Daniela Hantuchova and Maria Kirilenko in Pattaya

Daniela Hantuchova and Maria Kirilenko are happy to be back to Pattaya, Thailand.

Both players, who are known for their beauty, get to try out dresses together when they are not practising on the court.

Hantuchova won her second consecutive PTT Pattaya Open title last year after defeated Kirilenko in the final.

Personally, Pattaya is my favourite vacation place and I hope to be back there for the fourth time soon.

(Images via Daniela Hantuchova's Facebook)

Wozniacki, Kirilenko and Robson play tennis in a mirror court to launch Adidas by Stella McCartney range

Earlier today, Caroline Wozniacki, Maria Kirilenko and Laura Robson played tennis in the world's first mirror court to globally launch the new range of Adidas by Stella McCartney collection.

What do you think of this new range?

(Images via Yahoo! Sports)

Maria Kirilenko and NHL MVP Alex Ovechkin in the city of love

NHL star Alex Ovechkin is never afraid to display his affection on Twitter. Recently he posted a sweet picture with girlfriend Maria Kirilenko and the Arc de Triomphe in the background.

Currently he's accompanying Kirilenko in Paris for the French Open.

(Images via Alex Ovechkin's Twitter page)

Maria Kirilenko dumps Igor Andreev for NHL MPV player

Yahoo Sports reported that Russian tennis hottie Maria Kirilenko is currently romantically involved with Washington Capitals star forward Alex Ovechkin. 


The NHL player was said to have posted a photo of himself and Maria on his Twitter account with a message referring to Kirilenko as his "girlfriend." 

So it looks like Kirilenko is no longer with her long time boyfriend Igor Andreev, also a fellow Russian tennis player and former doubles partner.


(Via Yahoo Sports)

Australian Open Day 1 Wrap-up: Maria shuts out Maria

The biggest upset on Day 1 at the Australian Open went to Maria Sharapova who was upset by Maria Kirilenko 7-6 (4), 3-6, 6-4 in the first round.

According to Kirilenko, she and boyfriend Igor Andreev wanted to kick off 2010 with a bang.

She did it and now she wants Andreev to achieve the same winning moment when he meets Roger Federer tomorrow.

In the men's singles, Rafael Nadal has no problem overcoming Australian Peter Luczak in straight sets (results below).

Just on day one alone, police has removed 11 people from Melbourne Park for disruptive behaviour and smuggling flares onto the grounds.

This is expected to continue for the next one or two weeks to come.

Here's the full results from the Australian Open singles first round (prefix number denotes seeding):

Round 1 - Men's Singles

Andrey Golubev (KAZ) beat Mardy Fish (USA) 6-2 1-6 6-3 6-3
Bernard Tomic (AUS) beat Q-Guillaume Rufin (FRA) 6-3 6-4 6-4
2-Rafael Nadal (ESP) beat Peter Luczak (AUS) 7-6(0) 6-1 6-4
4-Juan Martin Del Potro (ARG) beat Michael Russell (USA) 6-4 6-4 3-6 6-2
Ivo Karlovic (CRO) beat 13-Radek Stepanek (CZE) 2-6 7-6(5) 6-4 3-6 6-4
Wayne Odesnik (USA) beat Q-Blaz Kavcic (SLO) 4-6 6-1 6-4 6-2
5-Andy Murray (GBR) beat Q-Kevin Anderson (RSA) 6-1 6-1 6-2
7-Andy Roddick (USA) beat Thiemo de Bakker (NED) 6-1 6-4 6-4
Florian Mayer (GER) beat Philipp Petzschner (GER) 0-6 2-6 6-4 6-2 6-2
11-Fernando Gonzalez (CHI) beat Olivier Rochus (BEL) 6-3 6-4 3-6 6-1
24-Ivan Ljubicic (CRO) beat WC-Jason Kubler (AUS) 6-1 6-2 6-2


Round 1 - Women's Singles

5-Elena Dementieva (RUS) beat Vera Dushevina (RUS) 6-2 6-1
Justine Henin (BEL) beat Kirsten Flipkens (BEL) 6-4 6-3
24-Maria Jose Martinez (ESP) beat Evgeniya Rodina (RUS) 6-0 6-0
12-Flavia Pennetta (ITA) beat Anna Chakvetadze (RUS) 6-3 3-6 6-2
3-Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS) beat Anastasia Rodionova (AUS) 6-1 6-2
Q-Yanina Wickmayer (BEL) beat Alexandra Dulgheru (ROU) 1-6 7-5 10-8
15-Kim Clijsters (BEL) beat Q-Valerie Tetreault (CAN) 6-0 6-4
Elena Baltacha (GBR) bt Pauline Parmentier (FRA) 6-4 3-6 7-5
Maria Kirilenko (RUS) beat 14-Maria Sharapova (RUS) 7-6(4) 3-6 6-4
Q-Yvonne Meusburger (AUT) beat Timea Bacsinszky (SUI) 6-4 4-6 6-2
30-Kateryna Bondarenko (UKR) beat Raluca Olaru (ROU) 6-2 7-6(6)
Zheng Jie (CHN) beat Peng Shuai (CHN) 0-6 6-1 6-2
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) beat Anastasija Sevastova (LAT) 6-2 6-4
2-Dinara Safina (RUS) beat Magdalena Rybarikova (SVK) 6-4 6-4
27-Alisa Kleybanova (RUS) beat Jelena Dokic (AUS) 6-1 7-5

(Images via Yahoo! Sports)

Maria Kirilenko Swims With Dolphins

Sania Mirza, Zheng Jie, Maria Kirilenko and Elena Dementieva were at the Dolphins and Sea Lions Show at Sunway Pyramid last weekend.

