Tamarine Tanasugarn, Caroline Wozniacki win Wimbledon warm-up tournaments

Tamarine Tanasugarn of Thailand has become the first player to successfully defend the Ordina Open women's title by beating Yanina Wickmayer 6-3, 7-5.

In Eastbourne, Caroline Wozniacki won the Aegon International title after defeated unseeded Virginie Razzano 7-6, 7-5.

This is the Dane's second title of the year and fifth of her career.

(Images by Rober Vos/Leon Neal/AFP/Getty Images)

2009 French Open Day 2: What else but Pink?

Rafael Nadal beat Marcos Daniel 7-5, 6-4, 6-3 for his 29th straight win on the red clay at Roland Garros, breaking the French Open men’s record for consecutive wins.

The win surpassed the mark held by Bjorn Borg, who won 28 straight from 1978-81.

Nadal also equaled the overall tournament record, matching the 29 straight that Chris Evert won between 1974-75 and 1979-81.

Opening his first match at the tournament with a striking fashion statement, people however are more interested to talk about his pink Nike gear rather than his record wins.

Now seriously, if only Maria Sharapova wear the same colour as Nadal, then it would be great.

Instead Sharapova's opponent Anastasiya Yakimova was the one in pink.

Although Sharapova had a shaky start, she eventually won 3-6, 6-1, 6-2.

Earlier of the day, poor Anne Keothavong was bageled twice by the world no.1. Dinara Safina.

Venus Williams also advanced into the second round after defeated Bethanie Mattek-Sands 6-1, 4-6, 6-2.

Asia enjoyed a successful day at the expense of French hopes.

World no.15 and Asian hope, Zheng Jie of China had an easy win over Stephanie Cohen-Aloro 6-1, 6-3.

Thailand's Tamarine Tanasugarn also made it through when she overcame Camille Pin 6-3, 5-7, 7-5.

Another Frenchwoman who was sent packing was Stephanie Foretz.

She lost to Kirsten Flipkens 1-6, 6-4, 4-6. I guess those cool looking shades didn't help.

Roger Federer cruises into the second round after beating Spaniard Alberto Martin 6-4, 6-3, 6-2.

Here's an interesting read on CNN. It's fresh from the oven.

I bet Federer can't wait to meet Nadal to prove how 'human' his rival is on clay.

Let's wrap up the day with a shirtless Nikolay Davydenko.

Davydenko admitted that he was not in the best shape.

But still he won his first round match 6-2, 6-1, 6-4 against Stefan Koubek.

Since we already have shirtless photo, let's add another one: Nadal's sexy shoulder.

For more results, you go check it out here.

I'm off to bed now.

(Images via Yahoo! Sports)

Chinese stars Zheng Jie & Peng Shuai shine at Australian Open

Chinese tennis stars Zheng Jie and Peng Shuai shine for Asia on the second day of the Australian Open, but regional hopes were dented as Japan’s Kei Nishikori and Thailand’s Tamarine Tanasugarn bowed out.

Perhaps Zheng is Asia’s best hopes after her fellow countryman Li Na bowed out of the tournament due to injury.

“It was tough out there, hot and windy, so it wasn’t comfortable but it was a good win,” Zheng said after defeated Camille Pin 6-3, 6-3.

Along with Peng, she joins Japan’s Ai Sugiyama, India’s Sania Mirza and Taiwan’s Rendy Lu Yen-Hsun in the next round.

Also through is Chan Yung-jan, who won an all-Taiwanese battle against Hsieh Su-Wei 6-3, 6-3.

Japan’s Ayumi Morita was a first-round casualty, losing to Germany’s Tatjana Malek 7-6 (4), 6-2 as she joined Nishikori and Tamarine on an early departure.

Peng battled past Italian Francesca Schiavone 7-6 (4), 6-1 but fellow Chinese Meng Yuan failed to repeat her success last year against Serena Williams who revenged with the score 6-3, 6-2.

