Ladies and Gentlemen, the 2011 'Angries' award ceremony!

Its bigger than the Grammys, puts the VMA's to shame, head shoulder's above the Emmys, In a league of its own compared to the Tonys and is basically like the Academy Awards of the Women's Tennis World. With the assistance of faithful reader Carlos, I give you the 'Angries'.

The first award tonight looks to recognize those who became philsophers in their own right with their words of wisdom. And the nominees are;

Serena Williams - "Really? I just go out there close my eyes and start swinging"
Aggie Radwanska - "I play tennis to have a good body and look good"
Emily 'Captain' Bradshaw  - "I think she thinks that you think she looks like a Pokemon"

And the Angry goes to...Li Na for reminding us all that love is deep with in "It doesn't matter if you are fat or skinny, handsome or ugly, I will always follow you, always love you"

The next award is the 'Fashionista' award for players who could have made a better choice of attire. And the nominees are;

Nadia Petrova - For combining blue purple and a hell of a lot of frills and weird stuff
Kim Clijsters - This.
Jelena Jankovic - For steeling my grandmother's table cloth and calling it a tennis dress.

And the Angry goes to...Venus Williams and her 'wonderland' creation, thing. Notably Venus also take out the Sara Lee award for best Apple Pie impersonation.

Our next Angry is in honour of the great John McEnroe award for dummy spit of the year! And the nominees are;

Sophie Ferguson - Her total breakdown after losing the first set tiebreaker of her first round match in the Australian Open. Mind you she rebounded to win the second 6-0.
Serena Williams - For the US Open final incident, and expressing who she was 'cause...she's in America last time she checked. Just don't violate her for that water.
Caroline Wozniacki - Just for chucking her racquet, and called Daddy Piotr on court when things didn't go her way.

All these where great, worthy nominations but the 'Angry' goes to none other than Victoria 'Angry Bird' Azarenka for her countless dummy spits in Australia, here's a brief sample.

Signs were kicked as well, no pic though :( 

Our next angry is dedicated to Marcel Marceau, when player's expressions say more than what words ever could. The nominees are;

Maria Kirienko - Facepalm in Australia 

Maria Sharapova - For making the RG semi and being happy. 

Honorary ATP nomination - Rafael Nadal lying on centre court in Queens. 

The 'Angry' goes to Aggie Radwanska for her expression when her racquet snapped in Australia. 

The next Award is one for the best winning celebration. The nominees are;

Andrea Petkovic - For her many variations of her 'Petko Dance' 

Maria Kirilenko - Who beat Sam Stosur in Beijing was happy after winning on a magical point. 

Vitcoria Azarenka - for winning her second Miami title 

The winner is, for the first time in the history of the Angries we have a tie. And a three way tie at that! 

Sabine Lisicki upset French Open champion Li Na in the second round of Wimbledon, saving match points

Serena Williams' emotional return to Wimbledon saw her emotionally break down after her first round win, and the world saw the soft side to the great champion. 

And Aggie Radwanska and Andrea Petkovic 'Petko Dancing' together 

Honourable 'Angries' mentions to those who won unopposed with no competition;

Tounge of the Year - Victoria Azarenka 

Choke or 'Jelly Brain' of the Year - Ana Ivanovic after leading Kim Clijster 5-1 40-0 in the third set of Miami

Worst Grunt of the Year - Maria Sharapova

Best C'mon/Grunt of the Year - Petra Kvitova

Best Tournament Performance of the Year - Petra Kvitova and her 222 winners from Wimbledon

Biggest 'eat your words' Moment of the Year - Serena Williams, when asked if she could lose at the US Open she responded "Only if you put Nadal, Federer, Murray or Djokovic in my draw"

PS. Sorry about gif, but no other way to show these winners to you and PLEASE click the hyperlinks 

Its going to be one hell of a year!

2012 is just around the corner believe or not. I thought I would take this opportunity to basically embarrass myself and make a few predictions for the forthcoming year. Its only 7pm but I have about 37 tequila shots glasses of orange juice and I'm feeling in the mood to make some bold, some would say insane predictions. Well, here goes nothing.

Petra Kvitova will not win a slam.
Winning your first slam is hard, but it almost seems harder to win your second one sometimes, remember it took Serena two years. She will have a solid year, make a slam final and win a medal finishing solidly inside the 3.

Kim Clijsters will retire before the Olympics
Injury after injury and lacking motivation I honestly believe that Kim Clijsters will prematurely end her career once more, sadly. Probably at the start of the clay season of after Roland Garros

Serena Williams will win two Slams
Australian Open and Wimbledon. She will not win a medal in the Olympics for singles however

Andrea Petkovic will make a slam final
You heard it here first! After a very solid 2011 making three quarter finals at the majors I expect the German to go two steps further.

Maria Sharapova will fail to make the semis of any slam.

Li Na will fall before the third round of her title defence in Paris.
Still struggling with that 'post slam slump' I expect it to stay around for a while longer for Li Na, possibly a reverse of this year with a bad first half of the season and great results at Wimbledon and the US Open.

Pavlyuchenkova will make a slam semi!
After two quarter finals at the majors this year (one she should have won) the Russian will in 2012 make the next step, expect it to be on clay.

Wozniacki will make another slam final, Zvonareva will too.
I don't know why or when or how but I want to believe for indifferent reasons.

Kimiko Date Krumm will have a deep run at Wimbledon and bronze medal at the Olympics!

So, when you're rolling in your winning I expect a fair cut! Do you have predictions you'd like to make?

Numero Uno

Petra Kvitova topped her golden year with a field day at the WTA Awards. The young Czech has had a stellar year rising to number two in the rankings, winning six titles (including Wimbledon and the Year End Championships). Impressively, Kvitova even lead her country to victory in the Fed Cup final. With her huge game Kvitova made the tennis world stand up and take notice for the first time last year making a surprise run the the Wimbledon semi finals and this year confirmed her position as a leader of the new guard winning 82.2% of her matches, leading the way the WTA ladies.

Although the year wasn't great and no one was a dominant force, in the absences of Serena Williams and Kim Clijsters for most of the year, but Kvitova was able to take advantage of the situation and stand of as being the best of a bad situation. And in doing so is now seen by many as the best player in world at the moment, based on current results and form.

On the night of the awards Kvitova took home four award, including Player Of the Year. Kvitova was nammed the most improved player, having risen 32 places in the rankings. The Czech was also honoured with the Karen Krantzcke Sportsman Award, which acknowledges a player's professionalism, attitude and sense of fair player. Finally, she ended the night was the fans' award for favourite break through player.

