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.

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)

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)