Lepchenko upsets Pennetta in 1st round of French Open

Flavia Pennetta hasn't had such a good season. A serious shoulder injury took her out of Italy's Fed Cup semifinal, which Italy lost. She's been trying to make her way back, but her performance today at the French Open was filled with uncertainty, and--as hard as she fought--the talented Italian just made too many mistakes against an in-form Varvara Lepchenko (who's having her best season ever). During the match, I kept returning to my idea that, during times like these, someone should put Pennetta into a trance and give her the suggestion that she's actually playing in a Fed Cup match. Pennetta looked sad and puzzled during parts of the third set. She saved four match points, but on the fifth, Lepchenko took the match 6-3, 2-6, 6-3.

Pennetta, the tournament's 18th seed, was not the only player to be upset in the opening round. 19th seed Shahar Peer, not surprisingly, was defeated 7-6, 6-1 by Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez.

Bethanie Mattek-Sands fought back from a first set loss to defeat Arantxa Parra Santonja, and Stuttgart champion Julia Goerges defeated Mathilde Johansson in straight sets, though the second set was rather messy.

Pennetta out of Fed Cup

Flavia Pennetta, better known as the Queen of Fed Cup, will not be ruling over the upcoming proceedings in Moscow. Pennetta has a shoulder injury that is preventing her from playing in the 2011 semifinals. Also out is Francesca Schiavone, who has decided to use her time to prepare for the French Open. Doubles stars Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci will be on the team, but the strong likelihood of Itay's winning three consecutive Fed Cup championships is now gone. Joining Errani and Vinci will be Alberta Brianti and Maria Elena Camerin.

Italy plays Russia in the semifinals. The Russian team will be composed of Vera Zvonareva, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, and Ekaterina Makarova. The event will take place April 16 and 17 on a hard court at Megasport Arena.

Passing shots

Flavia Pennetta is now co-ranked number 1 in the world in doubles, sharing the spot with partner Gisela Dulko, and achieving yet another "first" for Italian players.

Dinara Safina has won her first match since September. She defeated Han Xinyun 6-2, 6-0 in the first round of the Malaysian Open. Safina's victory broke a six-match losing streak.

Iveta Benesova is blogging from Monterrey.

Can sportswriters and reporters please stop writing "comeback" when they mean "come back" (the verb)?

Qualifier Anne Kremer, who upset Kimiko Date Krumm in the first round of the Malaysian Open, has advanced to the third round.

Aravane Rezai and Julia Goerges were both upset in the opening round of the Monterrey Open.

Laura Robson reports that she's now bowling with her right arm because her lefty spin created too many gutter balls.

4 left standing in Dubai

One of my fantasies about women's pro tennis is that before Flavia Pennetta goes out to play, someone puts her in a trance and convinces her she is actually at Fed Cup. Today in Dubai, it was as though someone did just that. It isn't that Pennetta is not a top player--she is--but she can waver and be inconsistent. Today, though, she controlled every point in her quarterfinal match against Alisa Kleybanova. Pennetta won the match, 6-2, 6-0, held at love in the final game, and closed with an ace. Her service win percentages for the match were 76 and 80. It doesn't get any better.

Top seed Caroline Wozniacki also moved to the semifinals, with a win over Shahar Peer, and Svetlana Kuznetsova defeated Agnieszka Radwanska in a match that was quite well-played. Jelena Jankovic took out 4th seed Sam Stosur, 6-3, 5-7, 7-6, in a match that went on over 2 hours and 50 minutes, and which contained ten breaks of serve. Getting consecutive wins over Kaia Kanepi and Stosur has to give Jankovic a badly-needed confidence boost. The smile on her face after today's match looked the smile we used to see most of the time.

With today's victory, Wozniacki is again the number 1 player in the world. She will face Jankovic in the semifinals.

In doubles, top seeds Kveta Peschke and Katarina Srebotnik are still in the competition, as are wild cards Svetlana Kuznetsova and Vera Zvonareva.

It's shaped like a boot

And it must feel like one to Fed Cup opponents. The Fed Cup defending champions traveled halfway around the world to "give the boot" to Australia in this season's World Group quarterfinals. Despite being up a set, a break, and two break points, Francesca Schiavone lost to Jarmila Groth on the first day of play, but that turned out to be Australia's only victory. At the end of day 1, after Flavia Pennetta defeated Sam Stosur, the two countries were tied 1-1. On the second day, Schiavone defeated Stosur 7-6 (1), 3-6, 7-5 in a very tight match in which Stosur saved four match points. Pennetta then defeated Groth, which put Italy into the semifinals.