German Sabine Lisicki beat Serena Williams in the race for comeback player of the year. Lisicki was plagued with a career threatening ankle injury for the past year and half and is finally re finding her potential and ability. Since April Lisicki has jumped 203 ranking places thanks to titles in Brimingham and Dallas and a run to the Wimbledon semi finals as a Wild Card.

Kveta Peschke of Czech Republic and Slovenia's Katarina Srebotnik won the award for doubles team of the year after they won six tour titles, including their first Grand Slam title at Wimbledon.

Romania's Irina-Camelia Begu won newcomer of the year after a season that saw her rise from 214 in the world to a high of 38.

The year that was - January

The beginning of 2011 was first marred by announcement that twice defending champion Serena Williams would be unable to play in the Australian summer while she continued to rehabilitate a niggling foot injury. In the absence of the 13 times major winner it was time for young and old to take advantage.

In the very first week of the year, tournaments were held in Brisbane and Auckland as well as the IFT organized teams event in Perth. The Hopman cup saw American's Bethaine Mattek Sands and gentle giant John Isner take out the diamond balls over alternates from Belgium Justine Henin and Ruben Bemelmans. Brisbane provided, once again, a quality field and a final between two rising stars who would eventually prove to be the surprise packets of the 2011 season, Petra Kvtiova and Andrea Petkovic. In the final Kvitova proved far to strong the German demolishing her to the tune of 6-1 and 6-3. The win assured the Czech would enter the top 30 for the first time of her career. Across the Tasman sea seeds fell left right and centre. China's Peng Shuai took down two time Grand Slam Champion Svetlana Kuznetsova in  the second round, while that was impressive it didn't come close to then, 31-year-old Greta Arn's victory over Maria Sharapova in the quarter finals. Arn would then go on to defeat defending champ Yanina Wickmayer in the final it was the Hungarian's second title in her long career.

Week two saw the first Premier event of the year and saw Li Na make history, a theme that would follow her throughout her entire season. In the second round however, top seeds Caroline Wozniacki and Vera Zvonareva stumbled in rusty performance's to begin the year. Li Na and Kim Clijsters were the last two standing in an odd final to say the least. Kim got off to a flying start winning the first five games, Li Na wasn't going to go away just yet and mounted an incredible come back winning the match in straight sets, 7-6 6-3. The win saw Li become  the first Chinese player to win a Premier level tournament. During the mean time, just past the Bass Straight in one of the most picturesque sceneries in the world, Jarmila Gajdasova gave home crowds something to cheer about winning her second career title, first in Australia. In the final American Bethanie Mattek Sands continued to build up her confidence from Perth by making the final, being over powered by Jarka and the patriotic crowed.

Slam time, and the first slam of the year. From my reports everyone had a great time at the Pimms tent...I'm sure the tennis was alright too. There were shocks and thing we were supposed to be shocked at, but weren't really. The first round promised something great, something interesting, a Clijsters v Safina battle. Of course, with most things tennis when something spectacular is promised its rarely delivered, so would be the same for this match as Kim won with two bagels. Fast forward to round three and things start getting interesting. Petra Kvitova takes down 5th seeded Aussie Sam Stosur, Venus Williams pulled out of her first ever grand slam match trailing Andrea Petkovic 0-1 0-15. Justine Henin was defeated by Svetlana Kuznetsova in round three and decided to quit tennis...again.

Week two got off to an astonishing start as Kuznetsova and Schiavone battled out for 4 hours and 44 minutes, the longest Women's match in Grand Slam history. Schiavone prevailed 6-4 1-6 16-14. Petkovic must not have been to happy having her third round match cut short as she destroyed a title favourite in Maria Sharapova in the forth round, 6-2 6-3 to advance to her maiden Slam quarter final. Already surviving a busted raquet, taking down a ball boy, testing the chair umpires catching skills and only decideing to play in Australia at the last minute, Agnieszka Radwanska thought she'd try out saving match points, she prevailed in her challenge defeating Peng Shuai 7-5 3-6 7-5, having saved two match points. Quarter final time and Francesca Schiavone still wasn't tired, up against world number 1, Caroline Wozniacki, the Italian raced off to a 6-3 and 3-1 lead. It was at this moment she realised she had just played on court for nearly 5 hours and the Dane rallied to 3-6 6-3 6-3 victory. In the semis Wozniacki looked poised for her first slam final in Australia, holding match point against Li Na at 5-4 in the second set. The determined Chinese super star, decided she'd give the history books one last push and before she knew she was not only China's but also the first Asian national to make a slam singles final. Man or woman. In the battle for the world number two rank, Kim Clijsters continued to upstage Vera Zvonareva in the important matches winning 3 and 3.

Li Na and Kim Clijsters, the last two ladies standing.Was Li Na nervous? Maybe for a game but with nerves of steel Li powered her way through the first set, seeing the ball like basketball winning it 6-3 and getting an early break in the second set. Having previously won three Slam titles Kim knew what she had to do, and how she had to do it. In the end Kim was too strong and 'Aussie Kim' finally was 'Aussie Kim' and Li Na had won the hearts of millions of Australian's with her quirky, fun personality and pressers.

See y'all in February

Note

Posting will continue in off season :)

We're working on a few things as I type!

Some may have wondered about Lucinda's absence, she was with the lover in Adelaide for off season family time :) Hold onto your hats though, she's back!

Oh and I found a dolphin in my coffee this morning!

Can anyone else see it or am I the only crazy one? :P

In For the Long Haul

World No. 3 Victoria Azarenka tells reporters that it’s possible that she, No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki and No. 2 Petra Kvitova could hold the top three spots in the WTA for a long time. Those three players range in age from 20 to 22 years old. "Three, five years, it's such a long time. My God, I don't know," she said. "But I think Petra, me, Caroline, we have been pretty consistent and showed some great results this year. I really stepped it up, especially Petra who won a Grand Slam, really made it to the elite, I would say. I think the way the game is today, it's unpredictable, but definitely with the consistency with the game we have, we have a chance to dominate the game."


Get used to seeing them, guys.

Istanbul. The semi's are here!

You have got to hand it to me, I did just pick that Azarenka and Kvitova would go top of their groups. I did predict that Kvitova would 3-0. So I actually did kind of well in my attempted YEC analysis.

The semi's are played today with the first begining not before 3pm Istanbul time, so around 2 and a half hours time. Who made it? And who will do what you ask? This is why I am here.

