Svetlana Kuznetsova receives birthday gift from Zenit Football Club

It's Svetlana Kuznetsova's 27th birthday today. Coincidentally her birthday also falls on the 27th.

So it makes sense when Russian Zenit FC presented a football jersey with the number '27' as a birthday gift for her.

However the bad news is her Wimbledon campaign has ended after losing the first round to Yanina Wickmayer.

(Image via Svetlana Kuznetsova's Twitter page)

Svetlana Kuznetsova dreamt of kissing Marat Safin

In one of the interview questions posted on Roland Garros official website, Svetlana Kuznetsova confessed that she dreamt of kissing Marat Safin. And he knows that.

She also mentioned that she hated the nickname "Kutzy" (which most of us often call her that) although she's used to it now.

I also noticed there are some suspicious questions about 'boys' and 'lies'. Are they trying to dig into her sexual orientation?

(Images via Tennisforum.com)

Video: Russians celebrate X'mas on Jan 7!

In this video, Samantha Stosur, Vera Zvonareva, Svetlana Kuznesova and Jelena Jankovic shared what they'll be planning for the holiday seasons.

Sorry for my ignorance but I just got to know that the Russians don't celebrate X'mas on December 25!

Updates: Orthodox Christians including the Russians and Serbians celebrate X'mas on January 7.

The Real Glam Slam in Doha

All top eight women's players attended the draw ceremony for the WTA Championships at the Museum of Islamic Art in the Qatari capital Doha yesterday.

Round robin groups for the Sony Ericsson year-end championships are:

WHITE GROUP
Dinara Safina
Caroline Wozniacki
Victoria Azarenka
Jelena Jankovic

MAROON GROUP
Serena Williams
Svetlana Kuznetsova
Elena Dementieva
Venus Williams

The top two finishers in each group advance to the semifinals, where each first-placed player will face the second-placed player from the other group.

The 1.55-million-dollar championship willl be held between October 27 and November 1.

World no.2 Serena Williams


World no. 7 Venus Williams


World no. 5 Elena Dementieva

Svetlana Kuznetsova (no. 3), Dinara Safina (no.1), Caroline Wozniacki (no.4)

Victoria Azarenka (no. 6), Jelena Jankovic (no.8)

(Images by Getty Images)

Party like a rock star at China Open's dinner party

I love players party. It was a shame that HCFoo wasn't invited to the Batik party held at Mandarin Oriental Hotel last week. Hmmphh....

It looked like a MTV awards show at China Open's dinner party last night.

The players including Marat Safin, Andy Roddick, Novak Djokovic and James Blake dressed up like rockstars while Maria Sharapova, Maria Kirilenko, Serena Williams and Svetlana Kuznetsova glammed up for the evening party.

Serena Williams: I'm shy... 'cause y'all have seen me nude by now.

Short pants made of garbage bag and a see-through shirt? Bad taste.

Marat Safin can wear whatever he wants and still look pretty.

Poor Makiri. First it was Stella Mccartney... now it's Andy and Shrieky.

(Images via sports.sina.com.cn)

US Open Day 2 Wrap-up: Safina survives close shave, Ivanovic not so lucky

Top seed and world no. 1 Dinara Safina barely survived a 2 hours and 35 minutes first round match to beat no. 167 Olivia Rogowska, 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-4!

Meanwhile, it was not so lucky for Ana Ivanovic who made her second straight early exit from the US Open, this time falling 2-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7) to Kateryna Bondarenko in the opening round.

Earlier, Svetlana Kuznetsova has advanced to the second round after a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Julia Goerges.

Just like Kuznetsova, Sharapova has no problem in advancing to the next round after an impressive 6-3, 6-0 victory over Tsvetana Pironkova.

Fresh from winning a US Open tune-up tournament in New Haven last week, Caroline Wozniacki also passed her first-round test after defeated Galina Voskoboeva with a 6-4, 6-0 win.

Jelena Jankovic who sees herself as a danger woman at the US Open also sailed through to the next round after defeating Roberta Vinci 6-2 6-3.

