Weekend winners

Tamira Paszek defeated Angelique Kerber 5-7, 6-3, 7-5 at the AEGON International women's final. She will face Caroline Wozniacki in the opening round at Wimbledon.

Andy Roddick beat defending champion Andreas Seppi 6-3, 6-2 at the AEGON International to claim his 31st career title, ending a 16-month drought.

David Ferrer defeated Philipp Petzschner 6-3, 6-4 to win the Unicef Open grass court tournament for the second time.

Nadia Petrova downed Urszula Radwanska 6-4, 6-3 to take the Unicef Open women's title.

(Images via Unicef Open website; zimbio.com)

Maria Sharap-awe-va: A synonym for glamour and beauty

Maria Sharapova continues her strong comeback in Toronto at the Rogers Cup.

Before the tournament, she attended the tournament draw in a chic-looking dress.

Why is she always this beautiful?

Sharapova is scheduled to face fellow Russian Nadia Petrova in the first round today.

Earlier she stopped at a Tag Heuer event to promote her sponsor.

(Images via sports.sina.com.cn)

Rome-ancing the clay court season

If Rafael Nadal wins his fifth consecutive French Open later this month, probably 2009 will be the best clay court season he ever had.

Fresh from winning his fourth Rome Masters title on Sunday, beating reigning champion Novak Djokovic 7-6 (7-2), 6-2 in the final, Nadal looks confident for Madrid Masters and the French Open.

Now Nadal owns 15th Masters Series title and only Andre Agassi has won more with a whopping 17 titles!

"I would love to have more than 17."

"Right now I have 15, I'm very happy for that (but) I'm going to try my best in the next tournaments," said Nadal.

In the men's doubles final, Nenad Zimonjic and Daniel Nestor continued their European clay court domination by defeating defending champions Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan 7-6(5), 6-3.

While in Stuttgart, Germany, Svetlana Kuznetsova stunned world no.1 Dinara Safina 6-4, 6-3 to win the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix on Sunday.

American Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Russian Nadia Petrova won the doubles title with a 5-7, 6-3, 10-7 victory over Gisela Dulko and Flavia Pennetta.

(Images Ryan Pierse/Julian Finney/Getty Images)

Nadia Petrova babysits for a day, advances to the fourth round

Looks like Nadia Petrova had lots of fun playing with the kids and walking along the Brighton Beach on day five of the 2009 Australian Open.

In the third-round match yesterday, Petrova advanced when Galina Voskoboeva was forced to retire with a back injury after losing the first set 6-1.

She will face seventh-seeded fellow Russian Vera Zvonareva, who beat Italian Sara Errani 6-4, 6-1. Petrova holds a 5-1 record against her countrywoman.

Petrova's shortened match could be a boon for her, who has been struggling to recover from the meningitis that forced her to withdraw from a tournament in Auckland early this month.

"It is very nice and it is very unexpected because I got ready for a battle out there," Petrova said.

"I really wanted (to win) this match not only because I made the fourth round last year but for proving to myself that after such a hard time that I can still come back and perform at the top level."

"I'm good, quite happy actually. I had a difficult week in Sydney (she lost in the first round). I wasn't strong enough and I really didn't trust my body up there, so I just wanted to test the waters.

"But I'm very happy with my general feeling right now. I feel like every day I'm getting stronger and it's really helping me in my matches."

(Via theage.com.au; Images by Scott Barbour/Clive Brunskill/Getty Images AsiaPac via zimbio.com)

Quotes from the weekend winners

“I was playing with 15,000 people. Everybody was behind me today.
The crowd was magic."
~ Jo-Wilfried Tsonga said after defeating David Nalbandian 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 to win the Paris Masters and becoming the 8th players to qualify for the season-ending Masters Cup in Shanghai next week.

“Winning in Bastad and Stockholm and finishing off with Paris it’s nothing that I could have really expected. This is way beyond my goals at the end here so I just hope the good omen continues in Shanghai.”

~ Jonas Bjorkman said after he and Kevin Ullyett defeated Jeff Coetzee and Wesley Moodie 6-2, 6-2 in the final of the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris.

"It was really wonderful to win this event. To finish off the season like this is wonderful. Now I have a long journey ahead of me to Doha, but it'll definitely be worth it. And then it'll be really nice to put the racquets aside for a few weeks!"

