TENNIS in DEPTH.

Italian Romina Oprandi kept giving her home crowd something to cheer about on Friday, stunning No.2 seed Aravane Rezai in the quarterfinals of the clay court stop in Palermo, 75 60.

In what was seemingly a mismatch pitting No.20 against No.90, Oprandi, a wildcard, was broken in the first game and was two points away from going down a double break serving at 0-2, 30-30. That was the turning point though, as the 24-year-old got right back into it, winning seven of the next 10 games to take the set then rolling past Rezai in a 23-minute love second set.

This will be Oprandi’s first career Sony Ericsson WTA Tour semifinal.

“I’m very happy because this is my first semifinal,” Oprandi said. “Today’s match wasn’t easy. This is my best win since I beat Zvonareva four years ago. I hope to continue this way. I feel very good about my tennis right now.”

Next up for Oprandi is another player who has been rebounding this year, Kaia Kanepi. Seeded No.5, Kanepi crushed No.3 seed Sara Errani, 62 62.

“I’ve made a lot of progress on clay and today I played some very good tennis,” Kanepi said. “Sara wasn’t easy to play against but I was always leading.”

Flavia Pennetta kept the hopes of an all-Italian final alive with a 64 62 win over Nuria Llagostera Vives in the feature night match. Pennetta, the No.1 seed, saved her first ace of the match for match point – meanwhile, Llagostera Vives, a qualifier but a former Top 40 player, had no aces to six double faults.

In the semifinals Pennetta will face No.8 seed Julia Goerges, who made it past American veteran Jill Craybas handily earlier in the day, 62 64.

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Second seed Aravane Rezai of France continued her good recent form with a 6-4 6-2 win over Lilia Osterloh.

Rezai beat some big names, including Justine Henin and Venus Williams, to win the Madrid Open and she was too good for her American opponent today.

Kaia Kanepi, a quarter-finalist at Wimbledon last week, came back to earth on Monday as she was dumped out of the Swedish Open at the first-round stage by fifth seed Arantxa Parra Santonja.

Despite being unseeded here, Kanepi is ranked 14 places above her opponent following her exploits last week, which were ended when she threw away five match points in losing to Petra Kvitova.

But she could not keep pace with the Spaniard, who claimed a 6-4 7-5 win.

Elsewhere, there were wins for Germany’s Tatjana Malek, who beat Anastasia Rodionova 5-7 6-3 6-1, Akgul Amanmuradova, Karolina Sprem and Renata Voracova.

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Serena Williams reached the semi-finals with a 7-5 6-3 win over Li Na.

The top seed saw her sister Venus crash out to Tsvetana Pironkova before she came out to face ninth seed Li.

Serena did not have things all her own way either, but Li played a poor service game to drop the first set.

The world number one was broken for the first time at 5-2 in the second set but broke again to seal a semi-final against Petra Kvitova. Kvitova won a bizarre match against qualifier Kaia Kinepi in 3 sets by coming from 4-1 down in the final set to win 6-4, 6-7, 8-6. She also saved 5 match points on her way to victory.

Serena is now the overwhelming favourite to take her fourth Wimbledon title after the demise of five-time champion Venus, who lost to Pironkova only shortly before her younger sister walked out on Centre Court for her quarter-final match.

It was perhaps not surprising that Serena was in rather subdued mood against Li.

The first set was closely fought until Li double-faulted twice in a gift of a game at 5-5, allowing Serena to serve it out after 45 minutes.

The American pumped her fist in a rare show of emotion as she broke for a second time at 2-2 in the second set, and when Li double-faulted again to give Serena a 5-2 lead, the Chinese player’s shoulders slumped.

Serena is certain to face a player making their debut at that stage of a major tournament, and she is by far the most experienced of the remaining players in the draw.

Only Vera Zvonareva, who faces Pironkova in the other semi-final, has ever beaten Serena and that was four years ago.

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Sam Stosur crashed out of Wimbledon at the first hurdle in a straight-sets defeat by Estonian qualifier Kaia Kanepi.

World number six Stosur, 26, a runner-up in the French Open final in May, went out 6-4 6-4 to a player ranked 74 places below her in the world.

It looked like Stosur might survive when she saved three match points to hold her serve at 5-3 in the second.

But Kanepi saved break points in the next before holding on for victory.

Stosur’s shock early loss follows the departure of the woman who beat in Paris last month, Francesca Schiavone – making this the first Championships in which both Roland Garros finalists have gone out in the first round.

