Sharapova survives scare from Georges in 3rd round

No. 14 seed, #16 Maria Sharapova of Russia, escaped in a three-set thriller against a determined, unseeded #38 Julia Goerges of Germany on Friday at the Australian Open in Melbourne. Final score: 4-6, 6-4, 6-4.

Sharapova, who won the Australian Open title in 2008, was forced to dig in deep to pull through in a match that lasted 2 hours and 29 minutes. Georges had outplayed the former World No. 1 throughout the first set and pushed her to the limit in the second.

Ivanovic defeats Razzano setting up meeting with Clijsters

Ana Ivanovic, supporting a rebuilt game, came through with flying colors Saturday against No. 79 ranked Virginie Razzano, winning in straight sets 7-5, 6-0.

Next up for unseeded Ivanovic in a Labor Day match is No. 2 seed, Kim Clijsters.

Ivanovic last played Clijsters at the start of August in the semi-finals in Cincinnati but Ivanovic was forced to retire with a foot injury just three games into the match.

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: