Passing shots

Andrea Petkovic, who is blogging from Indian Wells, recently had a 45-minute practice hit with Steffi Graf. Petkovic says she plans to "reinvent" herself.

You can now get to know Rebecca Marino.

News flash! Reuters has learned that Kim Clijsters balances motherhood with a career! Because women, like trained seals, have to "balance" everything.

Dinara Safina considered retiring from professional tennis after the Australian Open.

Getting a beating when you lose a set, getting slapped when you have a bad practice, seeing the father of one of your peers physically assaulted...some of the WTA's drama hasn't been the good kind.

Anna Chakvetadze, who passed out during her second round match in Dubai, retired today in the second round of the BNP Paribas Open because of dizziness.

Li and Pennetta beaten in Moscow 1st round

Li Na, whose WTA Championships status hangs in the balance, didn't help her cause today by losing in the first round of the Kremlin Cup. Li was defeated 6-4, 6-2 by Anna Chakvetadze, who said she thought Li might have been a bit stressed about the Championships, and Li agreed. Li is still in the running to go to Doha, but her first round loss today lowers her chance. She had a wild card into Moscow, and was also seeded third.

Moscow is traditionally a place with a big home court advantage, and it wasn't just Chakvetadze who came through. The quite talented, but sometimes shaky, Elena Vesnina upset 5th seed Flavia Pennetta 6-4, 2-6, 6-2.

The other victory of note was the defeat of Gisela Dulko by qualifier Zarina Diyas. I have seen Diyas play on clay, and though I've tried, I can't think of a more aggressive tour player. Diyas runs to the net and hits every type of volley in circumstances when other players would wait for the bounce. I was impressed when I saw her play because of her willingness to keep going forward.

In doubles, the streaky Bondarenko sisters were defeated 6-4, 3-6, 10-4 by Algul Amanmuradova and Darya Kustova.

In Luxembourg, all the seeds advanced today. Top seed and wild card Elena Dementieva defeated Peng Shuai 7-5, 7-6.

Chakvetadze wins Bronx challenger

Former world number 5 Anna Chakvetadze won the 100k ITF Bronx challenger today. Chakvetadze defeated 7th seed Sofia Arvidsson 4-6, 6-2, 6-2.

4th seeds Kristina Barrois and Yvonne Meusburger won the doubles title. They defeated 1st seeds Natalie Grandin and Abigail Spears 1-6, 6-4, 15-13.

Chakvetadze plays Urszula Radwanska in the first round of the U.S. Open, and she is in the same part of the draw as 8th seed Li Na and 11th seed Svetlana Kuznetsova.

Chakvetadze & Arvidsson to compete in Bronx final

Unseeded Anna Chakvetadze advanced to the final of the 100k ITF Bronx tournament today, with a semifinal defeat of 8th seed Ekaterina Madarova. Chakvetadze won the match 6-3, 6-3. In the other semifinal match, 7th seed Sofia Arvidsson defeated 2nd seed Klara Zakopalova 7-6, 6-3.

Wozniacki and Zakopalova to meet in Copenhagen final

Top seed Caroline Wozniacki defeated Anna Chakvetadze today in Copenhagen, in a semifinal match whose momentum turned several times. Wozniacki dominated the first set, Chakvetadze dominated the second, and the third--which featured three breaks of serve--was up for grabs. Grab it Wozniacki did, which gave her a 6-1, 2-6, 6-4 victory. Chakvetadze, I should add, is in pretty good form again, and had an enthusiastic cheering section in the stands (which she probably appreciated every time "Let the Sunshine In" blared from the speakers).

In the other semifinal, 7th seed Klara Zakopalova defeated 2nd seed Li Na 6-3, 1-6, 6-4 in a match that featured at least one very questionable line call.

Wozniacki and Zakopalova have played each other only once before, and Wozniacki won in three sets.

Chakvetadze advances to Copenhagen semifinals

Qualifier Anna Chakvetadze (that still sounds strange, doesn't it?) defeated 6th seed Polona Hercog in straight sets today to advance to the semifinals of the E-Boks Open 2010 in Copenhagen. Top seed Caroline Wozniacki also advanced, defeating Julia Goerges 3-6, 6-0, 7-6.

The other quarterfinal winners were 2nd seed Li Na, who defeated 8th seed Angelique Kerber, and 7th seed Klara Zakopalova, who defeated Sorana Cirstea.

