Rezai ousts Venus to lift trophy in Madrid

Hitting the ball as hard as anyone out there, Aravane Rezai powered her way to the third and biggest Sony Ericsson WTA Tour title of her young career in Madrid on Sunday afternoon, beating Venus Williams in straight sets in the final of the Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open, 62 75.

Rezai, who had beaten Williams in one of their two previous meetings, made her way into the title match as an unseeded player with a string of upset wins, most notably against Justine Henin in the first round and No.7 seed Jelena Jankovic in the quarterfinals. Against the No.4-seeded Williams she kept bringing it, cruising through the first set in 28 minutes and rallying from 2-5 - saving six set points - to take the one-hour, 14-minute second set.

Rezai had lost her first two finals on the Tour but has now won three in a row, starting at Strasbourg a year ago and taking the season-ender in Bali last fall. This is the first time she has beaten two Top 10 players in the same week - Jankovic, Williams - bringing her career tally to four Top 10 wins.

Williams was looking for the 10th clay court title of her career - she is currently second among active players on that list with nine (Henin has 13). She does lead overall career titles however, with 43 (Henin is second with 42).

By virtue of her third round win, Williams secured a return to No.2 on the new rankings; there's a chance the 29-year-old could regain No.1 after the French, depending on how she does there compared to current No.1 and sister Serena.


Sunday, May 16, 2010

Singles - Final
Aravane Rezai (FRA) d. (4) Venus Williams (USA) 62 75

Jankovic gets stunned by unseeded Frenchwoman; Venus through to semis in Madrid

Jelena Jankovic was hoping to take one step closer to a final clash with Venus Williams but she ended up falling two steps short on Friday night, losing to Aravane Rezai in straight sets in the quarterfinals.

Although Jankovic had won both of her previous meetings with Rezai the last one was a squeaker, as she had to rally from 1-3 in the third set to win in Dubai this year. This time Rezai converted on those opportunities - eventually.

Leading 5-3 in the first set, Rezai had three set points but lost them all. Leading 5-4 she had two more but again, couldn't convert. Finally, after breaking serve in an 11-deuce 11th game she served that first set out, 7-5. The hard-hitting Rezai got a crucial break of serve in the fifth game of the second set and held serve the rest of the way to complete a 75 64 upset over the No.7 seed.

"I just kept fighting, especially at the end of the first set. I had a lot of set points. It was tough for me to see her keep coming back. It was important to win the 6-5 game," Rezai said. "I will try to fight like that in the semifinals. It's another day. I'll enjoy my win today and will think about my next match tomorrow."

"To be honest, I've never played a player who hits every ball like that," Jankovic said. "Some players hit the ball really hard, but no one hits every single ball like that. Doesn't matter if it's a high ball or a low ball. It was tough to read."

Rezai, who beat Justine Henin this week too, got her third career Top 10 win, having beaten Maria Sharapova and Dinara Safina.

The No.4-ranked Jankovic would have returned to No.3 this week by winning the title. Having reached 400 professional match wins with her third round victory, Jankovic's career record fell to a clean 400-200 with her loss to Rezai.

Rezai will play Lucie Safarova in an all-unseeded semifinal on Saturday, after Safarova's 61 16 64 upset over No.16 seed Nadia Petrova earlier in the day. Rezai and Safarova are tied 1-1 in their head-to-head series.

In the other two quarterfinals, No.4 seed Venus Williams defeated No.8 seed Samantha Stosur, 63 63, and Shahar Peer outlasted No.13 seed Li Na, 64 36 64. Williams leads Peer 4-0 in their head-to-head series.

Williams is the only seeded player in the final four here. Peer, Rezai and Safarova are all ranked in the 21-30 range and just missed out on the seedings.


Friday, May 14, 2010

Singles - Quarterfinals
Aravane Rezai (FRA) d. (7) Jelena Jankovic (SRB) 75 64
(4) Venus Williams (USA) d. (8) Samantha Stosur (AUS) 63 63
Shahar Peer (ISR) d. (13) Li Na (CHN) 64 36 64
Lucie Safarova (CZE) d. (16) Nadia Petrova (RUS) 61 16 64

Petrova ousts Serena in three sets; Venus wins in Madrid

World No.1 Serena Williams wasn't able to follow in her big sister's footsteps at the Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open on Wednesday, losing to Nadia Petrova in the third round of the Premier-level stop.