[3] Petra Kvitova (RR 3-0) vs [7] Samantha Stosur (RR 2-1)
Kvitova leads in the head to head between the two 2-0, however only one result can be really justified and used. That being from Australia this year. When Kvitova upset the home favourite 7-6 6-3 in the third round and went on to advance to the quarter finals. Since that time Kvitova has improved and Stosur has been on a roller coaster. Both suffered post slam slumps and both have seemingly snapped out of it. Kvitova is a bad match up for the Australia. The Czech lefty has that swinging serve that would essentailly destroy Stosur's backhand and a six foot tall that famous kick serve of Stosur will be neutral against the power of Kvitova.
Prediction - Kvitova. Straight sets. 


[4] Victoria Azarenka (RR 2-1) vs [6] Vera Zvonareva (RR 1-2)
Although history has shown that that Vera has her number on Victoria, leading 6-3 H2H Its essentail to take into consideration that Azarenka is a much greater player now than what she was now. Lets take a trip down memory lane, Miami 2011, semi final. Vera was fresh off an Aussie Open SF and a title in Doha, in great form. Azarenka won 6-0 6-3. And if there is one thing this edition of the Season Ending Championships has shown us, it is that history doesn't matter. Exhibits A and B - Stosur defeats Sharapova. Bartoli "defeats" Tankarenka. Azarenka proved in Miami she has what it takes to destroy Zvonareva and I think a similar story will be written in Istanbul, with Victoria in her career best form.
Prediction - Azarenka. Three sets. Two easy wins one close loss. 

Are you all ready, are you set?

Its that time of year again, the Year End Championships are here! In a long road to Istanbul which came down to the final week of tour tournaments in a battle for the final spot between Agnieszka Radwanska and Marion Bartoli. Radwanska clinched the final spot when the french woman failed to win the title in Moscow.

As you would probably expect I am going to try, and try being the key word, to do a bit of a preview, prediction analysis of the draw. What better way to start than with the head to heads of the eight competitors.

Petra Kvitova and Maria Sharapova have the most impressive overall percentage, and as it happens are in opposite draws, could be a sign of what will come?

The Red Group


[1] Caroline Wozniacki 
Defending final points from last years edition, Wozniacki has a very tough draw and will have to find her form, somehow, to advance to the semi final stage. Despite favourable head to head records against Kvitova and Radwanska, the Dane has struggled with Zvonareva in the past and lets not forget Radwanska is in the form of her life and Kvitova will be heavily favoured on the fast paced indoor courts of Istanbul, and as seen most famously at Wimbledon 2010, Kvitova can dispatch Wozniacki quite easily on fast courts.
Prediction  - RR. 1-2. Group position - 3rd


[3] Petra Kvitova
It will either be a spectacular performance of a dismal and disappointing one. Its interesting to note that Petra Kvitova is undefeated on indoor hard courts this year, winning Paris and Linz, and well if you can count it Brisbane, simply based on the fact that centre court has a permanent roof in place. The Czech does have a chance to claim the year end number one rank, if she goes 3-0 and wins the title, however to do so I think Wozniacki has to go 0-3, which means the chances are low. I shouldn't expect Kvitova to struggle with Zvonareva or Radwanska but I do think that the match with Wozniacki will be very interesting.
Prediction - advances to SF. 3-0. Group position - 1st


[6] Vera Zvonareva
Well, compared to her late 2010 high level of play, Zvonareva has disappointed throughout the 2011 season despite a strong start. Inconsistencies and lacking mostly mental strength and checking out every now and then doesn't put the Russian in a good position to defend her semi final points from last year.
Prediction - RR. 0-3. Group position - 4th


[8] Agnieszka Radwanska
Well is there any other way to say it? Best form of her life. I can only, in reality, picture Radwanska losing to Kvitova. Though, she has never played too impressively against Wozniacki except the she has never played against in this kind of form, which sets her up for good a chance this time around.
Prediction - advances to SF. 2-1. Group position 2nd


The White Group


[2] Maria Sharapova
The last time Sharapova stepped onto a tennis court, she had to leave due to injury, spraining her ankle trailing Petra Kvitova 3-4 in Tokyo. 2011 is the first year the Russian has been impressive since her return from a career treating shoulder injury, there is still always that question mark over her shoulder and her serve in particular. Like Kvitova, Maria can also claim the year end number one rank by making the final or winning if Wozniacki fails to make the semi final and does some other stuff...I think
Prediction - advances to SF. 2-1. Group position 2nd


[4] Victoria Azarenka
Victoria has had a stand out year, making her first slam semi final, winning Miami (again), and reaching a career high rank of number 3. Azarenka looks to be in a good position to advance to semi final of the YEC's for the first time, and winning Luxembourg just today as a final tune up for some indoor form, and did it well with out the loss of a set.
Prediction - advances to SF. 3-0. Group position 1st


[5] Li Na
Well in the words of the french open champ her self, "Right now I've just lost all confidence. On the court I don't know what I can do. I felt even winning one point was tough for me." It should be more, predict how game games Li Na wins. Not even sets, definitely not matches.
Prediction - RR. 0-3. Group position 4th


[7] Samantha Stosur
I find the grouping for Stosur hilarious. The tennis gods gave her Sharapova and Azarenka who she trails 0-9 and 0-4 respectively in head to head, then they felt bad and gave her Li Na who she lead 5-0. One would expect not much would change in these head to heads.
Prediction - RR. 1-2. Group position 3rd


Semi's


[3] Petra Kvitova vs [2] Maria Sharapova
I just can't wait. A Wimbledon final replay on well the most similar surface there is. It will be very tough, and in the end I think it will come down to how Maria serves and how tired the shoulder is. It will hopefully live up to expectations and go the distance.
Prediction - Kvitova in 3


[4] Victoria Azarenka vs [8] Agnieszka Radwanska
I would expect to see Azarenka continue her momentum into the final here, although Radwanska could always suprise and continue to shine, and bring the form that saw her win Tokyo and Beijing. The only reason I am going to tip Azarenka to prevail is the fact that indoor courts probably suit her game more that the would Radwanska's
Prediction - Azarenka in 2


FINAL 


[3] Petra Kvitova vs [4] Victoria Azarenka
IndoorGOAT to remain undefeated indoors. By this time she will be all guns blazing. Except don't expect it to be easy, Azarenka will put up some resistance and make Petra earn it.
Prediction Kvitova in 3

Finally, the competitors happy snap has been taken, of course Vika is missing as she was busy winning Luxembourg

Best dressed - Caro, I like the cut and colour. Petra, she looks good. Li Na, impressive. Aggie, looks quite fine, I really like the dress!

