Player of the week: Dinara Safina

Russian Dinara Safina has been showing an impressive form in the last few months. It all started in Berlin, when Safina captured her biggest title so far in the Tier I of Berlin. Then she reached her first Grand Slam final in Rolang Garros. And, after a dissapointing 3rd round in Wimbledon, she has returned to her best level to take the title in Los Angeles.
Itue to her lack of regularity, Safina usually loses her focus from time to time, and this time it wasn't an exception. It was in her 3rd round match against Russian qualifier Alla Kudryavtseva, who took the second set by 6-0 while Safina seemed lost. But Safina survided, winning the first and the third set in the tie-break. Afterwards she was unstoppable. She defeated 8th seed Victoria Azarenka, 1st seed Jelena Jankovic and 10th seed Flavia Pennetta without dropping a set. Only Jankovic, who was looking for the #1 in the rankings, took her to a tiebreak.
Furthermore, with this title Safina gains a position in the rankings and reaches her career-high ranking peaking at #8. If she keeps this form, she may get even higher. Next goal are the Olympic Games, where she will be a real threaten for the top favourites.

WTA ranking as of 28-Jul-2008

Dinara Safina climbs one spot up to #8 after her victory in Los Angeles. Runner-up Flavia Pennetta gets back into Top 20, after gaining three spots up to #18. Danish teen Caroline Wozniacki also gains three spots to a career-high ranking at #26. Good climbs also for Portoroz winner Sara Errani (from #56 to #43) and Los Angeles semifinalist Betthanie Mattek (from #59 to #45), although the greatest gainer in Top 100 is Los Angeles quarter-finalist Meng Yuan, who climbs from #122 to #98.

Cur	Prv	Name	Country	Rank pts.	Tours.
1	(1)	Ana Ivanovic	SRB	3828	17
2	(2)	Jelena Jankovic	SRB	3740	23
3	(3)	Maria Sharapova	RUS	3626	14
4	(4)	Svetlana Kuznetsova	RUS	3455	18
5	(5)	Serena Williams	USA	3251	14
6	(6)	Elena Dementieva	RUS	3105	20
7	(7)	Venus Williams	USA	2606	13
8	(9)	Dinara Safina	RUS	2522	23
9	(8)	Anna Chakvetadze	RUS	2176	24
10	(10)	Agnieszka Radwanska	POL	2141	23

Week #31 preview: Montreal, Stockholm

Montreal (CAN), Tier I, $1,340,000
Canadian Open will take place this year in Montreal and it ill be another chapter in the fight for WTA #1. Jelena Jankovic is now very close to #1 and will try to take the crown from fellow Serbian Ana Ivanovic, who will try to defend her title in Canada and her leadership in the ranking. Russians Maria Sharapova and Svetlana Kuznetsova will also look for a good result to get closer to the Serbians, while Elena Dementieva and Dinara Safina complete the set of favourites for the title. And surprises shouldn't be discarded, as the tournament will feature a great field including 14 of the Top 20 players.

Stockholm (SWE), Tier IV, $145,000
One of the best players of the 2008 season so far, Polish youngster Agnieszka Radwanska, will be the top favourite in Stockholm. Hungarian Agnes Szavay, veteran Katarina Srebotnik, Danish teen Caroline Wozniacki, Portoroz runner-up Anabel Medina and Indian star Sania Mirza will be also amongst the favourites, completing a very attractive field for a Tier IV.

Week #30: Safina wins in Los Angeles

Dinara Safina proved once again that she's one of the players in best for in the last few months and captured the title in Los Angeles. Safina defeated Italian Flavia Pennetta in the final, who took advance of a very weak half of the draw after the withdrawal of Serena Williams and the early defeats of Anna Chakvetadze, Daniela Hantuchova and Patty Schnyder. But the most expected match was the semifinal between Safina and 1st seed and WTA #2 Jelena Jankovic, who missed a great chance of becoming World's #1. Also remarkable was the performance of American Betthanie Mattek, who made good profit of her Wild Card to the Main Draw reaching the semifinals.
In Portoroz, Italian Sara Errani got her 2nd WTA title in just three weeks after her title in Palermo. Errani exhibited a great form as she defeated 1st seed Maria Kirilenko (WTA 19), 3rd seed Caroline Wozniacki (WTA 30) and 4th seed Anabel Medina (WTA 31) in straight sets, extending her winning streak to 10 consecutive victories. German Julia Goerges reached the semis in a WTA event for the first time, while former Top-20 Elena Bovina, who has missed most of the last few seasons due to several injuries, seems to be finally getting some of her best tennis back, as she reached the quarter-finals after going through the qualification.