But looks likes Kirilenko is the only tennis babe who gets into the water.

By the way, these are some rare photos I stole from the organiser's Facebook photo page *evil grin* (credit to Mr Blackberry).

At the end of their trip, they were each given a cuddly dolphin plush stuffed toy as souvenir.

Glam Slam: Great showdown but pathetic turnout

Thanks to Astro SuperSport CH811, I get to watch The Glam Slam - Showdown of Champions in the comfort of my home. It would be great if it's shown on HD though.

Although I did not watch the two-day event from the stadium, I'm glad I attended the meet-the-fans session on Friday.

The Russian babes Elena Dementieva and Maria Kirilenko defeated Asian girls Sania Mirza and Zheng Jie in a 3-0 win at the Melawati Stadium yesterday.

Dementieva/Kirilenko had won the doubles on Saturday beating Mirza/Zheng 6-4, 5-7, 10-8 to give Russia the lead in the exho match.

In the first singles yesterday, Kirilenko was stretched to three sets before defeating Zheng Jie 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 in two hours and 10 minutes!

Dementieva completed Russian domination by downing Mirza 6-4, 7-6 (7-0).

Overall, I think the exho match is worth watching because the players took their games seriously. It was like watching a real tournament.

However, the attendance was pathetic (lack of publicity, the organiser failed to use social media to promote the event) and so was the official website (it was down during matches and not up to date).

If the organiser is serious in having another event next year, please stop syiok sendiri or might as well just scrap the event and stop wasting the people's money.

Zheng Jie, Sania Mirza, Dementieva, Kirilenko: Meet the fans in KL

WTA babes Zheng Jie, Sania Mirza, Elena Dementieva and Maria Kirilenko are currently in town for the annual tennis exhibition match, The Glam Slam Showdown of Champions 2009.

The tennis stars were at Pavilion KL this afternoon for a meet and greet autograph session.

As a tennis fan, of course I didn't want to miss this event.

I was a bit reluctant to go to KL at first because my office is just next to the shopping mall and I was really lazy to go all the way there on a public holiday!

I went anyway as I've promised to meet up with fellow blogger, Pueh Tian. You can read his take on this event here.

We were on the Speed Lane, a priority queue lane booked in advance through Firefly's Facebook fan page.

Of all the four girls, I would say that I love Dementieva the most! I've never met a player so friendly... she would look deep in your eyes, greet you and give you a big smile! *faint*

Overall, I'm happy that I attended this event.

Just that I wish the players' entrance can be a bit more organised and glamourous (just like the event's tagline - The Glam Slam :P)

And not that I don't like Jay Menon, but I think a guy announcer could have make a slight difference to this event :P

For those who are interested to check out the exhibition match, the event will take place tomorrow (Saturday) and Sunday. Click here for event info.

(Images by HCFoo)

Maria Kirilenko arrested for her poor performance in 2009

(Image via mariakirilenko.com)

Dementieva, Kirilenko, Mirza, Zheng Jie for Showdown KL 2009

Look who spilled the beans regarding Showdown of Champions 2009!

The Tourism Minister of Malaysia herself announced recently that the yearly event will take place on December 19-20.

The exhibition match will see Elena Dementieva, Maria Kirilenko (not Sharapova as promised in Showdown of Champions last year), Sania Mirza and Zheng Jie (in sequence).

Nevertheless, it is still a good line-up as we'll be having four good looking and talented tennis players in Kuala Lumpur.

It's time for local tennis fans to get to know more women tennis players other than Sharapova.

Personally, I think this is a smart move by the organisers who made this event sort of like a "women tennis preview' as we'll be having a WTA tennis tournament in February next year.

(Via Bernama)

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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)

No more pom-pom socks for Maria Kirilenko as Adidas Stella McCartney signs Caroline Wozniacki

Q: Why do you wear socks with pom-pom on it when you play tennis ?
Maria Kirilenko: This beautiful design of my socks is made by Adidas Stella McCartney. I like it, that is why I play with it!

I guess Kirilenko will not be wearing those pom-pom socks again.

Adidas by Stella McCartney has just dropped her from their tennis clothing line.

She'll be replaced by Danish teen tennis sensation Caroline Wozniacki, who will be the only player to wear Adidas Stella McCartney label at the 2009 US Open.

No wonder Kirilenko looked really upset recently.


