Everyone around women's tennis knows that, when she's fit and focused, Serena Williams is almost unbeatable. And on this 2008 season it seems she is, because she has just lost one match in the whole season so far. This week she captured her third title of the season on Charleston, after winning Bangalore and Miami. She remains unbeaten since she was defeated by Jelena Jankovic in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open, so she has won 15 consecutive matches. Furthermore, in the last month Serena has defeated 4 of the Top 5 players: Maria Sharapova, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Jelena Jankovic (avenging of her Australian Open defeat) and Justine Henin, who was trashed by Williams 6/2 6/0. And she could increase her victory streak in the upcoming European clay season leading to Roland Garros, where she will be one of the main favorites for the title.
Serena is also one of the most popular players offcourt. She's interested in fashion and acting and is not strange to watch her dressed-up at parties and movie premieres. She was even featured in the 2003 edition of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue in a sexy bikini photoshoot.
Source: Sony Ericsson WTA TourClarisa Fernandez had flashes of brilliance interspersed with struggles with injury, and in the end those injuries proved too much. Clarisa Fernández, perhaps best known for reaching the semifinals of Roland Garros in 2002 and reaching the Top 30 shortly afterwards, announced her retirement from the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour earlier this month after a lengthy battle with knee injuries. ... read all
As every year, men's magazine FHM compilled the list of the 100 sexiest women in the world. American actress Megan Fox was named the "sexiest woman in the world" in the FHM poll, which saw nearly 10 million votes cast globally. WTA stars Ana Ivanovic and Maria Sharapova were amongst the most voted and ranked at #23 and #30 respectively. Former tennis star Anna Kournikova is also on the list, ranked at #81.
 1990-born French Alize Cornet gained some attention last season, when she climbed from #189 to #57 in the WTA ranking and won the Junior competition in Roland Garros. On 2008 Alize had to confirm all the expectations. And she did as soon as she got into clay courts. In late February she reached her first WTA final ever in Acapulco. But her breakthrough has been in the american green clay season. In Amelia Island she reached the semis, defeating 9th seed Sybille Bammer and 13th seed Virginie Razzano on her way. And in the Tier I of Charleston she upsetted 16th seed Michaella Krajicek and 10th seed Agnes Szavay to reach the semis for the second week in a row, where she was defeated by Serena Williams.  What makes Alize different from the rest of upcoming young players is that her game is not based on power, but on talent. Her gamestyle is varied and smart so she's often compared to Martina Hingis. Also her look, sweet and childish, is different. She's already ranked #33, but with the European clay season on view she's likely to break into the Top 30 soon. And as her game is the most suitable of the young players for clay courts, many French fans are thinking about having another French Champion at Roland Garros. But we will have to wait for that, maybe not too much... You can watch her gallery here
 Since she reached the Top Ten in 2004, continuous injuries have prevented Vera Zvonareva to play regularly and to stay in the top places of the WTA ranking, although she has collected remarkable performances when fit. In this 2008 season, Vera looks at her best form and she has already achieved great results. Finalist in Hobart and Doha and semifinalist in Miami, she's one of the best players in this season so far. This week she has confirmed again her talent by reaching the final in the Tier I of Charleston. On her way to the final, Vera defeated 1st seed Jelena Jankovic, 4th seed Elena Dementieva and 6th seed Marion Bartoli. In the final she was a though opposition for nearly unbeatable Serena Williams, who needed to play her best and three sets to defeat her.  Now Vera is already at 14th place in the ranking but, as she was injured last year, she has no points to defend until the US Open, so if she can stay healthy she will keep on climbing and will be again in the Top Ten very soon.
Charleston's champion Serena Williams climbs from #9 to #6, while Maria Sharapova gains one spot and is already at #3. Charleston's runner-up Vera Zvonareva goes 3 up to #14 and Estoril's champion Maria Kirilenko moves from #32 to #27. Good climbs also for Tatiana Perebiynis (from #66 to #55), Anastasia Rodionova (from #88 to #75), Sorana Cirstea (from #86 to #73) and Stephanie Cohen-Aloro (from #107 to #83), although the greatest gainer of the week is Estoril's runner up Iveta Benesova which gets back into the Top 100 going from # 132 to #95.