Fifth-seeded Italian Schiavone remains the biggest casualty in the women’s draw so far after losing in three sets to Russian Vera Dushevina on Monday.

Seventh seed Agnieszka Radwanska eased into the second round with a straight-sets victory over Hungarian Melinda Czink.

World number nine Radwanska, who has lost at the quarter-final stage in the last two years, advanced 6-3 6-3.

Flavia Pennetta, seeded 10th, also enjoyed a straightforward passage against Anabel Medina Garrigues.

After battling to a 6-4 first-set victory, Pennetta totally overran the unseeded Spaniard 6-0 in the second.

Svetlana Kuznetsova, the 2005 finalist, was forced to go the distance against Uzbekistan’s Akgul Amanmuradova.

The 19th-seeded Russian easily won the opener 6-2 but lost 5-7 in a second-set tie-break before avoiding a surprise exit by taking the decider 6-4.

Chinese 23rd seed Jie Zheng, meanwhile, overcame France’s Pauline Parmentier 7-5 6-4.

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Jelena Jankovic had to fight hard to see off the challenge of Kaia Kanepi to reach round three of the French Open.

The fourth seed, in good form of late, was pushed all the way by her Estonian opponent before winning 6-2 3-6 6-4.

It had not looked like it was going to be a hard day at the office for Jankovic when she raced into a 4-0 lead on Court Philippe Chatrier at Roland Garros.

But Kanepi, a quarter-finalist in Paris two years ago, steeled herself and fought back in the second set, taking it courtesy of a break of serve in game eight.

Jankovic gained the first break in the decider, claiming Kanepi’s serve to love in th sixth game, only for her opponent to hit straight back.

But Jankovic was not to be denied and a further break of serve saw her keep her hopes of breaking her Grand Slam title duck very much alive.

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Second-seeded Li Na of China was a straight-set loser in the first round of the 2010 season-opening ASB Classic, an Australian Open tune-up.

Li was easily handled by Kaia Kanepi of Estonia 6-1, 6-3 in just 67 minutes on the hardcourts at ASB Tennis Centre.

Fourth-seeded Italian Francesca Schiavone had no problems with France’s Stephanie Cohen-Aloro with a 6-2, 6-3 win, while fifth-seeded Virginie Razzano of France dispatched Monica Niculescu of Romania 7-5, 6-4.

In the only other seeded match of the day, Elena Vesnina of Russia, the sixth seed, took down Italian Alberta Brianti 6-1, 6-4.

Other winners on the day were Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro, Sania Mirza of India, France’s Alize Cornet, Romania’s Ioana Raluca Olaru and Israel’s Shahar Peer.

Russian Maria Kirilenko bested German Tatjana Malek 6-2, 6-3 in the day’s final match.

Elena Dementieva handled Vesnina in last year’s all-Russian finale on the hardcourts at ASB Tennis Centre.

The 2010 Aussie Open will get underway in two weeks in Melbourne.

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With three tournaments last week, including the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships, a load of movement was seen within the Top 20, and some notable gains were made in the Top 50. The Top 20 saw advances from Venus Williams, Victoria Azarenka and Kaia Kanepi, while Aleksandra Wozniak and Anne Keothavong moved up outside the elite.

Venus Williams has now re-entered the Top 5 after her victory at the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships. This move from No.6 to No.5 marks the former world No.1′s first time in the Top 5 since August 2003. Her win in Dubai marks her 40th Tour singles title, and makes her the 12th player ever to reach that milestone. Williams has won more of those titles than any other active player.

Elsewhere in the Top 20, Victoria Azarenka reached a new career-high after defeating top seed Carloine Wozniacki at the Morgan Keegan Championships & Cellular South Cup in Memphis. Azarenka now finds herself on the cusp of the Top 10, having moved from No.14 to No.11 after this, her second Tour singles title. The 19-year old from Belarus is on a roll after winning the Brisbane International in January.

Kaia Kanepi has made her Top 20 debut, moving up from No.24 to No.20 after defeating No.3-ranked Jelena Jankovic in two sets in Dubai. She went on to beat Elena Vesnina in the quarterfinals in straight sets, but eventually fell to Virginie Razzano. Kanepi is the first-ever Estonian to reach the Top 20.

Outside of the elite, Canada’s Aleksandra Wozniak edged up to No.30 from No.31, after Carla Su

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