Madrid, Spain (Sports Network) - Saturday's semifinals are now set at the season-ending Sony Ericsson Championships, as top-seeded Belgian Justine Henin will meet fourth-seeded Serbian Ana Ivanovic and sixth-seeded Maria Sharapova will take on her seventh-seeded fellow Russian Anna Chakvetadze.
Friday's Sharapova-Ivanovic winner would not have to face the world No. 1 Henin here on Saturday, and it worked out for the 2004 Championships victor Sharapova, who dismantled her fellow 20-year-old Ivanovic 6-1, 6-2 on the fourth and final day of round-robin play on the hardcourt at Recinto Ferial Casa de Campo.
Sharapova pasted Ivanovic in 1 hour, 10 minutes, as she recorded five service breaks, compared to zero for the overmatched Serb.
The Australian Open runner-up and former world No. 1 Sharapova was a perfect 3-0 in this week's four-player Red Group, while the French Open runner-up Ivanovic went 2-1. The group was rounded out by eighth-seeded Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova (1-2) and second-seeded U.S. Open runner-up Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia (0-3). Hantuchova took the place of Wimbledon champion Venus Williams (dizziness) in the exclusive eight-player field.
Henin captured this week's Yellow Group, at 3-0, followed by Chakvetadze (2-1), alternate Marion Bartoli of France (1-1) and third-seeded Serbian Jelena Jankovic (0-3). The Wimbledon runner-up Bartoli replaced an injured Serena Williams here on Thursday. The fifth-seeded Williams, this year's Australian Open champ, pulled out here with a left knee injury after losing to Chakvetadze, 6-4, retired, on Wednesday night.
In a pair of meaningless matches on Friday, Hantuchova handled the former U.S. Open champion Kuznetsova 7-6 (9-7), 6-0 and a 10th-ranked Bartoli was leading Jankovic 6-1, 1-0 when the Serbian retired due to an illness. The busy Jankovic led the WTA Tour with a whopping 72 match wins in 2007.
On Saturday, Henin will meet Ivanovic for a third time in their careers. The Belgian is a perfect 2-0 lifetime against the Serb, including a victory in this year's French Open finale. The amazing Henin leads the tour with nine titles already this season.
The other semi will pit Sharapova against Chakvetadze, for a sixth time. The two-time major titlist Sharapova is a flawless 5-0 all-time versus her compatriot, including three wins in as many tries this year. Sharapova beat Chakvetadze in this year's Aussie and French Open quarterfinals.
Prior to this event, the reigning U.S. and French Open titlist Henin had already clinched the year-end top-ranking for a second straight season and for the third time in five years and is currently riding a torrid 23-match winning streak.
The seven-time Grand Slam event titlist Henin defeated France's Amelie Mauresmo in last year's Championships finale here in Madrid, which will give way to Doha as the tournament's host city next year.
The winner of this $3 million event will collect $1 million, while the runner- up will claim $500,000.
Linz, Austria (Sports Network) - Sixth-seeded Swiss Patty Schnyder toppled top-seeded Russian Anna Chakvetadze in Friday's quarterfinal action at the $600,000 Generali Ladies Linz women's tennis event.
The lefthanded Schnyder humbled the U.S. Open semifinalist Chakvetadze 6-1, 6-0 on the indoor hardcourt at Intersport Arena. Chakvetadze piled up five double faults and had her serve broken five times in a lopsided, lightning- fast 39-minute affair.
Schnyder, who reached the Linz final in 2005, will face Wimbledon runner-up Marion Bartoli in Saturday's semifinals. The third-seeded Bartoli, of France, held off Ukrainian Julia Vakulenko 6-1, 1-6, 6-4.
The other semi will pit second-seeded Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova against fifth-seeded Czech Nicole Vaidisova, as Hantuchova snuck past Ukrainian Alona Bondarenko 6-4, 1-6, 6-3, while Vaidisova upended fourth-seeded Russian Dinara Safina 6-3, 7-6 (9-7).
The 2007 Linz titlist will collect $88,265.
Philadelphia, PA (Sports Network) - Believe it or not, Russian Anna Chakvetadze is all the way up to a career-high No. 6 in the women's tennis rankings, currently ahead of the likes of former world No. 1 stars Amelie Mauresmo and Serena Williams.
The 20-year-old Chakvetadze (pronounced chuk-veh-TAHD-zeh) is perhaps the quietest Top-10 performer of any sport in the world. She opened the year ranked 13th on the planet and has steadily been climbing the tennis ladder over the past few campaigns.
The solid all-around star has her career WTA titles up to six, including an eye-catching four already this season. Her first two titles came last year, back-to-back, including a special one at the Tier I Kremlin Cup in her native Moscow. Only world No. 1 Justine Henin (5) has won more titles than Chakvetadze in 2007. The Russian also currently leads the US Open Series standings, thanks to her hardcourt title in Stanford last week. The championship at the Bank of the West Classic marked her second title in eight days, as she also ran the table at a hardcourt event in Cincinnati a week earlier.
FYI, the US Open Series links 10 summer events to the US Open, creating a cohesive, six-week summer tennis season for the WTA and ATP professional tournaments in North America. It runs for six weeks and culminates with the US Open.
Interesting?
Probably not.
So let's get back to Chakvetadze.
Granted, she didn't exactly beat any juggernauts en route to her titles in Cincy or Stanford, but she certainly seems to win the matches that she's supposed to win.
