Severine Bremond

There were some major shifts in the upper echelon of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Singles Rankings on September 8, following the last Grand Slam event of the season in New York. A few lesser known players also made upward moves in the rankings.
 

Fourth round action wrapped up at the US Open on Monday, with the last four quarterfinal berths getting snapped up. Dinara Safina and Flavia Pennetta set up a rematch of their recent Los Angeles final, while the much-anticipated all-Williams clash finally became a reality.
 

Just as they did two months ago in the Wimbledon final, Venus and Serena Williams will square off once again in the US Open quarterfinals. Hours after Venus fulfilled her part of the deal, Serena rolled past French wild-card Severine Bremond with similar ease, 6-2, 6-2, Monday in Arthur Ashe Stadium.
 
The Wednesday meeting will be the 17th career match for the sisters, who have split their previous 16 meetings.
 

Severine Bremond (FRA) vs. Serena Williams (USA)
The 29-year old Bremond is into the fourth round of a Grand Slam for only the second time in her career. The previous occasion occurred when she reached the quarterfinals of Wimbledon in 2006. She came into the tournament ranked #121, but she has been as high as #34 back in February of 2007.

What do you get when you take two celebrated American sisters, a red-hot Russian, a French wildcard, a German qualifier, a Polish teenager, a flamboyant Italian and a two-time Grand Slam champion who's not quite ready to let the tennis world forget her superb talent? It's the fourth round line-up from the top half of the draw, and with the final four quarterfinal slots up for grabs, they'll be taking no prisoners.
 
Arthur Ashe
 

The Williams sisters continued their quarterfinal collision course on Saturday at the US Open, winning their third round matches handily against quality, seeded players. Dinara Safina also won.
 
Venus Williams was the first to advance, beating Alona Bondarenko in just 56 minutes, 62 61. The No.7-seeded Venus, a champion here in 2000 and 2001, blasted over 30 winners to beat the No.27-seeded Bondarenko for the second straight year at the US Open, having beaten her 61 62 in the same round last year.
 

The top half of the draw competes for last 16 spots today, as third round action is completed. Venus Williams gets the ball rolling on Arthur Ashe, to be followed by her sister Serena, while in-form Dinara Safina takes top billing in the night session. Julie Coin, conqueror of Ana Ivanovic, takes on French heroine Amélie Mauresmo, while Agnieszka Radwanska and Dominika Cibulkova square off for bragging rights in the star-of-the-future stakes.
 
Arthur Ashe
 

Her preparation was hindered by a right thumb injury and when test day came, the rust was evident. Ana Ivanovic made some probably undesirable history on Thursday, becoming the first No.1 seed at the US Open to fall as early as the second round, losing to unheralded qualifier Julie Coin of France.
 

Agnes Szavay was dumped out of the US Open in the second round by Tathiana Garbin on Thursday.
 
The 13th seed from Hungary won the opening set but crumbled against her Italian opponent, who claimed an impressive 5-7 6-2 6-3 triumph.
 
Next up for Garbin is France's Severine Bremond, who also upset the odds at Flushing Meadows by knocking out 20th seed Nicole Vaidisova.
 

Severine Bremond of France and US girls' 18s national champion Gail Brodsky were among wild card entries into this month's US Open women's singles draw.
 
Bremond, who celebrates her 29th birthday on Thursday, will be competing in her 19th successive Grand Slam tournament singles draw.
 
She was a Wimbledon quarter-finalist in 2006 and reached a career best ranking of 34 in February 2007. The Frenchwoman currently is ranked 124th in the world.