Elena Dementieva, Sam Querrey officially US Open Series 2009 winners

2009 Olympus US Open Series men’s champion Sam Querrey and women's champion Elena Dementieva were at the photoshoot today.

Both of them are now eligible to compete for the largest payout in tennis history at the 2009 US Open — $2.6 million ($1.6 million for winning the US Open and a $1 million bonus for winning the US Open and the Olympus US Open Series)!

The second and third place finishers will compete for up to $500,000 and $250,000, respectively, in bonus prize money.

(Image via US Open website)

Weekend winners: Roger Federer's no. 16; Elena Dementieva bites in disbelief

C'mon stop djoking... this trophy looks like mine...

Roger Federer captured his 16th ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title at the Western & Southern Financial Group Masters after defeating Novak Djokovic 6-1, 7-5 in just one hour and 31 minutes.

Is the number 16 going to bring him more luck at the US Open? We'll see!

In the men's doubles final, Nenad Zimonjic and Daniel Nestor took down home favourite Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan.

The American twin brothers defeat is understandable as they are busy preparing for the launch of their debut album in September.

Elena Dementieva had to bite herself to believe she had won the Rogers Cup title yesterday.

The no. 4 seed had a bad start against Maria Sharapova but soon took over the match and won 6-4, 6-3.

Will she be able to maintain her top form (and most importantly not choke up) at the US Open to eventually win her first Grand Slam?

Let's discuss this again when Dementieva can get into the semifinals.

In the women's doubles, Spaniards Nuria Llagostera Vives and Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez defeated Australians Samantha Stosur and Rennae Stubbs.

(Images by Getty Images via Yahoo! Sports)

Maria Sharapova looking for a taste of success

Russians Maria Sharapova and Elena Dementieva will meet in Sunday's final after each won their respective semifinal matches on Saturday at the Rogers Cup.

Sharapova took down Alisa Kleybanova 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 to secure her spot in the finals and a chance to win her first title after 8 months of injury layoff.

Earlier, Dementieva defeated Serena Williams 7-6, 6-1 in 1 hour and 41 minutes.

This will be the 11th all-time meeting between Sharapova and Dementieva, with Sharapova leading the head-to-head series 8-2.

(Images via Yahoo! Sports)

Super Saturday's semifinals

It's going to be an explosive Saturday when all top 4 seeds at Cincinnati Masters collided in the semifinal matches tonight.

New world no.2 Murray will face no. 1 Roger Federer first.

Federer, who won this tournament in 2005 and 2007, extended his winning streak against Lleyton Hewitt to 13 matches with a 6-3, 6-4 win.

Murray, the defending champion, defeated 'lucky loser' Julien Benneteau 4-6, 6-3, 6-1.

Meanwhile third-ranked and second-seeded Rafael Nadal beat Tomas Berdych 6-4, 7-5, setting up a semifinals rematch with fourth-seeded Novak Djokovic.

Djokovic, who beat Nadal in straight sets in last year’s Cincinnati semifinal, won 6-4, 7-5 over Gilles Simon.

Nadal, playing just his second tournament since the French Open due to tendinitis in both knees, declared himself “very happy” with his progress.

In the women's singles, second-seeded Serena Williams breezed through to the semifinals of the Rogers Cup on Friday with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Lucie Safarova.

Williams will next face no. 4 Elena Dementieva, who advanced with a tough three-set win over Samantha Stosur.

In another semifinals, Alisa Kleybanova will face off with Maria Sharapova after a gruelling 6-7 (6), 7-6 (7), 6-2 win over Jelena Jankovic, while Sharapova overcame Agnieszka Radwanska 6-2, 7-6 (5).

(Via AP; Images via Yahoo! Sports)

Elena Dementieva takes on comeback queen Kim Clijsters at the Kings Island fountains

Elena Dementieva and Kim Clijsters were at the Fountain at Kings Island yesterday before the start of the Wester & Southern Financial WTA Tennis Championship at the Linder Tennis Center in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Former world no. 1, Kim Clijsters who is making her return to the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour received a wildcard to play in this tournament.

(Images by John Sommers II/Getty Images North America)

Stepmom Lakeisha Graham an added strength to the Williams team?

Serena and Venus Williams' mom, Oracene was spotted sitting far away from her ex-husband Richard and his new bride Lakeisha Graham during the semifinal match between Serena Williams and Elena Dementieva yesterday.

While Richard was busy wiping off his sweat under the beaming sun, his 30-year-old Rihanna-look alike wife cheered for Serena and looked very excited as if that was her first time on the player's box.

The Williams sisters dominate the women's singles and made it to the final at the Wimbledon this year.

Serena beat Dementieva 6-7, 7-6, 8-6 in the longest women's singles match in Wimbledon history, while Venus totally crushed world no.1 Dinara Safina 6-1, 6-0.

Serena and Venus have played each other 20 times and are currently tied at 10-10 in head-to-head meetings.

Surely, Lakeisha will be there at the women's singles final on Saturday to cheer for the girls.

It doesn't matter who wins because the Williams family have proven themselves to be a strong team at Wimbledon this year.

(Images via Getty Images)

Wimbledon Day 9: Girls, Girls, Girls... But surprisingly no drama...

Boring day, I should say?

And the results were predictable too...

Besides Dinara Safina, who was made to sweat by Sabine Lisicki, other favourites easily sailed through to the semifinals.

Safina who thought she was a Santa Claus on court yesterday, served 15 double-faults!

However, the top-ranked Russian reached the Wimbledon semifinals for the first time after a 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-1 victory of unseeded Lisicki.

