Maria Sharapova has positioned herself among the favorites for the 2011 French Open, the only Grand Slam the 24-year-old Russian still hasn’t won, by following up her win over world No.1 Caroline Wozniacki in the Rome semifinals with a 6-2 6-4 defeat of last year’s French Open runner-up Samantha Stosur.

When Sharapova is in a good tennis period, it’s a joy to watch her, her determination and focus combined with her powerful game produce a lot of winners that can’t leave you emotionless. I’m really looking forward to her shaking up the draw at the French Open. Not to mention that her fiancé’s engagement from the stands is really cute, it makes Sharapova’s wins even more moving.

In the first set of the eighth career meeting of Sharapova and Stosur, in which the Australian was trying to defeat the Russian for the first time, Sharapova won the first four games for a 4-0 lead and not long afterwards she took the first set, overpowering Stosur in the number of winners 7-5, but also with much less unforced errors, 5-14. After exchanging breaks early in the second set, Sharapova took Stosur’s serve in the fifth game which proved to be a crucial break, as the rest of the set went with serve.

By winning her 23rd title and her first one this year, Sharapova is projected to climb from No.8 to No.7 in the WTA rankings, while Stosur will fall to No.8 from her current standing of No.7. (photos courtesy of our reader Tony)

Maria Sharapova is far from the best mover on clay, but this time her power was too much for Caroline Wozniacki’s defensive game, and the Russian earned her first victory over a No.1 player since her comeback from a serious shoulder injury in May 2009 and also the 24-year-old reached the final of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia tournament in Rome for the first time. Maybe her fiancé's support made all the difference.

Sharapova won the last five games of the semifinal and the last game she won to love, while in the entire match she scored 36 winners to Wozniacki’s 15. Final result: 7-5 6-3. Not so promising prospects for Wozniacki’s French Open campaign – this year on red clay she was upset by Julia Goerges two times, in Stuttgart and Madrid, and now by Sharapova.

In the Sunday’s final of the $2,050,000 event, Sharapova will play last year’s French Open runner-up Samantha Stosur, who beat Li Na 7-6(6) 6-0 in the semis and reached her first final in almost a year. Sharapova is 7-0 in career meetings with Stosur, but they have never played each other on clay, so this time the Australian could be in a better position. (photos courtesy of Tony)

In a battle of the WTA Tour's most famous defensive players, world No.1 Caroline Wozniacki defeated ninth-ranked Jelena Jankovic to reach the semifinals of the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in Rome. After each of them won one set, a string of service breaks followed in the decider, seven of them precisely, and in as much as the first four the server didn't earn a game point! In the eighth game Wozniacki held her serve for 5-3 and then broke Jankovic to win the match 6-3 1-6 6-3.

Wozniacki's opponent in the semifinals will be ninth seed Maria Sharapova, who advanced when Victoria Azarenka retired (Azarenka won the first set 6-4, but retired in pain in the second set after losing the first three games).

The other semifinal will feature Samantha Stosur and Li Na. The sixth-seeded Stosur defeated second seed Francesca Schiavone 6-2 6-4, in a rematch of last year's French Open final. The fourth-seeded Li advanced with a 6-3 6-1 victory over Greta Arn of Hungary. (via WTA Tour, photo by our reader Tony)

Last year

En route to the 2010 Rome title, Martinez Sanchez defeated Francesca Schiavone, who soon after won the French Open, world No.2 Caroline Wozniacki (now the world No.1), the 2008 French Open champion Ana Ivanovic and in the final she defeated Jelena Jankovic, who had eliminated both the Williams sisters from the tournament. This time, however, Sanchez was bageled in the first set by the world No.37 Makarova, and despite recovering to take the second set, in the decider she was again blown away by the Russian. Here you can see highlights from their encounter.

As for Ivanovic, she actually had a retirement victory against Nadia Petrova, but the Russian decided to give up only after Ivanovic had won all the nine games they played. The Serb, sporting her beautiful pink and orange adidas Adizero dress, had one of her best performances in the recent months, hitting a flurry of winners and seven aces.

Twice Rome finalist Svetlana Kuznetsova, seeded 11th this year, fell in the opening round, but her opponent, Greta Arn of Hungary, needed three sets and two tiebreaks to defeat the Russian 3-6 7-6(4) 7-6(9). (photos: Johan Rivera, Ralf Reinecke)

Serena Williams has slipped from No.10 to No.17 in the rankings released today and there is still no word on when she will come back from her two foot surgeries and the blood clot in her lungs. Serena's fall in the rankings is actually historical for American tennis history, as this week is the first week ever that the United States have no representative in the Top 10 in either WTA or ATP lists.

Soon it will be a year that Serena has been away from tennis courts. However, the younger Williams sister is far from bored. Recently she even had a stalker drama in her life.

