Jelena Jankovic’s nightmares continue; Justine Henin defeated her 6-2 6-2 today at the Sony Ericsson Championships in Madrid and is now 9-0 against the Serb.

Henin vs. Jankovic matches I used to consider a rivalry, but if you look at the facts now, you come to conclusion that their encounters have become clearly one-sided. The first five times they faced each other they played three sets, but from then on, Jankovic couldn’t take a set from Henin. On top of that, today in Madrid, in their ninth encounter, Jankovic was just a shadow of a player she can be (she seemed scared, was imprecise, started the match with a double fault, and I thought that she would have lost the match even if there was a third set and she was 5-0 up). Let’s just mention this: Jankovic permitted Henin to take seven consecutive games!

I have one suggestion for Jelena Jankovic. She should say this on a press conference: “I will never ever in my career beat Justine Henin,” and maybe that would put the pressure off her and bring her some good luck. (photo via Getty Images)

Sony Ericsson Championships order of play for Wednesday, November 7, 2007:

From 18.00hrs (Madrid time)

1. Jelena Jankovic vs. Justine Henin
2. Serena Williams vs. Anna Chakvetadze (not before 20.00hrs)
3. Ana Ivanovic vs. Daniela Hantuchova

Ana Ivanovic got a beautiful birthday present, a hard-fought 6-1 4-6 7-5 victory over Svetlana Kuznetsova at the Sony Ericsson Championships in Madrid.

The Serbian world number four broke the Russian world number two three times to confidently take the opening set.

The second set was a different story. Just when it seemed like Ivanovic will make quick work of Kuznetsova, since the Russian was three games down, everything started to change. Kuznetsova takes the fourth game of the second set and four more games for a 5-3 lead! The Russian made a tremendous comeback, and took the match to a more than exciting third set.

Ivanovic again started with a solid 3-0 lead, but Kuznetsova evened to 3-3. As the match progressed, it became more and more thrilling. The most exciting game for me was the 11th game of the decider. The end of the match was close, the result was 5-5, and Ivanovic saved two break points, after six deuces! This game decided the winner, since Ivanovic, having mental strength on her side, finished the match by breaking Kuznetsova very quickly. (photo via Getty Images)

Maria Sharapova defeated Daniela Hantuchova 6-4 7-5 in a thrilling first match of the red group at the Sony Ericsson Championships in Madrid.

The match started with an exchange of breaks. Then, the players held their serves until Sharapova took a 5-4 lead and a chance to serve for the first set, thanks to her brutal string of groundstrokes. Russia's world number six made use of her third set point to win the opening set 6-4.

In the second set Hantuchova won her first service game and then Sharapova handed her three break points with a series of errors. But the Russian didn’t give up, and aided by a few high-quality shots on top of her opponent’s unforced errors, Sharapova held her serve and broke Hantuchova for a 2-1 lead. Later on in the set the Russian had three match points on Hantuchova’s serve, but lost all the chances. Then, Sharapova served for the match, but when she thought she scored a victory on her fourth match point (the first one on her serve), Hantuchova challenged the call and was right! The match was not over yet! Hantuchova evened the result in the second set to 5-5. However, battling Sharapova wanted the victory as soon as possible, broke her opponent right away, and then won the second set 7-5 using her fifth match point.

Top-seeded Justine Henin claimed an opening round-robin victory at the Sony Ericsson Championships in Madrid defeating seventh-seeded Anna Chakvetadze 6-1 7-6(4).

The Belgian world number one quickly took the first set, in which she had two break points and made use of both. In the second set, both the players made two breaks (note that Chakvetadze realized both of her break points with Henin's double faults). Eventually, there was a tie-break which Henin won 7-4.

By the way, Justine was wearing make-up! That's new.