Top seed Caroline Wozniacki defeated Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-1 6-2 in one hour and ten minutes in the third round of the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo and the victory ensured the Dane to become the first player to qualify for the singles competition at the 2010 season-ending Doha championships.

Wozniacki’s continued good results during the season enabled her to become the first of only eight singles players to qualify for the Sony Ericsson Championships. Those good results include four Sony Ericsson WTA Tour titles (Ponte Vedra Beach, Copenhagen, Montreal, New Haven), winning the US Open Series and reaching career high ranking of No.2 in March. Wozniacki qualified for Doha last year as well, but retired against Serena Williams in the semifinals.

Let’s get back to Tokyo now. Wozniacki’s quarterfinal opponent there will be No.6 seed Agnieszka Radwanska, who defeated Andrea Petkovic 6-3 6-3 in the third round. Coco Vandeweghe, that we yesteryday dedicated one extensive article to, keeps on winning and her last victim was Julia Goerges, 6-3 6-0. Bad news for tournament host Japan, as their star Kimiko Date Krumm eventually fell to Francesca Schiavone 6-3 6-3. (photo: Ralf Reinecke)

Tennis fan John Bolan from the United States wanted to share with you his thoughts about Coco Vandeweghe, who could be the next big thing his country has been awaiting so much. The 18-year old Vandeweghe keeps advancing at the current $2,000,000 Tokyo tournament, having defeated Klara Zakopalova in the first round and seed No.14 Aravane Rezai today in the second round.

For years, America has been wondering which young player would rise up to replace the aging Williams sisters on the WTA Tour. Coco Vandeweghe may be the answer. The first hint came in San Diego this year where she reached the quarterfinals defeating Vera Zvonareva along the way before losing to Svetlana Kuznetsova, the tournament winner. She had a new coach, Tom Gullickson, and was supported by many fans since her home is not far from the tournament site at La Costa. San Diego was where she first played in a WTA tournament after being granted a wildcard at age 14 in 2006. At age 16 in 2008 she played Jelena Jankovic in the first round of the US Open on Arthur Ashe Court. Although she lost, it was an amazing experience for her to play there against such a great player. She went on that year to win the US Open Girl's Championship. Read more »

After defeating seed No.12 Maria Sharapova in the first round of the Toray Pan Pacific Open, home favorite Kimiko Date Krumm, who turned 40 in the meantime, won her second round match when Daniela Hantuchova retired in the third set.

Date Krumm lost the first set against Hantuchova 6-2, but since then her fellow former Top 5 player lost ten straight games and retired with a right shoulder injury. The Japanese has become the first 40-year-old woman since Martina Navratilova at Wimbledon 2004 to win a main draw match of a WTA tournament.

Date Krumm’s next test will be French Open champion Francesca Schiavone, who defeated Alexandra Dulgheru 7-5 6-3 in the second round.

Top seed Caroline Wozniacki progressed with a 6-1 6-3 victory over Greta Arn, as well as second seed Vera Zvonareva who defeated Sara Errani 6-3 6-3. No.4 seed Samantha Stosur and No.10 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova lost – the Australian to Julia Goerges 7-5 6-3, the Russian to Andrea Petkovic 6-3 7-5. Ana Ivanovic’s Tokyo happiness was short-lived and she fell to seed No.11 Marion Bartoli. (photo: sydney-yokochin)

Russia’s Alisa Kleybanova came to the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo fresh off her second career title in Seoul and lost in the very first round to none other than Ana Ivanovic who had a disappointing showing in Seoul the week before, losing in the first round.

The world No.38 Ivanovic had a pretty easy victory over Kleybanova, 6-3 6-2, and as I read she played very well "great serving, fantastic movement, and phenomenal hitting on her forehand side."

Unlike last week in Seoul where Ivanovic lost in the first round and Dinara Safina won, this time we had reverse situation and Safina fell to Julia Goerges 6-1 5-7 6-2. (photo: Stephane Martinache)

Just a day shy of her 40th birthday Kimiko Date Krumm of Japan sent Maria Sharapova packing in the first round match featuring former champions at the Toray Pan Pacific Open.

