Azarenka wins Marbella championship

Miami champion Victoria Azarenka, seeded number 1 at the Andalucia Tennis Experience in Marbella, won the championship today by defeating surprise finalist Irina-Camelia Begu 6-3, 6-2. Begu was a qualifier who upset the 6th and 2nd seeds on her way to the final.

Azarenka will enter the top 5 next week.

The doubles title was won by 3rd seeds Nuria Llagostera Vives and Arantxa Parra Santonja. They defeated top seeds Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci 3-6, 6-4, 10-5.

Llagostera Vives & Martinez Sanchez upset in French Open

Though it would be logical to believe that Nuria Llagostera Vives and Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez would regain their winning ways at the French Open, those ways took them only as far as the semifinals. The 2nd-seeded Spaniards were defeated today, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, by the tournament's 12th seeds--Kveta Peschke and Katarina Srebotnik. Peschke and Srebotnik will have their work cut out for them in the final: They will compete against top seeds Serena and Venus Williams. The Williams sisters defeated 3rd seeds Liezel Huber and Anabel Medina Garrigues 2-6, 6-2, 6-4 in the semifinals.

Llagostera Vives' fortunes didn't go any better in mixed doubles, in which Srebotnik was again part of an upset, along with partner Nenad Zimonjic. The 6th seeds defeated 3rd seeds Llagostera Vives and Oliver Marach 4-6, 6-3, 11-9. In the final, they will play Yaroslava Shvedova and Julian Knowle. Shvedova and Knowle defeated Vania King and Christopher Kas 6-4, 6-4.

French Open miscellany

With her advancement to the quarterfinals, Francesca Schiavone--that would be "the amazing Francesca Schiavone"--will enter the top 10 for the first time in her career.

In case you missed it, here is Steve Tignor's poignant piece on Maria Sharapova's French Open run.

Yaroslava Shvedova is handling the cold Paris weather by wearing an old-school tennis sweater. Very nice.

In mixed doubles, Nuria Llagostera Vives and Oliver Marach defeated Alisa Kleybanova and Max Mirnyi 7-6 (7), 7-6 (7).

If you don't have Tennis Channel, or if you missed the feature on Shahar Peer, you can see it on the Tennis Channel website. Go to the Video On Demand page, and select "Shahar Peer Feature."

Dulko & Pennetta go to Rome final

Ever since Gisela Dulko and Flavia Pennetta began playing doubles together again, they have been the new hot team. They won both Miami and Stuttgart, and now they are in the final in Rome, after defeating Liezel Huber and Nadia Petrova 6-2, 4-6, 10-5 in the semifinals.

The Italians' opponents will be last season's Sony Ericcson Championships winners, Nuria Llagostera Vives and Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, who is also in the singles final. Llagostera Vives and Martinez Sanchez, seeded 2nd in Rome, defeated 4th seeds Lisa Raymond and Rennae Stubbs 6-2, 7-6 today.

Spaniards back on top in Dubai

Nuria Llagostera Vives and Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, after losing in straight sets in the third round of the Australian Open and losing to Australia in straight sets in Fed Cup, found their winning ways again today in Dubai. The 2nd seeds defeated Kveta Peschke and Katarina Srebotnik 7-6, 6-4 in the final of the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships.

There were nine breaks of serve in the championship match. Llagostera Vives and Martinez Sanchez came back from being 2-5 down in the first set, and were in danger of going down 3-5 in the second.

Spaniards upset in 3rd round of Australian Open

Maria Kirilenko is at it again. The woman who took out Maria Sharapova in the first round of the Australian Open has also--along with partner Agnieszka Radwanska--upset the 3rd seeds in doubles. Kirilenko and Radwanska, seeded 15th, soundly defeated Nuria Llagostera Vives and Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez in the third round today. The 6-1, 6-2 victory over the winners of the 2009 Sony Ericsson Championships is as surprising an upset as any we have had so far.

Next for Kirilenko and Radwanska are Laura Robson and Sally Peers.

Miscellany

Dinara Safina is blogging from Monte Carlo.

Tom Perrotta says that going through qualifying to get into the Australian Open main draw may not be the worst thing that can happen to Yanina Wickmayer.

Nuria Llagostera Vives and Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, who won the Sony Ericsson Championships, were honored in Barcelona last week by the Association of Tennis Journalists.

Bobby Chintapalli has my respect for number 8 on her list.

A shout-out to Peter Bodo for his realization that the end of the decade is a year away.

Kamakshi Tandon has put together a list of memorable 2009 quotations. Of course, Serena Williams and Marat Safin earned their own post.

Bien hecho!

