Top seed Serena Williams and fourth seed Jelena Jankovic fell in the quarterfinals of the Bank of the West Classic in Stanford.

Williams lost to Australian Samantha Stosur 6-2 3-6 6-2, while Marion Bartoli solidified her "I always beat her" statement by defeating Jankovic 3-6 7-6(3) 6-3.

Williams was holding double break point for a 3-2 lead in the third set, but Stosur fought them off to win that game and then barely looked back winning all the following games. Stosur has thus claimed her equal best career win, having beaten then-world No.2 Dinara Safina at Miami.

Stosur's opponent in the semifinals will be Bartoli, as Jankovic didn’t have her revenge for the comments and fell to the eighth seed despite holding double match point in the second set. Bartoli even came back from a break down in the deciding set to beat Jankovic for the fourth time in their last five matches.

Second and third seeds Venus Williams and Elena Dementieva are safely through to the semifinals. Williams crushed Maria Sharapova 6-2 6-2, and Dementieva defeated Daniela Hantuchova 6-2 6-4.

Stosur won her only previous meeting with Bartoli, but it was three years ago. As for the other semifinal pair, Williams has won eight of her 10 encounters with Dementieva. (photo by our reader Colleen)

World No.14 Marion Bartoli, Jelena Jankovic’s opponent in the upcoming quarterfinal of the Bank of the West Classic, said before Jankovic's second round match against Sabine Lisicki that she would rather face Jankovic than Lisicki.

Bartoli’s reason is the following: "I always beat her." The Frenchwoman is 4-3 against the sixth-ranked Jankovic and has won their last three matches.

Haha, JJ was, of course, stunned to hear the comment and here’s her reaction:

She talks like she’s just Serena Williams. Everybody had a right to say what she wants. I’m not really focused on Bartoli. She’s not like my biggest rival or someone I look up to or I’m scared of. She’s just one of the players on tour, not a big name, or someone who is making the big results or headlines in the game.

"Bartoli is going to get it tomorrow," Jankovic added with a smile. Hahaha, she will even have her revenge.

Additional info: Interestingly, even Jelena Jankovic, a slamless No.1 herself, doesn’t think that Dinara Safina is the world’s best player. JJ finds herself the best, and she would put Serena Williams second.

Haha, it's so bizarre. If anyone Jankovic should be the one defending Safina, but no, she’s even saying this: "To be number one, you should be complete and if you are number one you have to be beating the Williams sisters. I’m one of the rare players who has a positive record against the Williams sisters"

Note: Jankovic is 5-4 against Venus and 3-4 against Serena. (source: Tennis Reporters, photo: Forty Deuce)

Maria Sharapova is continuing her comeback by going past fifth seed and world No.10 Nadia Petrova 6-1 6-2 to advance to the quarterfinals of the Bank of the West Classic.

The 62nd-ranked Sharapova beat Petrova for the second time since returning from shoulder injury, having also won over the fellow Russian in the second round of Roland Garros.

Her 18th match since coming back from the injury Sharapova will play either against Venus Williams or Alla Kudryavtseva.

Also advancing to the quarterfinals were third seed Elena Dementieva who defeated Maria Kirilenko 6-1 6-2, Daniela Hantuchova who upset seventh seed Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland 4-6 7-6(6) 6-1, and Samantha Stosur who beat Monica Niculescu 6-1 7-5. (photo: Ralf Reinecke)

Serena Williams has partnered with WeMix.com, the online music creation community for independent musicians, to create an original theme song to be used at tennis matches, public appearances and a variety of other outlets by Serena.

Independent artists can submit their work inspired by Serena Williams to the "Serena's Song" contest and the tennis star herself will select her personal favorite songs as finalists. The winner will be chosen by online communities at WeMix.com and Serena’s official website.

Finalists will be chosen in early May, while the winning song will premiere at the Bank of the West Classic in late July. (source: Black Tennis Pro's)

It was a funny moment when Anna Chakvetadze’s long plait got caught in her racket in the Bank of the West Classic final against Sania Mirza of India. The Russian lost the point because of the incident, but that didn’t stop her to win the tournament. If you haven’t seen how this happened, take a look at this video.

(via Tennis Planet)