This week is devoted to women's team competition, also known as Fed Cup, featuring the World Group semifinals. Russia is looking for its 4th title in the last 5 years and its powerful team composed of Svetlana Kuznetsova, Anna Chakvetadze, Dinara Safina and Elena Vesnina is suppossed to find little opposition on the US team, missing the Williams sisters and Lindsay Davenport and with no Top 100 players. On the other semifinal, China may reach the final for the first time in a year highlighted by Beijing Olympic Games. Despite the absence of their best player ( Na Li), Shuai Peng, Zi Yan and Jie Zheng are the favorites over a Spanish team missing Anabel Medina and Virginia Ruano and with Nuria Llagostera as only Top 100 player. World Group play-offs will feature some exciting ties with top quality players. Also play-offs for World Group II are played, with an interesting tie between Croatia and Serbia. Fed Cup, April 26-27, 2008Semifinal World Group: Russia v USA China v Spain World Group play-offs: Italy v Ukraine Japan v France Argentina v Germany Israel v Czech Republic World Group II play-offs: Belgium v Colombia Austria v Switzerland Slovak Republic v Uzbekistan Croatia v Serbia
Serena Williams captured in Charleston her 3rd title of the season (Bangalore and Miami were the previous ones) and extended her victory streak to 16 matches in a row since she was defeated by Jelena Jankovic in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open. On her way to the final, Serena had to face Maria Sharapova, which was considered the anticipated final between the best players of the season so far. In the final Serena defeated Russian Vera Zvonareva, who is also in great form lately and upsetted 1st seed Jelena Jankovic, 4th seed Elena Dementieva and 6th seed Marion Bartoli, but wasn't able to overcome Williams in the final. In Estoril Maria Kirilenko got her 3rd career WTA title and first one on clay, as she defeated Czech Iveta Benesova in the final. Benesova, who suffered a big slump last year which took her out of the Top 100, has been playing impressively in the last few weeks and made a great run to the final, defeating 1st seed Flavia Pennetta on her way. On the other hand Kirilenko had a good start of the season reaching the Last 16 in the Australian Open but was missing good results after that, so this title will boost her confidence. Charleston (USA), Tier I, $1,340,000Final: Serena Williams (USA) def Vera Zvonareva (RUS) 6/4 3/6 6/3 Estoril (POR), Tier IV, $145,000Final: Maria Kirilenko (RUS) def Iveta Benesova (CZE) 6/4 6/2
 K-Swiss latest campaign is being widely commented, as it features Ukranian player Alona Bondarenko seductively sprawled out across a tennis court, while the viewer is asked to "Keep it pure". You can watch Alona's gallery here.
 As we already predicted a few weeks ago ( see post), 18 yo from Slovakia Dominika Cibulkova is one of the most promising players on the WTA Tour. Once again, she has confirmed her potential with an outstanding performance in Amelia Island. Only the best player in the season so far, Maria Sharapova, was able to keep her away from the title.  On her way to the final, Dominika defeated Anastasia Rodionova, 14th seed Viktoria Azarenka, 2nd seed Anna Chakvetadze, 11th seed and former #1 Amelie Mauresmo and promising teen Alize Cornet. With this result she breaks into the Top 30 for the first time in her career, reaching a career-high ranking at #29. Top 20 will be her next step. You can watch Dominika's gallery here.
Jelena Jankovic drops 2 spots and falls to #5, while Anna Chakvetadze and Venus Williams exchange #6 and #7 again. On the Top 20, Agnes Szavay, Agnieszka Radwanska and Alona Bondarenko score career-high rankings at #13, #14 and #19 respectively. Also career high rankings for Amelia Island teen sensations, runner-up Dominika Cibulkova, who goes from #34 to #29, and semifinalist Alize Cornet, who climbs from #49 to #40. Greatest gainer is Czech teen Petra Kvitova who gains 25 spots to #98 after her victory in ITF Monzon and breaks the Top 100 for the first time, so does Japanese Ayumi Morita at #99.
