Dementieva beats Mattek-Sands to reach 2nd round of Madrid Masters

MADRID — Third-seeded Elena Dementieva beat Bethanie Mattek-Sands of the United States 6-4, 6-1 on Saturday to reach the second round of the Madrid Masters.

Safina outlasts Pennetta, meets Kuznetsova in final

STUTTGART - World No.1 Dinara Safina rallied to a 3-6, 7-5, 6-0 victory over fighting Italian Flavia Pennetta for a place in the Porsche Grand Prix tennis final.

Pennetta stuns Jankovic again for Stuttgart semis berth

STUTTGART - Flavia Pennetta of Italy did it again to Jelena Jankovic with a 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 win as the Serbian title holder crashed out of the Porsche Grand Prix quarter-finals.

Safina wins big as number one - Dementieva rebounds

STUTTGART - Dinara Safina clobbered Sara Errani 6-0, 6-1 in her first match as world number one tennis player for a place in the second round of the Porsche Grand Prix.

Australian Open results

MELBOURNE - The following are the results at the Australian Open here Thursday:

Women’s singles, semi-finals:

Federer, Dokic draw huge TV audience (Australian Open Notebook)

MELBOURNE - Jelena Dokic and Roger Federer provided a power punch for Australian Open ratings this week, with those contests watched by only a slightly smaller number of viewers than the 2008 men’s final.

Safina, Williams to fight for Melbourne title and top spot

MELBOURNE - Serena Williams will bid for her tenth Grand Slam title to mark a decade of play at the Australian Open when she faces Dinara Safina in the Saturday final.

Dementieva stays in chase for number one ranking

MELBOURNE - Elena Dementieva kept her dream of a possible number one WTA ranking alive as she stormed past Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro 6-2, 6-2 and into her first semi-final at the Australian Open here Wednesday.

Simple for Simon in Australian Open

MELBOURNE - Gilles Simon and Serena Williams advanced through to the Australian Open quarter-finals Monday as their opponents quit after being injured.

Jankovic will watch contenders jockey for her No.1 ranking

MELBOURNE - Jelena Jankovic can only watch as three possible pretenders struggle to seize her No.1 women’s tennis ranking, which will require a weekend title at the Australian Open.

Serena touched by comeback queen Dokic (Australian Open diary)

MELBOURNE - American tennis champion Serena Williams is the latest to join the list of comeback girl Jelena Dokic’s admirers.

Fighting Federer recovers from the depths to reach quarter-finals

MELBOURNE - Roger Federer made his fourth career recovery from two sets to love down, surviving an early storm before subduing Tomas Berdych 4-6, 6-7 (4-7), 6-4, 6-4, 6-2 to reach the quarter-finals of the Australian Open Sunday.

Dynamic Dementieva in third round of Australian Open

MELBOURNE - Russian Elena Dementieva charged Thursday to her 12th-straight victory in a stunning season start, powering into the third round of the Australian Open with 6-4, 6-1 ease over Iveta Benesova.

Superstitious Serena won’t go to movies during Australian Open

MELBOURNE - American tennis star Serena Williams will not be watching movies during the Australian Open and focus solely on the business of winning.

Dementieva one of the favourites at Australian Open

SYDNEY - Russian Elena Dementieva will head to the Australian Open as one of the favourites for the women’s singles title after a streak of recent wins.

Nadal, Jankovic head Australian Open seedings

MELBOURNE - World No 1s Spaniard Rafael Nadal and Serbian Jelena Jankovic have been given the top billing in the men’s and women’s singles at the $15.5 million Australian Open tennis starting here Monday.

Hewitt gets started in Sydney with fighting win

SYDNEY - Women’s seeds stormed through into the quarter-finals as Lleyton Hewitt made a typical fighting debut Tuesday at the Medibank International tennis.

Dementieva finishes a perfect week to lift Auckland title

AUCKLAND - Olympic women’s tennis champion Elena Dementieva completed a dream week to start her 2009 season, winning the ASB Classic title 6-4, 6-1 Saturday over Elena Vesnina without dropping a set all week.

Israeli tennis player faces protests over Gaza attacks

WELLINGTON - Israeli tennis player Shahar Peer was subject to a small but noisy protest over her country’s invasion of Gaza when she played a quarter-final match at the ASB Classic tournament in Auckland Thursday.