Venus Williams, the favourite to win the Wimbledon again seems too hot for Agnieszka Radwanska to handle.

Venus won 6-1, 6-2.

Venus's baby sister Serena who was out on a revenge against Victoria Azarenka with a 6-2, 6-3 win.

Serena admitted that the heavy defeat inflicted on her by Azarenka earlier this year in the Miami final did much to fuel her victory.

Finally Elena Dementieva also performed a "Williams" demolition job on Francesca Schiavone, winning 6-2, 6-2.

Tonight the gentlemen will play for places in the semifinals.

(Images by Getty Images)

VIDEO: Caroline Wozniacki two-timing two players on court?

Don't worry... this is not another gossip about Caroline Wozniacki.

It was just part of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Hero Challenges, where the Danish rising star shows her incredible speed and anticipation in a rather unique match-up!

Also check out Venus Williams serves up some pain on a professional American Football defensive line.

And lastly Elena Dementieva, who was once regarded as having a weak serve, proves those days are so over.

Not that I don't prefer women's tennis of late...

Too bogged down with work recently, I didn't have much time left to spend on women's tennis for the past weeks, missing the Fed Cup and Porsche Tennis Grand Prix.

At Stuttgart, looks like the new world no.1 Dinara Safina will play against Svetlana Kuznetsova in the final match tomorrow, after defeated Flavia Pennetta 3-6, 7-5, 6-0.

Earlier, Kuznetsova easily overcame compatriot Elena Dementieva 6-4, 6-2.

Meanwhile, Victoria Azarenka and Ana Ivanovic are already in Rome for a promotional event at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia.

Someone in tennis forum suggested that Vika was flipping off Ana.

Okay, they are friends again :P

(Images via Quotidiano.net)

Winners of 2008 ATP World Tour & Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Player Awards

While Ana Ivanovic is still not done with the "kickoff" party last night (clue: look for a tennis ball), let's take a good look at the nice rundown of winners of the 2008 ATP World Tour and Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Player Awards.

2008 ATP World Tour Player Awards
Player Of The Year - Rafael Nadal
Doubles Team Of The Year - Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic
Arthur Ashe Humanitarian Of The Year - James Blake
Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship Award - Roger Federer
Most Improved - Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
Newcomer of the Year - Kei Nishikori
Comeback Player of the Year - Rainer Schuettler
ATPWorldTour.com Fans’ Favorite (Singles) - Roger Federer
ATPWorldTour.com Fans’ Favorite (Doubles) - Bob & Mike Bryan
Ron Bookman Media Excellence Award - Alan Trengove

2008 Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Player Awards
Player of the Year - Serena Williams
Doubles Team of the Year - Cara Black and Liezel Huber
Most Improved Player - Dinara Safina
Comeback Player of the Year - Zheng Jie
Newcomer of the Year - Caroline Wozniacki
Humanitarian of the Year - Ana Ivanovic
Karen Krantzcke Sportsmanship Award - Elena Dementieva
Player Service Award - Liezel Huber
Favorite Premier Tournament - Porsche Tennis Grand Prix (Stuttgart)
Favorite International Tournament - Commonwealth Bank Tennis Classic (Bali)

(Images by Matthew Stockman/Getty Images)

Elena Dementieva celebrates 500th career wins

Congrats to Elena for becoming the 27th woman in the Open Era to record 500 career singles victories!

She was presented a huge cake for her achievement after defeated Sybille Bammer in the second round at the Barclays Dubai tourney.

(Images via tennisforum.com)

What the players said about Shahar Peer UAE ban

Dinara Safina: "It's pretty disappointing she's not playing here. She's a great player and a great athlete. I hope she will have many more chances. I think the WTA is doing its best for them."

Amelie Mauresmo: "It's not acceptable. I think sport should be above issues like that to do with religion and wars and whatever. I'm surprised."

Elena Dementieva: "I feel very sorry for her. She's a very good girl and very sensitive. I played her in Auckland and there was some kind of demonstration during the match. I just feel sad for her. She really cares about what's going on between Israel and Palestine and it's just a very tough situation. I think the tour takes it seriously and I wish she could play in Dubai."

Venus Williams: “All the players support Shahar. We are all athletes, and we stand for tennis.”

Ana Ivanovic: "It's very unfortunate, I feel very sorry for her. Shahar is a friend of mine and I feel sorry she's not here. It's always a pity to mix politics and sport. But the WTA is looking into it."

(Images via sports.sina.cn)

Elena vs Serena: Will it be Jane of the outback or the comeback queen?

As predicted, Serena Williams will play against Elena Dementieva in one of the women's semifinals tomorrow.

Both players have a fair chance to win; Serena has more experience than anybody to win in Grand Slam tournaments while Elena has been very consistent and had won two warm up tournaments in Auckland and Sydney.

Here are their thoughts on each other.

Elena on Serena:
ELENA DEMENTIEVA: Every time it's different, especially against Serena. You don't know what to expect from her. All the matches that we play, all the last three matches, was completely different games.

I think she likes to play here (in AO). She won this title (here before). She feels pretty comfortable playing, you know, in this surface. I think it's going to be tough match. It's always good to have, you know, a positive results. But it's all new.

Serena on Elena:
SERENA WILLIAMS: I think she's playing amazing. I think she's actually playing some of the best tennis on the tour. She's really stepped up the level of her game to an unbelievable level. I'm going to have to play really well to do well tomorrow.

The other semifinal match is between Vera Zvonareva and Dinara Safina.

By the way here are some off court photos of Elena who visited the Melbourne Zoo yesterday. That's a nice dress for an outing to the zoo.


(Images by Robert Prezioso/Getty Images via zimbio)