The doubles rubber was played, and even though it had no meaning in terms of points, it had other significance. For one thing, it was the last professional match of Rennae Stubbs, whose partner was Anastasia Rodionova. Also, the doubles rubber put Roberta Vinci's perfect Fed Cup doubles record on the line. She and partner Sara Errani won the championship in Hobart earlier this year, so there was certainly a comfort level there with the court and the surroundings. Team Australia went up a set and break, but the Italians were a1ble to claim the victory with a 2-6, 7-6 (1), 6-4 score.

Roberta Vinci is now 16-0 in Fed Cup doubles play. And the Queen of Fed Cup, aka Flavia Pennetta, has now won ten straight Fed Cup singles matches (and eleven straight matches); she has a career record of 20-4 in Fed Cup singles play.

France up 2-0 against Russia in Fed Cup World Group

Until today, Alize Cornet of France had never won a Fed Cup match. In fact, a few years ago, she asked to be removed from second day play because she could not handle the pressure of Fed Cup competition. It was a different story today, though: In the first rubber of competition against former champion Russia, Cornet defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova 3-6, 6-3, 6-4. Cornet twisted her ankle in the final set, and had to take time out to have it bandaged.

In the second rubber, Virginie Razzano defeated Maria Sharapova 6-3, 6-4. Sharapova went down 1-4 in the second set, but caught up. Russia's hopes were quickly dashed, however, when Razzano broke Sharapova in the next game, and then held at love to win the match. It was a fine display of tennis from the Frenchwoman, who has what it takes to beat higher-ranked players. As for Sharapova--it wasn't a performance she'll want to think about.

Belgium is up 2-0 against the USA. Yanina Wickmayer saved a set point in her second set against Bethanie Mattek-Sands, then defeated her 6-1, 7-6. Kim Clijsters then defeated Melanie Oudin 6-0, 6-4.

Also leading 2-0 is the Czech Republic. Lucie Safarova defeated Daniela Hantuchova of the Slovak Republic, 7-5, 6-1, and Petra Kvitova defeated Dominika Cibulkova 6-2, 6-3. Kvitova looked really good in this match, and--as she continues to refine the rough edges of her game--she looks more and more like someone who who is headed to the top of the game.

Defending champion Italy is tied 1-1 with Australia. Francesca Schiavone (though she took the first set the hard way, in a tiebreak) was up a set and 2-0, and had two break points against Jarmila Groth. But what looked like a relatively easy win for Italy turned into an upset, as Groth held her serve, then turned the match around. Schiavone went down 3-5, 0-30 in the second set, but saved three match points. She then hit an ace to get a game point, but it began to rain and play stopped. When the players returned to the court, Schiavone saved a fourth match point with a drop shot, but Groth was successful with her fifth match point. She defeated Schiavone 6-7, 6-3, 6-3.

In the next rubber, however, Italy was able to even the score as Flavia Pennetta defeated Sam Stosur 7-6, 6-7, 6-4. Stosur served for both sets, but was broken. Pennetta is now 4-0 against Stosur; this is the first time Stosur has ever taken a set off of the Italian.

Tomorrow, in the Russia-France competition, Sharapova is scheduled to play Cornet in the third rubber, but no one should be surprised if Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova is selected to sub for Sharapova.

Dulko & Pennetta win Australian Open doubles championship

When Gisela Dulko and Flavia Pennetta left the court after their semifinal victory, right before they went into the tunnel, they did one final "keep the faith" high-five. On Friday, as they came out of the tunnel and walked onto the court to play the final, they turned and looked at each other for just a moment. It was subtle, but it was an unmistakable "this is it" exchange, maybe with a touch of "let's kick some ass" thrown in. The top seeds served so well and played so well in the semifinal against Liezel Huber and Nadia Petrova, it was easy to believe they had the confidence to win their first major.

But it didn't play that way--not for a while, anyway. Dulko, in particular, looked like a shadow of herself, and had a hard time serving. Victoria Azarenka and Maria Kirilenko, on the other hand, played very aggressively. Azarenka hit the ball really hard, and made a number of flashy volleys. In no time, the 12th seeds had won the first set 6-2.

