Third seed Jelena Jankovic was upset 6-2 7-5 by Estonian world No.24 Kaia Kanepi in the third round of the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships.

After taking the first set without giving Jankovic one break point, seed No.16 Kanepi raced to a 4-0 lead in the second set. The world No.3, however, managed to come back, leveling the score at 5-5. Still, at 6-5 for Kanepi, when Jankovic was serving to force a tiebreak, she failed to hold her serve and Kanepi won the match.

Estonian Kaia Kanepi will play Elena Vesnina in the quarterfinals. Vesnina, who upset Svetlana Kuznetsova in the second round, advanced to the final eight when Dominika Cibulkova retired through illness in the third set.

Other third-round matches finished so far on Wednesday:

Venus Williams beat Alize Cornet 6-3 6-2, while Virginie Razzano followed up her win over second seed Dinara Safina by beating Daniela Hantuchova 6-2 1-6 6-2. Defending champion Elena Dementieva defeated Anabel Medina Garrigues 6-1 6-3. Marion Bartoli also had to retire, because of blisters on both feet, so Vera Zvonareva went through. And finally, Ana Ivanovic put out Frenchwoman Camille Pin 6-2 7-6. The Serena Williams vs. Zheng Jie third-round match is currently in progress. (photo: Ralf Reinecke)

Second seed Dinara Safina was upset by Virginie Razzano 6-4 6-2 in the second round of the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships, while all the other seeded players progressed on Tuesday.

The Australian Open finalist Safina was erratic, inconsistent and hit 12 double faults.

"She played I think one of her best matches and I was not there," said the Russian world No.2. "I didn't give myself the chance to play. It was one of those days today and I'll just have to forget it and get ready for Indian Wells."

All the other seeds were victorious today, including top seed Serena Williams, Jelena Jankovic, Elena Dementieva, Vera Zvonareva, Venus Williams, Alize Cornet, Marion Bartoli, Dominika Cibulkova, Zheng Jie, Anabel Medina Garrigues and Kaia Kanepi. All their victories came in straight sets, except Serena Williams’ over Sara Errani (4-6 6-2 6-0), Marion Bartoli’s over Francesca Schiavone (7-6 3-6 6-3) and Zheng Jie’s over Samantha Stosur (3-6 7-5 7-5). (Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images via Sony Ericsson WTA Tour)

Eighth seed Ana Ivanovic defeated Alisa Kleybanova in the second round of the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships and in that way avenged the loss to the Russian in the third round of the Australian Open last month. The world number eight Ivanovic beat Kleybanova, ranked 27th, 7-5 6-4.

Ivanovic established a 3-0 lead in the first set, but Kleybanova managed to return from being one break down and eventually leveled at 4-4. Ivanovic, however, managed to break once again, in the 12th game, and take the first set 7-5. The second set saw no breaks of serve until the final game when Kleybanova surrendered to Ivanovic and lost the match on Ivanovic’s second match point.

The 21-year-old Serb, who is playing her first tournament since hiring coach Craig Kardon, will play either Urszula Radwanska or Camille Pin in the third round of the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships.

Only the second day of the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships is in progress, and we have already seen many interesting results.

The latest one saw the seventh seed Svetlana Kuznetsova falling to fellow Russian Elena Vesnina, failing to win even one game in the deciding set. Final score of this second-round match was 6-4 3-6 6-0.

Vesnina had defeated China’s Li Na in the first round, in three sets, too: 1-6 6-4 6-4.

The second day of the tournament is not over yet, but ninth seed Agnieszka Radwanska and 15th seed Anna Chakvetadze said goodbye in the first round. Agnieszka lost to her sister Urszula Radwanska 6-4 6-3, while Anna lost to world No.74 Ayumi Morita 7-5 6-2. Morita is the lucky loser who entered the tournament with Israeli Shahar Peer being denied a visa for the United Arab Emirates.

No other seeds have fallen on day 2 yet, although one interesting matchup is in progress at the moment. Ana Ivanovic is playing Alisa Kleybanova, the Russian who upset herin the Australian Open third round last month.

