Have you been wondering about Agnes Szavay? The former world No.13 won back-to-back WTA titles in 2010 (Prague and Budapest), and after the Seoul semifinal in September that year, the Hungarian’s results plunged. Her 2011 was very much affected by illness and back injury, she played only six tournaments where she recorded a total of just four wins. Her last match in 2011 was at Roland Garros, in May.

Szavay’s current ranking has four digits – 1115! In 2012 she finally returned to play, at the Stuttgart qualifying on clay, her favorite surface. She lost her first match 7-6(4) 6-3 to Yvonne Meusburger and even though prior to the tournament she had had great plans of competing in Budapest, Madrid, Roland Garros, and the Olympics, her wishes have faced a setback.

Here’s what Szavay said on her Facebook on April 28, after Stuttgart:

I’m happy to be playing again, and it’s great to be back on court. A lot of people were asking me how I was, what I’ve been doing and it was nice to be around the players again. Playing matches is completely different than practice, and of course my back reacts differently, and it got a little stiff already in the first set. Unfortunately it’s not perfect yet, so I’ve decided to withdraw from Madrid. I’ll be focusing on Roland Garros and I hope to be there.

Now we know that even Roland Garros is out of option. The next tournament at which we can expect to see Szavay is Bastad in mid-July. Read more »

In the third round of the Mutua Madrid Open we had a clash of two former world No.1s – Serena Williams and Caroline Wozniacki. The more recent No.1, sixth seed Wozniacki, was the first to take charge, racing through the first set 6-1 in 31 minutes, making three breaks of Williams’ serve. In the second set the match took a different path – the seed No.9 Williams held her serve until the end, losing just six points in eight service games and breaking Wozniacki two times in each remaining set to win 1-6 6-3 6-2 for a place in the quarterfinals.

Williams’ next challenge will be another former No.1, second seed Maria Sharapova, who was granted an easy pass to the quarterfinals when Lucie Safarova withdrew with illness. Williams leads Sharapova 7-2 in head-to-head record, including 1-0 on clay, but Sharapova has very recently shown her claycourt skills by winning the Premier-level Stuttgart title (if the claycourt record is even relevant for this blue clay!).

Also through to Madrid quarterfinals is confident qualifier Lucie Hradecka, the conqueror of Petra Kvitova in the previous round, who today defeated Ekaterina Makarova 6-2 7-6(5). Fourth seed Agnieszka Radwanska also played her third round this Thursday and beat Roberta Vinci 7-6(1) 6-4. (via WTA Tour, photo: © Neal Trousdale)

Third seed Petra Kvitova’s Madrid Open title defense was stopped already in the second round and the responsible is qualifier Lucie Hradecka, Kvitova’s good friend and countrywoman, who won the match 6-4 6-3 to score her first Top 10 victory.

Even though officially this is the first time that Hradecka beats Kvitova, Hradecka revealed that she had defeated her before at the end of last year in some club matches, while they’ve also played a lot of sparring games for Fed Cup.

The world No.105 Hradecka’s plan to concentrate on her serve worked well, and even though she had 4% less points won on first serve, in the department of points won on second serve she was much better than Kvitova – 54% to Kvitova’s 25%. In addition, she was much more successful in conversion of break points, taking Kvitova’s serve a total of five times.

Hradecka, whose three of four WTA runner-up finishes came on clay, will play Ekaterina Makarova in the third round, after the Russian upset compatriot Maria Kirilenko 6-4 6-4.

Also in the second round, fourth seed and new world No.3 Agnieszka Radwanska ended Sara Errani’s 16-match claycourt winning streak quickly, 6-0 6-1. Radwanska will next face Roberta Vinci who also didn’t waste time in the second round, eliminating Yanina Wickmayer 6-1 6-2.

In the third round, top seed Victoria Azarenka beat seed No.13 Ana Ivanovic 6-4 6-4, eighth seed Li Na conquered seed No.12 Angelique Kerber 7-5 6-4, and fifth seed Samantha Stosur won over Petka Cetkovska 6-3 6-2. (photo: Ralf Reinecke)

Two former world No.1s, ninth seed Serena Williams and sixth seed Caroline Wozniacki, are about to meet in the third round of the Mutua Madrid Open.

Wozniacki played two close sets to get past Mona Barthel 6-4 7-6(2), who saved a match point in the tenth game to level at 5-5 before the Dane finished the job in the tiebreak.

Williams had an easier ride against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and wrapped up a 6-2 6-1 win in just a minute over an hour.

Serena leads Wozniacki 3-1 in head-to-head stats, but all the four matches were played on hardcourts and it was Wozniacki who won their sole meeting this year, 6-4 6-4 in Miami quarterfinals. (via Sports Mole, photo: sr_cranks)

Top two seeds at the Mutua Madrid Open Victoria Azarenka and Maria Sharapova both advanced to the third round of the tournament where they will face Ana Ivanovic and Lucie Safarova respectively.

The second-seeded Sharapova was the first to go through, beating Klara Zakopalova 6-4 6-3. Sharapova opened the match by breaking Zakopalova to love and then working her way to winning the set from a 4-1 lead. In the second set Sharapova built a 5-2 lead, but serving for the match she lost her serve. She won the match, however, breaking Zakopalova to love. In the third round Sharapova will play Lucie Safarova, who defeated Carla Suarez Navarro 6-3 6-4.

Top seed Azarenka overcame Andrea Hlavackova 6-3 7-6(2) and will play Ana Ivanovic in the third round. Ivanovic advanced with a 7-5 6-1 victory over Nadia Petrova, serving seven aces and scoring 77% on first serve. (via Sharapova's official website, photo: Ralf Reinecke)