At the 2013 Qatar Total Open, Maria Sharapova has a chance to overtake Victoria Azarenka as the No.1 WTA player and win an extra Diamond Ball trophy if she goes all the way to the title. The Russian started off well, with a comfortable 6-3 6-2 victory over Caroline Garcia in the second round.

Sharapova now has a perfect 10-0 win-loss record at the Qatar Total Open tournament, which she won on both her previous appearances, in 2005 and 2008. The organizers are providing an additional incentive to Sharapova if she wins the title for the third time – the Diamond Ball trophy. One more player in the field shares that opportunity with Sharapova, her fellow Russian Nadia Petrova, who also won her today's match, beating Andrea Hlavackova 6-2 6-3.

The No.1 ranking is up for grabs this week, so let's see the obstacles the three contenders have to face to win/retain the position:

• SERENA WILLIAMS' PERSPECTIVE: has to reach the semifinals or hope that Azarenka doesn't make the final and Sharapova doesn't clinch the title;
• VICTORIA AZARENKA'S PERSPECTIVE: has to reach the final for a chance to remain No.1;
• MARIA SHARAPOVA'S PERSPECTIVE: has to win the title and hope that Serena falls before the semis and Azarenka doesn't reach the final.

Serena was also in action today, testing the recovery level of her back and ankle injuries suffered during the Australian Open, and beat Daria Gavrilova 6-2 6-1 in the second round. Daria was barely born when Serena turned pro in 1995! After a first-round bye, defending champion Victoria Azarenka opens her campaign against Romina Oprandi. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)

In an interview after her Dubai quarterfinal win, Agnieszka Radwanska made it public that she "lost a lot of respect" for world No.1 Victoria Azarenka, because the Belarusian allegedly exaggerated her ankle injury pain during her semifinal victory in Doha. Radwanska spoke her mind when asked about the cold handshake in her Doha loss to Azarenka, in which Azarenka sprained her ankle in the second set and eventually won, despite limping and looking on the verge of retirement.

I think after this match (in Doha) [I] just lost a lot of respect. If you do this in the match, if anyone didn’t see the match, I think it’s just a quick look on YouTube and you’ll know what was going on. I was angry because I don’t think this is the great image for the women’s tennis, what was going on there.

Here's the YouTube video. The handshake is in the last minute of the clip.

(via Beyond the Baseline)

World No.1 Victoria Azarenka humbled world No.5 Samantha Stosur in the Qatar Total Open final and won her 11th career title and her third in 2012 even though it's only mid-February. Azarenka has remained undefeated this season with her 17th consecutive match win, after her perfect showings in Sydney and the Australian Open.

It seemed that the left angle injury sustained yesterday in the semi against Agnieszka Radwanska didn't bother Azarenka, as she dominated the Premier-level final 6-1 6-2. Of the first ten games of the match, Stosur won only one. Moreover, Stosur didn't earn even a single opportunity to break Azarenka's serve.

It was an absolutely straightforward victory for Azarenka, which is quite a disappointment considering that the match featured two Top 5 players. Although Stosur has fell to 3-11 in WTA finals, the campaign at the Doha tournament is a success for Stosur after her very unsatisfactory Australian swing.

To make the victory even bigger for Azarenka, she hasn't dropped a set whole week and lost just 18 games en route to the title. (photo: Johan Rivera, follow him on Twitter @HobbiesPlus)

World No.1 Victoria Azarenka survived a leg injury which did impair her movement and defeated Agnieszka Radwanska in the semifinals of the Qatar Total Open for her 16th straight win this year.

Azarenka won the first set 6-2 and after an exchange of breaks in the beginning of the second set at 1-1, the top seed made a bad step on her left leg and injured it so that she needed a medical timeout and the consequences on her movement were visible. However, Radwanska didn't take advantage of her opponent's troubled movement. Even though Azarenka lost a game full of unforced errors on her side and trailed 1-2, from then on she was on a roll, broke Radwanska's serve two times, including without losing a single point for a 5-2 lead. Azarenka didn't manage to serve out the match right away and dropped serve, but in her next service game she was perfect and closed out the match to love. Final score: 6-2 6-4.

