Category: Results

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.

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.

Shown here are Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin receiving their trophies following their great 3-set battle Saturday in the Finals of the 2010 Brisbane International. Clijsters won the match 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(6). Clijsters managed to save two match points before winning the two-hour 24-minute match. This was Clijsters’ 36th career title and second since coming out of retirement last season.

Justine Henin may well be back in full form after 15 months away from the tennis circuit. She is showing she still knows how to play as she works her way through the draw in the 2010 WTA Brisbane International tournament going on Jan. 4-10, 2010 in Brisbane, Australia.

Coming into the tournament unseeded, she faced a good challenge with the No. 2 seed, Nadia Petrova of Russia in the first round. Henin prevailed in a close match, 7-5, 7-5. She then took on unseeded 20 year-old Sesil Karatancheva of Bulgaria who had a two-year suspension for using drugs in 2005. Henin took her out 6-4, 6-3. In the Quarterfinals, Henin defeated 7th seed, Melinda Czink of Hungary in a very close 3-set match, 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (7-5).

Belgian Kim Clijsters, who just came out of retirement this year, beat American Venus Williams at the Diamond Games exhibition match in Antwerp, 6-1, 7-5.

It was the first high-level match that Clijsters had played in her native country since returning to tennis this year. They were playing in front of 14,000 people in the stands and Clijsters said that not even the US Open final can compare with the feeling of winning in your native country before a packed Sportpaleis.