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)

Venus Williams eased past Samantha Stosur 6-3 6-3 and reached the semifinals of the Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open. Venus is now 4-0 against Stosur and has maintained the pattern of never losing more than four games in a set against the Australian.

Venus’s opponent in the semifinals will be Shahar Peer, the Israeli who will bear the burden of being the one who defeated No.13 seed Li Na at the Madrid Open. Why am I saying this? Because Li is donating all her Madrid money to earthquake-hit Yushu County in northwest China. Li will help the county with $57,500, and had the Chinese reached the semis, the amount would have been more than twice as high.

Lucie Safarova, coming off quarterfinals in Stuttgart and Rome, continued her fine form and upset No.16 seed Nadia Petrova 6-1 1-6 6-4 in Madrid quarters. Next for Safarova will be Aravane Rezai, the winner over seventh seed Jelena Jankovic, 7-5 6-4. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)

World No.8 Samantha Stosur has won 21 of her last 24 matches, and her latest victory came against Patty Schnyder in the third round of the Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open.

Schynder was a semifinalist at the Premier-level tournament last year and has more wins on clay than any other active player, but the eighth-seeded Stosur defeated the Swiss 7-6(3) 6-2 and is marching towards the Top 5 in the rankings (she is projected to reach a career-high of No.7 next week).

Here’s what Stosur says about her continued good results:

I've been playing well since Indian Wells. That all started on hardcourt and it has been running onto the clay courts, too [Miami, Charleston, Stuttgart]. It's just one of those things. You win a number of matches in a row then you grow in confidence, and it doesn't matter what surface you're on.

Awaiting Stosur in the quarterfinals is fourth seed Venus Williams, whom Stosur has never defeated in three attempts. Actually, Stosur hasn’t won a set against Williams. (source: Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, photo: sr_cranks)

Venus and Serena Williams both played their third-round matches at the Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open on Wednesday, but with different outcomes.

The fourth-seeded Venus lost the first set against seed No.15 Francesca Schiavone, but was dominant in the remainder of the match to win 3-6 6-1 6-2.

Serena, who barely survived her match against Vera Dusevina in the previous round, played her third-round right after older sister Venus and fell to No.16 seed Nadia Petrova 4-6 6-2 6-3. The world No.1 Serena was playing only her second tournament since winning the Australian Open in January.

Venus’ win is securing her to move one spot up in the rankings, from No.3 to No.2, which means that the Williams sisters will occupy the Top 2 spots for the 46th week in their careers when the new rankings are released on Monday. Venus hasn’t been in the Top 2 since 2003. (photo: Emmett Anderson)

The all-Serbian second-round clash of Ana Ivanovic and Jelena Jankovic at the Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open happened to be an interesting affair of constant breaks of serve (the total of 19) and the world No.4 Jankovic won the match despite holding serve only five times in all the three sets. Final score: 4-6 6-4 6-1.

The first set consisted solely of the breaks of serve except for the seventh game which Ivanovic won.  Jankovic had her chances when she saved a number of set points at 5-3 and then served to equal the score at 5-5, but she was broken to love and Ivanovic took the set 6-4.

The second set was a breakthrough for Jankovic – she won her first service game in the 14th game of the match! In general, the second set was pretty similar to the first one, but this time in Jankovic’s favor. Ivanovic held one serve, Jankovic held two and thus won the set 6-4.

Ivanovic crumbled in the deciding set and managed to win only one game and the seventh-seeded Jankovic advanced to the third round of the $4,500,000 tournament.

Jankovic is still trailing the 2008 Roland Garros champion Ivanovic in career meetings, 3-6. (photos: Stephane Martinache)

Second seed Caroline Wozniacki is still recovering from an ankle injury sustained in Charleston and her erratic performance led to a 6-2 6-3 loss to Alona Bondarenko in the second round of the Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open. That’s not to underestimate the 25-ranked Bondarenko, who made winner after winner to score the biggest victory of her career.

The world No.2 Wozniacki started this claycourt season well, by defending her MPS Group Championships title and reaching the semifinals of the Family Circle Cup in Charleston, but the injury the Dane sustained there has, not surprisingly, affected her later results and she fell in the second round of Stuttgart, Rome and now Madrid.

However, Wozniacki keeps her hopes high for the upcoming claycourt Grand Slam: "I really think I am going to be okay for the French Open."

Many other seeds were just as unlucky as Wozniacki in the second-round action at the Madrid Open. Sixth seed Elena Dementieva fell to Romanian Alexandra Dulgheru 6-1 3-6 7-5. It is Dulgheru’s second Top 10 win, and her first one came just last week against Dinara Safina. Patty Schnyder defeated ninth seed Agnieszka Radwanska 3-6 6-4 6-4, Anabel Medina Garrigues crushed seed No.12 Marion Bartoli 6-2 6-0, while Andrea Petkovic saved nine set points in the first set and then defeated No.14 seed Flavia Pennetta 7-6(3) 6-3.

Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez is now in the limelight because of her spectacular victory in Rome last week, but eighth-seeded Samantha Stosur ended the Spaniard's run by defeating her 7-6(2) 6-4. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)

Russian Dinara Safina did not only fall in the rankings from No.3 to No.5 on Monday, but also fell in the first round of the Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open, the claycourt tournament where she was defending her title. Qualifier Klara Zakopalova upset Safina 7-6(1) 7-6(3).

Both Safina and Zakopalova claimed seven breaks of serve during the match, but the world No.88 Czech dominated the tiebreaks, the first one 7-1 and the second 7-3. Zakopalova is now 2-0 in career meetings with Safina.

Just a short reminder that Safina was defending her title in Rome last week as well and also lost in the first round. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)

World No.1 Serena Williams escaped the fate of her Rome appearance where she fell to Jelena Jankovic despite having two match points and advanced to the third round of the Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open by battling past 43-ranked Vera Dushevina.

The match at the Premier-level tournament in Madrid lasted almost three and a half hours and included three tiebreaks to finish with a score 6-7(2) 7-6(5) 7-6(5). The twelve-time Grand Slam champion’s career is sure rich in experience, but her today’s much against  the Russian winner of one WTA title is the longest match of her long career.

The top-seeded Williams had three set points in the first set before losing it, then fought off a match point in the second, and in the third set she wasted a 5-2 lead only to see herself trailing 4-0 in the deciding tiebreak. However, the top-seeded Williams eventually defeated Dushevina after a close and long match. (photo: Stephane Martinache)

Playing her first match since winning the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart in the end of last month, Justine Henin was bageled in the third set by Aravane Rezai and lost in the opening round of the $4,500,000 Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open.

The 4-6 7-5 6-0 victory of Rezai over Henin on clay is making us question Henin’s title prospects for the upcoming French Open, but as usual in women’s tennis, everything is possible and you never know what will happen.

The world No.22 Rezai will play Dinara Safina in the second round, if the Russian defeats Klara Zakapalova in their first-round match. (photo: Stephane Martinache)