The worse - Sam...there are unexplained dangly things on your dress. Maria, going for the yellow banana nun look? Vera, show off your arms! 

Playing for the one

Dominika Cibulkova (L) and Monica Niculescu (R) will today, play to claim their maiden WTA singles titles. Their roads to final...polar opposites.

In Moscow Cibulkova dropped one set, to top seed Vera Zvonareva and breezed through her quarter final taking down Elena Vesnina 6-0 6-2. While over in Luxemburg out of Niculescu's four matches three have been three set marathons for the Romanian (R1 6-7 7-5 7-6 def Knapp, R2 7-6 3-6 6-1 def Medina Garrigues and SF 7-5 4-6 6-3 def Keothavong)

The final obstacle stopping them from jumping of the first hurdle is Kaia Kanepi and Victoria Azarenka respectively. So as you would expect Cibulkova comes into her final as a slight favourite, based on form and ranking and Niculescu is the huge underdog.

Azarenka leads Niculescu comfortably in their head to head, only dropping one set in three meetings. The last of which was at the 2010 US Open, where the Belarusian prevailed 6-0 5-7 6-1.

Kanepi has a 2-0 head to head advantage over the Slovak, their last meeting was indoors also, in Paris where Kanepi won 6-2 2-6 6-2. Their only other career meeting also went to three sets.

Coming to a cinema near you!

Sorry, the film credits have been sold!

A+ to the new headline writer for the wtatennis.com website!

But seriously, are the from Colombia Pictures? 20th Century Fox? What?

The week that was - The Edge of Glory

• Marion Bartoli is on the edge of glory qualifying for the WTA YEC for just the second time in her career, after winning Osaka. If she can win Moscow and have Radwanska lose before the QF...welcome to Istanbul!
• Petra Kvitova won her 5th title of the year and showed why she is the biggest threat to take out the Year End Championships
• Bartoli's Osaka triumph knocks Kim Clijsters out of the top 10 and for the first time since 1998 the top is with out one of the "big four" 
• Petkorazzi has a new video out. I found a good laugh out of it!
• Tweets of the week! 
• Tennis Channel bought us one of the best episodes of tennisography, Victoria Azarenka
• Yanina Wickmayer ended her 2011 season...btw any idea who that is in her website's header? 
• While the AO boosted pirze money for Campions here is an example of how difficult it is for those not as lucky to be winning on the WTA tour 

Honorable ATP mention - Andy Murray keeps on keeping on, has now won Shanghai and as surpassed Federer on the rankings for the first time rising to number 3 in the world. Come on Muzz! 

Brisbane is where it is at.

Just 82 days to go! No, not until Christmas, until the 2012 Brisbane International.

In the later stages of this year it was announced that Brisbane will be upgraded from an International event to a Premier tournament. And wow, what an upgrade it was. Only five players have confirmed their participation, but you could not be happier with the line up. Lead by 13 time Grand Slam winner Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova, Sam Stosur, Ana Ivanovic and Kim Clijsters all lining up for Brisbane next year.

The tournament held in Brisbane in the first week of the year is expected to become the premier lead up event for the leading ladies of the tour, negatively effecting the line up for Sydney, held the week before the Australian Open.

Clijsters is excited about the challenging and star studded field.

"With Maria (Sharapova), Sam (Stosur) and Serena confirmed for the Brisbane International it is going to be a tough contest but also be a great chance to test your form leading into the first grand slam," said the Belgian.

Thirteen-time major champion Williams has never played in Brisbane and said she was looking forward to it.

"Well, I never played in Brisbane and I have never been to Brisbane but I have heard great things about it," she said.

Queensland Sport Minister Phil Reeves said the 2012 Brisbane International will showcase the brightest stars on the tennis circuit.

“Serena Williams is an absolute powerhouse and her recent form at the US Open is set to excite fans, which will hopefully translate to a full house at the Queensland Tennis Centre,” Mr Reeves said.

“Having stars like Serena at the Brisbane International just a year after the floods demonstrates that Brisbane, and Queensland, is open for business.

Woman on a mission!

22 from 25. That's Agnieszka Radwanska's win - loss record since dumping her Dad as her coach. Even more impressivly that streak now includes three titles, two consecutively now. Radwanska battled her way past Andrea Petkovic and back into the top 10 with a 7-5 0-6 6-4 victory over the German.

The Premier Mandatory tournament is now the biggest of the twenty-two-year-old's career, and comes just a week after claiming the Premier 5 title in Tokyo. Radwanska's re defined, inspired game plan of refreshing variety, incredible defence and instinct turning defence into offence, not to mention deft touch.

Equalling her career high rank of World Number 8 also puts Agnieszka in a sound position to qualify for the Year End Championships, with only two weeks of tournaments left to play.

A post match ceremony as entertaining as the match, saw Andrea asked to share her famous 'Petko Dance' with the crowed despite the loses. The German instead invited Agnieszka to join her in the celebrations and commiserations. 

Winning back to back titles now cements the fact the Pole is with out a doubt a huge threat to take out the Year End Championships to be held in Istanbul.

Think before you speak, Marat.

So I woke up today did my usual tennis tabloid rounds, and its was like, "Dinara Safina Retires", "Injury forces Safina's retirement". "Brother Marat conforms Dinara's retirement" so it was a bit of a media frenzy for the tennis world. We all now the former world number one is struggling with a back injury, so naturally I thought it legit...I mean Marat wouldn't just say that...would he? And I went to check out Dinara's twitter and a few other sources...turns out Marat was playing us t like fools, or something.

Brothers can be like that!

Hope all the treatment goes well Dinara! Would love to see you on the court again!

Oh the Irony

Victoria Azarenka, one of the budding stars of the WTA tour, famous for both game and grunt. The second seed in the China Open has been noted for her enlongated grunt continuing unitl the time her oppoenet gets racquet to ball and crticized by Wimbledon officals, saying they would rather see "less grunting".

The world number four won her second round matc at the China Open 7-6 6-3 over Polona Hercog and it appeared Azarenka's ankle wasn't the only thing bugging her during the match. The Belarusain to a dig at the noise coming from the stands, “I would love people to be a bit more respectful and turn off their cell phones and just come and watch tennis and respect that players are doing their job,” world number four Azarenka told reporters.

The decibles are rising in all acounts of Azarenka's matches these days.

Victoria will play Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova to book a spot in the quarter finals.

