Weekend winners: Youzhny, Schiavone, Baghdatis, Bacsinszky

Mikhail Youzhny beat Janko Tipsarevic to win 6-7 (5), 6-0, 6-4 at Kremlin Cup to earn his fifth career title and extend Russia’s winning streak at the home event to six straight years.

In the women's final, Italian Francesca Schiavone defeated Olga Govortsova 6-3, 6-0 to win her second career title.

Meanwhile in Stockholm, Sweden, Marcos Baghdatis beat Olivier Rochus 6-1, 7-5 for his third career ATP Tour singles title just a week after learning he had gained the event’s main draw.

Baghdatis was playing a Challenger event in Tashkent when he got the news.

At the Luxembourg Open, unseeded Timea Bacsinszky won her first WTA Tour title, beating sixth-seeded Sabine Lisicki 6-2, 7-5.

(Images via Yahoo! Sports)

Great entertainment at The Venetian Macao exhibition

I seldom blog about tennis exhibition (unless it's local) but I thought The Venetian Macao Tennis Showdown deserved a mention.

Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras, Yuki Bhambri and Ryan Harrison were in Macau, the former Portuguese colony for the weekend to provide some good tennis entertainment.

Aaron Kwok was starstrucked! I can't stand his 'thumbs up' gestures LOL!

I didn't watch the entire show on Astro SuperSport CH816, but managed to spot some famous Hong Kong celebrities including Aaron Kwok (the coin tosser :D), Eason Chan and Sam Lee.

Even Coco Lee was there twittering from the front row seat.

In the highlight of the event, Sampras defeated Agassi in three sets as the two retired American tennis greats revisited as one of the sport’s greatest rivalries.

This is the first time the two had played since Sampras won in the 2002 US Open final for his then-record 14th Grand Slam.

There were other entertainment that evening including a drum solo (bucket beats by a street drummer?) and mime show.

Match Results:
Yuki Bhambri (IND) def. Ryan Harrison (USA) 5-5
Pete Sampras (USA) def. Andre Agassi (USA) 3-6 6-3 10-8
P. Sampras (USA) & Y. Bhambri (IND) def. A. Agassi (USA) & R. Harrison (USA) 7-5

(Images via Reuters, sports.sina.com.cn)

Anna Kournikova to launch Showdown of Champions Kuala Lumpur

It's confirmed! Anna Kournikova will arrive in Kuala Lumpur to launch the yearly tennis exhibition 'Showdown of Champions 2009' this coming Monday.

Unfortunately, the organisers decided to keep Kournikova for themselves.

No invitation was given to HCFoo's Tennis Blog and sadly there's also no meet-the-fans session although they knew a lot of local fans would die to meet the tennis babe.

However, thanks to my involvement in politics years ago, I managed to sneak in and get some info regarding the launching by the Tourism Minister Dato' Dr. Ng Yen Yen and Kournikova.

WHO: Anna Kournikova
WHAT: Showdown of Champion 2009 Launch
WHEN: Monday, Oct. 26, 2009 (10.15 AM)
WHERE: Café Stelle (2nd floor) Couture Pavilion, Kuala Lumpur

Hope you can catch a glimpse of Kournikova!

To junior players, please contact your coach or Selvarajoo as Kournikova will be meeting you guys at the National Tennis Centre at 3 PM on the same day.

Do prepare some questions for her. Kournikova is very generous in answering questions especially from fans (as you can see from her website)

(Image via Anna Kournikova official website)

Caroline Wozniacki under scrutiny after match-throwing controversy

Caroline Wozniacki and her father Piotr denied the speculation that the 19-year-old threw her first round match at the Luxembourg Open earlier this week against local player Anne Kremer.

Wozniacki was leading 7-5, 5-0 before quitting the match due to injury, causing tennis authorities to investigate the event.

Who in their right mind would do that? So, I'm not shocked by the allegation.

Viewers watching online streaming were said to be able to hear Piotr tell her daughter to quit at 3-0 in the second set in order to save herself from further injury.

This sparked a series of bets on her opponent who was already on the verge of losing.

Piotr defended his 'innocent intentions".

"I went onto the court and said to her, 'Caro, it does not matter whether it's going to be 5-0, 4-1 or 3-2. You can not play the next round, so you shouldn't take the risk,"' he explained to Danish radio.

"I'm very proud of Caroline, because she stopped the fight and gave her opponent a chance."

Last year, tennis governing bodies created a Tennis Integrity Unit in an effort to combat gambling and match-fixing in the sport.

"We're just looking into everything that happened in this match," WTA spokesman Neil Robinson said, adding that he believed the information would go to the integrity unit.

Wozniacki immediately dismissed suggestions that the result was rigged.

"So, people bet on my matches. Some win, others lose. I just know that I am clean. It is most important to me," Wozniacki said.

"And if anyone is in doubt about my injury, I can both produce scan from the hospital and a report from the tournament physiotherapist."

Despite her injury, Wozniacki has confirmed her participation in the season-ending WTA Tour Championship in Doha next week.

On the lighter side of Wozniacki, I would prefer her being watched this way than by the tennis authorities. Check out the video.

(Via Sky Sports)