Top seed and defending champion Serena Williams recovered from a second-set bagel against clay veteran Anabel Medina Garrigues in the quarterfinals of the Mutua Madrid Open, only her seventh career loss of a set at love, and in the third set she rebounded from 2-4 and later from two points from defeat at 4-5 15-30 to win 6-3 0-6 7-5. Williams' opponent in the semis will be seventh seed and claycourt expert Sara Errani, who beat Ekaterina Makarova 6-4 6-3. Never in their four previous meetings had Errani defeated Williams.

Second seed Maria Sharapova is also through to the semifinals, with a 6-2 6-4 victory over Kaia Kanepi, but if she wants to get the number one ranking she'll have to hang in there and see Serena leave one round earlier than her. Seed No.16 Ana Ivanovic was the last to move into the final four, taking out sixth seed Angelique Kerber 6-3 6-1 in a match that lasted just 57 minutes, thus reinforcing her recent 7-5 7-5 win over the higher ranked German in the Fed Cup. The semifinal of Sharapova and Ivanovic will be a rematch of the last month's indoor clay meeting in the Stuttgart final eight, when Ivanovic lost a three-set marathon and Sharapova went all the way to the title and the Porsche. Sharapova has won the last five matches against Ivanovic, dating back to 2007. (photos: © Neal Trousdale)

The speculations about the love story between WTA world No.2 Maria Sharapova and ATP world No.28 Grigor Dimitrov started in the end of November 2012 when the Russian beauty was shopping in Milan and her Bulgarian colleague appeared in the footage of the stroll through the fashion city, but now, five months later, the couple finally decided to come out and confirm their relationship publicly by kissing and hugging in the streets of Madrid on Wednesday night, which of course the paparazzi diligently recorded.

The confirmation of the love match between Sharapova and Dimitrov comes about a year after Sharapova's end of engagement to basketball player Sasha Vujacic, whose fiancée she became in October 2010, while the split that happened in late spring was confirmed in the end of August 2012. Read more »

First of all, I'm glad to be back after a week-long Orthodox Easter holiday relaxation in the mountains – I got a bit blown away by the laid back lifestyle and nature and didn't feel like turning on my computer But here I am now, tuning back in during the early rounds of the Mutua Madrid Open and this Wednesday's most notable result was Ekaterina Makarova's upset of Victoria Azarenka in the second round.

Never before, in nine previous tries, had Makarova defeated a Top 3 player, and her today's victory is even more notable since Azarenka had been undefeated this season with a 18-0 record and in the first round of Madrid she eliminated last week's Portugal Open champion Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

The world No.3 Azarenka looked to be heading to a straightforward triumph after cruising through the first set 6-1, when the 24th-ranked Makarova raised her game to win the second set and rallied from 1-3 down in the third to score a 1-6 6-2 6-3 victory. At the two previous editions of the Madrid tournament Azarenka finished as the runner-up, but this time it was her first event since withdrawing prior to the Indian Wells quarterfinals in early March due to a right ankle injury. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)

Beating Petra Martic, Simoa Halep, third seed Alize Cornet, Chanelle Scheepers and finally in the match of two 32-year-olds Lourdes Dominguez Lino, the sixth-seeded Francesca Schiavone earned her sixth WTA title, the GP de SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem in Morocco.

The 2010 French Open champion Schiavone saved three set points in her opening set of the claycourt tournament in Marrakech, but eventually went all the way to the title without dropping a set and even though in the final against Dominguez Lino nine games had deuces, the end score was a decisive 6-1 6-3. (source: WTA Tour, photo: Tennis Buzz)

Top seed Maria Sharapova defended a title for the fifth time in her career and extended her winning streak on clay to 16 matches by defeating second seed Li Na in the final of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart with a straight-set victory which came after three three-setters that followed the first-round bye.

The new endorser of Porsche cars earned a double break in the first set to go up 4-1 and eventually win the set 6-4, while in the second set a stretch of four straight games helped her win it 6-3 when Li double faulted on match point.

Before the final, Sharapova defeated Lucie Safarova, Ana Ivanovic and Angelique Kerber, and soon she will be able to park the blue Porsche showcased in the corner of the clay court next to the white one she took home last year. (photo: Ralf Reinecke)

Top seed and defending champion Maria Sharapova won the 29th of her last 32 three-setters, and at this Porsche Tennis Grand Prix her third in a row, by edging German No.1 Angelique Kerber 6-3 2-6 7-5 in her home country in Stuttgart and advancing to the final of the Premier-level tournament in which she will face second seed Li Na.