(Via Women's Tennis Blog)

Rafael Nadal celebrates 5th straight Monte Carlo Masters title

I was really pissed off with Astro, my local paid TV for not showing Rafael Nadal's historic win at the Monte Carlo Masters tournament yesterday because football is always their top priority.

It's totally absurb when they diligently covered the earlier rounds but when it comes to weekend's semifinals and finals they took away the live coverage just to pave ways for some unimportant football matches.

Enough of my rantings, I should be happy because Nadal managed to overcome Novak Djokovic, beating the third-ranked Serbian 6-3, 2-6, 6-1 for his fifth straight Monte Carlo Masters title after losing a set here for the first time since the 2006 final against Roger Federer.

“Everyone can improve in every surface, no? No one is perfect. Sure, I can improve,” Nadal said.

“I always work to improve because when you feel you can’t improve, is difficult to wake up and go on court and practice.”

Nadal is now favored to also collect a fifth straight French Open title.

He was unhappy with how he served, and plans to improve on it before heading to Roland Garros next month.

In the men's doubles final, second seeds Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic beat top seeds Bob and Mike Bryan 6-4, 6-1 in just 48 minutes.

Meanwhile, Roberta Vinci won her second WTA Tour title at the Barcelona Open on Sunday, beating beat defending champion Maria Kirilenko 6-0, 6-4.

In another WTA tourney, Sabine Lisicki beat Caroline Wozniacki 6-2, 6-4 to win the Family Circle Cup and her first tour title on Sunday.

The 19-year-old Lisicki, who is ranked No. 63 and bounced Venus Williams earlier in the tournament, consistently had serves around 120 mph at the tournament on the green clay at the Family Circle Tennis Center in Charleston, S.C.

(Via AP; Images by Michael Steele/Getty Images Europe)

Tennis babes trade court time for the beach in Sports Illustrated 2009 swimsuit issue

Grab a copy of the Sports Illustrated 2009 swimsuit issue this week because Daniela Hantuchova, Maria Kirilenko and Tatiana Golovin are the latest tennis babes who posed for the magazine.

The three players spent five days on a secluded beach of Cap Cana in the Dominican Republic for their photo shoot, which was photographed by Walter Iooss Jr.

Here are some of my favourites.

Daniela Hantuchova

Maria Kirilenko

Tatiana Golovin

(Via sportsillustrated.cnn.com)

Hugo Boss celebrates its 10-year anniversary of partnership with Kremlin Cup

Hugo Boss, an international group for fashion and style, will celebrate its 10-year anniversary of partnership as an official sponsor, which provides clothing for Kremlin Cup.

This year Kremlin Cup will be held in Moscow on October 4-12.

While celebrating this big event, a rout of special VIP-guests, players and media will be held on weekend in Boss hall. The hall with modern design and sport history data is an exclusive place to organize meetings for different political, economic, sport, media and public figures.

Successful cooperation with “Kremlin Cup” since 1999 appears to be an important component of this traditional tennis tournament.

As before Hugo Boss will provide clothing from special Boss Green collection for ball boys, while the official representatives will be in Boss Black.

Linesmen will also appear in Boss Black on important matches.

By the way, the draw ceremony of the “Kremlin Cup-2008 was held last weekend at the “Olympisky” stadium.

Igor Andreev surrounded by the press.

Maria Kirilenko at the draw ceremony.

Igor Andreev and Maria Kirilenko were there at the ceremony.

Go to Kremlin Cup official website to find out the complete draws.

(Via Kremlin Cup official website)

Maria Kirilenko beats Samantha Stosur for Korea Open title; lost in doubles final

Russia's Maria Kirilenko has won the 2008 Hansol Korea Open.

This is Kirilenko third singles title of the year, having also won Tier IV titles during the clay court season in Estoril and Barcelona.

The no.1 seed who was runner-up last year to Venus Williams improved on that result Sunday afternoon against Australia's Samantha Stosur.

"I think this year, I’m a much better player, and I also had more difficult wins than last year," Kirilenko said during the press conference after her win.

"From the, I don’t know, the first round, I didn’t know the girl with whom I played, but anyway, she played quite good. And then from the second round to the final, I had very good players. And I’m really happy that I beat all of them. I feel that I’m improving, you know."

Kirilenko rallied from a set down to claim the Tier IV title with a 2-6, 6-1, 6-4.

However, Kirilenko who was back on Centre Court for the doubles final with her partner Vera Dushevina lost to defending champions Chuang Chia-Jung and Hsieh Su-Wei.

(Image by JUNG YEON-JE/AFP/Getty Images)

WTA Tour "Superheroes" marketing campaign

Here is the behind-the-seen images and video of the multi-million dollar WTA Tour "Superheroes" marketing campaign photo shoot. The advertisement was shot around some historic sites in Rome.

Jelena Jankovic to the rescue!

Ana Ivanovic runs rather gracefully, isn't she?

Serena Williams looks as if she's on a regular jog in the evening.

So, Venus Williams is the real superhero.

Maria Kirilenko and Ana Ivanovic sat at an outdoor cafe during the shooting of
the "Superhero" marketing campaign TV commercial.

(Images from Getty Images)