The night before, I managed to catch up with a couple of matches including the one between Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and American wildcard recipient Chase Buchanan.

Tsonga dominated the 18-year old 6-0, 6-2, 6-1 in a one-sided match.

Also advancing to the second round is Novak Djokovic, who lost to Federer in the 2007 final. The Serbian proved to be too powerful for Ivan Ljubicic by defeating him 6-3, 6-1, 6-3.

Second seed and world no.2 Andy Murray denied Ernests Gulbis by winning 7-5, 6-3, 7-5 in the featured night match on the Arthur Ashe Stadium court.

Here's the complete results for Day 2:

US Open men's singles first round results from New York on Wednesday (prefix denotes seeding)

2-Andy Murray (GB) beat Ernests Gulbis (Latvia) 7-5 6-3 7-5
Ivan Navarro (Spain) beat 27-Ivo Karlovic (Croatia) 6-4 7-6(8) 7-6(5)
Nicolas Lapentti (Ecuador) beat 19-Stanislas Wawrinka (Switzerland) 4-6 3-6 7-6(6) 7-6(3) 6-3
Taylor Dent (US) beat Feliciano Lopez (Spain) 4-6 7-6(6) 6-3 7-5
22-Sam Querrey (US) beat Michael Yani (U.S.) 6-3 7-5 6-4
Carsten Ball (Australia) beat Juan Pablo Brzezicki (Argentina) 7-6(5) 6-3 6-4
Kevin Kim (US) beat Dudi Sela (Israel) 6-3 0-6 6-2 6-2
Florent Serra (France) beat Janko Tipsarevic (Serbia) 7-6(8) 7-6(5) 7-6(5)
Paul Capdeville (Chile) beat Victor Crivoi (Romania) 6-3 6-0 7-6(2)
11-Fernando Gonzalez (Chile) beat Nicolas Massu (Chile) 6-3 6-3 6-3
Jesse Levine (US) beat Teimuraz Gabashvili (Russia) 7-5 6-1 6-2
Josselin Ouanna (France) beat Rajeev Ram (US) 7-6(4) 6-4 3-6 6-3
4-Novak Djokovic (Serbia) beat Ivan Ljubicic (Croatia) 6-3 6-1 6-3
16-Marin Cilic (Croatia) beat Ryan Sweeting (US) 7-6(2) 6-4 7-6(4)
30-Viktor Troicki (Serbia) beat Peter Luczak (Australia) 6-3 6-3 1-6 2-6 6-1
Horacio Zeballos (Argentina) beat Michael Berrer (Germany) 6-3 7-6(7) 3-6 6-0
Denis Istomin (Uzbekistan) beat Brendan Evans (US) 6-4 6-4 7-6(3)
17-Tomas Berdych (Czech Republic) beat Wayne Odesnik (U.S.) 7-5 6-4 6-4
Julien Benneteau (France) beat Flavio Cipolla (Italy) 4-6 6-1 6-3 6-3
10-Fernando Verdasco (Spain) beat Benjamin Becker (Germany) 7-5 6-4 7-5
Maximo Gonzalez (Argentina) beat Karol Beck (Slovakia) 2-6 1-6 6-1 6-4 6-3
Jarkko Nieminen (Finland) beat Fabio Fognini (Italy) 7-5 7-6(6) 6-4
Jesse Witten (US) beat 29-Igor Andreev (Russia) 6-4 6-0 6-2
7-Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (France) beat Chase Buchanan (US) 6-0 6-2 6-1

US Open women's singles first round results from New York on Wednesday (prefix denotes seeding)

