Maria Sharapova's new porsche

Schiavone, Dominguez Lino in Grand Prix SAR final

Francesca Schiavone beat South African Chanelle Scheepers 7-6 (4), 6-1 to set up a Grand Prix SAR final against Lourdes Dominguez Lino, who overcame a slow start to beat Luxembourg's Mandy Minella 2-6, 6-0, 6-1 on Saturday.

Sharapova makes Stuttgart final along with Li

Defending champion Maria Sharapova rallied in the third set to beat Angelique Kerber 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 Saturday and earn a spot in the final of the Porsche Grand Prix. Sharapova will play either Li Na for the title in the indoor clay-court tournament on Sunday. Li made the final after beating an American qualifier Bethanie Mattek Sands 6-4,6-3

Sharapova battles past Ivanovic, semi finalists set

Top-seeded Maria Sharapova got through another tough test in outlasting Ana Ivanovic 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 on Friday to advance to the semifinals of the Porsche Grand Prix. Sharapova will next play third-seeded Angelique Kerber, who defeated Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan 6-3, 7-6 to reach her third semifinal of the season.Bethanie Mattek-Sands, an American qualifier, beat Sabine Lisicki of Germany 6-4, 6-2. The American next goes against second-seeded Li Na of China, who defeated fifth-seeded Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 7-5.

Ivanovic upsets Petrova, Kvitova through

 

Ana Ivanovic of Serbia beat eight-seeded Russian Nadia Petrova 6-4,6-3 to enter her first quarter final on clay since 2010 Rome. Ivanovic also extends her head to head series to 9-5 against the world number 11 Russian. Seeded players Li Na, Angelique Kerber and Petra Kvitova also advanced to the quarterfinals. The second-seeded Li swept past qualifier Mirjana Lucic-Baroni 6-1,6-2, and the third-seeded Kerber defeated Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-0, 6-4. The fifth-seeded Kvitova rallied past 2011 champion Julia Goerges, 2-6,7-6,6-2. Kvitova, the 2011 Wimbledon champion, is looking for her second title of the year after winning Dubai earlier this year.

Sharapova survives, Jankovic knocked out

 

Top-seeded and the defending champion Maria Sharapova needed three sets and more than three hours Thursday in her clay-court season opener to overcome Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic for a place in the Porsche Grand Prix quarterfinals. Sharapova finished the 3 hour marathon with a 6-4,6-7,6-3 scoreline. Sharapova will face Ana Ivanovic in the last eight stage. Jelena Jankovic and Carla Suarez Navarro caused two biggest upsets in the singles draw in round 1 but both of them dramatically fell in round 2 to Sabine Lisicki and Yaroslava Shvedova respectively. Shvedova defeated Suarez 7-5,6-4 while Lisicki beat Jankovic of 7-6,7-5

Wozniacki, Stosur out, Goerges wins

Caroline Wozniacki lost in the first round of the Porsche Grand Prix on Wednesday, falling to Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain 7-6 (6), 6-1. Fifth seed Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic survived an opening round defeat when she beat wild-card entry Annika Beck of Germany 7-5,6-70,6-3 in tight three sets. Julia Goerges of Germany, who beat Wozniacki for the 2011 title in Stuttgart, advanced to the second round when Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium retired with stomach problems. Goerges was leading 6-2, 2-1.
Former world number one Jelena Jankovic of Serbia caue the second upset of the day outclassing former US Open champion Samantha Stosur. Jankovic finished the match with a 6-4,6-4 scoreline to reach second round.

Ivanovic wins Stuttgart opener, Petrova too

After two magnificent wins over Angelique Kerber and Mona Barthel at Fed Cup world group play off tie against Germany on Porsche Arena, Ana Ivanovic claimed yet another win over a German this time in WTA's premier event Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in the same venue. Ivanovic eased past Andrea Petkovic 6-3,6-2 in 72 minutes of play. Former world number one enjoyed her first-round win against wild-card Petkovic, who is on her way back after a series of injuries, with impressive serving and ground strokes. Petkovic was playing her first match since withdrawing mid-tournament in Charleston earlier this month due to a calf injury - and that was just her third tournament back from a knee injury earlier in the year. The only seeded player in action on Tuesday, Nadia Petrova won a tight straight-setter against Germany's Dinah Pfizenmaier 7-6,6-4 while another German Sabine Lisicki overcame Italian qualifier Nastassja Burnett 6-3, 6-4. Ivanovic will take on Petrova in round 2.