Los Angeles (USA), Tier II, $600,000
Final: Dinara Safina (RUS) def Flavia Pennetta (ITA) 6/4 6/2

Portoroz (SLO), Tier IV, $145,000
Final: Sara Errani (ITA) def Anabel Medina 6/3 6/3

Player of the week: Aleksandra Wozniak

When Canadian player Aleksandra Wozniak went to the third set in her 1st round match of the qualifying draw at WTA Stanford, she could hardly imagine that just 8 days later she would be getting her first WTA title and the biggest success of her career so far. But Wozniak completed a perfect week with 8 victories in a row, defeating players such as WTA #21 Francesca Schiavone, WTA #29 Sybille Bammer and former Top-30 Samantha Stosur, this one twice in the qualy and in the main draw, on her way to the semifinals. That seemed the end of her great run, as she was facing 1st seed and WTA #5 Serena Williams, but Williams had some problems in her knee and retired when Wozniak was leading 6/2 3/1. In the final WTA #15 Marion Bartoli seemed to be the favourite, but Aleksandra played her best again and defeated the French in straight sets, completing an incredible tournament for her.
With this triumph, Aleksandra has entered WTA Top 50 for the first time, climbing 40 places up to a career-high ranking at #45.

WTA ranking as of 21-Jul-2008

No changes in WTA Top 25 this week. Stanford champion Aleksandra Wozniak is the greatest gainer in the Top 100 climbing 40 spots up to #45. Veteran Japanese Ai Sugiyama moves from #38 to #33. Career-high rankings for Bad Gastein champion Pauline Parmentier who goes 13 places up to #40 and semifinalist Mariya Koryttseva who gains 6 spots up #54. Australian Samantha Stosur gets back into the Top 100 and gains 20 spots up to #87.

Cur	Prv	Name	Country	Rank pts.	Tours.
1	(1)	Ana Ivanovic	SRB	3828	17
2	(2)	Jelena Jankovic	SRB	3685	22
3	(3)	Maria Sharapova	RUS	3626	14
4	(4)	Svetlana Kuznetsova	RUS	3455	18
5	(5)	Serena Williams	USA	3251	14
6	(6)	Elena Dementieva	RUS	3105	20
7	(7)	Venus Williams	USA	2606	13
8	(8)	Anna Chakvetadze	RUS	2486	24
9	(9)	Dinara Safina	RUS	2287	22
10	(10)	Agnieszka Radwanska	POL	2141	23

Week #30 preview: Los Angeles, Portoroz

Los Angeles (USA), Tier II, $600,000
Pre-US Open season continues in Los Angeles with this Tier II that will present a great field with 10 players from the Top 20, including 5 Top Ten. Serbian Jelena Jankovic, Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova, Anna Chakvetadze and Dinara Safina and American Serena Williams will be the top favourites for the title. The great level of the field assures high quality matches, an open fight for the title and a high number of upsets.

Portoroz (SLO), Tier IV, $145,000
Russian Maria Kirilenko and local favourite Katarina Srebotnik will be the main contenders for the title in this small Tier IV in Slovenia. Young talent Caroline Wozniacki, Spanish Anabel Medina and Palermo winner Sara Errani will be also amongst the favourites, while local fans will also cheer for local player Andreja Klepac, surprising runner-up in Budapest two weeks ago.