Playin' for Green and Gold...gold?

No need to hug the trophy too hard these days, 2012 Australian Open winners will pocket $2.3 millions Australian dollars. With the current exchange rate that is about $2.18 USD.

Times a' tougher at the elite end of sport. How do these people survive?

You get a bye, you get a bye, everybody gets a bye.

Alas, we are now at the semi final stage to the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, and not only the four semi finalists vying for the title, but they have all also earned a bye for next weeks China Open in Beijing. In true WTA style the quarter finals weren't with out drama.

In the Wimbledon final rematch between Petra Kvitova and Maria Sharapova, we looked as if we were going to have a great match on our hands. With only one break point seen in the match and Sharapova seemingly found her serve. Thing went on serve and continued that way until Kvitova led 4-3 15-40 which is when Sharapova unfortunately landed awkwardly on her ankle. After a medical time out Sharapova was forced to retire, with what is believed to be a slight ankle sprain. The russian is now likely to withdraw from Beijing, and to be honest the injury could not have come at worse time for the three time Slam champ as she was on the verge of reclaiming the number 1 rank. Unless Maria gets a quick turn around, wins Beijing and does incredibly well at the Year End Championships, it would appear her bid for year end number one is seemingly over. If you missed here are some highlights, including the injury.

In the semi's Kvitova will meet with Vera Zvonareva. The world number four won her match with fellow Russian Maria Kirilenko, who as been in fine form starting from the US Open. Zvonareva prevailed with a 6-3 6-3 victory over Kirilenko and improved her lifetime head to head against her compatriot to 6-0.

In the top half of the draw Victoria Azarenka recoverd from a minor first set choke to prevail 7-5 6-0 against Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli and Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska defeated Estonia's Kaia Kanepi 6-2 7-6. Kanepi has defeated Caroline Wozniacki in the previous round.

The week that was - L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N

the time has come, we begin the final dash to the YEC's with the big Asian swing beginning with Tokyo today. And is may come as a surpirse to some, me being one, that yes tennis has been played since the US Open. So what have I missed you say? Well that's what I am here for, to tell you just that.

• One of the biggest things was Australian Jelena Dokic reuniting with abusive father Damir. I know family is family and blood is thicker than water, but really Jelena? Really? 
• Li Na blamed her form slump on what she is or isn't packing.
• Serena was appointed UNICEF's goodwill ambassador. Connors puts in his two cents on her "outburst"
• You tell 'em Sorana! Especially you, Vika. 
• Rena and Arod to play Mixed in Australia. Getting ready for Gold. 
• Li and Kim are shaking up their box. 
• Pervak and Zhavalova-Strycova won their first WTA title. 
• ...so did Jeerper Scheepers! While Galina Voskobeva was denied by Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez
• Tokyo is already under way and Kerber, Radwanska and Robson were ruthless in their first matches. 

And that's about it for now. Thank you and goodnight. 

Underdog from Down Under claims first slam title.

The Australian's have been waiting a while for a woman to step up - 31 years in fact - and boy did we get that. it undoubtedly the best match of her life Sam Stosur brushed aside huge tournament favourite Serena Williams 6-2  6-3 in and hour and 17 minutes. The last Australian to win a slam was Evonne Goolagong Cawley when she triumphed at Wimbledon.

Having not been past round three at a slam this year and struggling to dispatch of Nadia Petrova, Maria Kirilenko and even shock semi finalist Angelique Kurber in previous rounds, Srotsur was very much the underdog, however it seemed as if Stosur was playing for her 14th slam title not her first. In the first set Samantha took advantage of an off song Serena to break the great champion twice.

In the first game of the second set Serena, who embarrassed the world number in the semifinals, was down a break point and got called for hindrance. Williams hit a blistering forehand and almost simultaneously screamed "Come on" as the ball tip the frame of Stosur's out stretched raquet. Umpire Eva Asderaki awarded the point to Stosur and Serena was not impressed. As she began to rip into the umpire, "Aren't you the one who screwed me over last time? Yeah you are. You have it out for me and that is not cool" Serena responded by breaking back the next game and continued her 'chat' with the umpire "“If you ever see me walking down the hall, look the other way, because you’re out of control,” Williams said. “You’re out of control. You’re totally out of control. You’re a hater. You’re unattractive...inside. Who would do such a thing? And I never complain. Wow," and finally "Am I not allowed to express my self? Last time I checked we were in America" On Monday Williams will find out the punishment of her behaviour under her probation.

Nothing can be used to take away from Stosur's huge achievement which saw her over power tennis Goliath. Hopefully with Samantha's success the old saying Success breads success will ring truer than ever.

Returning at 5-3 Stosur powered to a 40-15 lead but Serena, being Serena, showed her fight to some degree pushing deuce, however only prolonging the inevitable as Stosur powered a forehand return of serve past Serena to claim the title.

In the on court post match ceremony Stosur praised Williams for being such a great champion and thanking her for all the amazing things she had done for the sport.

APOLOGIES - Pictures are not loading at this stage but will get them up ASAP.

Serena and Samantha set for emotional final.

On the ten year anniversary of the horrific 9/11 terror attacks in New York and Virginia, 28th seed Serena Williams and 9th seed Samantha Stosur will set battle for the 2011 US Open title.

Stosur was the first of the pair to make the final winning her match against surprise semi finalist Angelique Kerber on the Grandstand. The German world number 92 put up more resistance that what most had expected pushing the Australian all the way in a 6-3 2-6 6-2 victory for the Aussie. This will be Stosur's first final at the pinnacle level since finishing runner up to Francesca Schiavone at last years French Open. Kerber showed her fight in the final set coming from 0-5 down to have points for 3-5 but Stosur's experience won out on the day.

Stosur's opponent in the final will be American Serena Williams, who defeat World No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki 6-2 6-4 to advance to her fifth US Open final and seventeenth overall slam final. By defeating Wozniacki, Serena won her 18th consecutive match - after winning US Open series title in Stanford and Toronto - and if she wins tomorrow she will collect the biggest pay day in tennis history. $1,800,000 prize money plus her one million dollar bonus for winning the US Open Series. Williams return to the US Open final is an insperatinol feet after she missed almost a year due to a series of injuries which saw her basically on her death bed, and it is only Williams' sixth tournament back.

Stosur edges Petrova in three set marathon.

In warm conditions during the evening match on Louis Armstrong Stadium, the hard-hitting duo exchanged breaks to start the match before Stosur held to love in the third game, setting the tone for what would turn out to be the best women's match of the tournament to date and the longest recorded women's match at the US Open in the open era.