Charleston (USA), Tier I, $1,340,000The Tier I played on the green clay of Charleston will feature 5 Top 10 players. Defending champion Jelena Jankovic, Amelia Island champion Maria Sharapova and Miami champion Serena Williams will be the top contenders for the title. Elena Dementieva, Anna Chakvetadze, Dinara Safina, Vera Zvonareva and Agnieszka Radwanska are also candidates to reach the final rounds Estoril (POR), Tier IV, $145,000European red clay season heading to Roland Garros starts in Portugal with a mixed ATP & WTA event. Italian Flavia Pennetta will be the 1st seed and top favourite, as she has won 2 of the 3 red clay tournaments so far (Viña del Mar & Acapulco). Former Top 30 Lucie Safarova and Maria Kirilenko will try to get her best tennis back, while Portuguese teen sensation Michelle Larcher de Brito will play in front of her home crowd.
Amelia Island's title was the 19th for Maria Sharapova, but it was special as it was the first one that Maria has won on clay. Sharapova had to overcome two long and though matches against Anabel Medina and Alona Bondarenko to reach the semis, but there she took benefit of Lindsay Davenport's withdrawal due to illness. Her opponent in the final was upcoming teen Dominika Cibulkova, who confirmed her brilliant season with wins over Amelie Mauresmo and Anna Chakvetadze, but was unable to upset Sharapova in the final. Also a surprising semifinalist was French teen Alize Cornet, who took advance of an easy draw. It was also remarkable the comeback of former Top 20 and now ranked #296 Karolina Sprem, who defeated Sugiyama and Hantuchova to get into the Last 16, where she was defeted by Davenport in three sets. Amelia Island (USA), Tier II, $600,000Final: Maria Sharapova (RUS) def Dominika Cibulkova (SVK) 7/6 6/3
 Miami tournament is always very special for Serena Williams, as she usually produces some of her best tennis here. This year's victory means Serena's 5th title in Miami, following her victories in 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2007. Last year she defeated Justine Henin, who was dominating women's circuit at that time, in the final, with an incredible comeback from 6/0 down to take the match in the third set.  This year they were drawed to an exciting quarter-final. But there was no emotion at all, as Serena just passed over a weak Henin by 6/2 6/0. Serena was then considered the main favourite for the title, but there were still two though battles to win. In the semis, Serena really had to fight to come back from a set down and defeat world's #3 Svetlana Kuznetsova 3/6 7/5 6/3. And in the final Serena also needed a third set to overcome #4 Jelena Jankovic. Once again, Serena has showed in Miami that if she's focused and healthy, she's almost unbeatable.
It was a sad day for the tennis world on Wednesday, as Daniela Klemenschits - who, along with twin sister Sandra Klemenschits, was diagnosed with a rare form of abdominal stomach cancer last January - passed away. Unfortunately, the illness proved too much for 25-year-old Daniela, whose cancer was more advanced than Sandra's. The Klemenschits sisters are perhaps best-known for reaching the Istanbul final in 2005 and the Stockholm and Budapest semifinals later that year; they were an impressive force on the ITF Women's Circuit as well, winning 20 titles together. (article and photo via Sony Ericcsson WTA Tour)  On the other hand some other WTA players have announced that they will be out of the Tour for a while due to health problems. Most shocking was Venus Williams, who announced that she will be out the Tour for an indefinite period of time until she "resolves some issues" that she didn't want to get any further into. Expeculations raised about possible health problems, although her agent reported that she was just making some medical tests and would be ready to return at next month's Italian Open. German Tatjana Malek will be out of the Tour for 6 months after she was diagnosed a thrombosis on her leg, most likely due to the long flights, which could have lead to a cardiac arrest. Malek had some pain in her calf and after it became worse and the pain was spreading into her whole leg she went to hospital and was forced to stay there for 1 week. Malek needs 3 months to healing up completely, but her comeback to the Tour may take 6 months, as she also wants to focus on her education. Finally Ashley Harkleroad is recovering from surgery to remove her right ovary on March 30 after a frightening episode during the Sony Ericsson Open. She experienced some abdominal pain during and after her straight-sets second-round win over France's Virginie Razzano, but chalked it up to menstrual cramps and tried to treat it with over-the-counter pain medication. The discomfort worsened, and Harkleroad underwent a diagnostic ultrasound that showed she had a blood-filled cyst on her ovary. After her 3rd round match, Harkleroad spent several hours vomiting, unable to eat or drink, and grew progressively weaker. The cyst had ruptured. Harkleroad said she bled internally, affecting her liver function, and wound up losing more than a quart of blood. She was rushed to the hospital where she went through emergency surgery. Harkleroad spent two days in the hospital and she is healing quickly now and expects to resume practicing next week and could be playing again by early May.
