Srebotnik and Chan to vie for mixed doubles title in Australia

2nd seeds Katarina Srebotnik and Daniel Nestor and will play Chan Yung-Jan and Paul Hanley in the Australian Open mixed doubles championship match. Srebotnik and Nestor defeated 3rd seeds Maria Kirilenko and Nenad Zimonjic 6-4, 7-5 in the semifnals. Chan and Hanley defeated Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Horia Tecau 2-6, 6-3, 11-9 (mixed doubles is played with a tiebreak set).

Peng wins gold at Asian Games

Peng Shuai has won the gold medal in singles at the 2010 Asian Games. Peng defeated Akgul Amanmuradova 7-5, 6-2 in the final. China had already won the team gold medal.

The gold medal winners in doubles are Chan Yung-Jan and Chuang Chia-Jung, who used to be a force on the tour before they began playing with other parnters. Chan and Chuang defeated Chang Kai-Chen and Hsieh Su-Wei 7-5, 6-3, meaning that both gold and silver belong to players from Chinese Taipei.

Chan, with partner Yang Tsung-Hua, also won the gold medal in mixed doubles. Chan and Yang defeated Sania Mirza and Vishnu Vardhan 4-6, 6-1, 10-2. They were the second seeds.

Huber & Petrova advance to U.S. Open semifinals

2nd seeds Liezel Huber and Nadia Petrova advanced to the U.S. Open semifinals today, with a 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 win over 5th seeds Lisa Raymond and Rennae Stubbs. Also advancing were 7th seeds Chan Yung-Jan and Zheng Jie. They defeated Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Meghann Shaugnessy 6-4, 6-4.

These U.S. Open doubles matches are quite entertaining. It's a shame so little attention is paid to them.

Miscellany

Dinara Safina has withdrawn from Indian Wells.

Belated birthday (it was yesterday) wishes to Jelena Jankovic, who is playing in Monterrey this week.

Zheng Jie and Chan Yung-Jan had never played doubles together until they combined to win the Malaysian Open championship. After they won the title, they said that they intend to keep playing together. Zheng played successfully for a long time with Yan Zi, and Chan played for quite some time, also successfully, with Chuang Chi-Jung.

Alisa Kleybanova, who was world number 29 before she won the Malaysian Open title, is now ranked number 26.

Kim Clijsters continues to go on and on about the horrible Barbie created "in her likeness" and--as one blogger noted--the equally horrible "baby beauty pageant contestant" little girl supposedly created in her daughter's likeness. Clijsters has mentioned that she is flattered by Mattel's latest attempt to promote body dysmorphic disorder in girls and young women.

Kleybanova wins Malaysian Open

Alisa Kleybanova won the Malaysian Open today. The 4th seed, playing in her first tour final, had to withstand both a rain delay and the opposition of top seed Elena Dementieva, but she came through, 6-3, 6-2. Kleybanova had solid service stats, and also broke Dementieva four times.

Chan Yung-Jan and Zheng Jie, the 2nd seeds, won the doubles title. They defeated Anastasia and Arina Rodionova 6-7, 6-2, 10-7. The unseeded Rodionova sisters took out the top seeds, Kleybanova and Yan Zi, in the second round.

Williams sisters win Stanford doubles title

Venus and Serena Williams won the Stanford doubles championship today, defeating unseeded Chan Yung-Jan and Monica Niculescu 6-4, 6-1. The Williams team was seeded number 2.

Black & Huber upset in Stanford

Top seeds Cara Black and Liezel Huber, the number 1 doubles team in the world, were upset in the Stanford quarterfinals last night by Chan Yung-Jan and Monica Niculescu. Chan and Niculescu will play Venus and Serena Williams in the final. The Williams sisters defeated Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Nadia Petrova, the team who took them out of the French Open.

Injury update

Agnieszka Radwanska has withdrawn from the Warsaw Open; she is still suffering from the back injury she sustained in Madrid.

Also, Caroline Wozniacki has withdrawn because of a back problem.

Really bad news--Chan Yung-Jan will not play in the French Open because the stress fracture in her left food has not healed. I assume that Chuang Chia-Jung will continue to play with Sania Mirza while she waits for her partner to get healthy.