Serving for the first set at 5-3, the Queenslander gave away three set points and was eventually broken by Petrova, who had won 4 of their 5 previous encounters.
The resultant tiebreak was won by the Australian despite a moment of frustration when a successful hawk-eye challenge on a late call gave the Russian the point.

The 27 year-old, who landed 48 winners to her opponent's 37, served for the match at 5-4 in and despite turning two break points into two match points, again found herself broken by the powerful Russian 24th seed.

Petrova broke in the third game of the final set to take the lead for the first time but put a forehand into the net, allowing the Australian to level it at 4-4.

Stosur gave away her third match point with a long forehand before an electrifying rally on her fourth match point went Petrova's way.
Putting immense pressure on the Russian, Stosur created a fifth match point which she claimed as Petrova's return sailed into the net.

The upset of the day goes to Flavia Pennetta for dispatching of Russian third seed Maria Sharapova 6-3 3-6 6-4.

History in the making.

Five. That's the number of American girls who are into the third round of the US Open. Lead by 28th seed and title favourite Serena Williams, a wave of young American tennis players are all buying to leave their mark on the US Open.

Irina Falconi, Christina McHale, Sloane Stepehens and Vania King all dispatched of their seeded second round opponents to advance to the third round, all of them making it their best slam result to date. 16-year-old Madison Keys was unfortunate not to join then, narrowly going down in a tough three setter.

Serena Williams may have been ruthless in her second round encounter with Michaella Krajicek, but her years on the tour are numbed as she approaches 30 this September. The refreshing, new found success of the young stars is a pleasant surprise to see after years of searching for "The Next Williams Sister" and well, they may not have found her yet, and we shouldn't get carried away but its pretty hard not to love this.

McHale and Falconi won their respective matches yesterday while today Stephens played her match on grandstand. The big serving American broke her 23rd seeded opponent three times in the opening set where she demolished Sharhar Peer 6-1. The Israeli then bounced back to get an advantage in the second set and served for it at 5-3, Stephens showed great resistance and persistence to force a second set tie breaker where she found the edge winning it 7-4. Stephens will play 16th seed Ana Ivanovic on Saturday for a spot in the 4th round.

Fellow American Vania King played against 29th seeded Australian Jarmila Gajdasova. Jarmila has been struggling for form since her loss to Caroline Wozniacki at Wimbledon and was not able to turn things around in New York. Edged on by her home crowed on court 17, doubles specialist Vania King was far too good for Gajdasova posting an impressive 6-2 6-0 victory. King had been to the third round at the US Open once before, in 2009 where she also defeated an Australian in the second round. Thing only get tougher for King now as she faces world number one Caroline Wozniacki in the third round.

Belarusian fourth seed Victoria Azarenka won her 2nd round match against Gisela Dulko to set up the most highly anticipated 3rd round match I can ever remember, as she now gets ready to take on Serena Williams.

Tomorrow night, Christina McHale takes on 25th seed Maria Kirilenko in the first night match on Ashe. Hope she doesn't get stage fright.

Eye on the Big Apple - Day one wrap up!

The first women's match on Arthur Ashe saw women's third seed Maria Sharapova come with in a whisker of being a huge upset. The Wimbledon runner up struggled with her play throughout the match as she took over two and half hours to dispatch 19 year old Heather Watson, 3-6 7-5 6-3. Sharapova was plagued with unforced errors during her match, hitting an astonishing 58.

Petra Kvitova, who defeated Sharapova to claim her first major title at Wimbledon, was not as fortunate as the Russian in her first round match. Kvitova's tough match up which was always a possibility for a surprise saw Romania's Alexandra Dulgheru victorious 7-6 6-3. Dulgheru has been suffering injury since the beginning of the clay season, but seems to be finding her way back into form. Petra did put in a good bid for the unforced error count, but fell short only managing 52.

Only playing her 11th match of the season, Venus Williams was not expected to perform well in any aspect. The seven time slam champion, served very well in her 6-4 6-3 victory over Vesna Dolonts. Speak of Venus; for the fashionista's amongst us, she didn't look to trashy and I liked the dress from the front...I just hope she doesn't turn around!

Agnieszka wan the battle of the Radwanska's while Madison Keys, Laura Robson, Julia Goerges, Vera Zvonareva, Tsvetana Pironkova, Marion Bartoli, Dominika Cibulkova and Samantha Stosur all posted sound wins.

US Open Series surprise packet, Christina McHale won a tough three set match over Canadian qualifier Aleksandra Wozniak, 6-3 6-7 6-4.

Concrete Jungle...2011 US Open Draw Preview and Analysis.

Well, well, we are here again, time for the final slam of year. And the draw is out! As a Serena fan, I love the draw! Lucinda, as a Vika fan is not a happy camper! Unfortunately this years US Open will be with out two time defending champion Kim Clijsters, as an abdominal injury ruled her out a little over a week ago. Before looking at a possible champion, you have to take into account to stand outs of the US Open series, this year US Open Series champion Serena Williams (who as the possibility of a one million dollar bonus, if she wins the US Open), Agnieska Radwanska and Andrea Petkovic has all impressed during the series and will be eager to back that up at the open. Women's world number and top seed Caroline Wozniacki has been in a form slump lately and an unfavourable US Open draw won't help with that. For the fith consecutive slam Wozniacki will be looking to claim her maiden slam title and back up her number one rank. Well now here it goes!

First Quarter


Well obviously we have Caroline Wozniacki in the quarter, as well as Daniela Hantuchova, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Andrea Petkovic, Roberta Vinci and Li Na. In the second round Woniacki will come up against Arantxa Run, remember her? The Dutch girl who took down Clijsters at Roland Garros? Yeah, this match up will be interesting! I would expect Kuznetsova and Hantuchova to meet in the third round with the winner would likely face Caroline Wozniacki which would be a good match up! Hantuchova was Wozniacki's defeater at Roland Garros. In the lower sector it does seem to be all about Li Na and Andrea Petkovic who look poised for a fourth round clash, although Roberta Vinci could challenge Petkovic in the third round.