The 1995 Tokyo winner Date Krumm, a wild card this year, edged the first set 7-5, then lost three straight games in the second set and never recovered to lose it, while in the decider the home favorite managed to come back and even though twice Tokyo champion Sharapova had a 3-2, 40-0 lead, the momentum shifted to the veteran’s advantage who won 17 of 21 points since that moment. Final score: 7-5 3-6 6-3.

With this victory Date Krumm has scored five Top 20 wins in 2010, over Virginie Razzano, Nadia Petrova, Dinara Safina, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, and now world No.15 Sharapova, who was seeded 12th and defending her title at the Toray Pan Pacific Open.

In the second round, the world No.67 Date Krumm will play Daniela Hantuchova, who advanced with a 6-3 6-3 victory over Angelique Kerber. (source: Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, photo: © Neal Trousdale)

World number one Serena Williams is still not able to play tournaments as she continues to recover from her foot injury sustained at a restaurant. Serena was supposed to return for the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, but it’s now official that that will not be the case. She hasn’t competed since winning Wimbledon in the beginning of July.

Scheduled to play the Toray Pan Pacific Open are Wimbledon runner-up Vera Zvonareva, French Open champion Francesca Schiavone, world No.2 Caroline Wozniacki and defending champion Maria Sharapova. (source: BBC, photo: brett marlow)

Maria Sharapova claimed her first title since April 2008 when Jelena Jankovic retired during the first set of their Toray Pan Pacific Open final.

The unseeded Russian, ranked 25th in the world, was leading 5-2 in the first set when the seventh-seeded Serb withdrew because of a right wrist injury.

The 2009 Toray Pan Pacific title is Sharapova’s first since her comeback from a shoulder injury in May. The Russian had been out for nine long months.

"To go from not knowing whether you'll ever play the sport again to holding a trophy, it's an unbelievable feeling," said the 22-year-old Grand Slam champion. (via Sony Ericsson WTA Tour)

Seventh seed Jelena Jankovic and unseeded Maria Sharapova will play each other in the Toray Pan Pacific Open final.

In the semifinals, Serbia’s Jankovic benefited from Li Na’s 40 errors to defeat the Chinese No.15 seed 6-4 6-3, and for the second time in a row beat a player against whom she had a negative career record, having ended a losing streak against Marion Bartoli in the previous round.

Sharapova scored her fourth victory over Agnieszka Radwanska, overcoming the eleventh seed 6-3 2-6 6-4. The Russian rallied from 0-2 in the third set to prevail.

Jankovic will be looking for her third title of the season (she won both her previous finals in 2009), while the 2005 Toray Pan Pacific Open champion Sharapova will try to end her title drought that extends back to April 2008.

Sharapova has a 4-1 head-to-head record against Jankovic, and 3-0 on hardcourts. (photo: Jean-Sebastien Marceau)

Jelena Jankovic of Serbia and Maria Sharapova of Russia remain on course to face each other in the final of the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo.

The seventh-seeded Jankovic, the highest-ranked player left in the draw, ended a losing streak against No.14 seed Marion Bartoli of France, defeating her 6-4 6-3 to reach the semifinals. Bartoli had beaten Jankovic in their last four meetings, twice in 2007 and twice this year.

The Serb’s next opponent will be No.15 seed Li Na of China, who won a tight match against Belorussian Victoria Azarenka, seeded eighth, 7-6(7) 4-6 7-6(4).

Maria Sharapova rallied from a set down in both sets against Czech Iveta Benesova, to win 6-4 7-5 and advance to the last four. Next up for Sharapova will be No.11 seed Agnieszka Radwanska, who rounded out the semis with a 6-3 6-1 victory over Magdalena Rybarikova. (photo: Ralf Reinecke)

Jelena Jankovic and Victoria Azarenka were the only Top 8 seeds not to have fallen in the first two rounds of the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo and on Wednesday they went through to the quarterfinals. Maria Sharapova also advanced to the last eight.

The seventh-seeded Jankovic won her third-round match when Elena Vesnina retired with a left thigh injury while trailing 6-1 3-0. The eighth-seeded Azarenka beat Lucie Safarova 7-5 6-4 in the last match of the day.

The 2005 Toray Pan Pacific Open champion Sharapova once again played a three-setter against fellow Russian Alisa Kleybanova, fighting back from a first-set loss to win 2-6 6-2 6-2. (photo: Ralf Reinecke)