Women's Tennis Blog

Yanina Wickmayer suspended for one year, withdraws from Bali

Marija — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 13:50:56 +0000

This is unbelievable, 20-year-old Yanina Wickmayer received a one-year suspension and it happened in the Belgian's breakthrough year in which she reached the US Open semifinals as an unseeded player, won her first two WTA Tour titles (Estoril and Linz) and cracked the Top 20.

The reason for the suspension: Wickmayer failed to report her whereabouts to anti-doping officials three times. However, the world No.18 denied any wrongdoing and is planning to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Wickmayer voluntarily withdrew from the ongoing Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions because of the punishment. (photo via Sony Ericsson WTA Tour)

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Maria Sharapova’s new boyfriend Lakers' Sasha Vujacic?

Marija — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 20:38:33 +0000

According to Matt Cronin's tweet Maria Sharapova is now dating Slovenian-born Sasha Vujacic, the #18-wearing guard for the LA Lakers. So, Charlie Eberson is history now? Hey, their relationship didn't even get the chance to be confirmed.

Sasha resembles Charlie a bit! Don't you think? (source: Down the Line, photo of Sasha via Life.com)

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Serena Williams sets single-season prize money record with $6.5 million

Marija — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 10:05:36 +0000

World No.1 Serena Williams earned $6.5 million in 2009, which is the largest amount of prize money ever earned in women's tennis during a single season.

Williams won two Grand Slam titles in 2009 – Australian Open and Wimbledon – and finished the successful year in style by earning the season-ending No.1 ranking and winning the Sony Ericsson Championships.

Previously, Justine Henin held the record with her slightly under $5.5 million earned in 2007.

Serena Williams' career prize money is now at record $28.5 million. (source: ESPN, photo by our reader Jacob)

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Sony Ericsson WTA Tour: decrease in withdrawals in 2009

Marija — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 19:55:28 +0000

When I saw it on ESPN that "WTA Tour says withdrawals down" I was very confused, especially in the light of the last tournament, the Sony Ericsson Championships, which was all about injuries.

The Championships saw Caroline Wozniacki suffer from severe leg cramps, Serena and Venus Williams had their left legs strapped, alternate Vera Zvonareva's nose was bleeding and she pulled out after playing just one match, Victoria Azarenka also retired, top seed Dinara Safina retired with a serious back injury, and remember only ten singles players took part in the Championships (eight + two alternates).

Still, WTA Tour chairwoman and CEO Stacey Allaster states that the innovative scheduling system introduced in 2009 proved to be "a fantastic success". She said the Roadmap increased attendance at Premier tournaments by 11% and decreased player withdrawals by 34%. In addition, prize money was increased by 34%, despite the global economic crisis. (photo via Sony Ericsson Championships)

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Dinara Safina enters Brisbane International

Marija — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 19:28:33 +0000

This is a bit old news that I didn't have time to report earlier: Dinara Safina has entered the Brisbane International, a warm-up tournament for the Australian Open, despite the serious back injury which forced her to pull out of the Sony Ericsson Championships and threatened her participation in the first Grand Slam of the year.

"The Brisbane International will be the perfect tournament to get some tough match practice in the lead-up to the Australian Open. I am looking forward to the challenge and I cannot wait to get there," said Safina who handed Serena Williams the year-end No.1 ranking by withdrawing from the Sony Ericsson Championships.

Safina joins Justine Henin, Kim Clijsters and Ana Ivanovic in a very strong women's field at the Brisbane International. (source: ESPN, photo via Sony Ericsson WTA Tour)

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Serena Williams beats her sister Venus to claim Sony Ericsson Championships title

Marija — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 17:44:46 +0000

Serena Williams defeated defending champion Venus Williams to win the Sony Ericsson Championships – Doha 2009.

Serena beat her older sister Venus for the second time at this year’s Championships and faced no break points en route to a 6-2 7-6(4) victory in the season finale. The match was not spectacular, as most of the meetings of the Williams sisters are. Both players had heavy strapping on their left legs, which was just the appropriate ending to the injury plagued tournament.

Serena, who will end the season ranked No.1, earned $1.55 million in Doha after finishing the tournament undefeated. (photo via Sony Ericsson WTA Tour)

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Serena and Venus Williams to face in Sony Ericsson Championships final

Marija — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 21:19:45 +0000

The Williams sisters saw off their semifinal opponents to reach the final of the $4,550,000 Sony Ericsson Championships – Doha 2009.

