Fifth seed Kim Clijsters may have lost just three games and spent just 92 minutes in the victories over Yanina Wickmayer and Lucie Safarova en route to the quarterfinals of the AEGON International , but the Belgian struggled against Victoria Azarenka and lost 7-6(6) 6-4. Azarenka is now 1-2 in career meetings with Clijsters.

Unseeded Azarenka upset fourth seed Agnieszka Radwanska in round one and followed it up with a victory over Heather Watson for her first back-to-back wins in six tournaments.

In other quarterfinal matches of the day in Eastbourne, third seed Samantha Stosur reached her fifth semifinal of the year with a 6-7(5) 6-1 6-0 win over Elena Baltacha, eighth-seeded Marion Bartoli edged Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez 5-7 6-4 7-6(5) and advanced to the semifinals of Eastbourne for the fourth straight year, while the 2004 champion Svetlana Kuznetsova keeps fallings and her latest loss is to qualifier Ekaterina Makarova in straight sets 6-4 7-5. (photo: Stephane Martinache)

It's not just a dream, Ana Ivanovic followed up her 6-1 6-3 victory over Elena Vesnina in the first round of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia with another straight sets victory, 6-4 6-4 against ninth seed Victoria Azarenka.

This is the most noteworthy Ivanovic’s win this season, and actually her best result in who knows how many months. In fact, Ivanovic’s website states that it is her first victory over a Top 10 player in some 20 months. In addition, with the triumph over Azarenka in Rome the 22-year-old recorded her first two successive straight sets wins since June 2009.

Alright, enough with the comparison with things Ana would like to forget. Will the win over Viktoria prove to be a positive turning point for the continuation of Ana’s career? I certainly hope so, but the pressure is the last thing Ana needs, especially having in mind that another Top 10 player, sixth seed Elena Dementieva, is awaiting in the third round. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)

Belorussian Victoria Azarenka, No.1 seed at the Andalucia Tennis Experience in Marbella, had to retire from the tournament at the quarterfinal stage because of a left thigh injury.

The world No.9 Azarenka had a 4-0 lead in the quarterfinal against fifth seed Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez of Spain when she started feeling pain. Despite receiving treatment courtside, Azarenka retired from the match just minutes after the massage of her leg.

Martinez Sanchez, ranked 28th, has now reached the semifinals, where she will face eighth-seeded compatriot Carla Suarez Navarro. (photo:  © Neal Trousdale)

After a first-round bye at the Sony Ericsson Open, the 2009 US Open champion Kim Clijsters defeated Petra Kvitova 6-1 6-1 in the second round, Shahar Peer 6-0 6-1 in the third round, and now fourth seed and last year's champion Victoria Azarenka with almost equally impressive scoreline 6-4 -6-0.

Belgian No.14 seed Clijsters will next play ninth seed Samantha Stosur, who ended Jelena Jankovic’s eight-match winning streak by defeating the Serb 6-1 7-6 (9) in their fourth career encounter. Remember, world No.8 Jankovic defeated Stosur 6-2 6-4 in the Indian Wells semifinals last week, on her way to the title.

The winner of both career clashes between Clijsters and Stosur was the Belgian, in straight sets. Their last meeting was three years ago, at this very tournament, the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami. (photo: Esther Lim)

Fourth seed Victoria Azarenka of Belarus won her second-round match against Romanian Alexandra Dulgheru 6-3 6-2 at the Sony Ericsson Open, on the same court where she defeated five-time Miami champion Serena Williams in the final last year.

The 20-year-old Azarenka reached the third round shortly before the arrival of the rain which caused delays of the following matches. Her next opponent will be Lucie Safarova who beat seed No.29 Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez 4-6 7-6(3) 6-2 in the second round.

The world No.49 Dulgheru was making her debut at the Sony Ericsson Open. Last year she won the Warshaw Open as a 201st-ranked qualifier, playing the first Tour main draw of her career, and became the fifth non-Top 200 player ever to win a Tour singles title. (photo: Stephane Martinache)

Seed No.14 Kim Clijsters and third seed Victoria Azarenka made premature exits at the BNP Paribas Open, while sixth seed Jelena Jankovic fought her way into the fourth round.

Two-time Indian Wells champion Kim Clijsters lost to Alisa Kleybanova 6-4 1-6 7-6(4) in the third round, despite storming through the second set and having a 4-0 lead in the third-set tiebreak.

