Safin, Sharapova among tennis stars to kick off 2010 at the Hong Kong Tennis Classic

Looks like it has becoming a trend in Asia (e.g. Doha, Malaysia, etc) where tennis events are heavily bankrolled by their respective governments.

Now the same thing is happening to the yearly tennis exhibition JB Classic after its title sponsor pulled out recently.

A new event with different format has taken over - the Hong Kong Tennis Classic 2010.

Next January, teams from four regions of the world (Russia, Asia, America and Europe) will consist of two ladies and a man.

Team Russia: Marat Safin, Maria Sharapova, Vera Zvonareva
Team Asia: Paradorn Srichaphan, Zheng Jie, Ayumi Morita
Team America: Michael Chang, Venus Williams, Gisela Dulko
Team Europe: Stefan Edberg, Caroline Wozniacki, Victoria Azarenka

The new team format will feature women’s & men’s singles and mixed doubles matches over four days of action packed tennis at Victoria Park.

Tickets for the Hong Kong Tennis Classic will be on sale from the beginning of December. Details will be announced in due course.

For more information, please contact the following:
KCE Sport and Entertainment
Mr. Terry Catton, Co-Tournament Director
Ms. Amy Tsang, PR & Communications Manager
Tel: (852) 2723 8721/ (852)9809 8710 Fax: (852) 2311 0040
Email: amy@kcesport.com.hk

Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez wins Swedish Open; spoils Caroline Wozniacki's birthday

Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez beat top-seeded and defending champion Caroline Wozniacki 7-5, 6-4 Saturday to win the Swedish Open for her second WTA Tour title.

The unseeded Spaniard won her first title in Bogota in February.

“This was the most enjoyable tournament for me so far this season,” Martinez Sanchez said.

“I felt right at home here and I hope to come back next year. I played very well today and I’m happy I played my own game.”

“I’m sorry I spoiled your (birthday) celebrations, but I promise I will buy you something instead,” Martinez Sanchez told Wozniacki at the post-match news conference.

Wozniacki, who turned 19 Saturday, is ranked ninth in the world and has won five WTA titles.

“Maria played better than me. She played smart and it was difficult to get a rhythm with her stop volleys,” Wozniacki said.

“But I’m still happy to have reached the final.”

In the doubles final, Gisela Dulko and Flavia Pennetta denied Martinez Sanchez a double, who partnered with Nuria Llagostera Vives with a 6-2, 0-6, 10-5 victory.

The men’s Swedish Open starts Monday.

(Via AP; Images via Swedish Open Women's Flickr photostream)

Tennis stars let their hair down for Life magazine

Maria Elena Camerin, Julie Coin and Severine Bremond Beltrame

Professional tennis players work hard when on court.

So LIFE magazine wanted to see what happens when these players leave their competitive spirit behind.

Check these players letting their hair down for some relaxing (as well as some cheeky) poses.

Here are the players in sequence: Severine Bremond Beltrame, Jill Craybas, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Vera Zvonareva, Sabine Lisicki, Gisela Dulko, Jelena Jankovic and Alla Kudryavtseva.

For more pictures, go to Life.com.

A note of thanks to Natasha for this info.

(Images by Lee Jenkins Grooming: Kenny Campbell For Premier via Life.com)

Wimbledon Day Three: You've gotta love post-match interviews!

To tell you the truth, I don't feel the excitement of Wimbledon already after Roger Federer vs Rendy Lu Yen-hsun match.

But life goes on and I still have to do my 'job'.

There are a few things that keep me entertained though - reading post-match interviews.

Check out some of these Q&A... the media can be very annoying... and at times funny too.

Fernando Verdasco survived four gruelling sets to beat Kristof Vliegen 7-6(7-3), 6-7(3-7), 7-6(7-4), 6-4 to make the third round.

Q. Is the rumor true that after Laura Robson's loss in the first round that you telephoned her to console her about this loss?

VERDASCO: Who?

Q. Laura Robson.

VERDASCO: No. Who said that?

Q. Rumor. (Changing topic) Which part do you admire the most about Federer?

Roger Federer has a comfortable 6-2, 6-2, 6-4 victory over Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.

Q. We notice today after many years Mirka wasn't in your box. Should we wait for some special announcement to be made sooner than expected, or not?

FEDERER: No, no, not really. She's just not feeling, you know, a hundred percent. She only felt 95%, so we decided it's better if she takes it easy instead of sitting in the sun maybe, feeling worse the next day.

It's important for her to rest. She's already feeling better, which is good.

Q. Is it still 10 August, more or less, the date?

FEDERER: I never said it. I don't know who told you, but... you can speculate as much as you want.

Q. Mirka told me.

FEDERER: Mirka told you? I'm sure she did (smiling).

Q. Inside information.

FEDERER: She invited you, too, didn't she?

Gisela Dulko defeated Maria Sharapova 6-2, 3-6, 6-4.

Q. What is your football team in Argentina?

DULKO: Football? Boca and Tigre.

Q. Do you have a boyfriend?

DULKO: We talking about tennis here. Not personal, no. I'm not gonna talk about that.

Note: Obviously the person who asked this question didn't know that Dulko is dating Fernando Gonzalez.

Serena Williams spentless than an hour to get past Jarmila Groth to win 6-2, 6-1.

Q. Can you comment on Larry Scott. He's leaving at the end of the week. His tenure.

WILLIAMS: Ten years. Was it ten years already?

Q. His tenure.

WILLIAMS: Oh, tenure.

Serena is hilarious!

Sania Mirza’s singles campaign at Wimbledon ended with a 6-4, 6-4 to Sorana Cirstea.

Q: (Indiscernible - The journalist must be asking whether her fiance Sohrab Mirza is there in Wimbledon.)

MIRZA: No, he's not here.

Q. Do you call him before the match? Does he call you?

MIRZA: That's a bit personal.

There was this particular journalist who kept asking the same silly question about pollution in Beijing to the top players like Serena and Federer. She got this answer from Djokovic...

Novak Djokovic moved into round three with a 7-5, 6-1, 6-4 victory over Simon Greul.

Q. Let me ask you about last year's Olympic Games. You were playing there, but there had been discussions about air quality before the games. Were you actually worried going there playing? How did you feel when you were actually playing there?

DJOKOVIC: Well, I think it's passed a lot of time since then. I don't know why we should talk about it now. But anyway...

(Images via Getty Images, Wimbledon official website)

Venus Williams leads team America to victory in Hong Kong

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)