Zvonareva wins close 2-setter over Safarova

Vera Zvonareva, the No. 2 seed, had to fight hard, but overcame a determined No. 31 seed, Lucie Safarova in their 3rd round match Saturday at the 2011 Australian Open in Melbourne winning 6-3, 7-6 (11-9).

Zvonareva broke former doubles partner Safarova once in the first set and looked as though she would cruise to victory when she broke again at the start of the second.

However, Zvonareva seemed to tighten up toward the end of the 2nd set and she lost her serve three times in a row as Safarova recovered to send the set into a tiebreak.

Sharapova tramples Benesova in round 2 of U.S. Open

Maria Sharapova made quick work of her 2nd round match against Iveta Benesova, winning easily 6-1, 6-2.

Sharapova, the 14th seed, didn’t face a single break point in her demolition of 68th ranked Benesova of the Czech Republic. Benesova contributed 26 unforced errors to add to her own demise. Sharapova broke down Benesova’s defense with 16 winners, including three aces.

This sets up a 3rd round meeting between Sharapova and the young 18-year-old American, Beatrice Capra, ranked 371 in the world, who upset 18th seed Aravane Rezai 7-5, 2-6, 6-3 earlier today.

Top-seeded Jankovic ousted by qualifier Benesova

Qualifier Iveta Benesova of the Czech Republic ousted top-seeded Jelena Jankovic of Serbia Tuesday night in the 2nd round of the 2010 WTA Rogers Cup in Montreal, Canada.

This win over No. 3 ranked Jankovic in straight sets, 7-6(3), 6-3, was the biggest victory of Benesova’s career. After the match she said: “It was almost a perfect match for me… I was in the zone and focused on my game.” Her previous best win was over then No. 10 ranked Vera Zvonareva in 2005.

Jankovic has played only four matches in three tournaments this month after missing two weeks with an ankle injury she claims is completely recovered.

Dementieva Seeded No 1 at WTA Open GDF Suez

No. 7 ranked Elena Dementieva of Russia is seeded No. 1 for the $700,000 WTA Open GDF Suez being played in Paris, France, February 8-10, 2010. After a 1st round bye, Dementieva will take on Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia who was a 1st round winner over Iveta Benesova of the Czech Republic.

The top seeds include: