Author: Dana Mark

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.

No. 26 ranked Alisa Kleybanova upset top-seeded No. 7 ranked Elena Dementieva in an all-Russian final at the 2010 WTA Malaysia Classic played in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Feb. 22-28. It was an easy victory for Kleybanova who won in straight sets, 6-3, 6-2.

Dementieva had not lost a set on her route to the final, but she struggled on serve and two breaks allowed her Russian compatriot to take the first set 6-3 in Kuala Lumpur.

Kleybanova, the fourth seed, playing in a tour final for the first time, showed no sign of nerves as she continued her impressive display to close out the second set for a comfortable 6-3 6-2 win.

Gigi Fernandez and Natasha Zvereva have been elected to the International Tennis Hall of Fame Class of 2010 in recognition of their competitions and contributions, a tribute to the game of doubles.

Fernandez and Zvereva won more women’s doubles titles (38) and Grand Slam women’s doubles championships (14) together than any other team since Martina Navratilova/Pam Shriver. They won six consecutive Grand Slam tournaments from 1992 Roland Garros through 1993 Wimbledon (Navratilova/Shriver won eight consecutive Grand Slam titles from 1983 Wimbledon through 1985 Roland Garros).

Venus Williams won her second straight title in Acapulco, winning the Abierto Mexicano TELCEL for the second time in a row. But it was not an impressive win. It took Williams three sets to defeat No 60 ranked Polona Hercog of Slovenia. Hercog has never won a WTA singles title, yet took the first set off of Williams 6-2 before losing the final two sets 2-6, 3-6.

The first two rounds went by fine, but in the quarterfinals against world No.399 qualifier Laura Pous Tio, Venus was 5-1 down in the third set before pulling off one of her biggest career comebacks. The following semifinal against world No.164 Edina Gallovits of Romania was also a three-setter with the final score being 6-4, 2-6, 6-2.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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:

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