In doubles, top seeds Goerges and Anna-Lena Groenefeld and 4th seeds Vitalia Diatchenkova and Tatiana Poutchek advanced to the final.

Miscellany

The Kansas City Explorers are the 2010 World Team Tennis champions. It is the first championship for the team. Jarmila Groth was named the final's Most Valuable Player. Groth, who won all three of her sets, played doubles with Kveta Peschke.

Charleston, South Carolina, Atlanta, Georgia and Richmond, Virginia are the three finalists of the ten cities nominated by the USTA as the 2010 Best Tennis Town. The winning city, to be announced next month, will get $100,000 worth of tennis equipment to be used in its tennis community. 2010 Family Circle Cup champion Sam Stosur said: "Charleston certainly felt like the Best Tennis Town in America when I won the title in April, and it's definitely one of my favorite events on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour because the city is so beautiful, and the fans are very knowledgeable and supportive of the sport."

Ana Ivanovic says she is "a little hurt and disappointed" that she did not receive a wild card into Rogers Cup competition. Ivanovic will have to qualify to get into the main draw.

Sarah Unke writes about the struggles of Anna Chakvetadze.

Vera Zvonareva withdrew from the Bank of the West Classic because of a minor leg injury, but she plans to play in San Diego.

Here is an interview with Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.

Chakvetadze wins Slovenia Open

It's been a long time since we've seen Anna Chakvetadze's name next to the word "champion," but today in Portoroz, she won her eighth Sony Ericsson WTA Tour title. The former world number 6 defeated Johanna Larsson 6-1, 6-2.

Chakvetadze is currently ranked number 103 in the world, but that will change this week.

Chakvetadze and Larsson to play in Portoroz final

Anna Chakvetadze defeated 7th seed Palona Hercog 0-6, 6-2, 6-2 today in Portoroz, putting her into a final against Johanna Larsson. Larsson won her semifinal match by retirement when her opponent, Ksenia Pervak, sustained an injury to her wrist.

2nd seeds Maria Kondratieva and Vladamira Uhlirova won the doubles championship. They defeated Chakvetadze and Marina Erakovic 6-4, 2-6, 10-7.

Chakvetadze in Slovenia Open semifinals

Anna Chakvetadze continued creating good results today in Slovenia when she upset 6th seed Vera Dushevina and thereby secured a spot in the semifinals. 3rd seed Anna Pavlyuchenkova, however, was defeated in straight sets by Johanna Larsson.

In doubles, Chakvetadze and Marina Erakovic upset 3rd seeds Pavlyuchenkova and Anastasia Rodionova.

In Bad Gastein, Alize Cornet moved to the semifinals with a win over Patricia Mayr.

Chakvetadze advances to quarterfinals in Slovenia

Anna Chakvetadze upset 4th seed Sara Errani today in the second round of the Slovenia Open, after defeating Ekaterina Makarova in the first round. Palona Hercog defeated wild card Katarina Srebotnik, and Stephanie Voegele defeated wild card Tamira Paszek.

In Bad Gastein, Simona Halep retired toward the end of her second round match because of a right shoulder injury.

Miscellany

Anna Chakvetadze's Tennis Channel "Bag Check" is hilarious.

I especially like Jelena Jankovic's Wimbledon dress.

Queen Elizabeth II visited Wimbledon today and chatted with Anne Keothavong about her injuries.

This blog is about women's tennis, but I don't think anyone will object if I step outside that realm for a moment and express total awe over what John Isner and Nicolas Mahut have given us at this Wimbledon. Congratulations to John! (And maybe some day, U.S. and British commentators and announcers will really "respect" Nicolas and stop mangling his name.)

You can learn a little about Alison Riske here. She decided against attending Vanderbilt University (and playing for its tennis team) two weeks before classes began.

Check out the second from the top link. (But with Tatiana Golovin not there, does anyone really care?)

Chakvetadze out for 4 to 6 weeks

Anna Chakvetadze has been diagnosed with a stress fracture in her right foot, and will be not be able to play for four to six weeks. She says she may try to play in Moscow.

"The doctors gave me this boot that I have to use for the next three or four weeks. I must admit having them on is like weird and funny. I feel like I’m a pirate."

Chakvetadze advances to quarterfinals of Pilot Pen

Former top-10 player Anna Chakvetade defeated Sybille Bammer today to advance to the quarterfinals in New Haven. Her next opponent will be either Elena Vesnina or 9th seed Samantha Stosur.