~ Nadia Petrova beat Bethanie Mattek 4-6 6-4 6-1 to take the Quebec City title and qualify for WTA Championship in Doha.

In the doubles final, Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Vania King dismissed Jill Craybas and Tamarine Tanasugarn in only two sets, 7-6(3), 6-4. No quotation was available.

(Via Yahoo! Sport, ATP website, Sony Ericsson WTA website)

Igor Kunitsyn and Jelena Jankovic capture Kremlin Cup titles

Igor Kunitsin, right, still appear to be shocked after his win against Marat Safin.

World no. 71, Igor Kunitsyn who played his first ATP final, upset former world number one Marat Safin 7-6 6-7 6-3 in an all-Russian Kremlin Cup final to clinch his maiden title on Sunday.

Earlier, world number one Jelena Jankovic overpowered Vera Zvonareva 6-2 6-4 in the women’s final to win her third title in a row.

“This is beyond my wildest dreams,” Kunitsyn told reporters.

“I’d never have expected to beat Marat in the final in Moscow,” added the 27-year-old from Vladivostok, who took home $171,000 in winnings to more than double his earnings for the year.

Safin, seeded 7th and bidding to claim his first title in almost four years, reached the final without hitting a ball when his semi-final opponent, German Mischa Zverev, withdrew with illness on Saturday.

The big Russian has not tasted success since winning the Australian Open in January 2005.

“I have only myself to blame,” said Safin, who also lost to compatriot Nikolay Davydenko in the 2006 final in Moscow.

“If I had won the first set, it would have been a different story but he gained confidence as the match went on, played well in the end and deserved his victory.”

Love strucked Jelena Jankovic of Serbia, left, and Vera Zvonareva of Russia pose
with their trophies after a final match.

In the women's singles, Jankovic, making her debut in Moscow, broke Zvonareva twice to take the first set in just over half an hour.

“I’ve played her twice in the last two weeks so I really knew what to expect and was focused right from the start,” said Jankovic, who pocketed $196,900 for her efforts.

“I dominated in the first set but in the second my concentration slipped a little bit but I was able to get myself together in the end.”

The 23-year-old has been playing almost non-stop in the last couple of months and must keep going for another week before taking a well-deserved rest.

“I’ve worked really hard in the last three weeks, winning three titles in a row. It’s not easy,” she told reporters.

“But I still have my commitments to play next week in Zurich. Then I’ll take a two-week rest before playing (next month’s season-ending WTA Championships) in Doha.

“I’ve had a tough season, overcoming a number of injuries but I’m quite close to finishing the year ranked number one and I’m really proud of it,” she added.

Zvonareva, who reached her first Kremlin Cup final on her eighth appearance in Moscow, said she could do little to stop Jankovic.

“It seems she had an answer for everything I tried,” the 24-year-old Muscovite told a news conference.

Ross Hutchins, left, and Stephen Huss, middle, pose with their runner-up trophies beside
Sergiy Stakhovsky, right, with his winners trophy (without his partner Potito Starace),
after the doubles final.

In the men's doubles final, first-time pairing of Sergiy Stakhovsky and Potito Starace captured their first ATP doubles title with a 7-6(4), 2-6, 10-6 victory over Stephen Huss and Ross Hutchins.

The 22-year-old Stakhovsky, currently no. 167 in the Stanford ATP Doubles Rankings, was appearing in his first ATP doubles final. Earlier in the season he captured his maiden ATP singles title in his first final at Zagreb.

The 27-year-old Starace has now won three titles in four finals. He captured two titles in 2007 at Kitzbuhel and Acapulco and was runner-up at Acapulco in 2006.

“We played unbelievable doubles. We only signed up at the last moment and we can play maybe the next tournament then we’ll see," said Starace.

Nadia Petrova, left, and Katerina Srebotnik, 2nd left, pose with their trophies after winning the doubles against Cara Black, 2nd right, and Liezel Huber, right.

In the women's doubles final, top seeds Cara Black and Liezel Huber took on no.4 seeds Nadia Petrova and Katarina Srebotnik.

Petrova and Srebotnik pulled off the upset in straight sets, 6-4 6-4, for their first title as a team.

It was Petrova's 15th career Tour doubles title and Srebotnik's 19th.

(Images via Yahoo! Sport)

Jelena Jankovic celebrates no.1 rank with a win at the Porsche Grand Prix

New No. 1 Jelena Jankovic won her second title in two weeks, defeating Nadia Petrova of Russia 6-4, 6-3 Sunday in the final of the Porsche Grand Prix.