From Sharapova’s 6-3 1-0 lead, the third-seeded Kerber took charge and won eight of the next nine games, then Sharapova went on a run of five of the next six games, before Kerber leveled the score to 6-3 2-6 5-5. The Russian force had the final say, though, as she finished the match by winning the next two games to love. Kerber is now 0-8 against Top 2 players.

Li Na followed Sharapova into the final, by stopping surprise semifinalist Bethanie Mattek Sands 6-4 6-3. (via WTA Tour, photos: sr_cranks)

Defending champion and top seed Maria Sharapova advanced to the semifinals of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix after a struggle lasting two hours and 16 minutes against fellow Roland Garros champion and fellow former No.1 Ana Ivanovic. In the third set Sharapova let Ivanovic level to 4-4 after leading 4-1, but she again took charge with a break to love and held serve to finish the match 7-5 4-6 6-4. The Russian's semifinal opponent will be third seed Angelique Kerber, who put out Yaroslava Shvedova 6-3 7-6(2).

The other semifinal will feature Li Na and Bethanie Mattek Sands. The second-seeded French Open titlist Li defeated fellow Grand Slam champion Petra Kvitova 6-3 7-5, winning 11 of 14 games from 0-2 down in the first set and even though Kvitova took charge in the next three games in a row, it was Li who closed it out to set up a meeting with surprise semifinalist Mattek Sands, who saved a match point in the qualifying stage of the tournament before taking out Yanina Wickmayer in the first round, fourth seed Sara Errani in the second (even impressively bageling the Italian in the first set) and Sabine Lisicki 6-4 6-2 in the quarterfinals, converting all six break chanced that she earned.

(photos: © Neal Trousdale)

The quarterfinals of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix will feature four Grand Slam champions, three of which have won Roland Garros (Maria Sharapova, Ana Ivanovic and Li Na).

Top seed and defending champion Maria Sharapova played her first match on clay this season and it was a very tough victory for the Russian, as she needed three hours and nine minutes to get past Lucie Safarova with a 6-4 6-7(3) 6-3 score. Sharapova made eight double faults in the match and counterbalanced them with eight aces, while she converted just five of her 19 chances to break Safarova's serve. In the quarterfinals, Sharapova's opponent will be fellow Roland Garros champion Ana Ivanovic, who defeated Nadia Petrova 6-4 6-3.

The second-round clash of two unseeded players Jelena Jankovic and Sabine Lisicki was a highly entertaining and great-quality affair, with the home player advancing, but only after Jankovic saved an astonishing six set points in the first set and two match points in the second (actually, on the first match point Lisicki made her one and only double fault of the match). Throughout the encounter it was Lisicki who had the upper hand, but Jankovic was constantly hanging in there and causing the aggressive Lisicki much trouble, not allowing her to easily capitalize on her leads. At first, Lisicki broke Jankovic to lead 5-3 in the first set, but Jankovic broke right back and amazingly saved three set points to level to 5-5. When Lisicki was 6-5 40-0 up, Jankovic again showed her heart and excellent current form, but in the end she fell in the tiebreak. In the second set Lisicki was again constantly leading, but in the tenth game Jankovic leveled to 5-5, before eventually succumbing to the German's pressure 7-6(3) 7-5. Despite the loss, Jankovic has every reason to celebrate her current tennis, her first-round win over Samantha Stosur and her extraordinary performance today against Lisicki. It's almost midnight and the winner of the late encounter between Bethanie Mattek Sands and fourth seed Sara Errani will be Lisicki's quarterfinal opponent.

Second seed Li Na swept past qualifier Mirjana Lucic-Baroni 6-1 6-2 and will next play fellow Grand Slam champion Petra Kvitova, who recovered from 2-6 0-1 to beat Julia Goerges 2-6 7-6(4) 6-2. Third seed Angelique Kerber defeated Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-0 6-4 and her quarterfinal rival will be Yaroslava Shvedova, who recorded a 7-5 6-4 victory over Carla Suarez Navarro, the winner over Caroline Wozniacki in the first round. (photos: © Neal Trousdale)