There were high expectations for Nishikori but he was unable to overcome Austria’s Jurgen Melzer which resulted him to lost 5-7, 2-6, 1-6.

There were also similar hopes for the experienced Tamarine after her successful at the Wimbledon last year where she reached the quarterfinal. But she lost focus against Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, losing in straight sets 7-5, 6-3.

(Via jakartaglobe.com; Images via sports.sina.com, nikkansports.com)

Rendy Lu, Ai Sugiyama & Sania Mirza keep Asian hopes alive

Japanese veteran Ai Sugiyama and India's Sania Mirza carried Asian hopes into the Australian Open second round on Monday.

However it was curtains down for comeback queen Kimiko Date Krumm.

In the men's singles, Taiwan's Rendy Lu Yen-Hsun also made it through to the second round with a 6-3, 7-5, 6-4 victory over Brazil's Thomaz Bellucci.

Rendy gets support from his fans at court 18.

With the strong crowd behind her, Sugiyama who is playing her 60th Grand Slam, battled past Canada's Stephanie Dubois 6-0, 7-6 (7/5) to continue her solid start to the season after making the semis in Sydney last week.

Some disturbing scenes from Sugiyama's court.

Thankfully Sugiyama doesn't dress like her supporters.

Ranked 26 here, the 33-year-old said she was encouraged by the start she has had to her 17th season on tour.

"I'm definitely very happy with the start I've had to the year," she said.

"My training has been good and I'm starting to play well.

"I started good today and won the first seven games in a row but then she got her rhythm and started hitting it deeper, and I struggled a bit."

Joining Sugiyama in round two is Sania who has suffered with injuries after a breakthrough 2005 when she reached the US Open fourth round.

Bad girl Sania sticks out her tongue.

Sania's signature move on court.

The 22-year-old went through a surgery on her right wrist in April ruining her 2008 season. She made brief comebacks before bowing out of the Beijing Olympics in tears.

Now she is back, hitting the ball harder than ever and hungry for success.

"It was a great way to begin after such a long break," Sania said after beating Poland's Marta Domachowska 6-1, 6-4.

"I've not played a match in almost six months now ... I'm just happy to have come through."

Aside from Sugiyama, Mirza and Lu, hopes for regional success lie with China's Zheng Jie and Thai Tamarine Tanasugarn.

Taiwan's Chan Yung-jan and Hsieh Su-Wei are also in the draw but have been drawn to face each other in the first round on Tuesday.

And of course there are also high expectations for Japan's Kei Nishikori who is scheduled to face Jurgen Melzer in the first round.

(Via channelnewsasia.com; Images via Yahoo! Sports, Rendy Lu's photos by Zahirah)

X'mas comes early for Danai Udomchoke and friends

Danai Udomchoke from Thailand is already in the Chrismas mood.

Together with team mate, Tamarine Tanasugarn and Korean Woong-sun Jun, they were out in the snowy, freezing cold weather making snowmen.

The tennis players are in Astana, Kazakhstan for the Asian Hopman Cup from 12-15 November.

Below are team photos taken before and during the Opening Ceremony of the Asian Hopman Cup, all taken from Danai's official site.


Kudos to Danai for keeping his website updated!

To check out the OOP and results, click here to join the forum thread at Tennis Forum.

Updates:
In the finals the 2007 Asian Hopman Cup winners Lu Yen-Hsun / Hsieh Su-Wei (TPE) defeated Golubev Andrey / Shvedova Yaroslava (KAZ) 2-0 and secured their position in the final eight teams of the A $1,000,000 Mixed Team event at Perth, Australia in January 2009.

The final standings are as below:
Winner : Chinese Taipei ( US$20,000)
Runner Up : Kazakhstan ( US$12,000)
2nd in Group : India & Thailand ( US$10,000)
3rd in each Group: China & Korea ( US$9,000)

(Images via Danai Udomchoke's official site)