Let’s also mention that Agnes Szavay and Maria Kirilenko lost in the first round yet again. Their defeats happened on day 1, on Sunday. (photo: vesnina-elena.com)

Israeli world No.48 Shahar Peer has been denied entry into the United Arab Emirates for the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships, and will hence not be able to play the tournament which features all the world's top-10 ranked women's players and for which she is qualified by ranking.

UAE have not explained the reason for not giving Peer a visa, but the country does not have diplomatic relations with Israel.

WTA chief executive Larry Scott said the women's tour was "deeply disappointed" by the decision.

"Ms Peer has earned the right to play in the tournament and it's regrettable that the UAE is denying her this right," he said.

"Ms Peer and her family are obviously extremely upset and disappointed by the decision of the UAE and its impact on her personally and professionally."

Peer was supposed to play 15th seed Anna Chakvetadze in the first round of the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships. (source: BBC, photo: AnalogKid203)

Yesterday I wrote that Maria Sharapova’s participation in the Open GDF SUEZ and Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships was doubtful, but now it’s been confirmed on her official website that she won’t play those events which start on February 9th and 16th.

The reason for Sharapova’s withdrawal is of course the infamous shoulder injury. It’s worrying because she withdrew from the Australian Open saying her shoulder was doing great, adding that she just wasn’t at the high enough level to compete at such a tournament.

However, now she’s pulling out of Paris and Dubai saying: "My shoulder continues to improve every day and I am working very hard on the practice court. I'm looking forward to being back on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour very soon." (photo: Ralf Reinecke)

Elena Dementieva came from a set down and beat fellow Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova 4-6 6-3 6-2 for the title at the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships.

World No.11 Dementieva, who became the first-ever Russian singles champion in Dubai, won her ninth career single title today.

Eighth-seeded Dementieva won the Dubai title on her event debut, while second seed Kuznetsova suffered her second loss in Dubai final, last time was in 2004 to Justine Henin.

After Kuznetsova took the first set and won the first game of the second, Dementieva reeled off four straight games to take control of the second and broke serve in the ninth game to send the match to the third set. Read more »

Eighth seed Elena Dementieva defeated Francesca Schiavone 5-7 7-5 6-2 in the second semifinal of the day, and will face fellow Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova in the Saturday’s final of the $1.5 million Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships.

Despite trailing 3-5 in the first set, Schiavone – who sensationally ended Justine Henin's unbeaten run in the tournament – took the early initiative by winning four successive games to claim the set. But world No.11 Dementieva, who is making her event debut in Dubai, began to impose her authority and closed out for the match without too many difficulties.

Earlier in the day, second-seeded Kuznetsova defeated Jelena Jankovic to advance to the final, her second this season (the first one was in Sydney where she lost to Justine Henin).

The 2007 US Open runner-up Kuznetsova is 5-3 lifetime against Dementieva, including a victory in the 2004 US Open final. (via BBC, photo Getty Images)

At the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships, second seed Svetlana Kuznetsova came out as a winner of a seesaw semifinal against fourth seed Jelena Jankovic. Final score 5-7 6-4 6-3.

Amazingly, there were a total of 43 break points during the match. Jankovic converted 14 out of 21, and Kuznetsova 16 out of 22. The match was long and undecided, but it seemed to me that world No.4 Jankovic let the victory slip through her fingers as she was more confident and emotionally stable and seemed more likely to win throughout the match. Actually, even though I believe a few of Jankovic’s wasted chances gave Kuznetsova the victory, towards the end of the match, Jankovic's tiredness and Kuznetsova's physical fitness and energy also had their share in deciding the winner. Read more »

Eighth-seeded Elena Dementieva of Russia beat third-seeded Ana Ivanovic of Serbia 5-7 6-3 6-3 to reach the semifinals of the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships.

The match was very close. Both players faced many break points. World No.2 Ivanovic was the first to be a break up in the deciding third set. However, she wasted that opportunity, as well as the fact that she could come back in the game when Dementieva was serving for the match, as she saved astonishing five match points.

In the semifinals, world No.11 Elena Dementieva plays unseeded Francesca Schiavone, who upset Justine Henin, previously unbeatable in Dubai. The other semifinal features Svetlana Kuznetsova and Jelena Jankovic. (photo via Getty Images)