Top seed Ana Ivanovic confirmed her return to form by impressively defeating Vera Zvonareva 6-2 6-1 in the final of the $600,000 Generali Ladies Linz.

After winning Roland Garros and becoming world No.1, Ivanovic’s slide slowly started. She had won just seven of her previous 14 matches entering Linz, but in today’s final the Serb let the Russian take only three games in a 50-minute match. Ivanovic faced only one break point in the encounter, but broke second-seeded Zvonareva six times, using every chance for a break.

Ivanovic’s road to the title at the Generali Ladies Linz included victories over Sybille Bammer, seventh seed Flavia Pennetta, third seed Agnieszka Radwanska, and finally second-seeded Vera Zvonareva, who lost her fifth final of 2008 (this year the Russian won titles at Prague and Guangzhou). (photo via Yahoo)

Second seed Vera Zvonareva and top seed Ana Ivanovic reached the final of the Generali Ladies Linz on Saturday.

Russia’s Zvonareva defeated her semifinal opponent Marion Bartoli 6-0 6-1 in just 51 minutes. The Frenchwoman won only six points on serve in the first set, while in the second she didn’t earn a game point until the 11th game. Earlier this month Zvonareva and Bartoli also played each other; it was in Stuttgart, and Bartoli managed to win just two games.

In the final of the Generali Ladies Linz Zvonareva will face Serbia’s Ana Ivanovic, the 6-2 3-6 7-5 winner over Polish third seed Agnieszka Radwanska. Good for the world No.4 Ivanovic to finally live up to the expectations and go far into a tournament.

The Generali Ladies Linz final is Ana’s first since winning the French Open in June. Last week she lost in the semis of the Tennis.com Zurich Open to eventual champion Venus Williams, and that semifinal was also a sort of improvement of Ana’s recent results, but this Linz final is definitely a good sign. (photos: Getty Images)

Ana Ivanovic’s consistency seems to be getting back on track. The fourth-ranked Serb reached her second semifinal in two weeks with a 6-4 6-4 win over in-form Flavia Pennetta at the Generali Ladies Linz.

Both players contributed to a final-like quality of the match, which remained in the balance until the final ball. The seventh-seeded Pennetta was, however, troubled by a serve that produced seven double faults, while Ivanovic used her strong forehand to give her an edge.

The top-seeded Ivanovic will take on No.3 seed Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland in the Linz semifinals. Radwanska advanced with a comfortable 6-3 6-2 victory over Russian fifth seed Nadia Petrova.

The third known semifinalist is Vera Zvonareva, seeded second, who defeated seed No.8 Alize Cornet 7-5 6-1. The win earned Zvonareva the final place in the eight-player field for the Sony Ericsson Championships in Doha.

The last player to reach the semis will be either France's Marion Bartoli or Alona Bondarenko. They are currently playing the third set. (source: Reuters, photo: Getty Images)

Serbia’s Ana Ivanovic confidently defeated home favorite Sybille Bammer in the second round of the Generali Ladies Linz.

Ivanovic beat the 24th-ranked Austrian 6-4 6-2 to book a first career meeting with in-form Flavia Pennetta of Italy, seeded seventh at Linz.

The world No.14 Pennetta reached the last eight thanks to a straightforward 6-3 6-1 victory over Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova.

Will last weak’s Tennis.com Zurich Open finalist Flavia Pennetta be too much for current Ana Ivanovic? I would love to hear what you think? I believe Flavia is more likely to win this one. (photo: Getty Images)

World No.4 Ana Ivanovic attended last night's Generali Ladies Linz player party, wearing a traditional Austrian dress. Read more »

Former world number four Jelena Dokic has been given a wildcard to enter the Generali Ladies Linz tournament in Austria.

The organizers of the Generali Ladies Linz decided to hand Dokic a wildcard because they wanted to give their share in returning the Serbian-born Australian player to the major tennis scene.

The 25-year-old Dokic played in the final of the Tier II tournament in Linz in 2001 when she lost to American Lindsay Davenport.

