Fresh off her win at the Italian Open, Dinara Safina survived a tough match on Thursday and has advanced to the Madrid Open quarterfinals. She defeated Lucie Safarova 6-0, 4-6, 6-3. Who’s up next for Safina? Alona Bondarenko who defeated Anna Chakvetadze 6-0, 2-6, 6-3 on Thursday. Other’s who have made it to the quarterfinals include Jelena Jankovic, Patty Schnyder, Agnes Szavay, Amelie Mauresmo, Caroline Wozniacki and Vera Dushevina. Dinara Safina, who is currently ranked number one, is seeking her first major title at the upcoming French Open Image Credit: Zuma Press [Read more]

Roger Federer and Andy Roddick will take on each other at the Masters Series Madrid quarters, Friday, May 15th. This is the 20th time in their careers that these two have faced each other, but they have never played each other on clay. Why? It’s most likely due to the fact that Roddick hasn’t been able to advance on the clay surface. It’s obvious that Federer has the edge over Roddick, but Federer has definitely been struggling in the 2009 season. The Swiss player would really like to grab a hold of his first title of the year. Roddick does have his 2008 win over Federer at the Masters Series Miami to give him the confidence he needs on Friday. He knows he has what it takes to beat Federer and that is huge! What does Roddick have to do... [Read more]

Roger Federer is getting ready for Paris by defeating Robin Soderling 6-1, 7-5 at the Masters Series Madrid. Unfortunately, Federer has a chance of losing his number 2 ranking to Andy Murray if he doesn’t have a good showing at the joint ATP and WTA event. “It’s about playing well and getting ready for Paris,” said Federer. “It’s good to get the first match.” Federer came out strong and took advantage of his opponents unforced errors. The Swiss star hit 24 winners and took advantage of the Swedish player’s 25 unforced errors to capture four break points. Federer fired down 11 aces, including on the final point to clinch his place in the third round. Andy Murray had a tough win against Simone Bolelli,... [Read more]

On Tuesday (May 12) No. 3 Serena Williams was defeated by Russian Alisa Kleybanova 6-3, 3-6, 7-5. The match took 2 hours and 12 minutes. Serena’s sister Venus was watching from the sideline after stopping her match on Monday due to a knee injury. This was not a good tournament for the Williams sisters. Serena was really struggling through this match and Kleybanova lead early in the match. “I felt like she won by just being aggressive from both sides (of the court),” Williams said. “Against me she had to go for everything and make everything. All her balls landed in today.” What did Serena have to offer her fans? “See you next year” was all she could say. In other women’s tennis news, Jelena Jankovic defeated Slovakian Daniela... [Read more]

The Italian Open finals is all Russian. Dinara Safina will play Svetlana Kuznetsova in the final after both players defeated their opponents on Friday. Safina rallied to beat Venus Williams 6-7 (3), 6-3, 6-4, while Kuznetsova defeated Victoria Azarenka 6-2, 6-4. Both Safina and Kuznetsova have been runners up in the finals at Rome, but have never taken the title. The match between Safina and Williams lasted for 3 hours and 10 minutes! “She pushed me to play my best,” Safina said. “Sometimes you need this kind of match … It gives me a lot of confidence to beat such a big player like her, such a champion.” Williams, who is currently number 5, will jump to number 3 by reaching the Rome semi-finals. This is her highest ranking in 6... [Read more]