The pattern continued, with Dulko and Pennetta occasionally showing their number 1 style, but they just didn't have enough going for them to resist the speed and precision of Azarenka, and it didn't seem to occur to them to launch an attack on Kirilenko, who was not playing quite up to her partner's level. Azarenka and Kirilenko went up 4-1, and were a point from going up 5-1, when--perhaps inspired by Li Na--Dulko woke up, so to speak, and went all crazy on them at the net. For the next few games, Dulko was unstoppable.

Azarenka and Kirilenko weren't the same after that, and neither were Dulko and Pennetta. The signature Dulko lobs and Pennetta steady groundstrokes and penetrating volleys began to appear in great numbers, as Azarenka increasingly missed her volleys and hit balls outside the lines. The top seeds won the second set 7-5, and they cruised throught the third, winning it 6-1.

I'm not sure I've ever seen anyone as happy lifting a trophy as Dulko and Pennetta were, especially Pennetta, who is the first Italian player to win a championship at the Australian Open. The two have been very close friends for many years, and they have always played doubles together when they felt like it. Last year, however, they made a commitment to be a regular doubles team, and they shot up to the number 1 spot in the world. This is their first major championship, however, and they won it in a very dramatic way.

Vergeer makes great start in Australian Open

Esther Vergeer made a statement in her opening Australian Open match on Wednesday: The top seed defeated Sharon Walraven 6-0, 6-0. 2nd seed Daniela Di Toro also won her quarterfinal match, allowing her opponent to win only three games. Vergeer is on a 405-match winning streak, and she has a 610-25 career record.

Players and former players like to hit with Vergeer during majors. During the U.S. Open, Martina Navratilova hit with her. In Melbourne, Rohan Bopanna hit with Vergeer, and he did it while sitting in a wheelchair.

Kveta Peschke and Katarina Srebotnik, seeded second in women's doubles, were upset in straight sets in the semifinals by 12th seeds Victoria Azarenka and Maria Kirilenko. Their opponents in the final will be Gisela Dulko and Flavia Pennetta, who served really well--and played really well--against 3rd seeds Liezel Huber and Nadia Petrova. The top seeds defeated Huber and Petrova 6-4, 7-5, and are now a match away from winning their first major.

The Australia Day crowd was quite noisy and spirited. As Pennetta attempted to serve for the first set, fans broke into song. When she tried to serve again, other fans broke into laughter because of the song. Later, a loud quacking sound could be heard in the stands. There was also a lot of very enthusiastic cheering; if you didn't know better, you would have thought it was a Fed Cup match.

Huber beats Black in doubles

Long-time partners (and bitterly-split ex-partners) Cara Black and Liezel Huber competed against each other in doubles at the Australian Open quarterfinals on Tuesday, with Huber and Nadia Petrova defeating Black and Anastasia Rodionova 6-1, 6-4. Top seeds Gisela Dulko and Flavia Pennetta also advanced, with a 6-0, 6-3 win over Natalie Grandin and Vladimira Uhlirova.

2nd seeds Kveta Peschke and Katarina Srebotnik won in straight sets over 9th seeds Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Meghann Shaugnessy, and 12th seeds Victoria Azarenka and Maria Kirilenko defeated Chuang Chia-Jung and Hsieh Su-Wei.

I assume that the Azarenka-Kirilennko pairing is a temporary one. Agnieszka Radwanska, Kirilenko's usual partner, was not expected to play, and was not able to make a firm decision about playing until the last minute.

Radwanska and Peng--together again as you always wanted to see them

Agnieszka Radwanska and Peng Shuai are incapable of stepping onto a tennis court together and quickly getting off. Every time they play one another, it's a knock-down, drag-out affair, with no shortage of entertainment for spectators. Old habits die hard: You can expect Peng to work extra hard to overcome her lack of a strong serve, you can expect Radwanska to have a very poor second serve, and you can look for Peng to most likely let match points slip by.

That was the case in the Australian Open round of 16 match which Radwanska won 7-5, 3-6, 7-5, but only after two hours and 44 minutes of tough, and often frustrating, competition. Radwanska, who became error-prone and passive in the second set, went up 3-1, 40-0 in the third. There was a questionable line call, and maybe that threw her off her rhythm, or maybe it was just inevitable that she and Peng drag the set out as long as possible. At any rate, Radwanska was broken in that game. Peng served for the match at 5-4, and Radwanska saved two match points. Finally, Radwanska won, on her second match point.

