Russia's Maria Sharapova climbed to the third spot in the WTA women's tennis rankings released Monday.

Maria gained 110 points in Charleston and has a total of 3986 points and is closing the gap on #2 as she is only 171 points behind Ana Ivanovic.  This is Maria's highest ranking of the year.

WTA top 10 as of April 21 (previous ranking in brackets):

1. (1) Justine Henin, Belgium, 6,105; 2. (2) Ana Ivanovic, Serbia, 4,157; 3. (4) Maria Sharapova, Russia, 3,986; 4. (3) Svetlana Kuznetsova, Russia, 3,905; 5. (5) Jelena Jankovic, Serbia, 3,775; 6. (9) Serena Williams (USA) 2,726; 7. (6) Anna Chakvetadze, Russia, 2,665; 8. (7) Venus Williams, United States, 2,586; 9. (8) Elena Dementieva 2,440; 10. (10) Daniela Hantuchova, Slovakia, 2,257.

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Maria's Charleston campaign is over.  Maria lost 5-7 6-4 1-6 to #5 seed Serena Williams of the United States in the quarters. 

Maria fought hard in a tough battle that lasted well over 2 hours but couldn't overcome Williams.  Maria has had a good 2 weeks on the green clay by winning her 1st tournament of her career in Amelia Island last week so the confidence is there for a good shot on the red clay of Europe.

Maria now has a match record of 22-2 for the year and is only 3 matches away from having 300 match wins, a feat which will 99.9% happen in the red clay season.

Maria Sharapova, enjoying a sparkling season so far, will test herself against an old foe in Serena Williams in the quarter-finals of the Family Circle Cup. Sharapova, ranked No.4 in the world and seeded second, defeated unseeded Tatiana Perebiynis 7-5, 6-2.

Maria has stormed through the early stages of 2008, going 23-1 with three titles, including the Australian Open. However, the Russian has struggled against Williams, losing each of the last three meetings and four of six overall.

Maria Sharapova shut out American Bethanie Mattek 6-0, 6-0 in less than an hour Wednesday to advance to the third round of the Family Circle Cup.
The second-seeded Russian star, coming off her first clay-court title last week at Amelie Island, is looking for her fourth tournament victory of the year.

"I played a lot tennis in Amelia last week," Sharapova said. "You just try to get the job done out there and do it as fast as you can and hopefully get the 'W' and leave."