Who would have thought that the the losers of both the semifinals of a Premier-level tournament in Charleston would together win a total of only two games! In the first semifinal second-seeded Samantha Stosur lost to Serena Williams 6-1 6-1 in less than an hour, while in the next semi Lucie Safarova double bageled Polona Hercog in an hour and four minutes.

Hercog took out Kimiko Date-Krumm in the first round, Varvara Lepchenko in the second, seed No.3 Marion Bartoli in the third, seed No.14 Nadia Petrova in the quarterfinals, but 31 unforced error in the final four against Safarova dragged the Slovenian to defeat. According to the Eurosport commentator, this is  the fourth time a played lost 6-0 6-0 this year.

Serena Williams and Lucie Safarova have played each other four times, and the American won all those encounters. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)

Two Williams sisters was too big a chunk for Sam Stosur to swallow. The Australian seed No.2 was solid and precise yesterday against Venus in the quarterfinals of Charleston, but the younger Williams was merciless, cutting today's semifinal short by a routine 6-1 6-1 victory in 59 minutes.

Maybe Stosur was exhausted from the two three-setters she played on Friday, but whatever the reason may be, the 2008 Charleston champion Serena held her serve throughout the match, hit 7 aces to Stosur's 3, 29 winners to Stosur's 7, while committing only 6 unforced errors more, 15 to 9.

Serena's opponent in the final will be the winner of the match between Polona Hercog and Lucie Safarova, which is currently in progress. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)

In all the four previous meetings of Venus Williams and Samantha Stosur, Williams was the winner in straight sets, while Stosur's maximum was to win four games in a set, which happened only on one occasion. Today in the quarterfinals of the Family Circle Cup, Stosur quickly equaled those four games in a set, and then straightforwardly won the opening set, before working her way to a 6-3 4-6 6-3 victory in two hours and 41 mintutes. Stosur's triumph means that there will be no all-Williams showdown in the semis.

The victory is even bigger for Stosur as she played another match today before the quarterfinal, another three-setter, against Galina Voskoboeva, which was continued from 4-2 15-0 in the first set. Stosur won 6-3 4-6 6-2 in two hours and two minutes.

Stosur pretty comfortably won the first set against Williams, by breaking the American in the sixth game, for 4-2, and not having any break points against herself in the entire set. Read more »

After a long break from tennis, Venus Williams claims not being used to winning in straight sets, but that’s exactly what she did against Jelena Jankovic in the second round of Charleston, and actually against three other players since her comeback at the recent tournament in Miami.

At 5-4 Jankovic was two points from taking the first set, but a double fault and a wide forehand assisted Williams to break her serve. Williams then won nine successive games to win 7-5 6-0 and make Jankovic the first of the six former champions in the draw to go out.

Exceptional movement and great sliding on clay, once the most beautiful parts of Jankovic's game, are not Jankovic's strong assets any more, while serve failed her as well and Williams broke her seven times.

Williams is playing her first claycourt tournament since 2010. Her quarterfinal opponent will be Anastasia Rodionova, who defeated Anabel Medina Garrigues 7-5 6-3. Venus could potentially face sister Serena in the semis. (sources: Women Who Serve, ESPN, photo: © Neal Trousdale)

Alisa Kleybanova made a stunning comeback from a 10-month recovery from cancer and her return to the tennis courts was victorious, but she stopped at the second hurdle, against fellow Russian Maria Kirilenko in the second round of Miami. It was not a straightforward win for Kirilenko, the first set lasted 80 minutes and eventually the favorite won 7-6(1) 6-3.

We all know that Kleybanova is absolutely fulfilled by the very fact that she's able to compete again, and every match is a win for her. After losing to Kirilenko she said: "For one month of training this was my limit."

She is planning to slowly build her schedule, it's not that she will now play one tournament after the other. However, she did say that Charleston, the event directly following Miami, is on her list. Actually, she said that she will try to play it and then go to Europe. (via WTA Tour, photo: © Neal Trousdale)