Radwanska wasn't even supposed to be in Melbourne. After having surgery in October for a stress fracture in her foot, she was told she could return to the tour in March, and that there was a one per cent chance she could play in the Australian Open. The straight-faced player from Poland provided the biggest laugh of the first week (and probably of the tournament) in an earlier round, when her racquet head flew off in the middle of a rally. After her fourth round match against Peng, Radwanska can probably be declared an official safety hazard: During the match, she hit a return which smacked a ballboy right in the head. Radwanska stopped play, checked on the ballboy, and shook his hand. Apparently, there was no real harm done.

Other round of 16 matches weren't as eventful, but they were certainly worth watching. 2nd seed Vera Zvonareva gradually worked her way into her match against Iveta Benesova, and eventually built up enough momentum to completely dominate the Czech player. Benesova, who had taken out two other Russian seeds, lost control of her serve, most likely because she was done in by the occasion. Zvonareva defeated her 6-4, 6-1.

And then there was Petra Kvitova, who defeated Flavia Pennetta 3-6, 6-3, 6-3. Pennetta served extremely well in the first set, and looked as though she might make short work of the rising Czech player. But in the second set, Pennetta did not serve as well, and Kvitova's confidence shot up. The longer they played, the more deadly Kvitova's shot-making became, and she wore Pennetta down. Kvitova made 43 unforced errors, compared with Pennetta's 33. However, she also hit 46 winners, compared with Pennetta's 16. (You might call her the anti-Woz.)

A notable upset occurred in the junior girls' competition on Monday. Kanami Tsuji of Japan defeated top seed Daria Gavrilova 6-4, 6-3. Gavrilova won the U.S. Open in juniors, and also won a gold medal at the inaugural Youth Olympic Games.

Stosur out of Australian Open

Theoretically, a tall, left-handed, flat-hitting opponent with a strong forehand has what it takes to give Sam Stosur a lot of trouble. That became more than theory on the sixth day of the Australian Open: Brisbane champion Petra Kvitova upset 5th seed Stosur 7-6, 6-3. Kvitova, the tournament's 25th seed, hit hard flat balls repeatedly to Stosur's backhand, which is decidedly Stosur's weaker side. The Stosur forehand broke down, too, although Kvitova ended the match with more unforced errors than Stosur. She also ended the match with 35 winners, opposed to Stosur's eleven, all of which were hit in the first set. Most impressive were Kvitova's first and second serve win percentages of 80 and 58.

This is not the first time that Stosur has run into a player who isn't bothered by her kick serve and her heavy topspin. Players like Kvitova, who hit the ball flat and go for the lines, can dictate play and neutralize the hitting of even a talented player like the Australian. It was a bonus for Kvitova that she is also left-handed.

Stosur's upset was the biggest on the sixth day, but she had company. Iveta Benesova and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova played a see-saw match that ended with a 6-3, 1-6, 7-5 victory for Benesova over the 16th seed. Each player dominated a set, and the third set was a constant struggle for domination. In the end, though, Benesova was clever, and Pavlyuchenkova was worn down. The Czech doubles star has now removed two Russian seeds (she upset Maria Kirilenko in the second round), and she gets 2nd seed Vera Zvonareva in the next round.

Zvonareva was hardly at her best in her third round match, but she got past 31st seed Lucie Safarova, 6-3, 7-6. Kim Clijsters, the third seed, was far below her best, but defeated Alize Cornet 7-6, 6-3. 12th seed Agnieszka Radwanska had an easy win over Simona Halep, and Peng Shuai defeated Ayumi Morita. Peng was cramping pretty badly toward the end of the match, and was hobbling around the court. That didn't stop her from winning, of course, and let's hope that she gets sufficient rest before her next round.

13th seed Nadia Petrova is out, too. Petrova played Ekaterina Makarova, who upset 19th seed Ana Ivanovic in the first round. For all of its flaws, this match was fun to watch. Each woman took a set, and--just as with the Benesova-Pavlyuchenkova match--the third set was a drawn-out struggle for domination. Makarova served for the match twice and was broken both times. The second time, she had two match points. The Russian player stayed surprisingly calm in the face of so many lost opportunities, and hung in while Petrova's unforced errors increased. At the end of the 72-minutes third set, Makarova advanced with a 6-2, 3-6, 8-6 victory.

