Second-seeded Serena Williams has advance to the fourth round at Wimbledon after posting a straight victory over Italy’s Roberta Vinci at the All England Club.  She easily won the match 6-3, 6-4 in 1 hour and 7 minutes.

Williams, who is a two-time Wimbledon champion, will go on to face Daniela Hantuchova (who beat Japan’s Ai Sugiyama 6-4, 6-3 in 1 hour, 36 minutes) in the fourth round.  Williams has won six of the seven matchups with Hantuchova including two battles at Wimbledon in 2002 and 2007 (Williams won both times).

image: Zuma Press

Meanwhile, fourth-seeded Olympic gold medalist, Elena Dementieva also advanced to the fourth round after beating her her fellow Russian, Regina Kulikova 6-1, 6-2 in just 59 minutes.  It was Kulikova’s first-ever Grand Slam tournament.

Dementieva will go on to battle another Russian, Elena Vesnina.  If history repeats itself, Dementieva will take the match since she has beat Vesnina both times the women have met.

image: Zuma Press

Svetlana Kuznetsova was many things as she went into the 2009 French Open finals this morning but, most importantly, she was calm and determined.  Having only won a single Grand Slam title before, I’m sure she was nervous but she never let it show.

Instead, she beat a shaky-looking Dinara Safina 6-4, 6-2 Saturday and won the French Open.  You would have thought that Safina was the underdog by the way she played – she double-faulted seven times and seemed to struggle through the match.

While Safina faltered (and eventually slammed her racket down on the court), Kuznetsova soared and played a varied game and ultimately came out victorious. 

The French Open action continues tomorrow as Roger Federer and Robin Soderling face off in the Roland Garros final. 

image: TSN

The women’s semifinals are over and, on Saturday, top-ranked Dinara Safina will face off against seventh-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova in the 2009 French Open final which will take place on Saturday at Roland Garros.

image: Zuma Press

Safina defeated 20th-seeded Dominika Cibulkova yesterday 6-3, 6-3.  This is the second consecutive time that she has made it to the French Open final but, if she is victorious on Saturday, it would be her first Grand Slam title since she lost last year to Ana Ivanovic in last year’s tournament.

Meanwhile, Kuznetsova had to really fight for her win, beating 30th-seeded Samantha Stosur 6-4, 6-7 (5-7), 6-3 .  This is also her second French Open title match (she was the runner-up in 2006).  Last year, Kuznetsova faced Safina in the semifinals and lost in straight sets.

It is interesting to note that Safina has a 20-1 record on the clay this year but her lone loss came at the hands of her fellow Russian, Kuznetsova, against who she has played 13 times in their careers.

I think Saturday’s match up could be extremely intense if both women are on their games.  It will be exciting to see who wins it!

Aleksandra Wozniak, was living her dream as she defied odds and became the first Canadian woman to make it to the fourth round at Roland Garros in 17 years.  Unfortunately, she was eliminated today by second seeded American, Serena Williams, but at least she can say that she battled against one of the world’s best tennis players but, ultimately, lost 6-1, 6-2 in just 53 minutes.

image: Zuma Press

“You really want to win badly and there’s so many things going on,” said Wozniak. “It was my first time on Philippe Chatrier court. Emotions get involved and you just get tight and you can’t play really your game, so it’s tough.”

I can imagine that the 21-year-old’s nerves got the best of her but I hope she goes home to Blainville, Ontario with a deep sense of pride for what she accomplished personally and for her country.

Williams, on the other hand, has extended her Grand Slam winning streak to 18 matches and referred to the win as her “most focused match so far.”  In the pursuit of her 11th major title, Williams will next play seventh seeded Russian, Svetlana Kuznetsova, who won the 2004 U.S. Open.  “I feel like I have nothing to lose,” Williams said. “This is when everything counts, you know. I have to pick up my level and play again a really good, strong match, especially playing somebody like Svetlana who is a great clay-court player and who moves extremely well and doesn’t do anything bad.”

The Italian Open finals is all Russian. Dinara Safina will play Svetlana Kuznetsova in the final after both players defeated their opponents on Friday. Safina rallied to beat Venus Williams 6-7 (3), 6-3, 6-4, while Kuznetsova defeated Victoria Azarenka 6-2, 6-4.

Both Safina and Kuznetsova have been runners up in the finals at Rome, but have never taken the title.

The match between Safina and Williams lasted for 3 hours and 10 minutes! “She pushed me to play my best,” Safina said. “Sometimes you need this kind of match … It gives me a lot of confidence to beat such a big player like her, such a champion.”

Williams, who is currently number 5, will jump to number 3 by reaching the Rome semi-finals. This is her highest ranking in 6 years. Williams isn’t really concerned with the ranking, it’s the titles she concentrates on.