Week #29: Wozniak gets a surprising victory in Stanford

Aleksandra Wozniak became the first Canadian since 1988 to win a Sony Ericsson WTA Tour singles title, beating Marion Bartoli for the Tier II Bank of the West Classic crown. Wozniak, who had to go through the qualification due to her low ranking, won 8 matches in a row to capture her first WTA title. In the semis, Wozniak was benefited by the retirement of 1st seed and top favourite Serena Williams. Also remarkable was the performance of 1993-born Michelle Larcher de Brito who won 4 consecutive matches in straight sets, including a victory over former Top-30 Gisela Dulko, and progressed to the 2nd round as a qualifier. There she was defeated by WTA #5 Serena Williams, but managed to win the first set.
In Bad Gastein, Austria, Pauline Parmentier captured the 2nd title of her career in another tournament plenty of surprises. Parmentier upsetted 1sd seed Agnes Szavay in the semis and defeated surprising runner-up Lucie Hradecka in the final. Hradecka, who was ranked at #237, won 7 matches in a row to reach the final going through the qualy. 2nd seed and last week champion in Budapest, Alize Cornet, retired in her 1st round match due to illness. Last week runner-up in Palermo, Russian Mariya Koryttseva, showed again her good form and reached the semifinals losing to Hradecka.

Stanford (USA), Tier II, $600,000
Final: Aleksandra Wozniak (CAN) def Marion Bartoli (FRA) 7/5 6/3

Bad Gastein (AUT), Tier III, $175,000
Final: Pauline Parmentier (FRA) def Lucie Hradecka (CZE) 6/4 6/4

Hot shot: Ashley Harkleroad in cover of Playboy

Source: Playboy website


August issue of men's magazine Playboy features American player Ashley Harkleroad on its cover. Harkleroad is the first tennis player to appear in the cover of Playboy.

Player of the week: Sara Errani

21 years old Italian player Sara Errani captured in Palermo the first WTA title of her career. In the first round, Errani went past Su-Wei Hsieh dropping just one game. Second round was thougher and she had to come back from a set down to beat Julia Vakulenko. In the quarters she had to face surprising Roland Garros semifinalist and 4th seed Carla Suarez, but Errani was lucky as Suarez had to retire due to an injured finger. In semifinals she had to play her best tennis to upset 1st seed and WTA #21 Flavia Pennetta. And in the final she took revenge of 7th seed Mariya Koryttseva, who had defeated her in Acapulco early in the season.
Furthermore, she also got her first WTA doubles title teaming up with Nuria Llagostera. And she has reached her career-high ranking peaking at #51. Without any doubt, a perfect week for her.

WTA ranking as of 14-Jul-2008

Budapest champion Alize Cornet climbs two places up to #18 in the only movement within the Top 30 as minor tournaments were held this week. Good climbs also for Palermo champion Sara Errani (from #60 to #51) and runner-up Mariya Koryttseva (from #68 to #60), although the greatest gainer of the week is surprising runner-up in Budapest Andreja Klepac, who breaks into the Top 100 for the first time moving 36 places up to a career-high at #99.

Cur	Prv	Name	Country	Rank pts.	Tours.
1	(1)	Ana Ivanovic	SRB	3828	17
2	(2)	Jelena Jankovic	SRB	3685	22
3	(3)	Maria Sharapova	RUS	3626	14
4	(4)	Svetlana Kuznetsova	RUS	3455	18
5	(5)	Serena Williams	USA	3126	13
6	(6)	Elena Dementieva	RUS	3105	20
7	(7)	Venus Williams	USA	2606	13
8	(8)	Anna Chakvetadze	RUS	2486	24
9	(9)	Dinara Safina	RUS	2287	22
10	(10)	Agnieszka Radwanska	POL	2141	24

Week #29 preview: Stanford, Bad Gastein

Stanford (USA), Tier II, $600,000
Pre-US Open season starts with a Tier II in Stanford. The tournament will feature eight Top-20 players and Serena Williams as the top favourite for the title. Russians Vera Zvonareva, Anna Chakvetadze and Nadia Petrova, Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova, French Marion Bartoli, Swiss Patty Schnyder and Italian Francesca Schiavone are the other seeded players. On the other hand, American veteran Lindsay Davenport will try to get back into her best form after a few months out.

Bad Gastein (AUT), Tier III, $175,000
Small events keep on running across Europe and next stop is Bad Gastein in Austria. As last week in Budapest, Hungarian Agnes Szavay and French Alize Cornet will be the top favourites for the title, along with Danish teen Caroline Wozniacki. Palermo winner and runner-up, Sara Errani and Mariya Koryttseva, should be also taken into account.

