from a bagel in the first set and defeated Daniela Hantuchova 0-6 6-4 6-4. In the semifinals she will play Andrea Petkovic who took out first time WTA quarterfinalist Sloane Stephens 6-2 6-1. (photos courtesy of John Bolan)

Top seed Vera Zvonareva advanced to the quarterfinals of the Mercury Insurance Open, as did all the other seeded players in action on Thursday.

The world No.3 surged from a 2-3 deficit in the first set and won ten straight games to defeat Vera Dushevina 6-3 6-0. Zvonareva considers every opponent a challenge, but her next one is especially so. In the quarterfinals Zvonareva will play Sabine Lisicki, who has won 17 of her last 19 matches – the German played the semifinals of Stanford and Wimbledon, and won the title in Birmingham. Zvonareva leads their head-to-head 2-0. And one more thing when we're talking about Lisicki, if you haven't read it yet, do check out our recent in-depth analysis of the German's game.

Quarterfinal pairs (seedings in brackets): Vera Zvonareva (1) vs. Sabine Lisicki (12), Peng Shuai (4) vs. Ana Ivanovic (5), Daniela Hantuchova (8) vs. Agnieszka Radwanska (3), Sloane Stephens vs. Andrea Petkovic (2). (photo: sr_cranks)

Last year’s finalist and second seed Vera Zvonareva lost in the third round of Wimbledon to world No.33 Tsvetana Pironkova, the Bulgarian player whom she defeated last year in the semis of the grass-court Grand Slam. Final score: 6-2 6-3.

Zvonareva committed 18 unforced errors to Pironkova’s 5 and converted only 1 of seven break point opportunities.

In the Wimbledon warm-up event in Eastbourne, Pironkova scared Serena Williams’ fans by defeating her 6-1 in the first set. Williams won, but in the second round fell to Vera Zvonareva, whom she defeated for the 2010 Wimbledon title.

Pironkova’s next opponent will be Venus Williams, who advanced with a solid 6-0 6-2 victory over Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez. Let me remind you that the Bulgarian took the five-time champion Venus out from last year’s Wimbledon, at the quarterfinal stage.

World No.1 Caroline Wozniacki was solid on Friday, with a 6-1 6-3 win over Virginie Razzano and just one unforced error! Svetlana Kuznetsova suffered a 4-6 6-3 6-4 defeat by Yanina Wickmayer. Maria Sharapova defeated Laura Robson 7-6(4) 6-3. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)

Traditionally, Women's Tennis Blog is doing Grand Slam fashion overviews, so let's see what major sports brands have on display at Roland Garros 2011.

World No.1 Caroline Wozniacki brought nothing new to the fashion table of Roland Garros – the 20-year-old Dane, who bowed out of the tournament in the third round already, wore the adidas by Stella McCartney Ruffle Dress which she debuted at Indian Wells in March.

Adidas impressed with an array of bright colors that perfectly contrast/match the red clay of Roland Garros. Above you can see the variety of pink, orange and green combinations on Daniela Hantuchova, Sorana Cirstea, Andrea Petkovic, Maria Kirilenko and Arantxa Rus. Here you can read more about Adidas' French Open collection.

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Defending champion Francesca Schiavone resisted the challenge of Jelena Jankovic and advanced to the quarterfinals of Roland Garros. On her tournament debut ten years ago she reached the quarterfinals, and together with her last year's title, this is her third appearance in the final eight of Roland Garros.

The fourth-round match between Schiavone and Jankovic was tense and could have gone either way, but the Italian's good serves and aggressiveness gave her that extra something needed to defeat the Serb who played Roland Garros semifinals in 2007, 2008 and 2010.

The world No.10 Jankovic has a lot to regret, at times she was leading in the third set, and both the players were pretty much equal, but the moment Jankovic allowed Schiavone to break her at 4-4, her fall was strongly suggested. Schiavone didn't let the opportunity slip away and won the match 6-3 2-6 6-4.

Schiavone's opponent in the quarterfinals will be Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who advanced with a 7-6(4) 2-6 6-2 victory over third seed Vera Zvonareva. With top seed Caroline Wozniacki and second seed Kim Clijsters already out, this is the first French Open since 1968 that none of the top three seeds are in the quarterfinals! World No.4 Victoria Azarenka is now the highest-ranked player left in the draw.

Pavlyuchenkova, who is 11 years younger than her next opponent Schiavone, will be playing her first Grand Slam quarterfinal. (photo courtesy of our reader Tony)

The semifinal encounter of world No.1 Caroline Wozniacki and reigning French Open champion Francesca Schiavone was not interesting only because all eyes are on Wozniacki's clay play ahead of the French Open and because Schiavone is defending her title there, but also because they happen to be in the same half of the today-announced draw for the clay court Grand Slam. Wozniacki proved to be a bit better from her Italian opponent and edged a 6-4 4-6 6-3 victory.

At 4-4 in the first set, Wozniacki won her service game to love and to take the first set she followed it by breaking Schiavone to love. The second set was again leveled at 4-4, but then Schiavone broke for a 5-4 lead and won the next, long game, after saving break points. The third set was the most tightly-contested. Wozniacki opened up with a 2-0 lead, as Schiavone piled up three unforced errors in the second game. And even though Schiavone broke back right away, later, in the eighth game, Wozniacki earned a crucial break and went on to reach the Brussels Open final. Read more »