The 5-foot-7 star is a solid 46-11 this season, including trips to the quarterfinals at both the Aussie and French Opens. Unfortunately, she came up a third-round loser at Wimbledon.
The rising Russian started to make her Grand Slam mark by reaching the fourth round at last year's US Open, and she's never lost before the third round in her three trips to New York City.
Chakvetadze is a career combined 24-12 at the four majors, starting with her first US Open appearance as a 17-year-old qualifier in 2004. She stunned her at-the-time world No. 3 fellow Russian Anastasia Myskina in the second round at that particular major fortnight.
The 128-pound Chakvetadze joined the professional ranks in 2003, a year in which she finished at No. 373 in the world. She shot up to No. 84 by the end of 2004, and was well on her way with a No. 33 finish in '05.
FYI, Chakvetadze reached the Wimbledon junior finale in '03.
Chakvetadze also helped Russia beat the host United States 3-2 in a Fed Cup semifinal in Stowe, Vermont last month and her Russian squad will now meet reigning champion Italy in the 2007 Fed Cup World Group final in mid- September.
The Muscovite took her career prize money over the $1 million mark back in January, and she's already earned more than $728,000 this season. She opened her '07 campaign by titling in Hobart and has basically been winning matches ever since, as evidenced by the aforementioned record.
She's reached at least the quarterfinals in 10 of her 14 events so far this season; has advanced to six semifinals; and is an impressive 4-0 in four finals for the year. As a matter of fact, Chakvetadze has yet to lose in six career title bouts.
Impressive.
Chakvetadze is currently the third-best Russian on the tour, behind reigning US Open champion Maria Sharapova and 2004 US Open winner Svetlana Kuznetsova, but with the continued progress, she may be heading even higher. She succumbed to the two-time major titlist Sharapova in this year's Aussie and French Open quarters.
The determined Chakvetadze has yet to beat her fellow 20-year-old Sharapova in four career matchups, and she's 0-2 lifetime versus Kuznetsova. That's a combined 0-6 against the cream of the Russian crop.
But, if Chakvetadze's self-proclaimed goal is "to be Top 5," then I'd say she's in pretty good shape to accomplish that. Her biggest obstacle could be herself, however, as the often emotional star is prone to lapses of concentration during the biggest points.
The talented Russian is seeded third at this week's Tier I Acura Classic in San Diego. The top seeds there are Sharapova and Serbian star Jelena Jankovic.
Cincinnati, OH (Sports Network) - Top-seeded Russian Anna Chakvetadze downed Akiko Morigami of Japan in straight sets to capture the $175,000 Western & Southern Financial Open title.
Chakvetadze cruised to an easy first set win and held on in the second set to clinch a 6-1, 6-3 win in just over an hour.
Morigami, seeded seventh, advanced to the final by storming back to defeat wild card Akgul Amanmuradova of Uzbekistan, 6-7 (8-10), 6-4, 6-3 in a marathon match that took two hours and 28 minutes to complete on Saturday.
Chakvetadze, meanwhile, fought past third-seed Sania Mirza 6-2, 5-7, 6-3 to cement her spot in the final.
It was her second victory over Mirza this year, as these two also played in the semifinals of a smaller event in Hobart before the Australian Open in January, with Chakvetadze winning, 6-4, 6-1. That win propelled her into the final where she topped countrywoman Vasilisa Bardina to earn her third Sony Ericsson WTA Tour singles title.
For her efforts, Chakvetadze pockets $25,840.
Stowe, VT (Sports Network) - American teenager Vania King will face Anna Chakvetadze in Saturday's opening singles rubber in the Fed Cup semifinal showdown between the United States and visiting Russia.
The best-of-five tie will be staged on a hardcourt at Stowe's Stadium at Topnotch on Saturday and Sunday. The USA-Russia winner will meet the France- Italy victor in the World Group final in mid-September.
The 18-year-old King and world No. 8 Chakvetadze will be followed on Saturday by a bout between Wimbledon champion Venus Williams and ninth-ranked Russian Nadia Petrova.
On Sunday, the reverse singles will pit the six-time major titlist Williams against Chakvetadze and King versus Petrova, while the potentially-deciding doubles calls for an American tandem of King and Lisa Raymond to battle a Russian duo of Petrova and Elena Vesnina.
Former world No. 1 stars Serena Williams, of the U.S., and Russian Maria Sharapova and fourth-ranked Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova all pulled out of this week's semi due to injuries, leaving Venus as the biggest star on either roster.
The Americans are captained by Zina Garrison, while the Russians are skippered by Shamil Tarpischev. Garrison also has Meilen Tu at her disposal, while Tarpischev's roster also includes Alla Kudryavtseva.
The United States leads all nations with 17 Fed Cup titles, with the last coming seven years ago.
The U.S. and Russia have met five times in Fed Cup play, with the Americans leading the all-time series 4-1. Russia won the most recent matchup, however, defeating the U.S. in the 2005 semis on the way to its second consecutive -- and second-ever -- Fed Cup crown.
Madrid, Spain (Sports Network) - Saturday's semifinals are now set at the season-ending Sony Ericsson Championships, as top-seeded Belgian Justine Henin will meet fourth-seeded Serbian Ana Ivanovic and sixth-seeded Maria Sharapova will take on her seventh-seeded fellow Russian Anna Chakvetadze.