Venus Williams hasn’t competed since retiring from her third round match at the 2011 Australian Open in January and is skipping this week’s Italian Open in Rome. However, the five-time Wimbledon champion has committed to playing the grasscourt tournament of Aegon International in June, where she hasn’t participated since 1998.

Kim Clijsters’ bizarre wedding injury is still keeping her away from competition, but the Belgian is back training and is only hoping to recover enough in time for the French Open which starts May 22. Her official website states French Open as her next tournament. (photos via: WTA Tour, sr_cranks, © Neal Trousdale)

At the Polsat Warsaw Open, Romania’s Alexandra Dulgheru spoiled the hopes of an all-Chinese final by defeating Li Na, at No.3 the highest seed left in the draw. The 32nd-ranked Dulgheru is now 12-0 at the Polsat Warsaw Open and is looking for her second title at the tournament (which would also be her second career WTA title).  To reach that goal Dulgheru will have to get past fifth seed Zheng Jie of China, who put an end to Greta Arn's successful week in the second semifinal with a 6-4 7-5 win. If Zheng wins the Polsat Warsaw Open, she will become the first Chinese to win a Premier-level title. (photo: Stephane Martinache)

Seventh seed and twice champion in Rome Jelena Jankovic eliminated both the Williams sisters in two days en route to the final of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia, but that meant nothing to Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez. The unseeded Spaniard defeated Jankovic 7-6(5) 7-5 after 2 hours and 20 minutes to win the biggest title of her career.

The 27-year-old Martinez Sanchez, ranked 26th, is a tricky opponent because of her numerous drop shots, serves and volleys, and because of her left-handedness.

The final started with Martinez Sanchez racing into a 5-2 lead, before Jankovic fought back with four successive games to serve for the set. The world No.7 Jankovic didn’t close it out and then Martinez Sanchez edged the tiebreaker. The Spaniard was a break up twice in the second set and served for the match at 5-4, but Jankovic broke back. However, the former world No.1 dropped serve once again and then Martinez Sanchez served out victory.

All the opponents Martinez Sanchez sent packing in Rome: Alla Kudryavtseva, seed No.13 Francesca Schiavone, seed No.2 Caroline Wozniacki, Lucie Safarova, Ana Ivanovic and finally Jelena Jankovic.

Martinez Sanchez now has three WTA singles titles, having won Bogota and Bastad in 2009. (source: BBC)

The world No.7 Jankovic, who is aiming for her third Rome title after winning here in 2007 and 2008, won the semifinal against top-seeded Serena Williams 4-6 6-3 7-6(5) after 2 hours 47 minutes and a third-set tiebreak.

In the first set Serena had one crucial break to win 6-4. Jankovic then broke Serena to love two times to take the second set 6-3. Then Jankovic seemed to be losing the decider, but came back from a set down to win tense tiebreak with an equally tense score 7-5.

Everyone is hoping for a repeat of old Serbian glory, and even though we can already taste it, we could have an opportunity for a real celebration if Rome would see an all-Serbian final. But for that, Ana Ivanovic has to overcome Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez which will not be an easy task. (photo: Sony Ericsson WTA Tour)

The Serb defeated sixth-seeded Elena Dementieva 6-1 7-6(5) and advanced to the quarterfinals of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia. I was watching just livescores (don't ask me why), but I am pretty sure Ivanovic didn’t have much trouble in the first set. Actually, in that first set Dementieva didn’t hold serve once and as the result shows won only one game.

The second set was longer and unpredictable. The first four games were breaks of serve, but then they both held serve until 6-6 and tiebreak which Ivanovic won 7-5.

This is Ivanovic’s first victory over Dementieva in their five meetings. Her next opponent on clay in Rome will be seed No.14 Nadia Petrova. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)

World number one Serena Williams played three sets to win her second match since coming out of long injury absence, but as always the American was able to step up when needed and defeated unseeded Andrea Petkovic of Germany 6-2 3-6 6-0 in the third round of the Internazionali BNL d'Italia.

The top-seeded Williams won the first set with a five-game streak, but quickly found herself trailing the 49th-ranked Petkovic 4-1 in the second set, before losing it 6-3. In the decider Williams regained her concentration and wrapped up the set to love.

Serena’s older sister Venus Williams, seeded fourth, played next and recorded a 6-3 6-4 victory over Shahar Peer of Israel in the third round, so the Williamses are now on course to meet in the semifinals.

Serena’s opponent in the quarters will be Maria Kirilenko, who followed up her upset of fifth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova with a 4-6 6-1 6-1 win over Dominika Cibulkova. Venus’ next opponent will be seventh seed Jelena Jankovic, who showed good form in the 6-2 6-0 defeat of No.11 seed Yanina Wickmayer in the third round. (photo: Emmett Anderson)