Stuttgart  - Russian seeds Svetlana Kuznetsova and Nadia Petrova posted hard-fought three-set victories on Wednesday to reach the second round of the Porsche Grand Prix.

The fifth-seeded Kuznetsova needed five match points to defeat German qualifier Andrea Petovic 6-4, 5-7, 6-1 in 2 hours 6 minutes.

Petrova, the sixth-seeded 2006 champion and 2008 runner-up, was on court 20 minutes longer in her victory against Zheng Jie of China 6- 4, 5-7, 6-4.

Stuttgart - Dinara Safina clobbered Sara Errani 6-0, 6-1 in her first match as world number one tennis player on Tuesday night for a place in the second round of the Porsche Grand Prix. Safina took just 51 minutes to win the lopsided contest, clinching victory with an ace against the 37th-ranked Errani.

Safina, who turned 23 on Monday, dethroned Serena Williams at the top of the rankings last week. It was also her first match on clay of the season.

Rome - Tommy Robredo earned a three-set elimination of popular Russian Marat Safin 2-6, 7-6 (7-5), 6-2 on a rain-plagued Tuesday as officials played for time at the Rome Masters. After finishing a mere handful of Day one matches Monday, Tuesday was equally brutal on scheduling after lashings of overnight rain continued from mid-morning.

The weather only died down enough to take to the courts at the Foro Italico two hours after the intended start, with officials packing as many courts as they could get cleaned and dried.

Hamburg - Russia's Dinara Safina stayed top of the women's tennis rankings issued on Monday by the WTA. Safina, who went to the top of the rankings for the first time last week, leads an unchanged top 10 "#"

Belgrade - Serbia was hailed as a "superpower" in women's tennis by the national media on Monday after a Fed Cup win over Spain propelled the small Balkan country to the World Group. The Serbian team, which includes two former WTA top players Ana Ivanovic and Jelena Jankovic, beat Spain 4-0 in Lleida over the weekend.

"Serbians join the elite" "Jelena and Ana in high society" and "Serbia a world power" were some of the headlines dominating the sports pages in the local press.

Barcelona - Spaniards Rafael Nadal and David Ferrer will clash for the second straight year in a Barcelona Open final after cruising to solid semi-final victories on Saturday. Nadal, his devastating form improving even further as he heads toward the dream of five trophies in succession at the Real club, dispatched Russian third seed Nikolay Davydenko 6-3, 6-2 in windy conditions to reach the Sunday showdown.

Ferrer, the scampering, retrieving number four, outlasted determined Chilean Fernando Gonzalez 2-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7-5) as the South American made a recovery from 5-2 down in the second set to eventually force a tiebreaker.