Predicted QF - Svetlana Kuznetsova vs Andrea Petkovic

Second Quarter

 Two words, Serena Williams. The only obsticale that seems to be stopping Serena from the quarter final is Victoria Azarenka, who has challenged Serena greatly on hard courts before, mainly at the Australia Open though but also at Miami, where Azarenka defeated Williams handily in 2009. The winner of the Azarenka/Williams match up could...to be honest, could face anyone in the 4th round, the seed to do so, Ana Ivanovic has been handed a challenging draw, where she could play Czech Petra Cetkovska in the 2nd round. Cetkovska defeated Ivanovic at Wimbledon this year. The lower section of the quarter stars Jelena Jankovic, Anastasia Pavlyucenkova and Francesca Schiavone where any woman could prevail

Predicted QF - Serena Williams vs Jelena Jankovic.

Third Quarter

 The bottom half of the draw is very open, with many dangerous players floating around. In the third quarter we have Wimbledon champ Petra Kvitova, Agnieszka Radwanska, Peng Shuai, Julia Goerges and Maria Sharapova. But also includes possible dangerous lower ranked players Virginie Razzano, former US Open semi finalist Yanina Wickmayer and Lucie Safarova. With the current form of Agnieszka Radwanska you could assume she would make the fourth round to likely play Petra Kvitova. The lower sector of the quarter would look like its going to be all about Maria Sharapova, however Peng Shuai and Julia Goerges could both produce tennis to test the Russian star.

Predicted QF - Agnieszka Radwanska vs Maria Sharapova


Fourth Quarter


The quarter is very interesting, Christina McHale and Marion Bartoli could face in round 2. Nadia Petrova and Samantha Stosur could face on in round three. The lower section features Cibulkova, Venus Williams, Sabine Lisicki, Anabelle Medina Garrigues and Vera Zvonareva. It is all very much up for grabs. Williams has not played since Wimbledon, Zvonareva made the semi's of Cincinnati last week but has been less than impressive since the start of the clay season. Lisicki and Cibulkova impressed at Wimbledon in the US Open Series Cibulkova was hampered by injury and Lisicki had mediocre performances.

Predicted QF - Nadia Petrova vs Anabelle Medina Garrigues 


QF predictions


Svetlana Kuznetsova vs Andrea Petkovic


Kuznetsova, the former champ and Andrea Petkovic the quirky dancing queen. Petko has been on fire this US Open series making semis at two of her events and quarters in the other. She has played well on hard courts all year with a final in Brisbane, QF in the AO and Semis in Miami. I think it will be pretty hard to look past Petkovic for this match, and well, say hello to your first slam semi Andrea!

Serena Williams vs Jelena Jankovic


I doubt it will be as close or as entertaining as their 2009 US Open final, I do think Serena will win with much greater ease, and I am not just saying that because I am a fan of Serena...okay well maybe I am! But Its great Jelena made the final of Cincinnati and yes, I probably am getting to far ahead of myself and herself to predict her to male the quarters of slam, giving the semis at Cincy is about the first impact she has made on the tour for...well, a while. Serena in an easy two sets...probably two and three or something like that.

Agnieszka Radwanska vs Maria Sharapova


Well I am going to go out on a huge limb here and I am going to go right ahead and say, even injurd and what not, I thing Aggie will be winning this match. She has become a new woman dropping Daddy Radwanska as her coach and she is playing like a new woman. And well Maria is still inconsistent and carrying her unrelaiable sereve, as we saw in Toronto, it can all come crashing down. Aggie in three...maybe but why not play it safe and flip a coin...oh look Maria in three.

Nadia Petrova vs Anabelle Medina Garrigues 


I still don't know why. Or who. Or why. Maybe I did this for fun, because that's how open I thought this draw would be? Hahaha, I really have no idea. I suppose Petrova will win, but I also suppose this would never happen!

SF predictions


Andrea Petkovic vs Serena Williams


Serena is just so hard to stop at these stages of the majors. Andrea will put up a stern fight but will fall short of what is one of the toughest challenges in women's tennis. Serena to make her return to slam finals winning in two tighter sets.

Maria Sharapova vs Nadia Petrova


Maria.

Runner Up
Maria Sharapova

Champion
Serena Williams

The Jankovic Saga: Resurgent JJ?

Once upon a 2007 a 22 year old Jelena Jankovic showed great promise and talent to reach the Roland Garros semi final and US Open quarter final to finish the year ranked third in the world. The following year Jelena made and impressive semi final or better finish at 3 grand slams as well as going down to Serena Williams in a closely contested entertaining US Open final 4-6 5-7. These combined successes saw Jankovic finish the year as the world number one.

In more recent time, especially this year, Jankovic has been inconsistent and appeared uninterested in tennis. Even admitting that at the moment tennis is not her top priority. And yes even I am guilty of calling for her to retire or take a break, as are many other. Until this week Jankovic had not won a tennis match since Roland Garros. Suddenly and since rehiring Ricardo Sanchez, the man who took her to number 1, as her coach Jelena finds herself in the final of the Western & Southern Open scoring wins over 2010 French Open champ Francesca Schiavone and inform Andrea Petkovic.

In tomorrows final Jankovic will take on fourth seeded Maria Sharapova, who won in scrappy performance over world number two Vera Zvonareva 2-6 6-3 6-3. The final will be a great test for Jankovic and I would love nothing more than for her to win the final, get her career back on track and win a slam or two. I hope that this isn't just a once off thing...I would like to see more of you in deep section of tournaments Jelena.

So Jelena best of luck for tomorrow and even better wishes for the US Open.

Oh and just to prove how committed she is to tennis, Jelena has accepted a Wild Card to play New Haven, I hope her plan wont back fire on her.

Clijsters withdraws from US Open

The three-times US Open champion Kim Clijsters will not defend her title after failing to recover from a stomach muscle injury. It has been an injury-hit season for the world No3, who missed most of the clay-court season and Wimbledon with an ankle injury before being forced out of last week's tournament in Toronto with the stomach problem.

The US Open was the stage on which Clijsters announced her return to the game after two and a half years in retirement in spectacular fashion in 2009. Only a month after returning to the Tour, she beat both Venus and Serena Williams, the latter in a semi-final that became famous for Williams's abuse of a lineswoman, before defeating Caroline Wozniacki to secure her second grand slam title.

She successfully defended the crown 12 months ago, beating Vera Zvonareva in the final, before winning her first grand slam title outside America at the Australian Open in January. Clijsters reclaimed the world No1 ranking and looked set to be the player to beat in 2011 before injury struck in a most unusual way as the 28-year-old sustained a serious ankle injury while dancing at a cousin's wedding.

The US Open tournament director, Jim Curley, said: "It is unfortunate that Kim has not recovered from her injury in time to defend her US Open title. We wish her a full and speedy recovery and look forward to her return to New York next year."

With Kim's career turning into another injury prone saga, one has to assume weather she will make 2012 Olympics.