Dominika Cibulkova is still out with a left thigh injury, Ana Ivanovic is taking care of a knee injury, and both Katarina Srebotnik and Vera Zvonareva have ankle injuries. Srebotnik's ankle injury was preceded by an Achilles injury.

We will not see Srebotnik, Zvonareva or Chan at the French Open; we do expect to se Radwanska, Cibulkova and Ivanovic.

Chan and Chuang win East West Bank Classic

They were 2-6, 0-3 down, but Chan Yung-Jan and Chuang Chia-Jung rallied back to win this year's Los Angeles doubles title. They defeated Eva Hrdinova and Vladimira Uhlirova, 2-6, 7-5, 10-4.

This is the team's third title for 2008.

French Open doubles--the upsets keep coming

Today it was number 4 seeds Chan Yung-Jan and Chuang Chia-Jung who made an exit in Paris. They were defeated by number 10 seeds Anabel Medina Garrigues and former world number 1Virginia Ruano Pascual in a very close match--6-7, 7-5, 7-5.

Of the top four seeds, only number 1 seeds Cara Black and Liezel Huber remain.

In the meantime, number 6 seeds Victoria Azarenka and Shahar Peer were also upset, by Casey Dellacqua and Francesca Schiavone, 7-6, 7-5.

Chan and Chuang win in Rome

Chan Yung-Jan and Chuang Chia-Jung have taken the title at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia. They defeated Iveta Benesova and Janette Husarova, 7-6, 6-3.

Chan and Chuang have now won eight career titles. They were also the finalists in both the 2007 Australian Open and the 2007 U.S. Open. The Rome win is their first Tier I title.

Chan and Chuang upset in Indian Wells

The Pacific Life Open's number 2 seeds, Chan Jung-Jan and Chuang Chia-Jung, were upset today by Bethanie Mattek and Sania Mirza, who defeated them 7-5, 4-6, 11-9. Number 1 seeds, Peshke and Stubbs, have already been eliminated from competition.

Chan and Chuang upset in Australian Open

The talented team of Chan Jung-Jan and Chuang Chia-Jung, seeded number 3 at the Australian Open, lost, 6-2, 7-6, in the third round to Flavia Pennetta and Janette Husarova.

The number 2 seeds, Srebotnik and Sugiyama, made an exit in the first round when they were defeated by Venus and Serena Williams.

Zheng and Nestor upset in mixed doubles

Australian Open number 4 seeds Zheng Jie and Daniel Nestor were defeated 7-5, 7-6 by Chan Yung-Jan and Eric Butorac. The winners will play Virginie Razzano and Rogier Wassen.

Meanwhile, in women's doubles, the Bondarenko sisters, Alona and Kateryna, squeaked past number 8 seeds Peng Shuai and Sun Tiantian.

Top qualifying seeds taken out in both Gold Coast and Auckland

Mondial Women's Hardcourts tournament top qualifying seed Chan Yung-Jan has been defeated in the second round of qualifying by Australian Christina Wheeler. Likewise, the ASB Classic number one qualifying seed, Jill Craybas, was defeated by Zhang Shuai of China, also in the second round of qualifying.

Madrid finals set

As expected, Justine Henin and Maria Sharapova are on their way to a final match at the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Year-End Championships in Madrid. Sharapova had an easy time of it today, as her opponent, the ever-fragile Anna Chakvetadze, melted away in an mental meltdown--she has them from time to time--and offered inadequate resistance. Final score: Sharapova def. Chakvetadze, 6-2, 6-2

In the other semifinal, Ana Ivanovic gave Justine Henin an entertaining battle, but it wasn't enough to stop the world number one. There were multiple breaks, and for a moment, it looked like we would get a third set, but it was not to be. Final score: Henin def. Ivanovic, 6-4, 6-4

In doubles action, Srebotnik and Sugiyama defeated Chan and Chuang, 6-2, 6-2, and Black and Huber defeated Peschke and Stubbs, 7-6, 4-6, 10-6.

Chan and Chuang qualify for final 4

Chan Yung-Jan and Chuang Chia-Jung have qualified in doubles competition for the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Year-End Championships. Cara Black and Liezel Huber had already qualified, and there are two slots left. Defending champions Lisa Raymond and Sam Stosur will not be there because Stosur is recovering from viral meningitis, and the highly-ranked Yan Zi and Zheng Jie have not been able to play for several months because of Zheng's ankle injury.