Nuria Llagostera Vives and Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez had never before been to the Sony Ericsson Championships. It was only this year, in fact, that they began playing together exclusively. Yesterday, they defeated Serena and Venus Williams in the semifinals, and their opponents in today's final were Cara Black and Liezel Huber, who make up the number 1 team in the world.

Llagostera Vives and Martinez Sanchez won, 7-6, 5-7, 10-7, and the first set tiebreak score was 7-0. This very big title is the seventh of the season for the Spanish team. It would have been impressive enough to have defeated either the Williams sisters or Black and Huber: Llagostera Vives and Martinez Sanchez defeated them both, making for a memorable championship.

Spanish team goes to Doha final

The team of Nuria Llagostera Vives and Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez did today what few thought they could do: They defeated the Williams sisters in the semifinals of the Sony Ericsson Championships. They will play Cara Black and Liezel Huber in the final tomorrow.

Llagostera Vives and Martinez Sanchez, the "other" Spanish team, have had a great season. In their first year to play together exclusively, they won six titles, and were finalists in two other tournaments. Black and Huber, the number 1 team in the world, won five titles this year, and were finalists at the U.S. Open. They are 6-0 head-to-head against Llagostera Vives and Martinez Sanchez.

Kuznetsova qualifies for Sony Ericsson Championships

World number 6 and French Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova has qualified to play in the 2009 Sony Ericsson Championships. This will be Kuznetsova's fifth appearance at the championships.

Also qualifying this week is the doubles team of Nuria Llagostera Vives and Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez. The team has more tournaments than any other team this season.

Williams sisters join Black & Huber in U.S. Open semifinals

Since the U.S. Open began, I have generally watched two matches at once (a practice I don't recommend). This afternoon, however, it was hard to take my eyes off of the quarterfinal match between the Williams sisters and the comeback Chinese team of Yan Zi and Zheng Jie. Venus Williams had a consistently troublesome serve, which opened the door for the aggressive team of Yan and Zheng. Zheng is the showier of the two, and some of her volleys are stunning, but many times, they are set up expertly by the quiet and steady Yan.

Serena Williams served for the first set at 5-2, and was broken. Yan and Zheng held, as they continued their aggressive tactics. Up to this point, Venus was the only player who had not been broken, but when she served for the set at 5-4, she double-faulted twice. Serena rushed the net and saved a break point, but the team was broken when Venus double-faulted a third time.

When Yan and Zheng served at 5-all, there was a thrilling rally which ended when Zheng went to the net to save a break point. The Chinese team was broken on the next break point, however, and the Williams team held to take the set 7-5. The Williams sisters went up an early break in the second set, but were broken, then Yan and Zheng were broken right back. When the Williams team served again, Yan and Zheng had a break point, but Zheng over-hit a volley, which went long, and the Williams sisters were able to hold for 6-4 and the match.

(Note to Doug Adler: Four women on the court do not "man" their positions.)

In the other quarterfinal, top seeds and defending champions Cara Black and Liezel Huber faced Nuria Llagostera Vives and Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez. Black and Huber took the first set 6-3, and the Spanish team took the second, 6-2. In the final set, Black and Huber went down 4-5, 0-30, but found a way to hold--because that's what Black and Huber do. At 5-6, sitting on the bench during the changeover, Liezel Huber turned to her box and gave a thumbs-up to her team. The team then faced another break point, but saved that one, too, then broke the Spanish team. Black and Huber then held for a 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 victory.

In the semifinals, Black and Huber will play 3rd seeds Sam Stosur and Rennae Stubbs. The Williams sisters, who are seeded 4th, will play the 13th seeds, Alisa Kleybanova and Ekaterina Makarova.

Spanish team wins 2 in a row

Nuria Llagostera Vives and Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, who--just last week, won the Rogers Cup--won the Pilot Pen tournament tonight. The top-seeded Spanish team defeated Iveta Benesova and Lucie Hradecka 6-2, 7-5. This is the sixth title of the year for Llagostera Vives and Martinez Sanchez.

Stosur & Stubbs upset Black & Huber to reach Rogers Cup final

3rd seeds Samantha Stosur and Rennae Stubbs upset tops seeds Cara Black and Liezel Huber in Toronto tonight, 3-6, 6-3, 10-7.

Stosur and Stubbs will play 6th seeds Nuria Llagostera Vives and Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez in the final. The Spanish team upset 4th seeds Daniela Hantuchova and Ai Sugiyama 6-4, 6-4.

Pennetta takes Palermo title

Flavia Pennetta won the Internazionali Femminili di Palermo championship today, defeating countrywoman Sara Errani in straight sets for the title. This is Pennetta's seventh Sony Ericsson WTA Tour title.

The doubles title was won yesterday by Nuria Llagostera Vives and Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, who defeated Mariya Koryttseva and Darya Kustova 6-1, 6-2--the same scoreline as the singles final.