TENNIS in DEPTH.

Jelena Jankovic of Serbia was upset by Sofia Arvidsson of Sweden 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 at the Brussels Open on Wednesday. It was the latest setback on clay this spring for Jankovic, who failed to progress beyond the second round of three of the four tournaments she has played on the surface. Last week, she reached the quarterfinals in Rome for her best clay-court result this year. Jankovic reached the semifinals at the French Open three of the last four years.

Second-seeded Vera Zvonareva survived an early scare to beat Galina Voskoboeva of Kazakhstan 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 and advance to the quarterfinals. In an all-Belgian match, sixth-seeded Yanina Wickmayer edged 17-year-old qualifier Alison Van Uytvanck 7-6 (2), 6-4. Wickmayer will play in the quarterfinals against top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki.

Eighth-seeded Peng Shuai of China joined the Russian in the last eight, beating qualifier Abigail Spears of the United States 6-2, 6-0. The clay-court tournament is the last warmup for the French Open, which begins Sunday.

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Caroline Wozniacki was expecting a challenge at the Family Circle Cup—and she got it Thursday from Barbora Zahlavova Strycova. The top-seeded Dane had to win two tiebreakers to defeat Zahlavova Strycova, 7-6 (6), 7-6 (9) in a stadium court match that lasted more than 2 1/2 hours. It looked nothing like the 56-minute, cakewalk Wozniacki enjoyed in Wednesday’s opening match. “I knew that it wasn’t going to be easy. I’ve seen her before and played her last year here,” Wozniacki said. Although, it sure looked that way at first. Wozniacki led 4-1 in the opening set and appeared ready to quickly oust Zahlavova Strycova of the Czech Republic.

Zahlavova Strycova held serve twice to force the tiebreaker. The 25-year-old fought back in that one, too. After trailing 5-1, she won five straight points to hold a set point of her own. But Zahlavova Strycova sent that chance long and netted the next two points to give Wozniacki the set. Zahlavova Strycova took a 2-0 lead into the second set. This time, it was Wozniacki’s turn to rally. She twice held serve with Zahlavova Strycova ahead to force a second tiebreaker for the thrilled fans at stadium court of the Family Circle Tennis Center. Wozniacki moved in front 5-2, but Zahlavova Strycova fought off four match points. Zahlovova Strycova had a chance to take the set leading 9-8, but sent the ball wide.

Wozniacki will play the sixth seed, Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium for a spot in the semifinals. This is the first tournament on clay,” she said. “You need to get used to the conditions, you need to get used to sliding. There will be longer rallies in clay, there’s no doubt about it, and the matches will most likely be longer.” Wozniacki is among three of the top 10 players competing here. Fifth-ranked Samantha Stosur, the second seed and defending champion, fell to Elena Vesnina, 6-4, 6-1. Christina McHale, ranked 97th in the world, is the last American left after defeating Daniela Hantuchova 7-6 (3), 6-1. Shahar Peer, ranked 11th, missed out on the chance to become the first Israeli woman ranked in the top 10 when she lost to Julia Goerges of Germany, 6-2, 6-3.

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Marion Bartoli will be one of the combatants in Sunday’s women’s final at the $4.5 million BNP Paribas Open. The 15th-seeded Bartoli blew past 23rd-seeded Belgian Yanina Wickmayer 6-1, 6-3 in Friday’s quarterfinal action on the hardcourts at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. The French slugger prevailed in 1 hour, 25 minutes by ripping 10 aces and piling up five service breaks against the capable Wickmayer. The 26-year-old world No. 17 Bartoli will appear in her 12th career WTA final, seeking a sixth championship. She’ll perform in her first final since 2009, a year in which she captured a pair of titles in a trio of finales. For the fashion conscious fans it will be interesting to see if Bartoli and Sharapova wear the same dress, should Masha make the final.

The 2007 Wimbledon finalist Bartoli will meet the Caroline Wozniacki-Maria Sharapova victor in the title match. Wozniacki is the current world No. 1, while the 16th-seeded Sharapova is a former holder of the women’s top ranking. The former U.S. Open runner-up Wozniacki was last year’s Indian Wells runner- up to Serbian star Jelena Jankovic. The three-time major champion Sharapova titled here in the California desert back in 2006.

The 2011 Indian Wells champ will collect $700,000.

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Yanina Wickmayer overpowered Shahar Peer on Wednesday evening to reach the semifinals of the BNP Paribas Open and return to the Top 20.

