Friday’s competition dodged Hurricaine Earl but some torrid matches are just ahead in the women’s draw.

At beautiful La Costa Resort & Spa, the normally peaceful community came roaring to life rallying behind one of their own to support a stunning upset.

Saturday was the women’s tour at its best with tight matches and stirring comebacks in just about every quarterfinal match.

At the Sony Ericsson Bank of the West Classic, the surviving eight players will be vying for four semifinal spots today.

Venus Williams rolled and Vera Zvonareva crushed number 15, Yanina Wckmayer, but all eyes were focused on Belgian’s two former number ones who are now ready to clash in Monday’s Round of Sixteen.

Former number ones Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin joined second seed Venus Williams in the third round on Wednesday.

On a day where top seeds prevailed, Robin Soderling and Marin Cilic are set to square off in the round of sixteen and Maria Sharapova is set to meet fireplug Justine Henin in round three.

The cream is rising to the top at the Sony Ericsson Miami Open. Second seed Princess Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark withstood an early match challenge from Russian glamour girl Maria kirilenko, the 32 seed, 1-6, 6-1, 6-4 to lead a bevy of highly seeded players into the round of 16.

Two Russian beauty queens bit the dust on Sunday at the BNP Paribas Open. Former Indian Wells Champion and world number one, Maria Sharapova, continues to struggle with her comeback effort. The 22-year old battled China’s up and coming upset queen Zheng Jie for three hours only to come up short in the 6-3, 2-6, 6-3 third round match. Sharapova broke Zheng twice in the final set but was unable to improve her inconsistent serve as Zheng broke back each time.

The 2010 Australian Open is the Major tournament of the South Pacific, and so it’s entirely fitting that in one of the world’s most ethnically diverse nations, just west of the international dateline, the women’s singles tournament has witnessed the rise of China. Before tonight’s women’s semifinals get underway at Rod Laver Arena, it’s worth [...]