Vera Zvonareva and Maria Sharapova will face each other in an all-Russian final at the Qatar Total Open in Doha on Sunday. Unseeded Zvonareva reached her second final of the year with a 3-6 6-3 6-3 win over China's Na Li, while Sharapova avenged her tough 2007 US Open loss to Agnieszka Radwanska with a 6-4 6-3 victory over the Polish teenager.

To win the semifinal match against China's Na Li, world No.27 Zvonareva battled back from a break down in both the second and third sets. Zvonareva, who has won five titles in Tier III events, will tomorrow play the biggest final of her career. Read more »

Slovakia’s world No.45 Dominika Cibulkova scored a victory of her career today in windy Doha with a straight set win over great champion and world No.7 Venus Williams. Final score was 6-3 6-3.

I expected an interesting match, but for Cibulkova to break hard-serving Williams four times, and hold all except for one of her service games, that was beyond my imagination.

The 18-year-old Cibulkova, the second best Slovakia’s WTA player, was confident, strong, well-adapted to the windy weather, and made few unforced errors. Williams, on the other hand, made too many unforced errors, and quite surprisingly, served no aces. Also, Cibulkova used almost all of her chances, and wasted only two out of six break points, which was not the case with Williams.

At the Qatar Total Open, Cibulkova also made other two significant victories, over world No.39 Lucie Safarova in the first round and over ninth seed and world No.12 Patty Schnyder in the second.

In the quarterfinals, Cibulkova will face Agnieszka Radwanska who advanced without playing her third round match as top seed Ana Ivanovic withdrew from the tournament due to ankle injury she suffered yesterday. (photo via Getty Images)

Second seed Svetlana Kuznetsova lost to fifteenth seed Sybille Bammer 6-3 7-6(8) in the third round of the $2.5 million Qatar Total Open.

Kuznetsova, who was runner-up last year in Doha, had her chances to stay in the match. In the second set she had multiple set points, and also managed to save three match points.

The fourth Bammer's match point, which in the end closed out the match, was very tense. In the windy conditions the players struggled — Kuznetsova to stay in the match, Bammer to finally finish it – and three times their long rallies were interrupted by a flying paper. The two of them were very concentrated, and didn’t seem to be distracted by this, but the rallies were so tense and long and the fact it was on the match point was stressful to watch.

In the quarterfinals, Austria’s Sybille Bammer will play Russia’s Vera Zvonareva, who beat eleventh-seeded Dinara Safina. (photo via Getty Images)

Ana Ivanovic beat world No.50 Olga Govortsova 6-3, 6-1 to move into the third round of the Qatar Total Open, but the top seed’s victory was accompanied with what seemed to be quite a serious ankle injury.

At the moment Ivanovic was only two points from victory, she fell and twisted her ankle. The world number three lay on the court with tears in her eyes and the face expression that suggested she was in great pain. However, after receiving a medical timeout, Ivanovic decided to try to finish the match, and she was fortunate to be able to finish it very quickly.

Olga Govortsova seems to be bringing bad luck to her opponents. The Belorussian advanced to the second round as India's Sania Mirza retired with cramps.

It’s likely that Ana Ivanovic won’t continue her participation at the Qatar Total Open. If this happens, it would be a pity, as Ivanovic is top-seeded at a tournament for the first time in her career. But of course, it's more important to think in advance, and withdraw from the tournament in order not to risk making the injury even worse. (photo via Getty Images)

Fifth seed Anna Chakvetadze lost 7-6(7) 6-4 in the second round of the $2.5 million Qatar Total Open to China's world No.29 Na Li.

This is Chakvetadze's second consecutive early exit from a tournament since winning the Open Gaz the France earlier this month. Chakvetadze was upset in the second round of the last week’s Proximus Diamond Games in Antwerp when she lost to Sweden’s Sofia Arvidsson. Read more »

On day two of the Qatar Total Open in Doha, Marion Bartoli lost in the second round (in the first round she had a bye), while Agnes Szavay and Sania Mirza left the tournament in the first round.

France’s Marion Bartoli still hasn't managed to replay her fantastic performance from Wimbledon where she was the runner-up. At the Qatar Total Open, the eighth seed lost in straight sets 6-2 6-3 to 17-year-old Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark, who is seriously making her way to the top. Wozniacki is one of the young players to watch. Taking into account her attractiveness, her fruitful tennis career is likely to be accompanied with marketing success. Actually, Wozniacki already did a commercial for Sony Ericsson. Fellow blogger Juan has a nice little article about Wozniacki’s achievements and future career prospects. Read more »