Week #28: First WTA titles for Cornet and Errani

French teen Alize Cornet won in Budapest her first WTA title and confirmed her fantastic 2008 season and her great potential on clay. The way to the title was easier than expected, as Cornet didn't have to face any Top-100 player in the whole tournament and only Slovenian Andreja Klepac put her in some trouble in the final. Anyway, Cornet didn't drop a set in the whole tournament. Klepac provided the biggest upset of the tournament as she defeated local favourite and 1st seed Agnes Szavay in the 2nd round. The tournament was also possitive for two former Top-20 players trying to recover her best tennis, Karolina Sprem and Anna-Lena Groenefeld, who progressed to semis and quarters respectively.
In Palermo, 21yo Italian Sara Errani also captured her first career WTA title as she defeated Russian Mariya Koryttseva in the final. The top favourites, Italian Flavia Pennetta and 4-times winner Anabel Medina where upsetted in the semifinals by Errani and Koryttseva respectively.

Budapest (HUN), Tier III, $175,000
Final: Alize Cornet (FRA) def Andreja Klepac (SLO) 7/6 6/3

Palermo (ITA), Tier IV, $145,000
Final: Sara Errani (ITA) def Mariya Koryttseva (RUS) 6/2 6/3

Player of the week: Venus Williams / Jie Zheng

5 times Wimbledon champion Venus Williams has been the best player on the London grass. She has won her 7th Grand Slam title without dropping a set during the whole tournament. Maybe she had an easy way, as didn't have to face any seeded player till the semis, but she had to overcome WTA #5 Elena Dementieva in the semis and her sister Serena, WTA #6, in the final. She showed once more that her powerful serve and her great volley really suit the grass courts. Furthermore, she also captured the dobles title along with her sister Serena, which is the 7th Grand Slam doubles title for them.


But this week the great performance of Chinese Jie Zheng must be remarked. She entered the Main Draw thanks to an invitation, as she had dropped in the rankings due to an injury in late 2007. And she made good profit of it, as she advanced to the semifinals, becoming the first Chinese ever to reach a Grand Slam semifinal. On her way, she defeated great players such as 30th seed Dominika Cibulkova, 18th seed Nicole Vaidisova, 15th seed Agnes Szavay and she caused a big upset beating World's #1 Ana Ivanovic by 6/1 6/4. Only Serena Williams was able to stop her. But if her performance on court was brilliant, her behaviour off court is exemplar. Zheng announced she was going to donate her portion of the prize money to victims of the Chinese earthquake in her own Sichuan province in May, which killed over 60,000 people. Her humanity makes her worth this player of the week award.

WTA ranking as of 07-Jul-2008

Ana Ivanovic retains WTA #1 after Wimbledon, where no one of the Top 4 players reached the quarter-finals. Jelena Jankovic gets back to #2 due to the early defeat of Maria Sharapova. Wimbledon runner-up Serena Williams climbs to #5 and gets closer to the Top 4, as semifinalist Elena Dementieva. Polish Agnieszka Radwanska breaks into the Top 10 for the first time peaking at #10. Quarter-finalist Tamarine Tanasugarn moves from #60 to #37, although the greatest gainer of the week is semifinalist Jie Zheng who climbs 93 places up to #40. Russian Evgeniya Rodina and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova break into the Top 100 for the first time and reach career-high rankings at #87 and #92 respectively, while Maria Jose Martinez (25 places up to #76), Barbora Zahlavova Strycova (26 places up to #83) and Alla Kudryavtseva (55 places up to #99) return to Top 100. Career-high rankings for 4th rounders Alisa Kleybanova (from #42 to #35) and Bethanie Mattek (from #69 to #55), as well as for 3rd rounders Marina Erakovic (from #53 to #49) and Sorana Cirstea (from #66 to #53).

