image: Zuma Press

In the ad, Serena takes on Mother Nature (they each hold a press conference to talk about Serena’s impending period) and I’m guessing the tennis great is triumphant since she not only is shown wearing white but menstruation clearly doesn’t slow her down.

Honestly, you just have to see it to believe it.

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Serena Promotes Tampax Tampons

image: TSN

Safina took on Roberta Vinci and ended up taking a 6-4, 6-4 victory while Williams beat Kaia Kanepi 7-5, 6-4.

Williams will next face unseeded Ekaterina Makarova with Safina battling local favorite, Shuai Zhang.  The first round will conclude tomorrow while the second round begins.

Third-seeded Venus Williams is expected to play in the second round against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

The 2009 Beijing champion will take home $775,500.

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Serena and Safina Advance at China Open

image: Zuma Press

Things actually got nasty after a line judge called her for a foot fault.  Williams disagreed with the judge and then proceeded to basically freak out on him.  She wasn’t willing to take her abuse and promptly complained to the chair umpire and supervisor about her behavior which resulted in Clijsters being awarded the next point since Williams was docked for unsportsmanlike conduct.  Unfortunately, that point was the winning one and Clijsters won the match 6-4, 7-5.

“I haven’t really thought if I have any regrets,” Williams said. “I try not to live my life saying, ‘I wish, I wish,’ but I was out there and I tried and I did my best. I was totally fine because I realize at that time I got a point penalty and it was match point. What am I going to do, complain? It is what it is.”

Kim Clijsters will face Caroline Wozniacki in the final.  The winner will pocket $1.6 million.

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Serena Williams Freaks Out at US Open

First of all, do you think this thing really looks like Serena?  I think the body came out a lot better than the face, to be honest.  The hair wasn’t too hard to replicate but I don’t like the lips at all.  There have been times when I’ve seen a wax figure and had to do a double take but this is clearly not human.

It seems to me that some locations of Madame Tussaud’s are better than others, if that makes any sense, and the NYC one isn’t too hot from the other celeb figures I’ve seen.

image: Fame Pictures

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Serena Williams Gets Wax Figure

Federer, who has won this event five years in a row, needed just 88 minutes to cruise past Devin Britton with a final score of 6-1, 6-3, 7-5 at Arthur Ashe Stadium.  Britton made the victory pretty easy since he committed 40 unforced errors.  This was Federer’s 35th straight win at the U.S. Open.

The Swiss star was a gentleman about the win saying: “He did play I think really well. He had some very good spells, and I had to make sure from my side that I stayed with him and came back, because I was down a break in the second and in the third. So it was good to still get through in three sets.”

Federer will face Germany’s Simon Gruel in the second round.

In other men’s results, American Andy Roddick easily eliminated Germany’s Bjorn Phau, 6-1, 6-4, 6-2.  The match ended at 12:25am but that didn’t seem to faze Roddick who said: “The later the better.  These are hard core fans.”

American James Blake defeated Spaniard Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo, 6-1, 6-4, 7-5 and the following seeded players advanced to the next round: Nikolay Davydenko, Robin Soderling, Tommy Robredo, Radek Stepanek, Tommy Haas, James Blake, Philipp Kohlschreiber and Lleyton Hewitt.

Meanwhile, on the women’s court, Serena Williams scored an easy 6-4, 6-1 win over fellow American Alexa Glatch.  I know she was nervous after playing so inconsistently recently but she shook off the nerves and played quite well.  “Ten years ago I definitely wasn’t a favorite,” said Serena. “I felt like I had nothing to lose, and that’s kind of how I like that attitude. When you play with that attitude, then you can go a really far way. That’s kind of how I would like to even approach it this year.”

Other seeded winners included Kim Clijsters, Venus Williams, Vera Zvonareva, Victoria Azarenka, Flavia Pennetta, Agnieszka Radwanska, Marion Bartoli and Amelie Mauresmo.

Venus had a tough time pulling out a win against Vera Dushevina but she managed to win and stay in the competition.  “She was playing very well,” said Venus. “She put everything in the court, tried to move the ball around, she was serving well. I had a challenge on my hands today. But I wanted to win. And, each good shot and each not so good shot I put behind me and looked forward to the next one. Most of all, I just enjoyed the moment.”

The first round concludes on Tuesday.

images: Zuma Press

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Federer, Williams Win First US Open Matches

In the men’s tournament, I don’t see anyone but Roger Federer taking this title.  He’s currently enjoying a hot streak and he is the only man to ever win the U.S. Open five times in a row (Jimmy Connors and Pete  Sampras also won the event five times but it wasn’t in succession like Federer).  It would definitely secure his place as the dominator of the event if he could win it for a record six years in a row but how hard he has to fight for it will depend on who he faces and what shape they are in.

I am concerned for Rafael Nadal.  He has been trying to come back from a knee injury but something tells me he’s not quite ready yet.  I know he needs to be playing to build back up to top form but I don’t think he’s in good enough condition to win this event.  I could be wrong, of course.

