Fourth seed Elena Dementieva avenged her Wimbledon loss to Serena Williams in the semifinals of the Rogers Cup, while Maria Sharapova has continued to climb back to where she belongs and despite persistent struggles with her serve, she beat Alisa Kleybanova to reach her first final in over a year.

The second-seeded Williams had faced only one break point all week, but was broken five times during the semifinal which Dementieva won 7-6(2) 6-1 to move into her fourth final of the year.

It’s amazing how the Williams sisters are unbeatable at a Grand Slam stage. Serena ended Dementieva’s hopes for her first Grand Slam title two times this year, at the Australian Open and Wimbledon, the tournaments Serena eventually won.

Sharapova defeated Kleybanova 6-2 4-6 6-4, despite producing 12 double faults and converting only 5 of 22 break points. It only shows Maria's well-known strongest asset – her undying will.

Additional info: Sharapova will be seeded at the 2009 US Open, as she’ll move from No.49 to the Top 32 in the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour rankings. (source: Reuters, photos via Sony Ericsson WTA Tour)

Maria Sharapova is among the three Russians to join American Serena Williams in the final four of the Rogers Cup. The semifinal pairs are: Alisa Kleybanova vs. Maria Sharapova, Elena Dementieva vs. Serena Williams.

World number two Serena Williams brushed aside qualifier Lucie Safarova 6-3 6-2 after a 57-minute quarterfinal. Serena hasn’t lost more than five games in any match at the 2009 Rogers Cup.

Elena Dementieva had a more difficult fight for the semifinal spot, coming from a set down to beat Samantha Stosur 6-7(3) 6-1 6-3.

Reminder: Williams and Dementieva had an insane last matchup in the semifinals of Wimbledon, which Williams edged 8-6 in the third set. It was the best match of Wimbledon 2009.

Fifth seed Jelena Jankovic, who defeated Kim Clijsters in the previous round, got upset by Alisa Kleybanova, but only after three hours and 16 minutes. Kleybanova failed to convert five set points in the first set, and then Jankovic won it in a tiebreak. The second set Kleybanova won in a tiebreak, and swept through the last four games of the decider to win one of the best matches of her career. Final score: 6-7(6) 7-6(7) 6-2.

Maria Sharapova is still working her way back to the top, very successfully I would say. Her latest victim was 14th seed Agnieszka Radwanska. Sharapova came back from 5-2 down in the second set to claim a 6-2 7-6(5) victory. (source: Reuters, photo: Ralf Reinecke)

Despite the deadly storm hitting Toronto, all the third-round matches at the Rogers Cup were completed and we have our quarterfinalists.

No.5 seed Jelena Jankovic ended the run of wildcard Kim Clijsters with a 1-6 6-3 7-5 victory, despite trailing 5-3 a very dramatic deciding set. Jankovic's next opponent will be Alisa Kleybanova, whom she has never faced before.

Maria Sharapova, who has advanced by beating No.7 seed Vera Zvonareva, will play No.14 seed Agnieszka Radwanska in the quarterfinals.

"I have had a lot of rain delays in my career but probably not because of a tornado," Sharapova said after the match. "It was good knowing we were around cement in the player's area."

No.4 seed Elena Dementieva defeated her third-round opponent Shahar Peer on her fifth match point and here’s her interesting post-match comment: "Losing to Jankovic in Cincinnati after having four match points, it's just not enough for me. I really need five or more. From now on, every time I have a match point and finish the game there, I'll feel lucky." Dementieva will play Samantha Stosur in the quarterfinals.

No.2 seed Serena Williams’s quarterfinal opponent will be Lucie Safarova, who followed up her second round win over No.11 seed Ana Ivanovic with a win over Zheng Jie. (source: Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, photo by our reader Colleen)

After having an amazing comeback to professional tennis at Cincinnati, Kim Clijsters has continued her winning ways.

Last week at the Western and Southern Financial Group Women’s Open, former No.1 Clijsters had defeated two Top 20 players and one Top 10 player (Marion Bartoli, Patty Schnyder and Svetlana Kuznetsova), before being stopped by current No.1 Dinara Safina in the quarterfinals.

Today at the Rogers Cup, Safina was upset in the second round, while Clijsters’ comeback keeps rolling as the Belgian defeated qualifier Elena Baltacha in the opening round and has now upset ninth seed Victoria Azarenka 7-5 4-6 6-1 in the second round.

Clijsters’ next test will be last weekend's champion Jelena Jankovic, seeded fifth, who beat Patty Schnyder 7-5 6-4 to advance to the third round. (photo via Sony Ericsson WTA Tour)

Defending champion Dinara Safina fell 3-6 6-2 6-4 to Aravane Rezai of France in the second round of the Rogers Cup in Toronto.

The world number one and top seed hit 17 double faults against the 39th-ranked Rezai, including misfiring four straight serves at one point in the third set.

And of couse, I simply adore Safina’s comments: "It's not the serve, it's just my brain. I know exactly what I have to do, but if I'm not using my brain, I'm not doing the things my coach is telling me. I'm too disappointed with myself." (source: National Post, photo via Sony Ericsson WTA Tour)

Third seed Venus Williams has crashed out of the Rogers Cup, falling to qualifier Kateryna Bondarenko 1-6 7-5 6-4 in the second round.

Williams had a bye in the first round and easily won the first set against the Ukrainian world No.64. And even though Williams started the match so well, she somehow managed to produce 60 unforced errors (as I read over at Forty Deuce).

The winner of 41 singles titles had made a fine start to the hardcourt season by reaching the Bank of the West Classic final, which she lost to Marion Bartoli. Last week, she lost at the first hurdle in the form of Flavia Pennetta, and that defeat is also understandable. But this week at the Rogers Cup Williams has already become the biggest upset of the tournament. Not promising ahead of the US Open.

The seven-time Grand Slam champion has actually never won a match at the Rogers Cup, having had three attempts. (photo via Sony Ericsson WTA Tour)

Ana Ivanovic and Caroline Wozniacki stopped the Yonge Street traffic in Toronto to play tennis in front of the crowds of people, as part of the latest stunt organized by the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour.

Street Tennis was an innovative way to kick-off the $2,000,000 Rogers Cup. Here's the video of the exhibition match.

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Monica Seles was officially inducted into the Rogers Cup Hall of Fame at a special ceremony at the 2009 Rogers Cup.

The induction was the icing on the cake of Seles’ special night. Prior to being honored, the former world number one, who had officially retired in 2008, played one more match in Canada, the country where she played her first match after being stabbed.

Partnered with Canadian Aleksandra Wozniak, Seles took the court for an exhibition doubles match against Martina Navratilova and Serena Williams, and lost 6-3. (source: Sony Ericsson WTA Tour)