Dokic played only one match in 2007, but managed to climb to No.181 in the rankings. This season Dokic won three ITF titles: Florence, Caserta and Darmstadt.

The $600,000 Generali Ladies Linz starts October 20th. (source in Serbian: Mondo)

Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova won the 2007 Generali Ladies Linz with a 6-4 6-2 victory over Swiss Patty Schnyder on Sunday.

Second-seeded Hantuchova was 4-2 down in the first set, but then won five games in a row to win the set and take a lead in the second. Sixth-seeded Schnyder lost her serve again at 2-1 in the second set and then missed two chances to break back. Hantuchova held her serve and finished off the match on her second match point on Schnyder's serve.

With the Linz title Hantuchova collected enough points to take the eighth and last spot in the race to the Sony Ericsson Championships in Madrid. This means that Maria Sharapova hasn’t qualified for the prestigious event this year, since she’ll be ranked ninth in the race to the season-ending WTA Championships.

Being 2007 Linz champion, Hantuchova earned $88,265. (via Yahoo!)

Second-seeded Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova and sixth-seeded Swiss Patty Schnyder will meet in the final of the Generali Ladies Linz on Sunday.

World No.10 Daniela Hantuchova stormed back from a third-set deficit and also saved a match point against fifth seed Nicole Vaidisova to win 2-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7-3) and advance to the Linz final. This was the first time Hantuchova defeated Vaidisova.

The Slovakian will seek her third career title on Sunday, and her second title of 2007 (after winning Indian Wells in March).

In the other semifinal match Patty Schnyder beat third seed Marion Bartoli of France 7-6 (7-5), 6-3. Bartoli came back twice from a break down in the first set, but Schnyder won the tie-break. At 5-1 in the second, Schnyder missed three match points on Bartoli's serve and was broken afterward, but then closed it out on her fourth match point as Bartoli hit a forehand wide.

The 17th-ranked Swiss hopes that on Sunday she will win her 11th career title, and the first one since 2005.

Hantuchova and Schnyder have met 16 times so far, and they are 8-8, but the Slovak won five of their last six matches. (photos via Yahoo!)

Sixth-seeded Patty Schnyder needed only 39 minutes to crush top-seeded Anna Chakvetadze 6-1, 6-0 Friday and reach the semifinals of the Generali Ladies Linz.

Look at these facts: Chakvetadze made 24 unforced errors, scored only six points on her opponent’s serve, and she won her only serving game after facing two break points! No wonder the Russian described the Linz Open quarterfinal as her worst match of the year.

Chakvetadze is now withdrawing from an event next week in Quebec in order to prepare for the season-ending Championships in Madrid but her confidence is low.

"Now I'm already thinking if it's a good thing that I qualify for there because with this kind of game I don't know what I'm going to do there," Chakvetadze told reporters.

In the semifinals Patty Schnyder will face third-seeded Marion Bartoli, who defeated Julia Vakulenko in the quarterfinals. Second seed Daniela Hantuchova also reached the semis, and will play against either Nicole Vaidisova or Dinara Safina. (sources: ESPN, Reuters)

Third seed Marion Bartoli of France defeated Austrian teenager Tamira Paszek 6-2 6-1 to reach the quarterfinals of the Generali Ladies Linz on Thursday. The 2007 Wimbledon finalist seemed completely unaffected by the knee injury that forced her to retire in Zurich last week.

"My knee was not 100 percent but still okay and I was able to play," Bartoli, who lost only one point on serve in the first set, told reporters.

"I feel sometimes a little pain especially when I have to take a hard step on my left foot, so I tried not to hit too hard and just put the ball to the right spot."

All the Linz Open quarterfinalists are known now: Anna Chakvetadze, Patty Schnyder, Marion Bartoli, Julia Vakulenko, Nicole Vaidisova, Dinara Safina, Alona Bondarenko, and Daniela Hantuchova. (photo via Getty Images)