We'll see how Azarenka's injury will react when it cools off and how ready she will be for the final against Samantha Stosur, who advanced when Marion Bartoli retired with a right calf injury at 6-3 for Stosur. (photo: Johan Rivera, follow him on Twitter @HobbiesPlus)

Victoria Azarenka won Sydney, then the Australian Open, and now in Doha she comfortably reached the semifinals with a 6-0 6-4 victory over Yanina Wickmayer, which is her 15th consecutive match win this year. What do you think of her way of claiming and confirming her No.1 ranking?

In all her three Doha matches, against Mona Barthel, Simona Halep and now Yanina Wickmayer, the top-seeded Azarenka was dominant. The first set of the quarterfinal Azarenka even called "a perfect set", while the second set wasn't far from great either, as even though Wickmayer broke her two times to get the match back on serve, Azarenka kept striding forward and closed out the match with a love service game.

In the semifinals Azarenka will play fourth seed Agnieszka Radwanska, who defeated Christina McHale 6-1 6-1. The other semifinal will feature third seed Samantha Stosur and fifth seed Marion Bartoli. Stosur made her way past Monica Niculescu 6-2 2-6 6-3, and Bartoli also went through in three sets, against Lucie Safarova 7-5 4-6 6-1. (photo: Johan Rivera, follow him on Twitter @HobbiesPlus)

Top-ranked Victoria Azarenka is safely through to the quarterfinals of the Qatar Total Open after overcoming Simona Halep's resistance early in their third round match. The world No.63 Halep took Azarenka's serve and held for a 3-1 lead in the beginning of the match, but from then on it was all Azarenka, as the seed No.1 won ten straight games for 6-3 5-0, before winning the match 6-3 6-1.

Yanina Wickmayer will be Azarenka's opponent in the quarterfinals. The Belgian, who took out seventh seed Francesca Schiavone in the second round, advanced to the final eight with a 6-4 6-0 victory over Ksenia Pervak. Wickmayer and Azarenka will meet for the first time. (photo: Johan Rivera, follow him on Twitter @HobbiesPlus)

World No.28 Lucie Safarova upset world No.4 and recent No.1 Caroline Wozniacki in the second round of the $2,168,400 Qatar Total Open, even though Wozniacki had three match points at 5-4 in the third set.

The players exchanged patches of dominance throughout the match and it was only a matter of whose patch would finish it. At 5-4 in the decider, on Safarova's serve, Wozniacki stormed to 40-0 to earn herself three match points and it looked as if it was her day. But Safarova fired back and evened the match by winning five successive points. Actually, the Czech scored two more points and led 30-0 at 5-5. It was not over yet, though! Wozniacki worked her way back, and after saving two break points she won the game for 6-5. Safarova again leveled, and despite trailing 0-2 initially in the tiebreak, from 3-3 the Czech won all the remaining points and went away with well-deserved victory. Final score: 4-6 6-4 7-6(3).

Additional info: You know that Vera Zvonareva is defending champion in Doha and that she came to the tournament after a retirement in her quarterfinal at Pattaya. Unfortunately, the sixth-seeded Zvonareva retired from her opening round here, in the second set against Monica Niculescu, because of the same hip injury. Another seeded player is out, No. 8 seed Jelena Jankovic lost to Shahar Peer 7-6(3) 6-2. (photos: Johan Rivera, follow him on Twitter @HobbiesPlus)

At the Qatar Total Open, in an all-German first-round encounter between fresh first-time WTA titlist Angelique Kerber and ninth seed Sabine Lisicki, the newer German force took charge, overcame stomach problems, came back from a set down and upset her friend Lisicki 4-6 6-4 6-1. Kerber believes they both played a great match, while Lisicki finds she hadn't committed as many unforced errors in the past ten tournaments she played. Just to mention, the Paris title rose Kerber from No.27 to No.22 in the rankings this week.

Seed No.15 Daniela Hantuchova, who just like Kerber won a WTA title over the weekend, is out of the Qatar Total Open in Doha, having wasted a one-set lead and then falling in the third-set tiebreaker to Simona Halep 3-6 6-2 7-6(4). Romania's Halep overcame a leg injury, and with an aggressive baseline game and good tiebreak clinched one of the biggest victories of her career.

Later in the day, Flavia Pennetta took out eleventh seed Dominika Cibulkova 6-3 2-6 7-5. Pennetta won two points more than Cibulkova and took the victory.

Defending champion at the tournament is Vera Zvonareva, who will after a first-round bye play Monica Niculescu in the second round. Last week at Pattaya, Zvonareva retired from her quarterfinal in the third set against Sorana Cirstea with a left hip injury. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)