Elena Dementieva gets back into Top 10 and goes up 3 places up to #8. Miami semifinalist Vera Zvonareva gains 6 places and goes from #20 to #14, while Marina Erakovic continues her climb and is the greatest gainer in Top 100 going from #101 to #84.
Amelia Island (USA), Tier II, $600,000WTA Tour goes to the green clay of Amelia Island, a Tier II that will feature half of the Top 30 players. Maria Sharapova will lead the field and will try to recover her winning streak that was broken in Indian Wells. Anna Chakvetadze and Daniela Hantuchova will be other Top 10 players here, but favorites may include also names as Agnieszka Radwanska, Dinara Safina or Lindsay Davenport. Teenagers performing well at 2008 season such as Caroline Wozniacki and Dominika Cibulkova may cause again some upsets.
Serena Williams defended her title successfully in Tier I of Miami, also know as the fifth Grand Slam, and got her fifth title there, as she also was the champion in 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2007. And the way to the title wasn't easy as she had to defeat 3 of the Top 4 players: Justine Henin, Svetlana Kuznetsova and finally Jelena Jankovic in the final. Henin showed a poor level again as she was defeated by Williams 6/2 6/0. Vera Zvonareva was the lowest ranked semifinalist, confirming her good season, where she has reached the quarters in every Tier I event. And also teenagers Caroline Wozniacki and Sabine Lisicki confirmed their potential by reaching the Last 16 round. Miami (USA), Tier I, $3,770,000Final: Serena Williams (USA) def Jelena Jankovic (SRB) 6/1 5/7 6/3
 Ashley Harkleroad's career was early marked with the high expectations that American media and fans put on her, not only due to her promising game, but mainly for her looks, as media was in the quest for an American response to Anna Kournikova's popularity. So Ashley got nicknamed as the "American Kournikova" and got thousands of eyes behind her when she was just a teenager. Despite this pressure, Ashley's game kept on evolving and she broke into Top 100 in 2003 being 17 years old. But Harkleroad couldn't handle all this pressure and she even kept away from the courts for a while after marriage with ATP player Alex Bogomolov Jr., which finally failed. After disappointing 2004 and 2005 seasons, Ashley focused again on tennis and with good performances on ITF tournaments in the USA and minor WTA events she finished 2006 and 2007 into the Top 100.  On 2008 it seems that she's moving a step forward. She started the year in good style with a semifinalist place in Hobart going through the qualy and winning 6 matches in a row. And on March she has proved that she can compete with the best, as she has reached the Last 16 in Indian Wells Tier I and the 3rd round in Miami Tier I, upsetting seeded players such as Dinara Safina, Lucie Safarova and Virginie Razzano. Now she's close to breaking into the Top 50. But the highlight of her season was the Fed Cup tie between USA and Germany, where she assumed the leadership after a surprising defeat by Lindsay Davenport and secured victory for the USA winning her two singles points.  And, although Ashley hasn't reached the popularity level that American media predicted some years ago, she still has a big fan support and is one of the best looking players on Tour. You can watch Ashley's gallery here.
 20 yo from New Zealand Marina Erakovic is probably the most outstanding newcomer in the WTA Tour in this 2008 season. She made her breakthrough early in the year when she reached the semifinals in Auckland, the WTA event held at her home town, where she defeated Vera Zvonareva. Later she focused on ITF events in Australia, winning 9 matches in a row, and getting a title and a runner-up place. And she got all the attention when, after reaching the semifinals at Memphis as a qualifier, she became the first woman from New Zealand to break into the top 100 for over twenty years. And now she has confirmed her great season in the big Tier I of Miami, reaching the 3rd round and defeating Top 30 Michaella Krajicek on her way.  With a big serve and a powerful forehand, Marina is already one of the most popular sportswoman in New Zealand, and definitively one of the players to watch for the following years. You can watch Marina's gallery here
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