Zheng Jie upsets Bartoli at Melbourne

No. 38 Zheng Jie of China pulled a major upset over No. 9 seed Marion Bartoli of France, posting a 6-3, 6-3 win in round 3 of the 2012 Australian Open.

It took just under an hour and a half for Zheng to get the job done. She raced out to a 4-0 lead before Bartoli finally held serve. Zheng then closed out the set at 6-3, and repeated the same score in the second set, joining compatriot Li Na in the round of 16, who won 3-0, Retired over No. 26 seed, Anabel Medina Garrigues.

Sharapova advances over Rezai at Indian Wells

No. 16 seed, Maria Sharapova advanced to the fourth round of the 2011 WTA BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells with an easy, straight sets win over No. 20 seed, Aravane Rezai of France, 6-2, 6-2.

Rezai was celebrating her 24th birthday, and was hoping for a win to cap it off, but it wasn’t to be. In just 73 minutes, Sharapova had put a damper on the birthday-girl’s hopes.

It took Sharapova a few games to get used to Rezai’s pace, but once she did, there was no stopping her. She benefited from her opponent’s missteps, but also played much better than in her last match, a three-set battle with Anabel Medina Garrigues.

Serena and Venus Williams Earn Tennis World No. 1 Doubles Ranking

Serena and Venus Williams of the USA will ascend to the top of the doubles rankings next week, the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour announced on Wednesday. Serena will also become the sixth player in Tour history to hold the No. 1 ranking in both singles and doubles simultaneously.

Following their Roland Garros semifinal victory against Liezel Huber and Anabel Medina Garrigues, Serena and Venus will climb to the top of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Doubles Rankings (as of June 7, 2010) for the first time in their career. They are currently ranked World No. 1 and 2, respectively, on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Singles Rankings, but will be joint doubles No. 1.