World No.6 Li Na won Sydney and reached the final of the Australian Open in the beginning of the year, but then four straight losses followed, all the way to the Stuttgart tournament in the second half of April where she defeated Anastasija Sevastova before losing to Sabine Lisicki in the following round. The 29-year-old Li decided to make changes in her training and replaced her husband Jiang Shan's coaching by Denmark Fed Cup captain Michael Mortensen.

In the above video Mortensen is talking about his strategy for Li. Results of their cooperation are already here – Li reached the semifinals of the $4.5 million Mutua Madrid Open last week (she lost to eventual champion Petra Kvitova).
Here's how the China's first singles Grand Slam finalist commented on the partnership to Reuters:

My confidence was low and I felt I had to change my coach […] I'm not a young player so I know my body and what I can do on the court. We are focusing more on the mental side as I feel I need someone to support me.

At the ongoing tournament in Rome, Li is seeded fourth and after a bye in the first round she will play world No.46 Lourdes Dominguez Lino.

This time last year Petra Kvitova was ranked lower than No.60, while this week at the Mutua Madrid Open the Czech not only earned the introduction to the Top 10 but also her biggest career title by beating Victoria Azarenka in the final of the $4,500,000 Premier-level tournament. Kvitova now has four WTA titles to her name, and three of them came this year (Brisbane, Paris and now Madrid).

In the first set against fourth-seeded Azarenka, Kvitova had a point for a 4-0 lead, but Azarenka came back to level at 3-3. The set slowly progressed to a tiebreak and Kvitova was decisive then. The world No.18 Kvitova started the second set with a break and just like in the first set that advantage did not last and Azarenka leveled at 3-3. The match stayed uncertain until the end, especially when Azarenka saved a match point at 5-3 and held her serve. However, in what was to be the last game of the match, Kvitova was dominant and she stormed to her first Premier title without losing a point in the final game. Score: 7-6(3) 6-4.

Azarenka can console herself with the fact that she will become the highest ranked representative of her country ever, climbing to No.4 in the WTA rankings, and she had a great success in doubles at the Mutua Madrid Open, as together with Maria Kirilenko she beat the Top 3-seeded teams one after another en route to the title. (photo: Stephane Martinache)

Julia Goerges may be fatal for world No.1 Caroline Wozniacki, but Victoria Azarenka was not frightened by the surging German. The Mutua Madrid Open semifinal between Azarenka and Goerges was the one to watch because they had never played a whole match against each other, and both are hot players in this period, among the favorites for the upcoming Roland Garros. The big-hitting Goerges committed 37 unforced errors and earned only one break point which she didn't convert. Final score: 6-4 6-2.

By virtue of this win, Azarenka will make her country's history and become the first Belarusian to be ranked higher than No.5. Germany's Goerges, the in-form player this clay court season, will also bring a significant improvement to her country's WTA standing – cracking the Top 20 and joining German Andrea Petkovic in the elite.

Azarenka's opponent in the final will be either Li Na or Petra Kvitova, who will as of Monday be a new player in the Top 10. (photo: Tony Osborne)

Victoria Azarenka has reached the semifinals of the Mutua Madrid Open and needs just one more win to become the first Belarusian in WTA history to be ranked higher than No.5, where she stands now. She advanced to the semifinals with a 6-3 3-6 6-2 victory over Lucie Safarova, to whom she hadn’t lost a set before, in their five meetings.

Azarenka’s big obstacle will be Julia Goerges, who has come to the tournament with the big title win at Stuttgart, which she reinforced by beating world No.1 Caroline Wozniacki in the third round this week and then world No.21 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-4 6-2 in the quarterfinals, who is ranked six spots higher than Goerges.

Both Azarenka and Goerges are hot players at the moment. In this two month period, Azarenka has won 18 of 20 matches, including titles in Miami and Marbella, while the losses came only because of injuries (retirements in Indian Wells against Wozniacki and in Stuttgart against Goerges). As for Goerges, not long ago, in Charleston, she reached her first Premier quarterfinal, and now she will play her second straight Premier semifinal. (photos: © Neal Trousdale)

Germany’s Julia Goerges reinforced her status of a dark horse for the French Open by defeating world No.1 Caroline Wozniacki, one of the favorites for the red clay Grand Slam, for the second time in 11 days.

Wozniacki won the title on the green clay of Charleston, and then on the red clay of Stuttgart she lost in the final to Julia Goerges 7-6(3) 6-3. Goerges, who has consequently climbed five spots in the rankings to a career-high of No.27, repeated the feat of upsetting the top-ranked player, taking Wozniacki out of the Mutua Madrid Open in the third round 6-4 1-6 6-3. The 22-year-old Goerges was much more productive in the department of winners, scoring 36 to Wozniacki’s 11, thus outweighing the 38 unforced errors compared to Wozniacki’s 21.

Goerges’ next opponent will be Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova who saw off fifth seed Samantha Stosur 7-6(4) 6-3. (photo: Ralf Reinecke)

World No.18 Petra Kvitova, one of the players deserving special attention at the upcoming French Open, convincingly defeated second seed Vera Zvonareva in the third round of the $4.5 million Mutua Madrid Open.

