Venus Williams Wins Dubai Title With Win Over Azarenka

Venus Williams of the USA became only the second woman in the history of the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships to defend the title when she defeated fourth seed Victoria Azarenka of Belarus 6-3, 7-5. Justine Henin is the other woman who was able to defend her title, winning in 2006 and 2007.

Sharapova Defeats Arvidsson For Championship

Maria Sharapova had a disappointing start to the year, losing in the first round of the Australian Open to No. 58th ranked Maria Kirilenko in a battle of Russians. However, Sharapova showed better form in her 2nd tournament of the year, defeating Sofia Arvidsson of Sweden, 6-2, 6-1 Saturday night for the championship of the WTA The Regions Morgan Keegan Championships & The Cellular South Cup held in Memphis, Tennessee, USA.

Sharapova showed some of the form she displayed when she was on top of the WTA Tour, not losing a set in five rounds. Sharapova picked up her first title on the comeback trail after recovering from last year’s shoulder injury.

Dementieva Downs Safarova For Championship

No. 1 seed, Elena Dementieva of Russia, defeated unseeded Czech, Lucie Safarova, in a close 3-set match to win the championship of the GDF Suez tennis tournament. No. 7 ranked Dementieva dropped a close first set in a tie-break, 6-7 (5-7), but rallied to take the final two sets 6-1, 6-4 over No. 39 ranked Safarova.

It was somewhat of a repeat of her semifinal win over American Melanie Oudin where Dementieva also dropped the first set before rallying for a 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 win.

Zvonareva Defends Her WTA Tour Pattaya Open Title

No. 1 seed, Vera Zvonareva of Russia, successfully defended her WTA Tour Pattaya Open title in Pattaya City, Thailand, by defeating local favorite, 32 year-old 87th ranked Tamarine Tanasugarn of Thailand.

Zvonareva won the match in straight sets, 6-4, 6-4, and gave Zvonareva her 10th career title. It was sweet revenge for her second-round loss to Tanasugarn at Wimbledon two years ago. Going into this final match, Tanasugarn had led their head-to-head competition 1-0.

Dementieva Seeded No 1 at WTA Open GDF Suez

No. 7 ranked Elena Dementieva of Russia is seeded No. 1 for the $700,000 WTA Open GDF Suez being played in Paris, France, February 8-10, 2010. After a 1st round bye, Dementieva will take on Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia who was a 1st round winner over Iveta Benesova of the Czech Republic.

The top seeds include:

Defending Champion Zvonareva Seeded No 1 at PTT Pattaya Women’s Open

No. 14 ranked Vera Zvonareva of Russia has received the top seed of the WTA PTT Pattaya Women’s Open which started Feb. 7 in Pattaya City, Thailand. She is the defending champion of the tournament.

Zvonareva slipped out of the Top 10 last week after failing to repeat her run to the semis of the 2009 Australian Open. The good news for the Russian star is that although she squandered a winning lead against Victoria Azarenka in Melbourne, the ankle that caused her so much trouble last season appeared to be holding up.

In her opening round, she will meet Ksenia Pervak

Steffi Graf Tops Role Model List

Two tennis stars have come out on top of a new survey asking people about the leading role models in sports. Steffi Graf and Roger Federer were named as the top female and male sports role models respectively in a survey of 1,500 people run by Barclays – sponsors of the English Premier League.

Perhaps tennis has benefited from all the scandals rocking the sports arenas of football, baseball, and golf in the past months. Many highly regarded sports figures have toppled off the pedestals some have placed them upon, as one after another shows they are not only human, but sometimes surprisingly and disappointingly so. At any rate, tennis claims two role models on this list, a good commentary on the sport many of us enjoy to watch and play.

Ivanovic Will Wear Adidas Forever

Serbian tennis beauty, Ana Ivanovic, will be wearing adidas products for a long, long time after extending her agreement with German sportswear brand Adidas AG for the remainder of her tennis career and beyond..

The twenty-two year old former Roland Garros champion has also relaunched her personal website which, according to web traffic monitor Alexa, is the most-visited official website of any sportswoman. Her website has been updated with a brand new look, feel and plenty of additional content.

Safina Pulls Out Of Dubai With Back Injury

World No. 2, Dinara Safina of Russia, has been forced to pull out of next week’s Dubai Tennis Championships because of ongoing back problems.

She said on her website, “Unfortunately, I will not be able to play the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships this year because of the back injury that’s been bothering me since the end of last season. I wish the tournament the best of success on its 10th anniversary and hope to be back next year, as it’s one of my favorite events.

Thanks to all my fans for their support during this difficult period. Keep checking my site for updates on my recovery.”

Clijsters Becomes A Barbie Doll

First Kim Clijsters of Belgium turned pro in 1997, climbed to world No. 1 in both singles and doubles as a 20 year-old in August of 2003, and won her first Grand Slam at the U.S. Open in 2005. Following a series of ankle injuries and hip strains in 2006, she retired after the Australian Open in 2007 while ranked No. 4.

Her life then took a more domesticated turn as she got married July 13, 2007 to American pro basketball player, Brian Lynch, and gave birth to her first child, Jada Ellis Lynch on Feb. 27, 2008. She then came out of retirement in late 2009 and won the first Grand Slam event she entered, her 2nd U.S. Open championship.