This hurts! Still no winning streak for former world No.1 Ana Ivanovic. The Serb suffered yet another early loss, this time to Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova.

The fourth-seeded Ivanovic had a first round bye, and was upset 3-6 6-2 7-6 (4) right away in the second round of the Kremlin Cup in Moscow, falling to the world No.20 Cibulkova.

To make things worse, Ivanovic had two match points in the 10th game of the deciding set, but failed to convert them.

More bad news for Ana's fans: At the 2008 Kremlin Cup, Ivanovic played her first doubles match in tournament play since June 2007. On Wednesday, after her singles defeat, she also lost in the doubles competition, paired with Italy's Francesca Schiavone. They were beaten 6-2 4-6 10-7 by top seeds and world No.1s Cara Black and Liezel Huber in the quarterfinals. (via Ana Ivanovic's website, photo: ivanovic-ana.com)

Sixth seed Venus Williams lost 6-4 2-6 6-4 to Italy’s Flavia Pennetta in the opening round of the Kremlin Cup in Moscow.

Pennetta and Williams exhanged breaks in the first set. The world No.18 Pennetta broke decisively on her third chance in the ninth game. Williams broke twice in the second set, but dropped serve in the first game of the third set and never recovered.

With the victory at the Kremlin Cup Pennetta has improved her record against Williams to 3-1.

The top four seeds, Jelena Jankovic, Dinara Safina, Elena Dementieva and Ana Ivanovic, have byes into the second round. (source: AP, photo: Getty Images)

Soon-not-to-be world No.1 Serena Williams withdrew from the Kremlin Cup, which starts on Monday in Moscow, due to an ankle injury.

"My left ankle has been bothering me since the US Open and I need to take a break now to get it back to 100 percent," said the nine-time Grand Slam champion, who was a finalist last year in Moscow.

"I have played a lot this year and my body needs to recover. My goal is to try and get the No. 1 ranking back."

Besides Williams, world No.6 Maria Sharapova also won’t take part in the Kremlin Cup, as she will be missing the rest of the season because of her shoulder injury. However, the women's field is the strongest in the 19-year history of the $2.3 million with eight of the world's top 10 players participating. (source: ESPN, photo: Getty Images)

Elena Dementieva claimed her first Kremlin Cup title on Sunday with a 5-7 6-1 6-1 victory over fourth-seeded Serena Williams in their fifth career meeting.

This title has a special significance to the Russian, since it is her first title on home soil in her 11th Kremlin Cup appearance. Before she had lost two finals at the tournament in Moscow, in 2001 and 2004.

After losing the first set, world No.14 Dementieva came back strong, breaking Williams three times in each of the next two sets. During the match, Williams made 59 unforced errors to her opponent’s 31.

"She just played really unbelievable, she should play like that more often," said world No.7 Serena Williams.

"I'm not going to make excuses for myself. I played terrible. I had a feeling that almost every shot I hit, it was out."

Having won her eighth career title, Dementieva earned $182,000 and took her record against Williams to 1-4. (source: Reuters, photo via Yahoo)

Fourth seed Serena Williams defeated eight seed Nicole Vaidisova 6-4 7-6(7) to advance to Moscow semifinals.

Vaidisova difficultly held her serve, especially in the first set when none of her serves went without at least one deuce. However, Williams made only one break despite having, as far as I remember, 9 break points! Vaidisova had one chance to break Serena in the sixth game of the first set, but the American impressively served three aces in a row. In the eighth game of the second set, Williams was broken and trailed 5-3, but she broke back and eventually there was a tiebreak. Vaidisova saved three match points in the tiebreaker before netting a forehand to lose the match.

In the semifinals Serena Williams will face top seed Svetlana Kuznetsova, while Dinara Safina plays against Elena Dementieva.

Third seed Anna Chakvetadze succumbed to fellow Muscovite Dinara Safina 7-6 (8-6), 6-2 at the $1.34 million Kremlin Cup on Thursday. Chakvetadze’s defeat is just a continuation of a series of upsets at the Moscow tournament.

World No.6 Chakvetadze held two set points in the first set tiebreak and couldn’t convert them. In the second, set she saved two match points, but eventually fell to the world No.17.

Safina heads into Friday's quarterfinals against another countrywoman, Vera Zvonareva, who is working to regain her former high standing on the tour. (source: Women Who Serve, photo via The Anna Chakvetadze website)

With the exception of two tennis stars, there was nothing but rain, heat, and upsets in Moscow and Bangkok on Wednesday.

Who fell?

Before the start of the third round, the Kremlin Cup was left without four of its top eight seeds.

Second seed Maria Sharapova played her first match since the US Open and lost it in straight sets. The Russian was defeated by world No.32 Victoria Azarenka 7-6(9) 6-2.

Fifth seed Marion Bartoli was knocked out of the tournament by world No.46 Vera Dushevina. The Wimbledon finalist captured the first set 6-2, only to surrender a bagel set before losing 2-6, 6-0, 6-4. Read more »

World number one Justine Henin has withdrawn from next week's Kremlin Cup with a shoulder injury. Maria Sharapova, however, has recovered from her persistent shoulder injury and will compete in Moscow.

You may be asking why Justine Henin is withdrawing when she seems healthy, actually, she has reached the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix semifinals today, playing impressive tennis. "We were told Henin had suffered some injury to her shoulder and although she is still playing this week, she would not play the following week as she wants to have some rest," Kremlin Cup executive director Alexander Katsnelson told Reuters on Friday. Read more »