Shahar Peer, the 10th seed, played an aggressive first set against 22nd seed Flavia Pennetta and won it 6-3. Pennetta dialed her play up a notch in the second set, and won it impressively in a tiebreak. One of the commentators made a point of reminding viewers that Pennetta is quite familiar with Peer's tendency to back away and play it safe, and that's exactly what happened. Pennetta took the third set 6-4, and advanced to the next round. Peer is a good player with a lot of tenacity, but when the tension arises, she tends to wilt, just when she should be more aggressive.

Miscellany

World number 1 Caroline Wozniacki is rumored to be making a racquet change in 2011. Her contract with Babolat expires at the end of this month, and there is speculation that she will switch to Yonex next year. Wozniacki played a recent exhibition match with a Yonex racquet whose brand name was blacked out.

Flavia Pennetta, who plays with a Wilson Blade racquet, will be using the new Wilson Blade 98 Pink BLX, which is described by Wilson as "aggressive yet feminine." Thank goodness.

Yaroslava Shvedova has a new website.

More than half of Martina Navratilova's fundraising goal for the Laureus Sport for Good Foundation has been reached. Navratilova plans to raise $134,000 for the foundation as she climbs Mount Kilimanjaro. Kilimanjaro is over 19,000 feet high, and Navratilova has never climbed higher than 12,000 feet; she said she is not concerned about fitness, but about the lack of air at that height. Should she reach the top as planned, she will be hitting tennis balls. "With the air being that thin, they should go a long way."

Jelena Dokic has received a wild card into the main draw of the Brisbane International.

Ladies with an attitude

It's the video of the year. C Note got it from ziamiki, so thanks to both of them--and now I'm sharing it with you. In a moment that is somewhere beyond camp, the members of the Italian Fed Cup team (take special note of Roberta Vinci) give us their interpretation of Madonna's "Vogue" video.

Clijsters named WTA Player of the Year

For the second time in her career, Kim Clijsters has been named WTA Player of the Year. Clijsters defended her U.S. Open title, won the WTA Champioships, and also won titles in Brisbane, Miami and Cincinnati. Clijsters was also the recipient of the Player Service Award.

Gisela Dulko and Flavia Pennetta were named the Doubles Team of the Year. Dulko and Pennetta won seven titles together in 2010.

The remaining awards follow:

Comeback Player of the Year--Justine Henin
Newcomer of the Year--Petra Kvitova
Humanitarian of the Year--Maria Sharapova
Karen Krantzche Sports(wo)manship Award--Elena Dementieva

Once again, the players chose the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart as their favorite premier tournament. The Pattaya Open was chosen as the favorite international tournament.

Italy defends Fed Cup title with a 3-1 victory

There was one bright moment for the USA Fed Cup team today: Melanie Oudin, looking very much like she did in the 2009 U.S. Open, soundly defeated Francesca Schiavone 6-3, 6-1 in the third rubber of the 2010 Fed Cup final. Bethanie Mattek-Sands was scheduled to play in this rubber, but after her cramping incident yesterday (Mattek-Sands told the press that she the only times she had ever cramped, she had been ill; it turns out that she arrived in San Diego with a sinus infection), USA captain Mary Joe Fernandez decided to keep her out of competition.

Oudin and Schiavone continually broke each other in the first set, then Oudin was able to hold for 5-3. That was all she needed. When she won the set, Italy's Flavia Pennetta left the stands and headed for the locker room, realizing that her services might be needed.

Though it would have been reasonable to assume that Schiavone would pull herself together for the second set, that assumption would have been wrong. Oudin held, then broke the error-prone Italian at love. Shiavone held at love after Oudin went up 3-0, and it seemed that the momentum would change. But by this time, Oudin was beating Schiavone at her own game. She regained her forehand form, and was able to slice and drop the ball and move Schiavone around successfully. Meanwhile, Schiavone made significant errors, and Oudin ended the match 6-3, 6-1 with an ace.

"I really approached it as 'I haven't had a big match in a while, I haven't played a top 10 player in a while, I had no fear'," Oudin said after the match.

