Sharapova loses in first round of Pan Pacific Open

No. 15 ranked Maria Sharapova of Russia was sent packing today by No. 67 ranked wildcard Kimiko Date Krumm of Japan in the first round of the 2010 Pan Pacific Open being played in Tokyo, Japan.

The 23-year-old Maria was the defending champion of this tournament, but was shown the exit door by a local resident and all-time Japanese # 1 Kimiko who turns 40 tomorrow.

Long-time Japanese crowd favorite Kimiko stunned the former world No. 1 Maria 7-5, 3-6, 6-3. Kimiko advanced in 2 hours, 9 minutes, as Maria, still struggling with her serve, piled up 11 double faults and had her big serve broken five times.

Jankovic advances to 4th round at Wimbledon

Fourth seed and former No. 1, Jelena Jankovic of Serbia posted an easy win over No. 29 seed, Alona Bondarenko of the Ukraine Friday, 6-0, 6-3 to gain a berth in round 4 at Wimbledon 2010.

Zheng advances when Wozniacki retires with injury

Fifth seeded Jie Zheng of China advanced to the Semifinals of the 2010 WTA Polsat Warsaw Open Thursday when No. 2 seed, Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark could no longer continue after the 1st set due to pain from an ongoing ankle injury. The matched ended “6-3 retired”.

Caroline sprained her right ankle in the semifinals in Charleston on April 17, and has gone 2-4 since then, with losses to Lucie Safarova, Maria José Martinez Sanchez, and Alona Bondarenko. She is playing with her ankle taped.

Jankovic Upset By Bondarenko

Alona Bondarenko had too much for Jelena Jankovic to handle in their 3rd round match up today. Bondarenko, seeded 31, pulled a huge upset over the 8th seeded Jankovic, winning in straight sets 6-2, 6-3. It was the first time Bondarenko has beaten Jankovic in 10 meetings between the two. Bondarenko had managed to take only one set against Jankovic in their previous nine matches. This was a great time to break the drought against Jankovic and is perhaps the biggest win of Bondarenko’s career.