Cur	Prv	Name	Country	Rank pts.	Tours.
1	(1)	Ana Ivanovic	SRB	3828	17
2	(3)	Jelena Jankovic	SRB	3685	22
3	(2)	Maria Sharapova	RUS	3626	14
4	(4)	Svetlana Kuznetsova	RUS	3455	18
5	(6)	Serena Williams	USA	3126	13
6	(5)	Elena Dementieva	RUS	3105	20
7	(7)	Venus Williams	USA	2606	13
8	(8)	Anna Chakvetadze	RUS	2486	24
9	(9)	Dinara Safina	RUS	2287	22
10	(11)	Agnieszka Radwanska	POL	2171	25

Week #28 preview: Budapest, Palermo

Budapest (HUN), Tier III, $175,000
After the grass season, some small red clay tournaments will take place across Europe. The most important is this Tier III held in Budapest, where local favourite and 1st seed Agnes Szavay will try to take the title. But it won't be easy, as 2nd seed, French teen sensation Alize Cornet, who had a fantastic clay season highlighted by a runner-up place in Rome, will look for her first career title. Czech Lucie Safarova, Iveta Benesova, Klara Zakopalova and Petra Kvitova, Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova and Romanian Sorana Cirstea should be also taken into account. Former Top 20 Anna Lena Groenefeld makes her comeback to a WTA Tour event after a big slump in 2007 and some months out of the Tour.

Palermo (ITA), Tier IV, $145,000
Although she's not Italian, Spanish Anabel Medina feels like home at Palermo. She has got 4 of her 8 WTA titles there (2001, 2004, 2005 and 2006) and this year she will try to get the fifth. Another serious contenders are 1st seed and local favourite Flavia Pennetta and Spanish youngster Carla Suarez, who surprisingly reached the quarter-finals in las Roland Garros.

Week #26-27: Venus Williams gets her 5th Wimbledon title

Venus Williams retained her Wimbledon title after defeating sister Serena Williams in the final, which was the 7th Grand Slam final between them, the last one in Wimbledon 2003. This also was the 7th Grand Slam title for Venus, 5th one in Wimbledon (2000, 2001, 2005 and 2007). The tournament was marked by the early defeats of the four top seeds Ana Ivanovic, Jelena Jankovic, Maria Sharapova and Svetlana Kuznetsova. For the first time in the tournament's history, none of the four top seeds reached the quarter-finals. This left the Williams sisters as the top favourites for the title, as they eased their way to the final. Semifinalist places were for Chinese Jie Zheng, who upsetted No.1 Ana Ivanovic and became the first Chinese ever to reach a Grand Slam semifinal, and Russian Elena Dementieva, who is showing a great regularity this season and got her best result ever in Wimbledon. Agnieszka Radwanska, who is enjoying a fantastic season, Tamarine Tanasugarn, playing her best at Wimbledon once again (has reached Last-16 round 7 times in the last 10 years), Nadia Petrova and Nicole Vaidisova, who finally seem to be getting their best tennis back, completed the quarter-finals.
The doubles title was also for the Williams sisters, who defeated Lisa Raymond and Samantha Stosur in the final. At least, Stosur got the mixed doubles title with Bob Bryan.

Wimbledon (GBR), Grand Slam, £3,925,000
Singles final: Venus Williams (USA) def Serena Williams (USA) 7/5 6/4
Doubles final: V.Williams/S.Williams def L.Raymond/S.Stosur 6/2 6/2
Mixed doubles final: B.Bryan/S.Stosur def M.Bryan/K.Srebotnik 7/5 6/4

Hot stuff: Wimbledon fashion

The strict dressing code of highly traditional tournament of Wimbledon, where outfits must be white in a 90%, gives little space for the designers to present innovative and outstanding designs. But this year two players have got some attention due to their outfits. In fact not only for their tennis outfits, but also for their warm-up clothes. Nike was behind both designs.
The outfit of Maria Sharapova was widely commented even before the tournament had started for three reasons: the shorts, the blouse, combining transparences with a front with buttons, and the jacket for the warm-up. A very original and innovative design that left no one indifferent.

But if the jacket of Sharapova was widely commented, also was the coat that Serena Williams wore during warm-up. It doesn't seem very confortable to play, but surely it doesn't go unnoticed. And her dress was very nice too, well complemented with a head band and earrings.

But Nike also produced good designs for their other players. In particular semifinalist Jie Zheng looked extremely cute in her t-shirt and skirt. On the other hand Adidas was almost unnoticed due to their little innovative (and a bit boring) designs and to the bad results of their players, with none of them reaching the quarter-finals. Only Reebok got some attention with the dress worn by Nicole Vaidisova, with little touches of blue, although almost everything looks good on this girl.

