Sania Mirza

By Jilawatan

Indian tennis ace Sania Mirza and her partner Elena Vesnina of Russia registered an upset victory over eighth-seeded Czech pair of Iveta Benesova and Barbora Zahlavova Strycova to move into the second round of the women’s doubles euro 3,500,000 Madrid Masters tennis.

Sania and Elena came back from one set down to notch a 3-6, 6-1, 10-2 victory on red clay.

The duo will now take on Nadia Petrova of Russia and Australian Anastasia Rodionova for a berth in the last eight stage of the tournament.

Sania, was earlier sent packing from the women’s singles by her doubles partner Elena in the very first round. The Hyderabadi was handed a 4-6, 3-6 defeat in a match that lasted for over an hour.

By Jilawatan

Roger Federer has advanced to the semifinals at the Sony Ericsson Open by beating Andy Roddick 6-3, 4-6, 6-4.

With the victory Wednesday night, Federer improved to 17-2 against Roddick and avenged a loss when they met in Key Biscayne quarterfinals last year.

Federer’s opponent Friday will be No. 3-seeded Novak Djokovic, who beat No. 10 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-3, 6-4.

A lucky bounce helped Federer in the final game. With Roddick serving at deuce, Federer hit a backhand passing shot that clipped the net cord and landed in the corner for a winner. On the final point Federer smacked another backhand that handcuffed Roddick at the net and deflected off his racket.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.

Wednesday

At The Tennis Center at Crandon Park

Key Biscayne, Fla.

Purse: Men, $4.5 million (Masters 1000); Women, $4.5 million (Premier)

Surface: Hard-Outdoor

Singles

Men

Quarterfinals

Novak Djokovic (3), Serbia, def. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (10), France, 6-3, 6-4.

Roger Federer (2), Switzerland, def. Andy Roddick (5), United States, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4.

Women

Quarterfinals

Serena Williams (1), United States, def. Li Na, China, 4-6, 7-6 (1), 6-2.

Venus Williams (5), United States, def. Iveta Benesova (26), Czech Republic, 6-1, 6-4.

Doubles

Men

Quarterfinals

Ashley Fisher and Stephen Huss, Australia, def. Frantisek Cermak, Czech Republic, and Michal Mertinak, Slovakia, 6-4, 3-6, 10-6 tiebreak.

Julian Knowle and Jurgen Melzer, Austria, def. Ross Hutchins, Britain, and Jordan Kerr, Australia, 6-3, 6-1.

Bob and Mike Bryan (1), United States, def. Bruno Soares, Brazil, and Kevin Ullyett (6), Zimbabwe, 7-6 (1), 6-4.

Max Mirnyi, Belarus, and Andy Ram, Israel, def. Julien Benneteau and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, France, 7-6 (1), 7-6 (5).

Women

Quarterfinals

Chuang Chia-jung, Taiwan, and Sania Mirza, India, def. Anabel Medina Garrigues and Virginia Ruano Pascual (2), Spain, 6-3, 7-6 (4).

Svetlana Kuznetsova, Russia, and Amelie Mauresmo, France, def. Nuria Llagostera Vives and Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez (6), Spain, 5-7, 7-5, 10-6 tiebreak.

Anna-Lena Groenefeld, Germany, and Patty Schnyder, Switzerland, def. Samantha Stosur and Rennae Stubbs (4), Australia, 6-7 (5), 6-2, 10-8 tiebreak.

By Jilawatan

Vera Zvonareva of Russia and India’s Sania Mirza won semifinal matches Saturday and will play for the title at the Pattaya Open on Sunday.

The top-seeded Zvonareva easily breezed past seventh-seeded Shahar Peer of Israel, 6-1, 6-4. Peer won this title in 2006. Mirza, meanwhile, pulled out a 6-4, 5-7, 6-1 triumph over eighth-seeded Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia.

Zvonareva, currently ranked fifth in the world, is coming off her best finish in a Grand Slam event, losing in the semifinals to countrymate Dinara Safina at the Australian Open. She will be trying for her eighth career WTA singles crown on Sunday.

Last year, Zvonareva was 2-6 in finals. She has a career mark of 7-11 in title matches.

Sunday will mark the first WTA singles final for Mirza since losing to Anna Chakvetadze in Stanford in 2007. Her lone singles crown came back in 2005 at her home event in Hyderabad.

Mirza, who had been ranked as high as No. 27 back in August of 2007, is currently ranked just 126th after battling through a wrist injury for much of last season. She was a second-round loser to Nadia Petrova at the Australian Open, but won the mixed doubles title in Melbourne with fellow Indian Mahesh Bhupathi.

Zvonareva and Mirza have met just once previously, with Mirza rallying from a set down to earn a 5-7, 6-2, 6-4 victory in the quarterfinals of the 2005 Japan Open.

The 2009 Pattaya titlist will claim $37,000.

By Jilawatan

Tennis sensation Sania Mirza slipped 13 places to 88 in the WTA singles rankings, released on Monday. In the doubles ranking she lost 9 places to stand at 72.

Serena Williams of the US remains on top of the singles rankings, followed by Dinara Safina of Russia and Jelena Jankovic of Serbia.

In the ATP doubles rankings, Leander Paes replaced Mahesh Bhupathi in the number six position. Paes now has 6940 points, 15 more than seventh-placed Bhupathi.

Rohan Bopanna moved to 72 with 1705 points after gaining three spots. In the singles, Somdev Dev Varman continued to be India’s highest ranked player at 150.

RANKINGS

(Previous week’s in bracket)

Men: 1. (1) Rafael Nadal (Esp) 14360 pts; 2. (2) Roger Federer (Sui) 11000; 3. (3) Novak Djokovic (Srb) 9420; 4. (4) Andy Murray (GBR) 7400; 5. (5) Nikolay Davydenko (Rus) 4955; 6. (6) Andy Roddick (US) 4440; 7. (7) Juan Martin del Potro (Arg) 4290; 8. (8) Gilles Simon (Fra) 3925; 9. (10) Gael Monfils (Fra) 3550; 10. (9) Fernando Verdasco (Esp) 3330.

Women: 1. (1) Serena Williams (US) 9982 points; 2. (2) Dinara Safina (Rus) 9021; 3. (3) Jelena Jankovic (Srb) 8400; 4. (4) Elena Dementieva (Rus) 7886; 5. (5) Venus Williams (US) 7092; 6. (6) Vera Zvonareva (Rus) 6320; 7. (7) Ana Ivanovic (Srb) 5414; 8. (8) Svetlana Kuznetsova (Rus) 4953; 9. (9) Nadia Petrova (Rus) 3882; 10. (10) Agnieszka Radwanska (Pol) 3448.