Williams, the top seed, broke Petrova in the penultimate game of the first set and served a love game to take that set, 6-4; Petrova's 1-1 service game in the second set would be a turning point, however, as it went to an 10 deuces.

Petrova, the No.16 seed but having an impressive season on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour and perhaps playing better than that number, was in command of the match upon winning that pivotal point. Including that 1-1 game she won 11 of the last 15 games to prevail, 46 62 63, her second straight win over Williams. She beat her in Beijing last fall. Highlights: Petrova vs. S.Williams

"I have a doubles match tomorrow. I hope to win that and be in Madrid a little longer," Williams said. "I also live part-time in Paris, so I'll go back there too."

Read more about the rest of Wednesday's matches right here!

Petrova out-aced Williams, 11-2. Going into the match they both had 120 aces on the year, most among anyone on the Tour; now Petrova sneaks ahead.

This was Petrova's third career win over a No.1, having beaten Justine Henin at the 2004 US Open and Amélie Mauresmo at the 2006 Tour Championships.

With Venus Williams winning her match earlier in the day, the Williams sisters will be No.1 and No.2 when the new rankings come out Monday. It will be the first time the sisters hold the Top 2 spots in over seven years.

"We can definitely celebrate. It's a great feat to be back at No.1 and No.2 in the world," Serena Williams said. "It's amazing. It's a moment we'll always have."


Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Singles - Third Round
(16) Nadia Petrova (RUS) d. (1) Serena Williams (USA) 46 62 63
(4) Venus Williams (USA) d. (15) Francesca Schiavone (ITA) 36 61 62

Singles - Second Round
(7) Jelena Jankovic (SRB) d. (WC) Ana Ivanovic (SRB) 46 64 61
(WC) Arantxa Parra Santonja (ESP) d. (WC) Peng Shuai (CHN) 16 76(1) 63

Wozniacki ousted by Ukrainian; Dementieva follows same fate in Madrid

World No.2 Caroline Wozniacki's clay court struggles continued in Madrid on Tuesday, as she lost to Alona Bondarenko in straight sets in the second round of the Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open.

Wozniacki had a strong start to the clay court season in America, winning Ponte Vedra Beach and reaching the semifinals of Charleston; but an ankle injury suffered there in the semifinals, which forced her to retire from the match, seems to have shaken her results, as she has now lost second round in all of her European clay court stops: Stuttgart, Rome and now Madrid.

"I'm disappointed. I would have loved to win today. I'll go back on the practice courts tomorrow and start working my butt off, and the results will come back," Wozniacki said. "I've started feeling better with my ankle, now I just need to get back in shape and feel good again on the court. The French Open, that's the goal at the moment." Highlights: Bondarenko vs. Wozniacki

Bondarenko, who broke Wozniacki five times in a one-hour, 19-minute, 62 63 victory, got the biggest win of her career, her best previous win coming against a No.4-ranked Svetlana Kuznetsova in Warsaw two years ago. She now has three Top 5 wins and seven Top 10 wins. The Ukrainian No.1 also made noise in Madrid last year, ousting Kuznetsova en route to the quarterfinals; perhaps a good omen for Wozniacki is that Kuznetsova went on to win the French Open.

No.6 seed Elena Dementieva was also sent to the sidelines, falling to Romanian talent Alexandra Dulgheru, 61 36 75. Dementieva ground her way back from losing the first set, taking the second set and building a 5-3 lead in the third set, but in the end was outdone by Dulgheru, who picked up her second Top 10 win. Her first came just last week against Dinara Safina.


Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Singles - Second Round
Alona Bondarenko (UKR) d. (2) Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) 62 63
Alexandra Dulgheru (ROU) d. (6) Elena Dementieva (RUS) 61 36 75
(8) Samantha Stosur (AUS) d. María José Martínez Sánchez (ESP) 76(2) 64
Patty Schnyder (SUI) d. (9) Agnieszka Radwanska (POL) 36 64 64
Anabel Medina Garrigues (ESP) d. (12) Marion Bartoli (FRA) 62 60
(13) Li Na (CHN) d. Dominika Cibulkova (SVK) 62 36 75
Andrea Petkovic (GER) d. (14) Flavia Pennetta (ITA) 76(3) 63
(16) Nadia Petrova (RUS) d. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) 62 75
Shahar Peer (ISR) d. Alisa Kleybanova (RUS) 76(4) 60
Aravane Rezai (FRA) d. (Q) Klara Zakopalova (CZE) 63 75
Lucie Safarova (CZE) d. Olga Govortsova (BLR) 46 62 75