I’d like to see Andy Roddick face Federer again.  Roddick turned 27 yesterday and what better way to celebrate than to take home a U.S. Open title as a belated birthday gift?

Serena Williams will be working hard to keep her title and after her disappointing play recently, I’m sure  she feels like she’s got something to prove and you know how Serena gets when she’s determined!  Serena has three U.S. Open titles (1999, 2002, 2008) and was the runner-up to her sister, Venus, in 2001.

I don’t see Dinara Safina advancing to the final despite ranking No. 1 but I do think that Elena Dementieva could be a possible opponent for Williams.  Dementieva won the U.S. Open in 2004 and beat Williams just last weekend in Toronto.

I also don’t anticipate a repeat of the 2001 showdown between the Williams sisters.  Venus hasn’t done well at this event since being the runner-up in 2002 and her play, of late, isn’t inspiring me to believe that this year will be any different.

images: Zuma Press

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2009 U.S. Open Predictions

Nike also unveiled the looks Federer, Nadal and Williams will be sporting at the 2009 U.S. Open which begins next Monday, August 31, 2009.  I always love the vibrant colors that Nadal wears, especially since he’s always got on that headband.   Click on the images to get a closer look.

images used with permission

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Federer, Williams, & Nadal Play Fans in NYC

While no announcement has been officially made, Serena did mention the deal last week during the Rogers Cup: “there have been preliminary talks, and hopefully it’ll work out.  That would be a great opportunity for both of us. You never know. We’ll see what happens.  There’s always so many opportunities out there, and Venus and I are always trying to expand our brand and do the best that we can do, and if an opportunity presents itself, we would love to see where it can take us.  Who knows what’s going to happen, but hopefully we’ll be able to hopefully continue to expand our brand.”

image: Zuma Press

The ladies like just about an hour away from the Dolphin’s stadium and join Jimmy Buffet, Marc Anthony and Gloria and Emilio Estefan, in their partnership with the team’s new owner, Stephen Ross.

A Dolphins spokesman had no comment regarding the involvement of the Williams sisters so I think that’s a good sign that this is true.

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Williams Sisters Co-Own Miami Dolphins

The weather caused the match between Sharapova and Vera Zvonareva to be postponed for more than an hour but Sharapova was able to advance to the quarterfinals with a 6-2, 7-6 (3) victory over her compatriot.  This marks the first time that Sharapova has made it past the third round at the Rogers Cup so I’m sure she’s pretty excited considering the tough year she’s had.  I’m sure she wants to move away from being ranked 49th as soon as possible.

“I thought it was a step up, definitely,” said Sharapova. “I had to (play) against somebody that I’ve had trouble against in the past who I usually play three sets against. It was good to finish the match in two, but I really had no choice. I had to pick it up… I think this is definitely a great result.  I’ve already played against three great opponents and I’m going to play another opponent tomorrow and you just hope that with each match you can raise your level and play better.”

Meanwhile, Serena Williams battled Alona Bondarenko and things appeared to be going well at first but then Bondarenko rebounded and gave Williams a little trouble.  In the end it didn’t matter since Williams won three straight games and won 6-1, 6-4.

“I was just trying to be perfect and then I just couldn’t get my serve in and got frustrated,” said Williams. “You know, I’ve been practising a lot on my serve, it just hasn’t been well, so I think in any case it can be frustrating.  I get really emotional on the court.  Sometimes I’m really into the game too much, and I’ve just got to (remain calm). I can’t help myself when I do that, I think it’s just something natural and hopefully it helps me. I think towards the end I was able to relax and just calm down and then just try to stay positive more than anything.  I thought that if I could keep up that form, I’m on my way into glory and today I didn’t play as well so hopefully I can get it back.”

The victory might have felt a little like revenge since Alona’s sister, Kateryna Bondarenko, sent Serena’s sister, Venus Williams, packing on Tuesday.

In the quarterfinals, Maria Sharapova will face Agnieszka Radwanska while Serena Williams will take on Lucie Safarova.

image: TSN

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Williams, Sharapova Advance in Toronto

Venus took on Italy’s Flavia Pennetta and she made 38 unforced errors and just looked wild.  She kept dumping balls into the net and ended up losing 7-6 (2), 6-4.

image: Zuma Press

If you thought that was bad, you’ll be shocked to learn that Serena actually fared worse.  On the very same court just hours later, a second Williams sister was eliminated after making 44 unforced errors and ended up losing to Austria’s Sybille Bammer with a final score of 7-5. 6-4.

Both ladies, who are normally pretty reserved, had some things to say about their losses.

“I wasn’t able to get control of my ball today,” Venus said. “After a while, it was obvious to see she was just keeping the ball in play and waiting for me to self-destruct.”

“I saw her after the match, and she just said she had made a lot of errors,” Serena said. “I was like, ‘Wow.’ I didn’t think I would do the same thing… I never played worse in my life.  It was really a bad match.  We don’t lose too much in the same day, so usually I’m so pumped.  And I was pumped today. I just couldn’t get it together.  I just hope I don’t have another day like this for another several years.”

Yeah, I hope so too, Serena…

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Both Williams Sisters Lose in Cincinnati