Amelie Mauresmo also advanced to the quarterfinals. 8th-seeded Mauresmo will face either top seed and doubles partner Svetalana Kuznetsova or Yanina Wickmayer.

Advancing to the second round today were Stosur, Marion Bartoli, Flavia Pennetta, and Caroline Wozniacki.

Petrova upset in first round of Pilot Pen

Two Russians who have struggled to return to their former tour glory struggled against each other today in the first round of the Pilot Pen Tennis tournament in New Haven today. After losing the first set at love to wild card and 4th seed Nadia Petrova, Anna Chakvetadze won the second set in a tiebreak, then went on to win the third set 6-4.

Chakvetadze's next opponent will be Sybille Bammer, who defeated Anabel Medina Garrigues in the first round today. The Spaniard has had a hard time of it lately, dealing with a knee injury and losing in early rounds.

7th seed Dominika Cibulkova has withdrawn from New Haven with a right rib injury. Replacing her in the draw is lucky loser Varvara Lepchenko.

Jankovic and Kuznetsova both out in 1st round in Eastbourne

2nd seed Svetlana Kuznetsova won only three games today in her first round AEGON International match against Aleksandra Wozniak. Those three games were all played in the second set. Also going out was 3rd seed Jelena Jankovic, who was defeated by former top 10 player Anna Chakvetadze, 6-7, 6-3, 6-2. This score gives Chakvetadze a career lead of 7-3 over Jankovic, who double-faulted nine times during the match.

4th seed Vera Zvonareva, making her first appearance since her unfortunate third round in Charleston, lost to Amelie Mauresmo. Great Britain's top player, Anne Keothavong, also lost in the first round--to Sybille Bammer. And Agnieszka Radwanska handily defeated her younger sister, Urszula.



Aleksandra Wozniak

Medina Garrigues out in first round in Rome

Perhaps she was tired after winning in Fes. Perhaps Anna Chakvetadze found some of her old, great form. For whatever reason, 15th seed Medina Garrigues was defeated today in straight sets by Chakvetadze.

There were no other upsets in Rome today, though one might take pause at the 6-1, 6-0 scoreline of the Agnieszka Radwanska-Alona Bondarenko match. 10th seeded Radwanska did the job in under 50 minutes.

Italy 2-0 against defending champion in Fed Cup

My two favorite Fed Cup teams are Italy and Spain because they put everything they have into the competition. Today, after her three-set win over Russia's Svetlana Kuznetsova, Italian captain Corrado Barazzutti said of Francesca Schiavone, "Francesca is a player made for this competition."

Schiavone--possibly the most exciting player in all Fed Cup competition--defeated Kuznetsova 1-6, 6-2, 6-3. Earlier in the day, Flavia Pennetta picked up a surprisingly poor season by defeating Anna Chakvtadze 6-4, 6-0.

Pennetta is now scheduled to play Kuznetsova, and Schiavone is scheduled to play Chakvetadze, but don't be surprised if Russian captain Shamil Tarpischev substitutes another player for Chakvetadze. He has both Nadia Petrova and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova available. The two of them, in fact, are scheduled to play doubles against Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci.

Miscellany

Anna Kournikova and Tracy Austin will join John McEnroe and Jim Courier for an exhibition event at the Turning Stone Event Center in Verona, New York. The event will take place May 2.

Now that Victoria Azarenka has entered the top 10, the Family Circle Cup already has more top 10 players entered than there were in Indian Wells. So far, Charleston entries include Serena Williams, Elena Dementieva, Venus Williams, Vera Zvonareva, Nadia Petrova, and Azarenka.

Anna Chakvetadze says we won't see her on green clay this year, but maybe she'll play the American clay court tournaments again in the future.

Monica Seles is taking your questions.

Sam Stosur says things are going well with her and new coach Rene Moller, and he will be with her in Miami.

Dubai first round--same song, who knows which verse...

Agnes Szavay and Anna Chakvetadze both went out in the first round in Dubai today. Szavay was defeated 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 by Camille Pin in a match in which Szavay double-faulted nine times. People tend to dismiss Pin because she cannot serve (why didn't she ever do something to fix that?), but the rest of her game is pretty good.

Chakvetadze was beaten by Ayumi Morita, 7-5, 6-2.

In other Dubai news, things went better for Ana Ivanovic this time when she played Alisa Kleybanova in their second round match. Ivanovic won, 7-5, 6-4.