Serena Williams Named Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Player of the Year

Serena Williams of the USA was voted the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour’s 2009 Player of the Year for the third time in her career. She was announced as the winner at the annual Player Awards during a special ceremony at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, Florida. It is ironic that Serena isn’t even playing the the Sony Ericsson Open this year due to injuries. Serena received the award previously for the 2002 and 2008 seasons.

(See other awards later in this article.)

Henin Cruises Over Dementieva at Sony Ericsson Open

Still quite fresh out of retirement, Justine Henin of Belgium continued her dominance over No. 6 ranked Elena Dementieva of Russia in the 2nd round of the 2010 WTA Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, Florida, USA. It was a convincing straight sets pounding, 6-3, 6-2.

Henin didn’t even concede a break point in the first set and broke three times in the second to win in a little under 90 minutes.

Henin came into the tournament as a wildcard, playing in her first Sony Ericsson Open since coming out of retirement this year.

Sharapova, Safina, and Serena Williams Drop Out of Sony Ericsson Open

Two of the top Russian tennis players in the world, Maria Sharapova and Dinara Safina, plus the current No. 1 ranked player in the world, Serena Williams of the United States, have all withdrawn from the 2010 WTA Sony Ericsson Open running in Miami, Florida, USA on March 23 – Apr. 4 because of injuries.

Sharapova, who won earlier this year in Memphis and was looking forward to playing in Miami for the first time since 2007, was forced to withdraw after an MRI revealed a bone bruise on her right elbow. She is expected to miss 3-6 weeks of competition.

Nicole Vaidisova To Retire at Age 20

Nicole Vaidisova was ranked in the Top Ten at age 17 in 2007. She had reached the Semifinals of the French Open at the age of 16, then in 2007 won her way to the Semifinals of the Australian Open, and the Quarterfinals of the French Open and Wimbledon, while bowing out of the U.S. Open in the 3rd round. She racked up 6 Sonny Ericsson WTA Tour singles titles, plus two ITF Women’s Circuit singles titles, earning over $2.7 million.

Jankovic Crushes Wozniacki For Indian Wells Championship

Sixth seeded Jelena Jankovic of Serbia was on a mission in the Indian Wells championship match, as she upended 2nd seed, Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark, 6-2, 6-4.

Jankovic, consistently hitting deep groundstrokes, broke the Dane in the first and third games of the match to race into a 4-0 lead. Although she surprisingly lost serve in the sixth, she immediately broke back before taking the opening set.

Henin And Ivanovic Join Early Round Losers At Indian Wells

Favorites Justine Henin of Belgium and Ana Ivanovic of Serbia both became victims of the 2nd round exit-disease, leaving fans to wonder why? What happened? How could that be?

Ivanovic lost to 19 year-old Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia in straight sets, 6-2, 6-4, while Henin fell victim to Gisela Dulko of Argentina in a see-saw battle 6-2, 1-6, 6-4.

Clijsters Exits Indian Wells Thanks To Kleybanova

Kim Clijsters of Belgium, one of the few tennis playing moms on the WTA Tour, had taken her leave from Indian Wells thanks to the persistent play of Alisa Kleybanova of Russia. It was a tight match, going to a 3rd set tiebreak, with Kleybanova coming out on top, 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (7-4).

Clijsters was up 4-0 in the 3rd set, but Kleybanova came back to tie it and send it into the tiebreak. “What got me to be ahead was I was playing aggressive tennis and being dominant,” Clijsters said about her performance, which saw her get back into the match by winning the second set but losing a 4-0 lead in the third. “[Kleybanova] put me under pressure during those long rallies and I kind of just backed off a little bit.”

Sharapova Ousted by Jie Zheng

In a battle of all out offense versus quick feet and steadiness Chinese WTA player Jie Zheng defeated Maria Sharapova in three sets, 6-3, 2-6, 6-3. Sharapova is said to have gained a lot of strength and confidence in her hitting shoulder since she had surgery on it not too long ago, but this didn’t keep her from committing a whopping 14 double faults through out the match, sometimes as many as four in a single game. Sharapova’s offense kept her in the match, however as she continued attacking off the ground against the 5′ 4″ Zheng. The match lasted almost three hours as Zheng played a variety of defense, counter punching, and offense of her own. At the end of the day the more well rounded player ended up on top, but not by much.

No. 1 Seed Kuznetsova Upset By Suarez-Navarro

The No. 1 seed at the 2010 WTA BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California, USA, Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia, made an early exit thanks to the determination of Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain. The second round upset took just under two hours, with two-time finalist Kuznetsova losing the last six points in a frustrating display with the final score 6-4, 4-6, 6-1. Kuznetsova had led their head-to-head series 1-0.

Suarez Navarro, the 42nd-ranked winner, is playing the event for only her second year, winning her first match here just two days earlier in the opening round.

Venus Williams Defeats Clijsters to win Billie Jean King Cup

The Billie Jean King Cup in the BNP Paribas Showdown took place on Monday night in New York, and the winner is seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams, who defeated Kim Clijsters 6-4, 3-5, 7-5.

The event began with the one-set, no-ad semifinals played at the Madison Square Garden. Kim Clijsters defeated Serena Williams’ replacement Ana Ivanovic 7-2, while Venus Williams took care of Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-4.