Kateryna Bondarenko (Ukraine) beat 11-Ana Ivanovic (Serbia) 2-6 6-3 7-6(7)
Alize Cornet (France) beat Monique Adamczak (Australia) 4-6 6-4 7-5
29-Maria Sharapova (Russia) beat Tsvetana Pironkova (Bulgaria) 6-3 6-0
21-Zheng Jie (China) beat Anna-Lena Groenefeld (Germany) 6-3 6-2
Shenay Perry (US) beat Monica Niculescu (Romania) 6-4 6-2
Christina McHale (US) beat Polona Hercog (Slovenia) 6-3 6-1
Carla Suarez Navarro (Spain) beat Varvara Lepchenko (U.S.) 2-6 6-3 6-2
4-Elena Dementieva (Russia) beat Camille Pin (France) 6-1 6-2
Yaroslava Shvedova (Kazakhstan) beat Masa Zec Peskiric (Slovenia) 6-3 6-3
5-Jelena Jankovic (Serbia) beat Roberta Vinci (Italy) 6-2 6-3
Kristina Barrois (Germany) beat Urszula Radwanska (Poland) 6-4 6-4
Shahar Peer (Israel) beat 32-Agnes Szavay (Hungary) 6-2 6-2
Petra Kvitova (Czech Republic) beat 27-Alisa Kleybanova (Russia) 6-7(4) 6-3 6-2
Julie Coin (France) beat Eva Hrdinova (Czech Republic) 6-3 6-3
13-Nadia Petrova (Russia) beat Katarina Srebotnik (Slovenia) 6-3 6-3
1-Dinara Safina (Russia) beat Olivia Rogowska (Australia) 6-7(5) 6-2 6-4
Gisela Dulko (Argentina) beat Ekaterina Makarova (Russia) 6-3 5-7 6-4
23-Sabine Lisicki (Germany) beat Aravane Rezai (France) 7-6(4) 6-7(4) 6-1
Tathiana Garbin (Italy) beat Mallory Cecil (US) 6-0 6-1
13-Nadia Petrova (Russia) beat Katarina Srebotnik (Slovenia) 6-3 6-3
Anastasia Rodionova (Russia) beat Lourdes Dominguez Lino (Spain) 6-0 4-6 6-1
Melanie Oudin (US) beat Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (Russia) 6-1 6-2
19-Patty Schnyder (Switzerland) beat Lucie Safarova (Czech Republic) 4-6 6-3 7-6(6)
30-Alona Bondarenko (Ukraine) beat Alla Kudryavtseva (Russia) 3-6 6-3 6-2
Anastasija Sevastova (Latvia) beat Tamarine Tanasugarn (Thailand) 6-3 7-5
9-Caroline Wozniacki (Denmark) beat Galina Voskoboeva (Kazakhstan) 6-4 6-0
Sara Errani (Italy) beat Arantxa Rus (Netherlands) 6-0 6-3
Yanina Wickmayer (Belgium) beat 16-Virginie Razzano (France) 6-4 6-3
24-Sorana Cirstea (Romania) beat Ayumi Morita (Japan) 6-1 6-3
6-Svetlana Kuznetsova (Russia) beat Julia Goerges (Germany) 6-3 6-2
Petra Martic (Croatia) beat Severine Bremond Beltrame (France) 6-4 6-2
Peng Shuai (China) beat Jarmila Groth (Slovakia) 6-2 6-3
Stephanie Dubois (Canada) beat Kristina Mladenovic (France) 6-0 6-4 0

(Via AP, TVNZ, US Open website)

Oh, no! Svetlana Kuznetsova teaches kids about fashion!

We know Svetlana Kuznetsova has shown some great improvement in recent photo shoot.

But that doesn't mean her fashion sense has improved too.

Worse thing, she has committed an ultimate fashion crime by teaching the kids to accessorise like her (and proud of it)!

Kuznetsova was at the Girl Scout Night, a Sony Erricsson WTA Tour's Pilot Pen Tennis promotional event.

(Images by Jim Rogash/Getty Images)

TENNIS WATCH: The Bryan Brothers Band, Djokovic's new coach, Davis Cup, top 8 in Montreal, Clijsters' in Williams' out

From chest bumping to music recording, Bob and Mike Bryan are set to take the music world by storm with the release of their debut album "Let It Rip", with close friend and accomplished singer/songwriter David Baron on September 1, 2009.