The 23-year-old Serb also won the China Open last week and the Italian Open earlier this year.

“I am really proud of myself,” she said.

“I am playing with a lot of confidence and I played some good tennis this week.”

Jankovic was assured of taking the top ranking Monday from Serena Williams regardless of the outcome of the final.

She already held the No. 1 spot for one week in August.

“I feel that every day I am getting better and better. I am really working on my game, I want to reach my full potential,” Jankovic said.

Williams became the No. 1 after defeating Jankovic at the U.S. Open final, but the American will drop in the rankings after losing her opening match in Stuttgart.

Jankovic won her eighth career title after overcoming a brief lapse in the second set against the 18th-ranked Russian, who won the Stuttgart tournament in 2006.

After the win, Jankovic took a spin in the red Porsche 911 convertible given to the winner and appeared to have more trouble controlling the powerful car than the match.

She broke serve in the opening game and it was enough to give her the set against an error-prone Petrova.

“I really wanted to win this trophy, and when you want too much, sometimes it doesn’t work in tennis,” Petrova said.

“I gave it my best.”

Petrova had not dropped a set this week until the final.

Jankovic has been playing with a painful left foot after tearing off a toe nail. She needed painkiller shots before her semifinal win over Venus Williams and got two more before the final.

Asked about her foot at the post-match news conference, Jankovic misunderstood the question and replied, “The food is great.”

Realizing the mistake, Jankovic burst out laughing and then added:

“It’s numb during the match and I don’t feel anything, but after a couple of hours it hurts a lot,” she said.

“The doctor told me to wear flip-flops but I am flying to Serbia tonight, I can’t go in flip-flops like I am going to the beach.”

Jankovic is scheduled to play the Kremlin Cup next week. Although she left open whether she would actually show up in Moscow for the tournament, which Williams is skipping.

“I feel tired now, but mentally I am not tired, I am hungry to do well. I want to finish the year as No. 1,” she said.

The doubles final, which followed the singles final, saw top seeds Kveta Peschke and Rennae Stubbs taking on the wildcard pairing of Patty Schnyder and Anna-Lena Groenefeld.

And it was the underdogs who came out on top, as Groenefeld and Schnyder won their first title together with a 62 64 upset victory.

Groenefeld won her seventh career Tour doubles title, and first since the beginning of 2007; Schnyder picked up her fifth Tour doubles title, her first since early 2004.

(Via AP, Images via Yahoo! Sport, zimbio.com)

Dinara Safina beats Svetlana Kuznetsova to win Pan Pacific Open, moves up to no. 3

Dinara Safina will move up to No. 3 in the world rankings after dominating Russian compatriot Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-1, 6-3 Sunday to win the Pan Pacific Open.

The victory gave the fourth-seeded Safina her fourth WTA singles title this season, tying her with No. 1 Serena Williams for the most this year.

“I’ve played the best tennis this week I’ve ever played,” Safina said.

“It’s always nice to move up in the rankings and hopefully I can keep improving.”

Safina broke with a cross-court forehand from the baseline to go up 3-2 in the second set, and then broke for the third time in the final game, winning the match when the fifth-seeded Kuznetsova sent a forehand volley wide.

Safina has also won this year in Los Angeles, Montreal and Berlin.

She said pressuring Kuznetsova was the key on Sunday.

“I knew I had to keep the pressure on her from the start,” said Safina, who had seven aces.

“She is a good player and can put pressure on you so it was important for me to take my chances early.”

It was the 10th meeting between the two Russians, with Safina having won six of them.

Kuznetsova, a former U.S. Open champion, was bidding for her first title in 2008.

“It’s disappointing but I’ll try to be honest and positive,” Kuznetsova said.

“I came here after the clay court Fed Cup and really didn’t expect to get to the final so this isn’t a bad result for me.”

Kuznetsova said Safina can become the world’s top player.

“She has a chance to reach No. 1,” Kuznetsova said.

“She works hard and has a lot of energy. She has a bigger stroke than Jelena (Jankovic), and Serena (Williams) doesn’t play in that many tournaments these days.”

The doubles final, which followed after the singles final, pitted No.2-seeded duo Lisa Raymond and Samantha Stosur against unseeded team Petrova and Vania King.

And it was the underdog pairing of King and Petrova that prevailed, beating the two-time Grand Slam-winning team of Raymond and Stosur in straight sets, 6-1, 6-4.

