Resurgent former world No.1 Ana Ivanovic, the 2008 champion at Indian Wells, recorded her second straight victory in two sets at the tournament, following up her upset of Caroline Wozniacki by another Top 10 win, over Marion Bartoli in the quarterfinals. Let me remind you, Wozniacki and Bartoli are last year's Indian Wells finalists!

Only in her first two service games Ivanovic gave Bartoli break opportunities, actually Ivanovic opened the match by dropping serve. However, she broke back right away and in the third game of the match Bartoli's another opportunity to take Ivanovic's serve remained just that, an opportunity, as Ivanovic earned a 2-1 lead. From 3-3 Ivanovic took charge again, won the first set and started off the second with a 2-0 lead. Until the end of the match Ivanovic was stable on her serve and won in an hour and 17 minutes 6-3 6-4.

In the semifinals, winner of the match between Russians Maria Kirilenko and Maria Sharapova will await Ivanovic. The other semifinal is a first meeting between world No.1 Victoria Azarenka and soon-to-be Top 15 member Angelique Kerber. (source: B92, photo: © Neal Trousdale)

Agnieszka Radwanska was not even slightly close to challenging Victoria Azarenka in the quarterfinals of Indian Wells, their fourth meeting this year and Azarenka's fourth victory over the Pole in 2012. All the losses Radwanska suffered this season came at the hands of the world No.1, and the most recent one, in Doha, especially irritated Radwanska as she considered that Azarenka used gamesmanship in order to win.

Because of the mentioned 4-0 record of Azarenka over Radwanska this year, the gamesmanship scandal and the fact that Azarenka came into the match undefeated in 2012, with a 20-0 record, the quarterfinal encounter was especially interesting. However, what spectators got was an overwhelmingly one-sided match, except for Radwanska's brief revival at the very end.

Azarenka won 10 of the first 11 points in the match, before Radwanska looked to be stopping that trend by fighting off three break points in the third game. But the Pole didn't win that game, and actually, just as we were all ready for a double bagel, at 6-0 5-0 for Azarenka, Radwanska won six straight points, broke her opponent's serve and won her own service game to love. But that was it, Azarenka continued from where she had stopped two games earlier, and finished the match 6-0 6-2. (photo: Johan Rivera, follow him on Twitter @HobbiesPlus)

In a battle of two former No.1s, one much more former than the other, Ana Ivanovic has again awaken the hopes of her revival, showing her devastating forehand and beating defending champion and world No.4 Caroline Wozniacki in straight sets in the fourth round of Indian Wells.

In the 6-3 6-2 victory, Ivanovic displayed her best shots even from uncomfortable positions. Her precise forehand challenged the defensive Wozniacki. And that’s not all, Ivanovic served out the match at love, which is a nice cherry on the cake for the Serb’s potentially lethal but error-prone serve. Ivanovic broke Wozniacki's serve five times, twice at 15 and three times at 30.

In the quarterfinals, Ivanovic will face former Wimbledon finalist, seventh seed Marion Bartoli, who beat Lucie Safarova 6-1 6-4. Imagine, the last meeting of Ivanovic and Bartoli was last year, also at Indian Wells and also in the quarterfinals. Bartoli won then, 6-4 7-6(4). (photo: © Neal Trousdale)

This will be interesting! Victoria Azarenka has a perfect 20-0 win-loss record in 2012 and is the only player who managed to defeat Agnieszka Radwanska this year. Azarenka beat Radwanska three times in the past two months – in Sydney and Doha semifinals and Australian Open quarterfinals. Their last encounter, the one in Doha, caused quite a stir of emotions, as Radwanska accused Azarenka of exaggerating her injury in order to distract her and win the match. Every once in a while there were additional comments by both players, and although they are still on good terms, their relationship is far from perfect, as Radwanska kind deny losing respect for her friend.

To advance to the quarterfinals of Indian Wells, the top-seeded Azarenka thrashed Julia Goerges 6-3 6-1, while the fifth-seeded Radwanska moved on when her opponent, wildcard Jamie Hampton, retired with cramping at 6-3 4-6 3-0. It's an unfortunate ending for Hampton's Indian Wells success, which included victories over Polona Hercog, Jelena Jankovic and Jarmila Gajdosova, plus a win of the second set against Radwanska. (photos: Johan Rivera, follow him on Twitter @HobbiesPlus)

Russian Maria Sharapova Nadia Petrova has applied for US citizenship. The 29-year-old winner of 10 WTA singles titles has a home in Miami and is delighted by the weather and lifestyle in South Florida.

Everything is here just for the people, you know. I just feel very comfortable here, relaxed atmosphere, and I don't have to stress. I don't have that crazy traffic like it is in Russia. I don't have those cold winters.

It remains somewhat intriguing how Maria Sharapova is holding on to her Russian citizenship so tightly, although she is the most Americanized Russian player, having lived in the US since the age of seven. In an interview at Indian Wells Sharapova was asked whether she feels part American in some way, and her answer was pretty vague:

I've certainly adopted in a way the culture and the life.

You can watch Sharapova's full interview here. (source: Tennis.com, photo: Robertus Pudyanto)