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)