Venus Williams defeated Vera Zvonareva in straight sets to seal victory for the Americas over Russia in the Hong Kong JB Group Classic World Team Challenge yesterday. Williams wins 6-2, 6-2 to give her team a 3-1 lead in the best-of-five gold group final. It followed a hard-fought 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 win for Gisela Dulko over Anna Chakvetadze after the Americas and Russia were tied at 1-1 overnight. Williams, who struck 10 winners and six aces, looks in great shape for this month's Australian Open, which she has never won.
Earlier in the tournament she crashed world number one Jelena Jankovic by the same scoreline.
"I've been here so many years and this is the perfect way for me to prepare for the Australian Open," Williams said after her team's win.
Referring to her victories over Jankovic and Zvonareva, Williams said: "(They are) very accomplished players and experienced and both of them played great last year so it's definitely a great way to start the year with wins against such talented players."
In the final match of the exhibition tournament, Williams and Coco Vandeweghe beat Chakvetadze and Alexandra Panova 6-4, 6-1 in doubles to seal a 4-1 victory for the Americas. On Friday, Williams beat Chakvetadze 7-6 (7/1), 6-3 to give the Americas the lead but Russia hit back through Zvonareva, who beat Dulko 6-4, 0-6, 6-3. Asia-Pacific won the silver group final 3-0 against Europe.
(Via AFP; Images via Yahoo! Sport)
The season has just begun but it seems that many of us (tennis fans, tennis bloggers, etc) are lacking the stamina to catch up with so many tournaments this week.
Van is exhausted. Same goes to Esther, my kaki tennis friend. I am no exception too as Qatar Open tournament is shown on TV till the wee hours of the morning.
Guess who's tired too?
Venus Williams was caught yawning during the opening ceremony of the World Team Challenge 2009 tournament or also known as the JB Group Classic held at Victoria Park in Hong Kong.
(Image by Victor Fraile/Getty Images)
Happy New Year!!!
Finally I'm in the mood to blog again! My resolution this year is to focus more on the Asian tournaments as well as the players in this region.
So let's kick off the new year with news from the women's tennis players.
Recently the Hong Kong Tennis Patrons’ Association announced the withdrawal of Maria Sharapova from the Hong Kong event.
I'm not sure about you but I'm so eager to see Sharapova back in the court again.
She was reportedly said to be reluctant to withdraw from the exho.
A full recovery from a shoulder injury has allowed her to only start hitting balls just over two weeks ago. She's playing but has not had sufficient training to compete at the high level that Hong Kong demands.
Sharapova announced:
"It's with much disappointment that I have to withdraw from Hong Kong. I've been using this event for the last five years to get match fit and ready for the new season, in fact Hong Kong has been successful in preparing me for the Australian Open.
I am very sorry I won't be competing, and I deeply apologise to my fans and the sponsors that they won't see me there this year.
I'm just not ready to play against the top class competition in Hong Kong, although I remain hopeful for Australia where I'm the defending champion.
Believe me, it's been a very difficult decision, but I only started practicing 16 days ago. I love playing in Hong Kong, and the Organisers attract a world class field."
Max Eisenbud, Maria's agent at IMG commented:
"I know how difficult this decision has been for Maria. Hong Kong is a special event for her, she's been competing there since she was 15 years old and the event staff and team are like family, and there has been no better place to prepare for a Grand Slam. Maria needs to get "tennis fit" now and she's working hard."
Co-Tournament Director in Hong Kong, Mr. Terry Catton said:
"We're hugely disappointed, who wouldn't be, but we've known Maria for over five years and we know what a tough competitor she is. She wouldn't give up her spot in Hong Kong lightly and we are terribly sad for her.
We're particularly disappointed for our sponsors, our fans and all our different partners but we welcome Maria's comments about Hong Kong, we wish her well for the season and look forward to welcoming her back another year. Tennis needs a fit and competitive Maria."
The Tennis Patrons’ Association will replace her with world class Russian, Anna Chakvetadze who is currently the world no. 18.
Anna's presence will continue to make Team Russia a powerful contender for the JB Gold Group crown. Replacing Maria as Team Russia’s Captain will be World No. 7, Vera Zvonareva. The JB Group Classic is a world team event featuring Europe, Russia, Team Americas and Asia Pacific.
Heading up these teams are World No 1 Jelena Jankovic, Wimbledon Champion Venus Williams and crowd favourite Zheng Jie from China.
Organisers also revealed that they were in discussions with Martina Hingis, former World No. 1 in both Singles and Doubles, to come to the JB Group Classic to compete in the Doubles Event for Team Europe. A total of 12 players make up a star-studded field.
(Via JB Group Classic, Image via womenstennisblog.com)
Modeling - Ana Ivanovic's back up plan? During a photo shoot in Beijing
Austria's postal services announced they will issue a 65-centime stamp honouring Roger Federer as the world's best tennis player. Some 400,000 stamps which show Federer winning the French Open last June will go on sale next February.
Just 15 months after they were married, golf star Greg Norman and tennis great Chris Evert (the original Ana Ivanovic-Adam Scott) announced they have separated. They did not elaborate on the split or on whether a divorce was impending.