Fed Cup teams for this week's ties

Williams sisters to lead Fed Cup team against Sweden

Serena and Venus Williams will lead the U.S. Fed Cup team against Sweden on hardcourts at the Delray Beach Tennis Center on April 20-21. The team announced Wednesday will also include No. 16-ranked Sloane Stephens and No. 27 Varvara Lepchenko. The winner will advance to the 2014 world group and have a chance to compete for the Fed Cup title next year. The losing team will be relegated to world group II in 2014. Sweden's team will consist of Sofia Arvidsson, Johanna Larsson, Hilda Melander and Sandra Roma.

Vinci upsets top-seed Kvitova in Katowice

Roberta Vinci defeated top-seed Petra Kvitova 7-6,6-1 to claim the BNP Paribas Katowice Open in Poland. A tight opening set lasted 69 minutes as second-seed Vinci took it on the tie-break, before dominating World No. 8 Kvitova throughout the second set and win her eighth WTA Tour title.

Clijsters & USANA Celebrate In Paris

Kim Clijsters made a special appearance for USANA in Paris over the weekend, helping them celebrate their first year anniversary in Europe at their European Conference on Saturday. Clijsters, a USANA Brand Ambassador, was the featured speaker at the event on Saturday and spoke to more than 600 of USANA's European Associates at Le Grand Rex, an historic venue - actually the largest cinema, theater and music venue in Paris. She also hit autographed tennis balls to the crowd and did media interviews throughout the day, including with Eurosport and L'Equipe. It was a big celebration for the company in Europe - they are now in 16 markets throughout the continent.

Clijsters announced a few weeks ago that she was pregnant with her second child and was expecting a baby boy later this year.

Williams captures her sixth in Miami

World number one Serena Williams earned a record breaking sixth Key Biscayne women's title Saturday by beating 4 time grand slam champion Maria Sharapova 4-6,6-3,6-0 at the Sony Open. Sharapova who has lost 4 Miami finals faced yet another loss in the final on Saturday and she's now 0-5 in Key Biscayne finals. Also Sharapova is yet to beat Williams since 2004. Williams' other titles at Key Biscayne came in 2002, '03, '04, '07 and '08 and she is the first No. 1 seeded woman to win the title since she was champion in 2004.

Ivanovic wins grand slam champions battle

 

Ana Ivanovic of Serbia, 2008 French Open champion, defeated 2009 French Open and 2004 US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia in third round of Sony Open to place in round 4. Ivanovic, who extends her win loss record against Kuznetsova to 8-3, will next face Sara Errani of Italy, who eased past Romanian Simona Halep 6-1,6-0. Ivanovic, seeded 12th, dominated in the opening set and it took Kuznetsova until the fourth game to register her first point of the match. The Serbian eventually clinched it 6-3 before sealing the triumph 6-3 again in the second. Roberta Vinci and Alize Cornet are also among Sunday's third round winners.

Cirstea makes the biggest upset, Sharapova safely through

Sorana Cirstea made the biggest upset of 2013 Sony Open so far by beating 6th seed German Angelique Kerber with an impressive scoreline 6-4,6-0. Number 3 seed Maria Sharapova also moved into the fourth round with the win over fellow Russian Elena Vesnina 6-4,6-2. Sharapova, who won Indian Wells last week, is looking for her first title in Key Biscayne after losing the final in 2005, '06, '11 and '12. Among the seeded players to lose are Nadia Petrova and Maria Kirilenko. Petrova was ousted by Jelena Jankovic 7-6,6-4 and Kirilenko lost to Klara Zakopalova 6-2,7-6. Cirstea will face Jankovic and Sharapova will play Zakopalova in round 4.

Wildcard Muguruza upsets Wozniacki

Caroline Wozniacki has suffered a third-round defeat to Spanish wild card Garbine Muguruza at the Sony Open. Ninth seed Wozniacki was brushed aside 6-2 in the opening set before her opponent wrapped up the victory 6-4. Ajla Tomljanovic, Dominika Cibulkova, are also among round three winners from Saturday.