Finally Venus Williams brand Eleven worths a comment. The dress with the crossed shoulder straps was really original and looked great on her (the same as for Vaidisova, every outfit seems to fit her). And this time she got another player to wear her designs, Russian Nadia Petrova, who looked well on a t-shirt and skirt outfit, and this player is not that easy to fit.

Latent heat: Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova

1991-born Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova is one of the biggest prospects in women's tennis. She enjoyed a brilliant junior career highlighted by Grand Slam titles at 2006 Australian Open (being just 14 years old), 2006 US Open and 2007 Australian Open, one runner-up finish at 2006 Roland Garros and four Grand Slam doubles titles. She competed with girls one or even two years older than her, such as current WTA #11 Agnieszka Radwanska, WTA #17 Alize Cornet or WTA #30 Caroline Wozniacki.


But as her junior opponents started to collect good results in the pro circuit and climb in the rankings, she didn't suceed in going a level up and even her domination of the junior circuit was over. Her career seemed stuck and everyone feared that Anastasia was going to be another brilliant junior who fails in reaching the top level.

But on 2008 she has finally moved a step forward. First in the ITF circuit, where in March she captured the titles in Moscow and Minsk. In May she moved to WTA Tour and got to 2nd round as a qualifier in Fes, where she also captured her first WTA doubles title. Then she scored her first Grand Slam win in Roland Garros, where she reached the 2nd round as a qualifier, and even took a set from Top 25 and clay specialist Flavia Pennetta. And finally she has confirmed her progression in Wimbledon where, again going through the qualy, she has reached the 3rd round defeating Top 20 Alize Cornet and former Top 15 Na Li on her way.


She started the year ranked at #286 and next week she will break into the Top 100 for the first time in her career. Today Anastasia turns 17 and we wish that she keeps on climbing and reaching higher goals. In fact we are sure she will.

Hot news: ITF announces acceptance lists for Olympics

Source: ITF official website

The ITF announced today the direct acceptance list for the 2008 Olympic Tennis Event in singles and doubles. For both men and women, this is the strongest field ever to enter the Olympic Tennis Event since tennis returned as a full medal sport in Seoul 1988.

Led by the world No. 1s, Roger Federer of Switzerland and Ana Ivanovic of Serbia, 17 of the top 20 men and 18 of the top 20 women will compete in Beijing.

Fifty-six players are entered based on their singles ranking of 9 June 2008, following Roland Garros, with a limit of four singles players per gender per country. Players must also be in good standing with their National Association and have met the minimum participation requirements for Davis Cup and Fed Cup.

Acceptance lists available via ITF here

Hot shot: Ivanovic, Sharapova and Serena in the Olympic book

Source: ITF official website




Ana Ivanovic, Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams posed as a beach volleyball player, a rhythmic gimnast and an ice skater for the Olympic Book published by the ITF.

Hot news: Tennis's leading names dress up for Olympic Book

Source: ITF official website

The ITF today announced the publication of its official Olympic Book ‘Journey to Beijing – Tennis celebrates the Olympics’. Over 40 of the world’s leading tennis players took part in the ITF project to help promote the 2008 Beijing Olympic Tennis Event.

The 140-page publication features a series of specially commissioned photographs of the game’s top names dressed as athletes from other summer or winter Olympic sports. These are accompanied by interviews with the players talking about their Olympic memories and hopes for Beijing.

Among the 44 players represented in the book are the two current world number ones, Roger Federer, who poses as a fencer, and Ana Ivanovic, who is shown playing beach volleyball, both in Miami. Rafael Nadal appears as a footballer on location in Shanghai, while Novak Djokovic takes advantage of Dubai’s indoor ski slope.

Maria Sharapova takes time out from a photo shoot to try rhythmic gymnastics in Los Angeles, while Serena Williams demonstrates her ice skating abilities at home in Palm Beach. Olympic champions Nicolas Massu and Fernando Gonzalez become marathon runners on the streets of Santiago, while wheelchair world No. 1 Esther Vergeer shows her versatility as a basketball player in the Netherlands.

To view ‘Journey to Beijing – Tennis celebrates the Olympics', click here