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)

Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open was Maria Sharapova’s first appearance at the Premier Mandatory event, as well as her first tournament since pulling out of Indian Wells in March, and it was cut short by Lucie Safarova.

Safarova, who beat world number two Caroline Wozniacki in Stuttgart last month, charged into a 4-0 lead in the first set, and even though Sharapova leveled at 4-4, Safarova took the next two games and won the set. The second set went with serve until Safarova took one break and it was all she needed to win the set and match. Final score: 6-4 6-3.

The opening-round meeting of Sharapova and Safarova in Madrid was also their first career meeting.

Sharapova’s first tournament on clay this season didn’t start well, but the Russian is heading to Strasbourg to get more practice on clay before Roland Garros. (photo: sr_cranks)

World No.1 Dinara Safina solidified her position at the top of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour rankings, as well as her role of the favorite for winning upcoming Roland Garros, with a 6-2 6-4 victory over ninth seed Caroline Wozniacki in the Madrid Open final.

The top-seeded Safina broke the 19-year-old Wozniacki’s serve three times in the first set and early in the second to storm to her 11 career title and second successive title after winning in Rome last week.

The 23-year-old Russian will head to the French Open, where she was a runner-up to Ana Ivanovic last year, on a 10-match winning streak.

Safina has earned €620,000 by winning the Premier-level claycourt event in Madrid, while Wozniacki, who will from tomorrow be ranked 10th in the world, took home €310,000. (photo Getty Images via Yahoo)

Top seed Dinara Safina and ninth seed Caroline Wozniacki will meet in the Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open final to play each other for the first time.

The world No.1 Safina defeated Patty Schnyder 6-4 6-2 in Madrid semifinals. Schnyder had defeated two Top 10 opponents in Madrid, No.10 Nadia Petrova in the third round and No.4 Jelena Jankovic in the quarterfinals, but she fell to Safina, who has moved into her third straight final, and will be going for her second straight title.

This week in Madrid, Safina has reached her 12th final in 20 tournaments. Also, since ascending to the top of the rankings, the Russian has posted a 13-1 record.

In the first semifinal of the day, Caroline Wozniacki beat Amelie Mauresmo 7-6(1) 6-3.

The 19-year old Wozniacki, who has since May 2008 played more matches at Tour level events (including Fed Cup) than any other player, will become the first Danish WTA player to reach the Top 10. She can even climb to No.9 if she defeats Safina in the final. Safina will stay No.1 nevertheless. (photos: Ralf Reinecke, Tennis Channel)