The album will contain 5 songs that feature Bob playing the bass and keyboards, Mike on the drums, and Baron as the lead vocalist also playing piano and guitar.

More information on The Bryan Brothers Band Featuring David Baron can be found on www.bryanbrosband.com, which will be made live before their debut at Arthur Ashe Kids Day.

*******

Novak Djokovic will be training under Todd Martin after Cincinnati. Martin is the new addition to Djokovic's team, which will continue to engage with full-time coach Marian Vajda.

*******

World Group Davis Cup dates for next year are out:

World Group First round (5-7 March)
World Group Quarterfinals (9-11 July)
World Group Semifinals and World Group Play-offs (17-19 September)
World Group Final (3-5 December)

*******

For the first time, all top eight-ranked players in the world have reached the quarterfinals in Montreal.

Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic, Andy Roddick, Juan Martin del Potro, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Nikolay Davydenko have all made their way to the final eight at the Masters event.

*******

Kim Clijsters continues her winning comeback, defeating 2009 French Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 to reach the Cincinnati quarterfinals.

*******

Serena Williams is ousted 7-5, 6-4 by Sybille Bammer in Cincinnati.

With Venus' loss to Flavia Pennetta earlier, both Williams sisters are out of the tournament.

Svetlana Kuznetsova's simply stunning; never seen before pictures

Here's the latest photoshoot pictures of Svetlana Kuznetsova that leave everyone drooling.

I'm not lying but probably these pictures are.

These photos were featured in the 3rd August issue of Russian magazine called PROsport.


(Info via Women's Tennis Blog; Images via tennisforum.com)

Jelena Jankovic, Svetlana Kuznetsova outclassed by teens on Wimbledon Day 6

American Melanie Oudin pulled the biggest upset on Day 6 by beating the struggling former world no.1 Jelena Jankovic, 6-7 (8), 7-5, 6-2.

When the 124th ranked Oudin (pronounced Oo-dan') concluded the match of her life she had to ask where to find the exit from the court. Still finding her way around the All England Club, Oudin has made her way into the fourth round.

French Open champion and birthday girl Svetlana Kuznetsova did not get the birthday present she hoped for when she was also knocked out of Wimbledon by unseeded teenager Sabine Lisicki.

The Russian was outclassed 6-2, 7-5 in just one hour and 26 minutes.

(Via AFP, Images by Getty Images)

2009 Ralph Lauren Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Pre-Wimbledon Party

Vera Zvonareva, Venus Williams, Serena Williams, Anne Keothavong, Ana Ivanovic and Elena Dementieva pose during a studio session at The Ralph Lauren Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Pre-Wimbledon Party.

The Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Pre-Wimbledon Party was hosted by Richard Branson at The Roof Gardens yesterday in London, England.

There are a lot of celebrities who attended this party like Sugarbabes, Blake, Kelly Rowlands, etc. But as usual, I'll only post the players' photos.

Here you go the pictures during the arrivals.

Ana Ivanovic and the host of the party that evening, Richard Branson.

I love Serena Williams' slick back hairstyle....

Vera Zvonareva looks very elegant...

Woa... that's a bad make-up again by Svetlana Kuznetsova...

One of the top tennis couples - Lucie Safarova and Tomas Berdych

Venus Williams and WTA CEO Larry Scott

(Images by Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images Europe)

Serena Williams finds calm at True Religion

After a disappointing French Open where she lost to eventual champion Svetlana Kuznetsova in the quarterfinals, Serena Williams was spotted showing off her curves and guns while shopping for some expensive denim.

Serena was at True Religion brand jeans store on Robertson Blvd. in Los Angeles, California earlier this week.

After shopping, she sped off in her cherry red Bentley.

Check out the last two photos. Serena can cause quite a stir when she's out shopping.

Coming back to tennis, hopefully Serena will come back stronger for Wimbledon, although I believe her sister Venus will perform better on grass court.

(Images via Great Tennis Photos)