Goerges and Azarenka to play in Madrid semifinals

People who saw Julia Goerges play (I didn't) in the third round of the Madrid Open said she looked pretty tired. She wasn't too tired to defeat Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the quarterfinals, however. Goerges' 6-4, 6-2 victory places her in the semifinals against 4th seed Victoria Azarenka. In the last two months, Azarenka has either retired from events or won them. She had to retire in the quarterfinals of Indian Wells because of a hip injury (an ongoing problem), and she retired with a shoulder injury in the second round in Stuttgart. Azarenka won titles in Miami and Marbella.

To get to the semifinals, Azarenka defeated Lucie Safarova 6-3, 3-6, 6-2. The Belarusian is now 6-0 against Safarova, who took her first set off of Azarenka today.

Li Na--who has never been known for her performance on clay, and who had experienced quite a downfall since her big Australian Open run--is somewhat of a surprise semifinalist, despite being seeded 6th. Li defeated Bethanie Mattek-Sands 6-4, 3-6, 6-4. Mattek-Sands gave Li a lot of opposition, but then was easil broken at love in the final game.

Li's opponent will be Petra Kvitova, the 16th seed. Kvitova is a bit of a surprise, too, in that one might not expect her to perform at a high level on red clay. But she defeated a very good clay performer, Dominika Cibulkova, 3-6, 6-3, 7-5. Kvitova is just full of surprises, however, and I look forward to seeing what the next one will be.

Azarenka and her partner, Maria Kirilenko, seeded 5th in doubles, defeated the 3rd seeds, Vania King and Yaroslava Shvedova, in today's semifinals. Their opponents in the Madrid final will be 2nd seeds Kveta Peschke and Katarina Srebotnik. Peschke and Srebotnik defeated Casey Dellacqua and Rennae Stubbs 6-1, 4-6, 10-2.

Friday cat blogging--Crashed edition

Clijsters back on the court

World number 2 Kim Clijsters, who has been in treatment for shoulder, wrist and ankle injuries, has returned to the practice court. Clijsters said that her first practice session was pain-free, but she did not put much pressure on her ankle, and she is waiting to see what will happen when her training is intensified. Clijsters' participation in the French Open is still in question.

Quarterfinal draw set for Madrid

The top three seeds are no longer around, but the Madrid Open quarterfinal draw is nevertheless an intriguing one. Yesterday, 2nd seed Vera Zvonareva was beaten in straight sets by Petra Kvitova, and today, 3rd seed Francesca Schiavone was defeated by Bethanie Mattek-Sands. 5th seed Sam Stosur is also gone: She was upset 7-5, 6-3 by Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

The biggest news today, however, was the knock-out of top seed Caroline Wozniacki,  6-4, 1-6, 6-3, by Julia Goerges, the player who defeated Wozniacki in the Stuttgart final. In the meantime, Lucie Safarova continued her fine run, defeating Jarmila Gajdosova in straight sets; she has also taken out Anabel Medina Garrigues and 7th seed Jelena Jankovic.

Top doubles seeds Gisela Dulko and Flavia Pennetta were defeated yesterday by 5th seeds Victoria Azarenka and Maria Kirilenko. Today, 2nd seeds Kveta Peschke and Katarina Srebotnik advanced to the semifinals, as did 3rd seeds Vania King and Yaroslava Shvedova. Pesschke and Srebotnik defeated Charleston champions Sania Mirza and Elena Vesnina. Also moving to the semifinals was the team of Casey Dellacqua and Rennae Stubbs.

Here is the singles quarterfinal draw:

Julia Goerges vs. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
Victoria Azarenka (4) vs. Lucie Safarova
Li Na (6) vs. Bethanie Mattek-Sands
Dominika Cibulkova vs. Petra Kvitova (16)

Passing shots

A man in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida has been arrested for stalking Serena Williams.

Sandra Harwitt writes about the notable career of Esther Vergeer.

The WTA website is featuring an interview with Kristina Barrois, who joined the tour when she was 25 years old.

Eurosport's "Tramlines" column informs us that "nobody is really watching" women's tennis, so combined events are good for the WTA.

Steffi Graf will participate in the Chris Evert/Raymond James Pro Celebrity Tennis Class, which will be played November 11-13. This will be Graf's first appearance at the event, which is a fund-raiser for at-risk families in Florida.

Gajdosova goes for the thrills in Madrid

Jarmila Gajdosova has done a pretty good imitation of Thrill Ride since she arrived in Madrid. In the first round, she hung in while her opponent, Maria Kirilenko, served for the match twice and held two match points. In the second round, Gajdosova upset 12th seed Agnieszka Radwansska after Radwanska came close to going up 4-0 in the third set.

Thrill Ride, by the way, is still standing, and will play Stuttgart champion Julia Goerges in the next round. 9th seed Shahar Peer went out in the first round, as did Spanish clay court star Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, who lost to 6th seed Li Na. Wild card Arantxa Parra Santonja upset 13th seed Andrea Petkovic in the second round, and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova upset 11th seed Marion Bartoli.

Petra Kvitova will take on 2nd seed Vera Zvonareva on Wednesday. Up next for top seed Caroline Wozniacki will be the winner of the Safina-Goerges match.

In doubles, 4th seeds Liezel Huber and Lisa Raymond were defeated by Casey Dellacqua and Rennae Stubbs, who makes an occasional appearance in tournaments, despite her "retirement" from pro tennis. Also, 3rd seeds Vania King and Yaroslava Shvedova defeated wild cards Svetlana Kuznetsova and Vera Zvonareva in the second round.

Kuznetsova and Wickmayer out in 1st round in Madrid

Yesterday in Madrid, for the third consecutive time, Dominika Cibuulkova defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova. Cibulkova won 6-3, 6-2 over the 12th seed. Yanina Wickmayer, though unseeded, was undoubtedly expected by many to go deep in this tournament, but she, too, was defeated. Ekaterina Makarova beat Wickmayer 6-4, 6-4 in today's first round play.

Defending champion Aravane Rezai went out, too--6-3, 3-6, 6-4, to Sofia Arvidsson. Flavia Pennetta and Nadia Petrova were also beaten in the first round. Pennetta is just returning from rehab for a shoulder injury, and Petrova has been coping with an ongoing illness.

Bethanie Mattek-Sands lost the first set 6-0 to Ana Ivanovic, then went on to win the next two. And probably no one had to work as hard as Chanelle Scheepers, who served for the match at 5-3 in the third set served against Monica Niculescu, and then was broken twice. Scheepers broke back, which took the players to a tiebreak, and Scheepers prevailed. It took Scheepers two hours and 47 minutes to win at 4-6, 6-3, 7-6.

Of the three French Open champions playing in Madrid, only Francesca Schiavone survived the opening round. She defeated Peng Shuai 7-5, 7-6.