“The ranking will come when it comes. I like to keep my titles and have my trophies at home,” she said.

Stay tuned for results from the Women’s Italian Open, which takes place today (May 9).

Source

Image Credit: Newscom

Svetlana Kuznetsova defeated Jelena Jankovic 6-1, 7-6 (3) at the Italian Open Thursday (May 6). Kuznetsova is just coming off a win at the Porsche GP, which was her first title in almost 2 years. Kuznetsova was able to close the match against Jankovic and overpower Jankovic.

Next opponent for Kuznetsova is Victoria Azarenka, who defeated Kaia Kanepi 7-6 (5), 6-3. The match is being called sloppy and not a good one for either player.

"It was a pretty bad match from both of us. I’m just happy I managed to stay calm in the second set and pull it off," said Azarenka.

"Definitely I need to step it up and be tough tomorrow."

In other women’s tennis news, Dinara Safina defeated Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez 4-6, 6-3, 6-0 and Venus Williams easily won against Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland 6-1, 6-2.

Source: AP

Image Credit: Newscom

Here are the Women’s ATP tennis rankings as of May 3, 2009. Not much has changed, except for Svetlana Kuznetsova and Victoria Azarenka trading places. Dinara Safina stil holds the number one spot. Their previous ranking is in parenthesis.

1. (1) Dinara Safina, Russia, 9,071 points

2. (2) Serena Williams, United States, 8,272

3. (3) Elena Dementieva, Russia, 7,391

4. (4) Jelena Jankovic, Serbia, 7,350

5. (5) Venus Williams, United States, 7,102

6. (6) Vera Zvonareva, Russia, 6,040

7. (7) Ana Ivanovic, Serbia, 5,174

8. (9) Svetlana Kuznetsova, Russia, 4,776

9. (8) Victoria Azarenka, Belarus, 4,546

10. (10) Nadia Petrova, Russia, 3,840

I read an interesting article about the how the ranking system is a failed one. You can read it here and I would love to hear your thoughts on how the world or tennis determines who is number one.

Image Credit: SXC

Do you remember the big mess with Israeli tennis player Shahar Peer and how she was denied her Visa to play in the United Arab Emirates? The whole thing was ridiculous and many tennis players spoke out about the situation, saying it shouldn’t have happened.

It was just announced that Peer will get to play in the Grand Prix SAR tournament in Morocco this week. She has arrived in the country and will play Aravane Rezai in the first round of the clay court tournament.

Royal Tennis Club manager Mohamed Kharchafi said, “It’s purely a sports event. Politics has nothing to do with it.” That’s the way it should have been in the first place. I am so glad she is being allowed to play and I hope she does well.

Source: KFVS

Image Credit: Newscom

Dinara Safina has officially taken the number one spot on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour rankings this morning (April 20). It was announced at the beginning of April that she had taken the title away from American player Serena Williams. Dinara is only the second Russian to reach the number one position. She joins Maria Sharapova.

Here are the current standings for Women’s tennis as of April 20, 2009:

1. Dinara Safina - Russia - 8951

2. Serena Williams - United States - 8272

3. Elena Dementieva - Russia - 7391

4. Jelena Jankovic - Serbia - 7350

5. Venus Williams - United States - 7102

6. Vera Zvonareva - Russia - 6720

7. Ana Ivanovic - Serbia - 5174

8. Victoria Azarenka - Belarus - 4646

9. Svetlana Kuznetsova - Russia - 4308

10. Nadia Petrova - Russia - 3840

You can see the complete list here.

Image Credit: Newscom

The Sony Ericsson WTA is expanding their online presence with the launch of “Looking for a Hero”, a new online marketing campaign. Sixteen players were included in the production, which takes an exclusive look into their lives.

The players involved in the campaign include Venus Williams, Serena Williams, Elena Dementieva, Caroline Wozniacki, Vera Zvonareva, Nadia Petrova, Marion Bartoli, Alona Bondarenko, Patty Schnyder, Dominika Cibulkova, Bethanie Mattek-Sands, Peng Shuai, Sania Mirza, Aleksandra Wozniak and the doubles team of Kveta Peschke and Lisa Raymond.

The film series will launch in the next coming weeks and will be distributed through online sources such as Facebook, MySpace and YouTube.

Venus Williams made this statement about the project: “I’ve been lucky enough to be involved in every stage of the “Looking for a Hero?” marketing campaign and more than ever I enjoy not only the creative process, but the unique way of being able to connect with the fans of women’s tennis. This is a great campaign for the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour and it’s another sign that women’s tennis is spreading its wings to attract a new generation of fans.”

Source: Tennis Channel Press Release

Image Credit: Bauer Griffin