Li Na and Petra Kvitova both won their first and only Grand Slam titles in 2011 and both are still without titles this season. However, that will change in Montreal today, when one of the two will lift the Rogers Cup winner's trophy. They both advanced to the final after losing the first set of their semifinal matches.

Li rallied from 5-1 down in the third set to beat Lucie Safarova 3-6 6-3 7-5, who will finally crack the Top 20. In the other semifinal, Kvitova comfortably outplayed Caroline Wozniacki in the second and third sets, even though in the first set she could not put up a challenge to Wozniacki's only one unforced error. Final score: 3-6 6-2 6-3.

Who will finally crown 2012, Li or Kvitova? Li leads Kvitova in head-to-head 2-1. Kvitova won their first encounter handily, while the other two Li won in three sets. Their last meeting was this year on the Sydney hardcourt, and Li won 1-6 7-5 6-2 after trailing 6-1 3-1. (photos: sr_cranks, Ralf Reinecke)

In a packed Saturday schedule featuring most of the eight third-round matches and all the four quarterfinals, we got our Rogers Cup semifinal pairs: Petra Kvitova [5] vs. Caroline Wozniacki [7] and Lucie Safarova [16] vs. Li Na [10].

Petra Kvitova was one of the lucky ones who completed her third round on time, on Friday, earning her first Top 10 win of the season by beating Marion Bartoli 6-1 6-1. On Saturday she advanced to the semis with a 6-3 6-2 victory over Tamira Paszek.

Lucie Safarova was the other lucky player who didn't have to play two matches in on day. After eliminating Sam Stosur on Friday 7-6(9) 7-6(5), the tricky Czech went further on Saturday with a 6-2 6-2 victory over Roberta Vinci, who had upset sixth seed Angelique Kerber earlier in the day.

After a two-hour and 30-minute three-setter against Varvara Lepchenko in the third round, Caroline Wozniacki took out Aleksandra Wozniak 6-4 6-4, the first Canadian woman in 20 years to reach the quarterfinals of the Rogers Cup. Wozniak was a wildcard at the tournament and she defeated big names such as Daniela Hantuchova and Jelena Jankovic early on.

Li Na ended Agnieszka Radwanska's hopes of claiming the top ranking by crushing her 6-2 6-1 in the quarterfinals. Radwanska had to go all the way to the title in order to become No.1, but one precodition had already been met – Victoria Azarenka's retirement with a knee injury before the quarterfinal stage. (photo: Moo's Tennis Blog)

"I can't remember last time I had a match like this, maybe not since I was junior," said 11th seed Ana Ivanovic after a 6-0 6-0 loss to Roberta Vinci in the second round of the Rogers Cup. Actually, it's her first double bagel loss since turning professional! The match lasted 44 minutes and the Serbian No.1 earned just three game points, while Vinci faced no break points. The world No.12 Ivanovic won the tournament in 2006.

Serbian No.2 and 13th seed at the Rogers Cup, Jelena Jankovic, followed her compatriot's exit path. There were no bagels, but Jankovic won just five games, 6-2 6-3, against home player Aleksandra Wozniak, against whom she used to be 4-0 in career meetings. The 18th-ranked Jankovic has now lost 12 of her last 16 opening matches.

Also out in the second round were seed No.12 Dominika Cibulkova and seed No.15 Sabine Lisicki, who fell to Varvara Lepchenko and Carla Suarez Navarro respectively.

Second seed Agnieszka Radwanska avoided a second straight loss of an opener, after her first-round defeat at the Olympics, surviving a nail-biter against Mona Barthel, who had a 4-2 lead in the third set, then a match point at 6-5 and again a 4-1 lead in the tiebreak. Radwanska won in the end: 4-6 6-3 7-6(5). (photo: sr_cranks)

I came across a web page of Randy Walker, who used to be a press officer for the US Tennis Association Player Development program in the mid 1990s, and in a dusty box in his mother's house he recently found biographical questionnaire forms that Serena and Venus Williams filled in 1993 at a USTA Player Development training camp. The info was collected to help Randy get publicity for the young players in the local and national papers. Let's see how the little Williamses responded.

*Childhood photos of the Williams sisters*

SERENA – 12-year-old

Best shot and strength: Forehand cross court, backhand down line, crosscourt
Began playing tennis (age, year, place, story or anecdotes): 4 years, 1985 or 1986, Compton, CA
School honors and grade average: Good… math, writing and others
Future plans (College, Professional): Professional
Tennis goals: To become No.1 in the world
Major tournament victories, tournament results: Sectionals, stopped playing tournaments for almost 3 years
Best wins: Sectionals CA
Role model: Me, Serena
Interests outside tennis: Gymnastics, track, swimming, others Read more »

Exploring Pinterest today, I came across Tennis Warehouse's profile and found this photo of Maria Kirilenko in her Adidas apparel for the upcoming US Open.

The women's doubles bronze medalist at the recently-finished Olympic Tennis Event will wear Adidas Women's Autumn Adipower Barricade collection in the colors resembling the falling leaves – very dark purple, looking like brown from afar, and golden yellow. It is a very different approach from the Adidas Adizero line dominated by eye-popping colors, as seen on Ana Ivanovic. Read more »