Venus Williams only seed in Semifinals at Madrid Open

Venus Williams of the USA is the only seed left entering the Semifinal round at the 2010 WTA Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open being played in Madrid, Spain May 8-16. Seeded No. 4, Williams will go up against unseeded No. 22 ranked Shahar Peer of Israel.

The other Semifinal match sees unseeded No. 30 ranked Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic taking on unseeded No. 24 ranked Aravane Rezai of France.

En route to her Semifinal berth, Shahar Peer knocked off No. 5 seed, Svetlana Kuznetsova, and No. 13 seed, Na Li.

Kuznetsova, Safina, Azarenka, Dementieva, Wozniacki, Radwanska among top 10 seed upsets in Rome

Maria Kirilenko of Russia is making her way through the draw at the 2010 WTA Internazionali BNL d’Italia currently being played May 2-9 in Rome, Italy. In reaching the Quarterfinals, she knocked off No. 5 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 in round 2. In round 3, she defeated Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia, 4-6, 6-1, 6-1. Kirilenko now faces No. 1 seed, Serena Williams of the USA in the Quarterfinals.

Another big upset in Rome was achieved in round 2 by Alexandra Dulgheru of Romania who defeated No. 3 seed, Dinara Safina of Russia, 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-1. Dulgheru was then ousted by No. 14 seed, Nadia Petrova of Russia, 0-6, 6-3, 2-6.

Can the WTA solve the injury plague?

Injuries have long been a part of the sports scene. Lately, however, injuries seem to be a plague on both the women’s and men’s side of the tennis court.

The WTA tried to address that problem last year, when after years of debate and struggle, the season was shortened by two weeks – that is, the offseason was shortened from seven to nine weeks before they had to start up again in 2010. The WTA also reduced the number of required events for the top players. These two changes were designed to do two things: 1) keep the biggest stars from getting injured, and 2) get them to face off against each other more often.

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and Dinara Safina, plus the current No. 1 ranked player in the world, Serena Williams of the United States, have all withdrawn from the 2010 WTA Sony Ericsson Open running in Miami, Florida, USA on March 23 – Apr. 4 because of injuries.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

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.

Petrova Cruises Into Quarterfinals By Downing Kuznetsova

Nadia Petrova is looking like the real deal after eliminating No. 3 seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova in an all Russian match at the 2010 Australian Open. It took three sets, but Petrova got the job done, 6-3, 3-6, 6-1.

Petrova picked up where she left off in her last match when she blasted past Kim Clijsters. In this 4th round match, Petrova took the first set from Kuznetsova 6-3. Kuznetsova battled back winning the 2nd set 6-3 to level the match at one set all. Kuznetsova seemed to have the momentum. But Petrova picked up her game and Kuznetsova committed too many unforced errors and was broken three times in the final set. Petrova won that deciding set 6-1.

Clijsters Run Ended By Petrova

The much anticipated Quarterfinal between Kim Clijsters and Justine Henin will not be happening, thanks to the aggressive play of Nadia Petrova, and a rather poor performance on the part of Clijsters. Petrova, seeded No. 19 beat the No. 15 seeded Clijsters in straight sets, 6-0, 6-1 in their third round match.

Clijsters had 26 unforced errors compared to just 10 by Petrova in Clijsters’ worst Australian Open outing since her 2000 debut. Petrova had 15 winners compared to just 5 for Clijsters. The first set took only 18 minutes and Clijsters won only five points.

Day One of 2010 Australian Open Dishes Up Just One Upset

Day one of the 2010 Australian Open went pretty much according to plan with only one major upset. No. 58 ranked Maria Kirilenko upset No. 14 seed, Maria Sharapova, in a long 3-set match, 7-6(7-4), 3-6, 6-4. Kirilenko is seen here being congratulated by Sharapova after their match.

All other seeded players playing the first day advanced to the second round, including No. 15 seed, Kim Clijsters, who is one of the favorites to win the tournament after winning the U.S. Open last year in her first Grand Slam appearance after coming out of retirement.

Serena Williams Seeded No. 1 For 2010 Australian Open

Serena Williams is seen here at her book signing at Harrods department store in London, on November 2, 2009. Now it’s time to put the books away and focus on tennis. Williams, who is currently ranked No. 1 on the WTA Tour is seeded No. 1 for the 2010 Australian Open set to begin Jan. 18 in Melbourne. Yes, Grand Slam tennis is about to get under way.

Tournament officials could have used a discretionary seeding to place Justine Henin in the draw, but they chose not to. So the Belgian former champion playing in her first Grand Slam tournament since announcing her return from retirement will be a dangerous threat, possibly meeting some of the top seeds in the opening rounds.

Ekaterina Bychkova Fined and Suspended For Match-fixing Claims

The tennis police are at it again, fining Russian player, Ekaterina Bychkova, $5,000 and barring her from playing for 30 days for match-fixing claims, which will keep the 123rd ranked player from participating in the Australian Open this month.

Last week, the Tennis Integrity Unit handed down the fine and suspension. The anti-corruption unit said Bychkova failed to report that she was asked to provide inside information and throw matches, even though officials said there was no evidence Bychkova accepted any compensation. She was penalized because she didn’t disclose the offer until being questioned by investigators from the Tennis Integrity Unit.