Russia's Zvonareva scored two aces to Kvitova’s none, and had a better first serve percentage, but it was Kvitova who won more points, both on her first and second serves (20% better than Zvonareva on the second serve), and also, Kvitova saved seven of eight break points, while Zvonareva saved just two of six. Final score 6-1 6-4.

It was a bad day for many Russians at the Madrid Open. Dinara Safina fell to Julia Goerges 6-4 4-6 6-4 in the second round and Alisa Kleybanova fell to Roberta Vinci 6-2 6-2. Let’s see what Maria Sharapova will do against Dominika Cibulkova, their match is currently in progress.

Seventh seed Jelena Jankovic lost to Lucie Safarova 6-4 4-6 7-5, also in the second round, while sixth seed Li Na scored a 6-1 6-4 victory over Iveta Benesova. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)

It was the first meeting between world No.1 Caroline Wozniacki and Bojana Jovanovski, and even though the young Serbian star provided resistance, it was the favorite Wozniacki that advanced to the third round of the Madrid Open with a 6-4 6-4 victory.

Jovanovski was the first to take lead, 3-1 in the first set, but Wozniacki answered with two breaks in that set and three in the second set. The Dane saved eight of the 11 break points she faced. After the match, Wozniacki tweeted that it was not her best game, but she was happy to get through. Here you can watch highlights from the match.

Wozniacki will next play either Julia Goerges or Dinara Safina. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)

In the quarterfinal of the Andalucia Tennis Championships against top seed Victoria Azarenka, Dinara Safina retired while trailing 5-1 because she felt the back pain similar to the reappearing one that has been disrupting her participation in tennis tournaments for a couple of years now. The lower back issues seemed to have been overcome, but with the familiar pain reoccurring, Safina didn’t want to take any risks and withdrew from the tournament:

It was a sad end to the week. I was playing well. I had another problem with my back. I started to feel a pain similar to the one I used to have. I was very afraid, so I am going to have an MRI and see what that shows. I hope it's nothing serious and that it's just my fear, but I want to double check. It's not as strong a pain as before, but I have a similar sensation.

Azarenka’s semifinal opponent in Marbella will be Sara Errani, the eighth seed who beat fourth seed Alexandra Dulgheru of Romania 6-2 6-2. The other semifinal features second seed Svetlana Kuznetsova, who defeated Lara Arruabarrena Vecino in the quarterfinals, and Romanian qualifier Irina Begu, who advanced with a win over sixth seed Klara Zakopalova. (via the WTA Tour, photo by our reader Tony)

Unseeded Aravane Rezai played some magical tennis on the clay of the Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open and defeated fourth seed Venus Williams 6-2 7-5 in an entertaining and competitive Premier-level final to win the biggest title of her career. The world No.24 Rezai played a game of powerful and precise groundstrokes, and her determination and self-confidence were on just as high level.

By breaking Venus in the third and seventh games, Rezai won the first set 6-2 in just about half an hour. But the second set was the one which has probably given Rezai plenty of new fans. Rezai was trailing Venus 5-2, but giving up was the last thing on her mind. The Frenchwoman won five successive games to win the match on her first match point, but only after saving six set points, five of which were at Venus’ 5-4 lead.

Here is Rezai’s far from easy route to victory: Justine Henin in the first round, then Klara Zakopalova, Andrea Petkovic, seventh seed Jelena Jankovic, Lucie Safarova (retired), and finally Venus Williams.

World No.3 Venus, who will as of tomorrow be No.2, was denied her 44th career title, while Rezai won her third (after Strasbourg and Bali in 2009). Not only did Rezai win the biggest title of her career, but she won an inspiring sum of money, €620,000, while Venus took home €310,000 with her runner-up finish in singles.

Venus had previously won the 2010 Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open doubles title with her sister Serena, as they ended the great streak of Gisela Dulko and Flavia Pennetta with a 6-2 7-5 victory over the Argentinean-Italian pair in the final. The recent victories of Dulko and Pennetta include Miami, Stuttgart and Rome titles. (photos: Stephane Martinache)

Venus Williams and Aravane Rezai reached the final of the Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open on Saturday.

Venus, at No.4 the only seeded player in the semifinals, has retained her perfect career record against Shahar Peer by beating the Israeli for the fifth time to reach the Madrid final. Williams and Peer traded breaks to take the score to 3-3 in the first set, but then the American won nine straight games to win the match. After this 6-3 6-0 victory, Williams is 5-0 against Peer in career meetings.

In order to win her 10th clay court title, Williams will have to get past France’s Aravane Rezai, ranked 24th in the world, who advanced to the final when her semifinal opponent, Lucie Safarova, retired with a left thigh injury after Rezai won the first set 6-1. Williams and Rezai faced each other twice before, both times in 2007, both times on clay, and are tied at 1-1.

Venus Williams has also reached the doubles final at the Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open. Together with her sister Serena she will play against Gisela Dulko and Flavia Pennetta. (photos: Stephane Martinache and reader Tony)