Now we're free falling.

McHale def (1) Wozniacki  6-4 7-5.

Serena withdrew...wise move, got the points, got the seed and get the rest!

Vika's out injurd too.

Serena conquered Canada, bring on Cinci!

Serena Williams has confirmed why she is the greatest of her generation once more. Every player in the top 20 entered Toronto but it was world number 80, Serena Williams who came out on top. After losing sets in the third round and quarter finals Williams powered her way to defeat 4th (Victoria Azarenka) and 10th (Samantha Stosur) seeded players in the semi's and final, losing just six games in each straight set victory.

After missing a whole year due to injury Williams made a comeback during the grass court season making the 4th round of Wimbledon. During her lengthy injury time off Williams survived a near death experience with a haematoma and had down proven once again, never discount Serena Williams.

Winning the final in Toronto 6-4 6-2 of Australian Stosur is the second Rogers Cup title for Williams, the first coming 10 years ago after beating Jennifer Capriati in the final. It is also Williams' 39th career titleand is projected to let her rise to 31 in the world rankings on Monday...hello US Open seeding.

The Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati begins play tomorrow, although missing from the field is defending champ Kim Clijsters, red hot Anginezka Radwanska and seven time slam champ Venus Williams.

Abdominal injury stops Clijsters in Canada.

Kim Clijsters and Serena Williams looked set for third round battle at the Rogers Cup this year. Williams so far has held up her end of the bargain with an impressive 6-0 6-3 46 minute match win over Alona Bondarenko (which included a 16 minute first set) while Clijsters was unlucky to be hit with yet another injury. This time and abdominal injury forced her to retire leading Zheng Jie 6-3 1-2.

The new worrying injury concern comes three weeks out from the US Open where Clijsters is still expected to attempt to defend her title...again. In her first tournament since missing two months (and Wimbledon) due to a foot injury Clijsters is slightly under a cloud for the US Open. An impressive start to the year saw Kim make three consecutive finals and win the Australian Open, however her season as been dismal since the Paris final in February making just one tournament quarter final since.

Recent inducte to the top 10, Andrea Petkovic scored a 6-2 6-2 victory over Canadian wild card Eugenie Bouchard. Other Canadians Alrksandra Wozniak andStephanie Dubois scored 6-1 6-0 and 7-6 6-1 victories respectively and will now face 10th seeded Samantha Stosur and 4th seeded Victoria Azarenka respectively.

Australians Jelena Dokic and Jarmila Gadjasova lost 0-2 ret and 1-6 2-6 respectively 

Melanie Oudin only blames herself for recent struggles.

From tennis.com

Even though she is on a four-match losing streak and has seen her ranking drop to No. 111, American teenager Melanie Oudin says that she will make no changes to her team or ask anyone else for help. The 2009 U.S. Open quarterfinalist says that she striking the ball well in practice, but is focusing too much on the score in matches. On Tuesday at the Mercury Insurance Open in San Diego, Elena Baltacha walloped her, 6-0 6-1, in less than an hour.


"I feel like it’s about my figuring it out and I can’t get down on myself every time I lose," she told TENNIS.com. "I don’t feel like it’s somebody else’s fault. Some players when they do well, they just blame the coach. But I'm smart enough to realize that it’s not the coach. It’s all on me."


Oudin has been coached by South African Brian de Villiers since she's been a junior. The Fed Cupper says that USTA Player Development has reached out to her, but she's not ready to accept a helping hand.


After Wimbledon, Oudin took a 10-day vacation the Bahamas with her twin sister Katherine and felt like she had cleared her head, but the results have not shown up yet.


"When I practice I’m relaxed and hitting freely," said Oudin, who will try and qualify for Toronto next week. "But in matches I have to forget about winning or losing, but that is way easier said that done. It’s mental.”

Stephens shines on home turf.

American teenager Sloane Stephens completed one of the first major upsets at the Mercury Insurance Open on Wednesday morning with a 6-3 7-5 victory over seventh-seeded Julia Goerges.

With the win, the 18-year-old Stephens won consecutive matches in the main draw of a WTA event for the first time in her career and got her first win against a top-20 player.

Goerges continues to struggle, having lost her first match at four of her last five tournaments. The German showed several signs of strain Wednesday, complaining about numerous calls and appearing frustrated by Stephens' effective defensive slices.

Stephens managed to break Goerges twice in the first set, and after the two players traded breaks in the second, Stephens broke to go up 6-5. Stephens won on double-match point when Goerges pulled a forehand wide.

Stephens is one a few promising American stars in the Mercury Insurance open, Christina McHale being one of them one her first round match 6-0 6-0 over fellow American, Zoe Gwen Scandalis.

The Australian's didn't fair so well as Jelena Dokic and Jarmila Gajdasova both lost their opening round matches. Dokic's loss sets Ayumi Morita up with a rematch with Ana Ivanovic. Morita defeated Ivanovic in Stanford just last week. Random fact, Ivanovic has now faced a Japanese opponent for her first match in every American tournament this year.

The week (and a bit) that was

• Zovareva may have won Baku, but it was Pav who lead the charge for double faults. 
• Sports Ilistrated got the inside scoup on the latest golf/tennis love affair...does Caroline know Rory?
• Serena showed off the Crique du Soliel performer with in during WTT. Speaking of Serena, looks like she has decided to care outside of slams now.
• Kim Clijsters withdrew from San Diego but says she'll play Rogers Cup
• The WTA welcomed Washington, Petrova welcomed it to! 
• Radwanska got an actual coach, ate cheesecake and rumour has it, she could be getting herself a sponsor next year :D 
• Alicia Molik is pregnant.
• This Serena-Maria article is great, excellent piece. 
• Petko is set to rise to the top 10. After Sam Stosur falls out, back to where she belongs. 
• The stars got locked up 
• And as I hit publish post Marion and Serena are tied at 5-5 first set

Serena's eyes set on top after dominating first match on US Soil since 2009

Let the stat's speak for them selves;

6 aces
100% first serve points won (17/17)
82% second serve return points won
Faced no break points
83% service points won
71% total points won
6-0, 6-0
47 minutes

Nice to Serena back to being Serena.

Next up for Serena is Maria Kirilenko who upset German Julia Goerges 6-2 6-3 in an impressive performance.

Another player who cause a bit of a stir was Ayumi Morita who upset 8th seeded Ana Ivanovic, as Ivanovic continues to struggle with her career.

Sorry to keep it short sharp and shiny guys but still a little jet lagged!