Three-time defending champion Caroline Wozniacki will play qualifier Petra Cetkovska in the final of the New Haven Open.

The top-seeded Wozniacki was a break down for the most part of the first set of the semifinal against Francesca Schiavone, and it was the third-seeded Schiavone who had 24 winners to 18 errors, compared to Wozniacki's 3 winners and 10 errors. Still, the Dane won at rigth moments and in the tiebreak took the first set. Through the second set she went more comfortably and advanced to the final with a 7-6(2) 6-3 win.

Cetkovska battled to a thrilling 6-2 5-7 7-6(9) victory over second seed Li Na to reach her first WTA final, and nothing less than at a Premier-level tournament. At 5-4 in the third set Cetkovska served for the match, gave Li three break opportunities at 0-40, then saved all the three, but double-faulted on match point. In the tiebreak Li saved two match points before losing one of her own at 8-7. Cetkovska closed out on her fifth match point. Read more »

World No.1 Caroline Wozniacki avenged her last week's Cincinnati loss to Christina McHale with a 7-5 6-3 over the American in the quarterfinals of the New Haven Open where the Dane is now on a 15-0 winning streak including three straight titles. If Wozniacki manages to win four successive titles at a WTA event, she will be the tenth player in the Open Era to do so, and first since Venus Williams' reign in New Haven from 1999 to 2002. Read more »

At the tournament where Caroline Wozniacki is aiming for her fourth straight title the Dane rebounded from her US Open lead-up crisis by a convincing 6-3 6-0 victory over Slovenian Polona Hercog. At the last tournament before the New York Grand Slam, Wozniacki finally won a match, while at the preceding events of Toronto and Cincinnati the world No.1, who will be top seed at the US Open, suffered opening round losses.

To make things more interesting, Wozniacki's opponent in the quarterfinal of the New Haven Open will be home favorite Christina McHale, who upset Wozniacki 6-4 7-5 last week at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati. Wildcard McHale has already made news this week, having beaten sixth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova in the first round and then rolling past Carla Suarez Navarro in the second.

Additional info: Adidas yesterday sent me this official photo of Wozniacki's US Open dress. So, it will definitely be the white version of the dress, and not the light yellow dress. Also, they sent me the behind-the-scenes video of Wozniacki's photo shoot for Stella McCartney Fall/Winter 2011.

During the third game of the first-round match between Jelena Jankovic and Elena Vesnina, the Yale University campus, venue of the New Haven Open, was shaken by an earthquake which originated in Richmond, Virginia. The main stadium was evacuated as a precaution.

Spectators felt three waves of shaking and players' water bottles were upended. The earthquake was also felt at Flushing Meadows, where the US Open starts next week.

Play has resumed and the world No.43 Vesnina defeated Jankovic 6-4 2-6 6-4. Over the weekend another victory slipped away to the 12-ranked Jankovic, when she lost the Cincinnati final to Maria Sharapova. Vesnina's opponent in the second round will be Anabel Medina Garrigues.

Was it a coincidence that the stadium started shaking during the match of our Drama Queen?  (photo by our reader Tony)

American Christina McHale made big news last week at the Western & Southern Open with her upset of world No.1 Caroline Wozniacki in the second round and at this week's New Haven Open the 19-year-old has already attracted attention again – she upset two-time Grand Slam and 2007 New Haven champion Svetlana Kuznetsova in the first round.

Wildcard McHale was trailing 4-2 in the first set against the sixth-seeded Kuznetsova before winning three straight games and later taking the set 7-5. The second set featured six breaks of serve, four by McHale. Final score: 7-5 6-3.

Let's mention that this was not the first victory of McHale over Kuznetsova. They played each other this year at Indian Wells and McHale won 7-6(4) 7-6(7).

McHale is ten places higher ranked that last week. She's risen from No.76 to No.66.

Reminder: Caroline Wozniacki, that I mentioned in the beginning of the article, is looking for her fourth successive New Haven title this week. (via ESPN, photo: © Neal Trousdale)

Caroline Wozniacki remained undefeated at the Pilot Pen Tennis at Yale (13-0), winning her third consecutive title at the tournament with a 6-3 3-6 6-3 win over Nadia Petrova in the final. It’s the Dane’s second title of the week, as she won the rain-delayed Rogers Cup final against Vera Zvonareva on Monday.

The top-seeded Wozniacki was leading 6-3 2-0 when Petrova took charge and won the second set of the New Haven final. Then in the third set Wozniacki established a 4-1 lead and although Petrova managed to come closer, to 4-3, Wozniacki played two good games to close out the match.

Wozniacki now heads to the US Open, where she is top seed, with four WTA titles this season, which is more than any other player on the Tour has won. Her first opponent at the US Open will be American wildcard Chelsey Gullickson, who is unranked. (via Sony Ericsson WTA Tour)

This is the third time Caroline Wozniacki is playing at New Haven and she still hasn’t lost a match here, improving to 12-0 with a 1-6 6-3 7-6(5) triumph over Elena Dementieva in this year’s semifinals.

The top-seeded Wozniacki will play eighth seed Nadia Petrova in the final of the Pilot Pen Tennis at Yale. Wozniacki is 2-1 lifetime against Petrova, with both the wins coming this season, at Indian Wells and Charleston. The one encounter Wozniacki lost was two years ago and she had to retire.

Wozniacki is occupying the top spot in the final Olympus US Open Series standings for 2010, meaning that the US Open title would bring her an additional $1 million. Wozniacki was runner-up at last year’s US Open, and this time she’ll be No.1 seed.

Additional info: A couple of days ago Wozniacki said how she would like to take a class or two at Yale, probably online. It would be a nice addition to her life, so that not everything revolves around tennis. She wanted to carry that idea out this year, but her professional obligations prevented her from doing so. (photo: Ralf Reinecke)

Nadia Petrova has reached her first final since 2008 and the 20th of her career after a 2-6 6-2 6-2 victory over Maria Kirilenko in the semis of the Pilot Pen Tennis at Yale.

Kirilenko won the first set in 39 minutes, breaking the eighth-seeded Petrova twice and without dropping her own serve. But then Petrova started to play better and Kirilenko’s low back injury that she got "out of nowhere" took the toll. Petrova won all her service games in the remaining two sets and defeated her fellow Russian who refused to retire despite the pain.

The second semifinal will feature No.4 seed Elena Dementieva and No.1 seed Caroline Wozniacki. (photo courtesy of Fiji Water)