The world No. 17 Ana Ivanovic overwhelmed Jelena Jankovic ranked 9 to reach the semifinals of the Bausch & Lomb Championships in Florida. The younger player won 7-5, 6-3. This victory extends Ivanovic's head-to-head record over 22-year-old Jankovic to 3-1 . Ana's opponent in the final four will be either Tatiana Golovin or Venus Williams whose match is currently in progress.

Sixth seed Ana Ivanovic of Serbia is the first known member of the semifinals. We're still waiting for the results of the following matches: Tatiana Golovin (FRA) vs. Venus Williams (USA), Daniela Hantuchova (SVK) vs. Sybille Bammer (AUT), and Nadia Petrova (RUS) vs. Dinara Safina (RUS). Let me just remind you that Petrova is the reigning champion at Amelia Island.

I'll keep you up with the latest results!

Second seed Jelena Jankovic and sixth seed Ana Ivanovic will face each other in the fight for semifinals of the Bausch and Lomb Championships. They both needed less than one hour to defeat their opponents in the third round. Jankovic crushed Alona Bondarenko of the Ukraine in straight sets 6-2, 6-0, while Ivanovic easily beat world No. 43 Nathalie Dechy 6-1, 6-1.

In their matches Ivanovic leads 2:1 — Ivanovic overwhelmed Jankovic in Zurich and Tokyo, while Jankovic won in Los Angeles. I personally think that Jankovic has slightly higher chances to take the victory. We'll see the result on Friday.

Second seed Jelena Jankovic beat No. 86 Iveta Benesova 6-1, 6-2 at the Bausch & Lomb Championships. Jankovic improved her play from the last year when she failed to make it out of the second round. The 22-year-old will face Alona Bondarenko in the third round of the tournament. In their head-to-head statistics Jelena leads 3-0. However, they have never played against each other on clay.

Venus Williams advanced to the round three of the Bausch & Lomb Championships by defeating Patty Schnyder 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. This is her ninth straight win over Patty Schnyder. In the third round Williams will face Meilen Tu. So, we'll be watching a match of the only two American players left in the tournament. (via: SI.com)

Ana Ivanovic's first ever competitive outing on green clay almost ended up disappointingly. In the 40th minute of the match, Peng Shuai lead 6-1, 2-0 and faced two break points at 15-40. But then, Ana's determination and strength took the lead. She made one of her most impressive comebacks by fighting off those break points and eventually winning the match.

Ana's opponent in the third round is Nathalie Dechy. So far, they played two times, and the score is 2-0 for Ivanovic.

(source: Ana Ivanovic's website)

Venus Williams has one more proof that she's physically fit and ready to climb rankings again. It didn't take her long to defeat Aravane Rezai of France 6-1, 6-2 in the first round of the Bausch and Lomb Championships in Florida. Williams used her powerful serve to ensure her place in the second round where her opponent will be fourth seed Patty Schnyder. So far, Williams has eight consecutive wins over Schnyder.

Nadia Petrova is one step closer to defending her title at the Bausch & Lomb Championships in Amelia Island, Florida. After having a bye in round one, she reaches the third round by beating Estonia's Kaia Kanepi in straight sets 6-4, 6-0. Her next opponent will be Zheng Jie of China.

(source: BBC Sport)

Venus Williams says that she feels good and that she is satisfied with her performance in Memphis and Miami. We will see her at the Bausch & Lomb Champinship today when her opponent in the first round will be Aravane Rezai of France. Let me just remind you that Williams won this tournament in 2002 when she was world's No. 2 female tennis player. At present she is No. 32, but here's what she has to say about her future plans:

"I'm very eager to get my ranking up but realize I have to wait and quite possibly have to play more tournaments, or I have to stay in there and win the big tournaments like (sister) Serena.

"I just have to be patient … but I want it tomorrow," she said.

Bausch & Lomb Championships starts on April 2, in Amelia Island, Florida. It is played outdoors, on green clay surface. The only two players from the top 10 who will take part in this tournament are Nadia Petrova (last year's winner) and Jelena Jankovic. Let me just remind you that players with the best results in Bausch & Lomb were Martina Navratilova, Chris Evert and Steffi Graf who all won this tournament 3 times.