King and Petrova won their first title as a team; it was King's fifth individual Tour doubles title and Petrova's 14th.

(Images by Yahoo! Sports, Sony Ericsson WTA website)

Svetlana Kuznetsova, Dinara Safina in an all Russian affair final at Pan Pacific Open

Russians Svetlana Kuznetsova and Dinara Safina cruised into the final of the Pan Pacific Open with straight-set victories Saturday.

Fifth-seeded Kuznetsova, who upset top-seeded Serbian Jelena Jankovic in the quarterfinal round beat Slovenia's Katarina Srebotnik 7-6 (5), 6-2, while Safina routed compatriot Nadia Petrova 6-1, 6-0 in the second semifinal.

Japanese Crown Prince Naruhito was in the crowd for the match between Kuznetsova and Jankovic yesterday. After the matches, players hit balls into the stands; Kuznetsova hit
one to Naruhito, and he made an impressive catch.

"I'm enjoying myself here," Kuznetsova said.

"I'm trying to do new things and it's exciting to be on the court."

After a closely contested first set, Kuznetsova took control in the second, breaking Srebotnik three times.

Kuznetsova broke Srebotnik with a backhand down the line in the seventh game to go ahead 5-2. She raced to a 40-love lead in the next game but Srebotnik fought back to deuce before Kuznetsova won her fourth match point.

Kuznetsova, who won the U.S. Open in 2004, will be bidding for her first title of 2008. Her last Tier I singles title was in 2006 in Miami.

Last week she helped Russia to a win over Spain in the Fed Cup final Monday and said that win boosted her heading to Japan.

"Winning the Fed Cup has given me more motivation," Kuznetsova said.

It was Safina's first win in six matches against Petrova.

"There is a first time for everything in life and today was my first win over her," said Safina, who is fifth in the WTA rankings and had seven aces.

"We've had some good matches in the past," added Safina.

"I wasn't like I was thinking that I had never beaten her before, the strategy was to just go out there and hit the ball as hard as I can."

Safina wasn't thinking too much about Sunday's final being an all-Russian affair.

"It's just another match," Safina said.

"We know each other well and I hope it's going to be a good match that we both can enjoy."

The 2008 champion at this Tier I hardcourt tournament will collect $196,900.

(Via International Herald Tribune)
(Images via Yahoo! Sports, Toray PPO website, Sony Ericsson WTA website)

Pan Pacific Open: Marion Bartoli, Nadia Petrova and Chuang Chia-Jung attended sushi demonstration

Marion Bartoli, Nadia Petrova and Chuang Chia-Jung attended a sushi demonstration and tasting in Tokyo.

Here are the photos of the event.

Chuang Chia-Jung, Marion Bartoli and Nadia Petrova learn how to make sushi from a Japanese sushi chef.

Nadia Petrova tastes her self-made sushi.

Chuang Chia-Jung and Marion Bartoli still haven't get their sushi into their mouths.

Chuang Chia-Jung is not even biting her sushi.

By the way, based on the Toray Pan Pacific Open Tennis tournament results today, Petrova won the second round after beating Ana Ivanovic 6-1, 1-6, 6-2.

Bartoli lost to Agnieszka Radwanska 2-6, 3-6.

In the women's doubles, Chuang and partner Su-Wei Shieh made it through to the semifinals in a walkover win against Maria Kirilenko and Flavia Penneta.

(Images via Toray PPO official website)

Hsieh Su-Wei and Peng Shuai Win Doubles in Bali

Hsieh Su-Wei of Chinese Taipei and Peng Shuai of China came back from the brink of defeat to capture the Tier III Commonwealth Bank Tennis Classic doubles title over unseeded Marta Domachowska and Nadia Petrova.

Although both have previously won two Tour doubles titles with other partners, the win is their first as a combination.

In the nail-biting final the pair even held three match points on Petrova's serve at 5-4 in the second set, only to see Hsieh and Peng draw level, seize the ensuing tie-break and then the decider for a 6-7(4), 7-6(3), 10-7 victory.

"It was a great match today," Peng said.

"It was really exciting for us and the crowd too, I think. I'm really happy to win with my partner. We have been good friends for eight years now and she's always been helping me and giving me advice, so to share this with her, it really doesn't get any better than this."

(News via Sony Ericsson WTA website, Image via ESPN)