The two held tightly to their service games early, neither coming close to being broken in the first five games; the No.23-seeded Wickmayer cracked the match open in the sixth game with a break at 15 and rode that wave until she was up, 63 51. Peer, the No.10 seed, won two games in a row to close to 63 53 but Wickmayer was too powerful on the return and broke again for a 63 63 win. “I woke up this morning and felt really good,” Wickmayer said. “I had a good practice and when I came out today I felt really good and powerful out there.”

Wickmayer is projected to return to the Top 20 on Monday’s rankings. She spent 50 career weeks in the Top 20 during the 2009 and 2010 seasons but fell out in October 2010 and has been hovering between No.22 and No.26 ever since. She peaked at No.12 in the world for three weeks last spring.

Next up for Wickmayer is No.15 seed Marion Bartoli, who beat No.19 seed Ana Ivanovic earlier on Wednesday. Bartoli leads Wickmayer in their head-to-head series, 2-0.

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Australian Open finalist Li Na was the day’s only major casualty, the fifth seed crashing out 6-7 (6/8) 7-6 (8/6) 6-2 in a two-hour-and-28-minute loss to Belgium’s Yanina Wickmayer.

Caroline Wozniacki rode her luck to edge closer to regaining the world number one ranking at the Dubai Duty Free Championships after a dramatic end to her second-round match with Anna Chakvetadze. Chakvetadze was serving for the second set at 5-3 and 15-15 when she appeared to faint on court, leading to urgent medical attention and the Russian’s enforced retirement from the game. It later emerged Chakvetadze had been suffering gastro-intestinal problems this week and Wozniacki admitted: “It was a shock and scary. I just saw her suddenly collapse on court and I really didn’t know what happened.”

Wozniacki had looked set to cruise through to the next stage after winning the first set 6-1 but a catalogue of errors from the Dane allowed Chakvetadze to control the second set before her abrupt departure.

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Jelena Dokic set up a quarter-final showdown with Australian Open champion Kim Clijsters after continuing her excellent form at the GDF Suez Open in Paris with victory over Nadia Petrova. Qualifier Dokic built on her shock win over Lucie Safarova by disposing of Petrova 6-4 7-6 (7/4) and setting up her clash with Clijsters, who will reclaim the world number one position if she wins.

American Bethanie Mattek-Sands also made the last eight after a 7-5 6-3 win over French lucky loser Stephanie Cohen-Aloro, who stepped in following the withdrawal of Maria Sharapova with a throat infection. Fourth seed and former Wimbledon semi-finalist Petra Kvitova beat Barbora Zahlavova Strycova 6-4 6-7 (8/10) 7-6 (11/9) in a marathon tussle lasting three hours and 14 minutes. There were also wins for sixth seed Andrea Petkovic, who beat Slovak qualifier Kristina Kocova 6-4 6-2, and seventh seed Yanina Wickmayer, a 6-1 6-3 victor over Klara Zakopalova of the Czech Republic.

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The home side took full advantage of the opening two singles rubbers against USA today.

Yanina Wickmayer scored the first point of the day by extending her unbeaten record over Bethanie Mattek-Sands to three matches with a 61 76(6) victory. She sealed the win with a lucky netcord on match point at 7-6 in the second set tiebreak.

Kim Clijsters then displayed just some of the form that saw her crowned Australian Open champion in Melbourne last weekend.

‘Aussie Kim’ was faultless in the first set against Melanie Oudin before the American rallied back with three games on the trot. In the end, though, Clijsters proved too good winning 60 64 in a match that lasted exactly one hour.

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Australia’s Jarmila Groth will play the opening night match of this year’s Australian Open on Rod Laver Arena, after Roger Federer, Maria Sharapova and Caroline Wozniacki take centre stage during the day. Groth, the world No.40, who won the Hobart international today, faces 21st-seeded Belgian Yanina Wickmayer on Monday night. Earlier, 2008 Open champion Sharapova will play the first match of the tournament on the main showcase court, against Thailand’s Tamarine Tanasugarn. Danish world No.1 Wozniacki will meet Argentina’s Gisela Dulko in the following match, before Federer begins his title defence against Slovak Lukas Lacko.

Men’s world No.1 Rafael Nadal will not start his quest for a fourth consecutive grand slam title until Tuesday, which should benefit the Spanish star, who is recovering from illness. Along with Groth, Australians in action on Monday include Jelena Dokic, who will meet Czech Zuzana Ondraskova on Margaret Court Arena, before Peter Luczak takes on Croatian 17th seed Ivan Ljubicic. Australia’s top singles hope, Samantha Stosur, and top men’s singles hope, Lleyton Hewitt, will both begin their campaigns on Tuesday.

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