Jelena Jankovic entered the semifinals more due to luck than anything else. She lost the matches she played against healthy opponents, and won two thanks to injured Dinara Safina and Caroline Wozniacki. Today she won the first set but eventually lost to defending champion Venus Williams 5-7 6-3 6-4, who has thus moved to the finals.

Venus will next play sister Serena Williams, who had a 6-4 0-1 retirement victory when Caroline Wozniacki pulled out with a left abdominal strain after just 45 minutes of play. It is yet another unfortunate injury for Wozniacki this week, who had been troubled by a leg injury throughout the tournament.

Serena leads an all-time record against Venus 12-10, and is coming into the encounter with three successive victories over her sister, including the extremely tight one here in Doha a few days ago. (photo via Sony Ericsson WTA Tour)

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Jankovic beats Wozniacki, Kuznetsova hands Venus semis

Marija — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 18:21:35 +0000

Jelena Jankovic had a very easy route to the semifinals of the Sony Ericsson Championships. After falling to Victoria Azarenka in her first round-robin match, the Serb won her second round-robin match with Dinara Safina retiring after just 12 minutes of play, and today her opponent was weary Caroline Wozniacki, who practically barely survived her yesterday’s match.

Prior to the encounter with Wozniacki, Jankovic had spent just 95 minutes on court, while the Dane spent five hours and 48 minutes. Jankovic beat Wozniacki 6-2 6-2. However, Wozniacki could advance to the semifinals too, if Victoria Azarenka loses to Agnieszka Radwanska in the match which is currently in progress.

In the other match of the day, Svetlana Kuznetsova beat fellow Russian Elena Dementieva 6-3 6-2, and has thus sent Venus Williams into the semifinals.

The third secured semifinalist is Serena Williams, who has earned a perfect 3-0 result at this year’s Championships.

To sum up: Maroon Group semifinalists are Venus and Serena Williams and White Group semifinalists are Jelena Jankovic and Caroline Wozniacki/Victoria Azarenka. (photo: Ralf Reinecke)

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Caroline Wozniacki overcomes severe cramps to beat Vera Zvonareva in Doha

Marija — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 21:26:28 +0000

It didn’t look like that in the beginning, but the match between Caroline Wozniacki and Vera Zvonareva turned into a dramatic encounter at the Sony Ericsson Championships.

Wozniacki let a 6-0 5-2 lead slip when Zvonareva evened at one set apiece after the second-set tiebreak in which she even saved two match points. Wozniacki built a 3-1 lead in the third set, but the leg that caused her withdrawal from Luxembourg last week stated hurting again. Then Zvonareva won four of the next five games for a 4-3 lead. Still, Wozniacki didn’t give up and despite pain and tears that I have to admit frightened me, the Dane won the match 6-0 6-7(3) 6-4.

The match against Zvonareva was Wozniacki's second marathon in two days. In her previous match she beat Victoria Azarenka after losing the first set and saving a match point in the third.

Zvonareva was last year’s runner-up and this year she entered the Championships as an alternate, after Dinara Safina’s withdrawal. (photo: Ralf Reinecke)

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Participants at the Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions

Marija — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 12:13:17 +0000

The field has been set for the inaugural Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions in Bali, a season-ending event featuring top ten highest-ranked players who have won an International tournament during the 2009 season but who are not competing at the Sony Ericsson Championships, which features the top eight singles players of the season.

LIST OF THE PLAYERS PARTICIPATING IN BALI

Direct Entrants
RANK (as of 10/26/09) / PLAYER / INTERNATIONAL TITLE/S WON
No.12 Marion Bartoli (Monterrey)
No.13 Samantha Stosur (Osaka)
No.19 Yanina Wickmayer (Estoril, Linz)
No.27 Anabel Medina Garrigues (Fes)
No.31 Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez (Bogota, Bastad)
No.32 Shahar Peer (Guangzhou, Tashkent)
No.39 Melinda Czink (Quebec City)
No.42 Agnes Szavay (Budapest)
No.44 Aravane Rezai (Strasbourg)
No.46 Magdalena Rybarikova (Birmingham)

Wildcards
No.25 Sabine Lisicki
No.100 Kimiko Date Krumm

The $600,000 Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions will take place November 4-8, 2009, and will feature an innovative 12-woman round robin singles format (four groups of three players). (source: Sony Ericsson WTA Tour)

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