"I definitely think I let it slip away but credit to her," said Clijsters after losing to the No.23 seed. "She played some really good points to get back into it."

Victoria Azarenka fell to 28th-seeded Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez 7-6(4) 6-2 at the very tournament that propelled her into the Top 10 last year. The Belorussian quickly fell behind 5-1 and even though she saved four set points and leveled to 5-5, she lost the first set and shortly after the second as well.

Sixth-seeded Jelena Jankovic beat Sara Errani 2-6 7-6(6) 6-4 despite making 57 unforced errors compared to Errani's 42. The world No.9 quickly lost the first set, won the second in a tiebreak, and let her experience prevail in the decider of the marathon match to prevent Errani from scoring her first Top-10 victory in 12 attempts. (photo: Stephane Martinache)

Venus Williams defended her Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships crown by beating Victoria Azarenka of Belorussia 6-3 7-5 in the final.

The third-seeded Williams benefited from the sole break of Azarenka’s serve in the seventh game to take the first set 6-3. The American continued well and with a 3-1 lead in the second set she seemed to be cruising to victory. However, the fourth-seeded Azarenka then won three successive games. Still, Williams later broke again to establish a 6-5 lead and held her serve to win the tournament.

World No.5 Venus Williams currently possesses the largest number of WTA singles titles among active women’s tennis players. She has now won her 42th, while Justine Henin comes in second with 41.

Last year in Dubai Williams defended the rights of Shahar Peer, the Israeli who was not given a visa to come to the UAE, and this year the American seven-time Grand Slam champion had the honor of beating that same Shahar Peer in the semifinals and later even claiming second straight title at the $2-million tournament. It's also worth mentioning that Peer will return to the Top 20. (photo via Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships)

The fourth round came to a close on Day 8 of the 2010 Australian Open. Both Serena and Venus Williams progressed, as well as Chinese Li Na and Belorussian Victoria Azarenka.

Top seed Serena Williams routinely defeated home favorite Samantha Stosur 6-4 6-2 in the fourth round. The impressive performance by the American saw her lose only seven points on serve throughout the match, including one double-fault in the second set.

Serena’s opponent in the quarterfinals will be seventh-seeded Victoria Azarenka who won the day’s final match, coming back from a set down to beat Russian Vera Zvonareva 4-6 6-4 6-0 in almost two and a half hours.

Venus Williams had more trouble advancing to the quarterfinals than her sister Serena. The sixth seed lost the first set and was a break down in the second before recovering for a 3-6 6-2 6-1 victory against Italian Francesca Schiavone.

Next for Venus will be seed No.16 Li Na of China who upset fourth seed Caroline Wozniacki 6-4 6-3 to join countrywoman Zheng Jie in the last eight, thus making history for China – it is the first time two Chinese players are in the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam event. Li Na and Venus Williams have had only one career meeting, at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and the winner was Li.

Other quarterfinal pairs include Justine Henin vs. Nadia Petrova and Zheng Jie vs. Maria Kirilenko. (photo via Australian Open)

Victoria Azarenka is making her debut in our retrospections of players' yearly outfits, thanks to a kind request of our regular reader LuLinQa.

Azarenka is sporting Nike, and looking at all her 2009 outfits in one place I can say that they are the perfect choice for widespread use (in the large portion of Maria Sharapova’s you would stand out too much). All the outfits are well-designed, the colors are just right, and we know that Nike doesn't fail with the quality.

My favorite is the French Open dress, without doubt. I love the simple, yet interesting design, especially the back. The dress is the same as the one she wore in Miami, Rome and Madrid, but I prefer the blue Roland Garros version because it's more eye-catching.

Notice that headbands and visors are a must in Azarenka’s on-court appearance.

What do you think of Azarenka’s outfits? Which one is your favorite?

By the way, this is the first time we are doing a retrospection of players’ outfits in slides. Do you like this new medium?

Our dear reader Teerin is contributing to Women's Tennis Blog once again, this time by creating a countdown of the best moments in the 2009 tennis season.

Teerin would like to have been able to include more memorable situations, but YouTube videos can't be more than 10 minutes long. Which WTA moments would you add to Teerin's Top 10? I would include the emotional retirement of Ai Sugiyama and also, I would put Kim Clijsters' US Open win on top of the list.

Teerin, thank you so much for your continuous and active support of Women's Tennis Blog.