Radwanska survives early exit, Kivotva out

Agnieszka Radwanska has survived a scare in the third round of the Miami Masters with 7-6,2-6,6-3 three sets victory over Magdalena Rybarikova. The Pole will now face Sloane Stephens for a quarter-final spot. However former Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic faced a shock loss against Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium in the third round.  Kvitova, who won Dubai last month, struggled to find her form in the first set where she got bageled. She made a quick come back to clinch the second 6-4 however Flipkens came out on top 6-1 in the decider to scrape into round four. China's fifth-seeded Li Na defeated America's Varvara Lepchenko 6-2,6-4 in another third round match. Li is playing her first tournament since the Australian Open.

Serena into round 4, Venus withdraws

World number one Serena Williams of the USA added another win to her Miami campaign after beating Ayumi Morita of Japan 6-3,6-3 in the third round. Elder sister Venus withdrew from the Sony Open with a lower back injury just minutes before she was supposed to take the court against Sloane Stephens. Venus Williams is third second big name on the women’s side to pull out of the event, joining the two-time champion Victoria Azarenka and former US Open champion Samantha Stosur.

WTA Miami second round results

Sara Errani def. Daniela Hantuchova 6-3,6-1
Simona Halep def. Tamira Paszek 6-1,6-7,7-5
Svetlana Kuznetsova def. Ekaterina Makarova 6-4,6-4
Ana Ivanovic def. Urzula Radwanska 6-2,6-1
Maria Kirilenko def. Bethanie Mattek Sands 6-1,6-4
Klara Zakapolova def. Anabel Medina Garrigues 6-3,7-6
Elena Vesnina def. Donna Vekic 6-4,6-2
Maria Sharapova def. Eugenie Bouchard 6-2,6-0
Angelique Kerber def. Francesca Schaivone 6-7,6-3,6-2
Sorana Cirstea def. Silvia Soler Espinosa 2-6,7-5,6-2
Jelena Jankovic def. Victoria Duval 7-5,6-3
Nadia Petrova def. Zheng Jie 6-3,6-1
Roberta Vinci def. Christina McHale 6-7,6-1,6-3
Carla Suarez Navarro def. Jamie Hampton 5-7,7-5,7-6
Alize Cornet def. Laura Robson 5-7,7-5,6-1
Lauren Davis def. Madison Keys 6-1,5-7,7-6

Serena Williams def. Flavia Pennetta 6-1,6-1
Ayumi Morita def. Yanina Wickmayer 7-6,2-6,6-3
Romina Oprandi def. Lucie Safarova 7-6,4-6,7-6
Dominika Cibulkova def. Kristina Mladenovic 6-2,6-3
Caroline Wozniacki def. Karolina Pliskova 5-7,6-3,6-3
Garbine Muguruza def. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 4-6,6-2,6-2
Varvara Lepchenkova def. Irina Camelia Begu 6-3,6-4
Li Na def. Kiki Bertens 6-3,6-1
Agnieszka Radwanska def. Su wei Hsieh 6-3,6-2
Magdalena Rybarikova def. Mona Barthel 6-3,7-6
Venus Williams def. Kimiko Date Krumm 7-6,3-6,6-4
Sloane Stephens def. Olga Govortsova 0-6,6-4,6-4
Andrea Petkovic def. Marion Bartoli 6-3,4-1 ret.
Ajla Tomljanovic def. Julia Goerges 7-6,6-2
Kirsten Flipkens def. Stefanie Vogele 6-4,6-2
Petra Kvitova def. Shuai Peng 5-7,6-2,6-2

Azarenka pulls out of Miami

Two-time champion Victoria Azarenka put an end to several weeks of speculation on Friday as the second seed withdrew injured just ahead of her opening match at the Miami Masters. The winner from 2009 and 2011 finally bowed to the inevitable as she pulled out with an ankle injury after quitting before an Indian Wells quarter final a week ago. Azarenka's second round opponent Madison Keys will now face fellow American Lauren Davis, who awarded the lucky loser spot.