Coco Vandeweghe (could her mother please start sitting with the Djokovic clan?) began her match against Flavia Pennetta by breaking the Italian. But it wasn't long before the USA's representative demonstrated enough inconsistency and poor movement to allow Pennetta to dominate. Tired though she may have been, Pennetta rose to the occasion and expertly defeated Vandeweghe 6-1, 6-2. Pennetta made a total of only eight unforced errors in the match.

Italy defeated the USA in the Fed Cup final last year, also. The Italian team also won the title in 2006.

It has been a great year for Italy. The team won another Fed Cup title, Schiavone won the French Open, and Pennetta was half of the tour's top doubles team.

Fed Cup final, day 1: Italy leads 2-0

Italy is now one match away from winning a second consecutive Fed Cup final. The defending champions won both singles rubbers against the USA today. In the first match, first-time Fed Cup player Coco Vandeweghe was defeated 6-2, 6-4 by Francesca Schiavone. Vandeweghe was visibly anxious in the first set, but calmed down in the second, and occasionally issued a challenge to Schiavone.

The second match had some high drama. A tired and physically down Flavia Pennetta--playing her 72nd singles match of the season (she has also played 64 doubles matches)--was still able to go up 5-1 in the first set. But then her opponent, Bethanie Mattek-Sands, won five straight games. Pennetta held, and a tiebreak ensued.

Mattek-Sands, who is always fun to watch, worked so hard to get into the tiebreak, but then experienced a loss of focus, which gave Pennetta the first set. "After a while, I was beginning to breathe," Pennetta commented later about the tight first set. "For a while, I wasn't breathing at all."

By this time, the two players had competed for an hour and 23 minutes. Several games into the second set, Mattek-Sands began to cramp. Pennetta knew that something was going on, but--she revealed later--she didn't know what it was, and she allowed her confusion to overcome her focus. As a result, Mattek-Sands, who received routine treatment during a changeover, was able to hang in for a while against the Italian. Pennetta won the set 6-2, however.

Mattek-Sands is scheduled to play Francesca Schiavone in tomorrow's first match, but, of course, whether she plays depends on how well she recovers from the cramping. Vandeweghe is scheduled to play Pennetta, though there was some talk today about substituting Melanie Oudin. Mattek-Sands' health will dictate some of the decisions that USA captain Mary Joe Fernandez makes tomorrow.

The Italian players both displayed end-of-the-season weariness. "You arrive 'finished'," Schiavone said of the fatigue involved in traveling from Doha to California; Pennetta said she had not been feeling too good all week.

Clijsters wins WTA Championships--Dulko & Pennetta win, too

Kim Clijsters, who has won every final in which she has competed this year, didn't disappoint in Doha Sunday. Clijsters defeated world number 1 Caroline Wozniacki 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 in the WTA Championships. Clijsters went up 4-1 in the second set, but Wozniacki won a series of games and forced a third set. The world number 1 immediately broke in that final set, but Clijsters broke back, and continued to hold the momentum until the end of the match. "It seemed like it would never end," the champion said later.

This was the third time that Clijsters has won the Championships. The Doha victory was her fifth title of 2010; Clijsters won the U.S. Open for the second year in a row.

Gisela Dulko and Flavia Pennetta continued their winning ways, too, defeating Kveta Peschke and Katarina Srebotnik 7-5, 6-4 in the doubles final, and saving a set point in the first set. Dulko and Pennetta are the number 1 doubles team in the world, and when the new rankings come out, Dulko will be number 1 in the world.

Long-time friends Dulko and Pennetta have played doubles together on and off for years, but decided to be a committed team in 2010. The Doha victory gives them seven titles for the year; Dulko won an eighth title with Edina Gallovits.

Clijsters and Wozniacki to play for Doha title

In the film, Whip It, when the end-of-season championship bout takes place, announcer Johnny Rocket reminds spectators that it has all come down to competitors Iron Maven and Babe Ruthless, and "Would you want it any other way?" It is also no surprise that the WTA Championships have come down to Kim Clijsters and Caroline Wozniacki. Clijsters, a member of the white group and the tournament's 3rd seed, defeated Sam Stosur 7-6, 6-1 today. Maroon group member and top seed Wozniacki defeated Vera Zvonareva 7-5, 6-0. Both Stosur and Zvonareva had problems with their second serves. Prior to the semifinals, Zvonareva was the only player with a perfect round-robin record.

Would we have wanted it any other way? Some of us, yes. But it is certainly fitting that Clijsters and Wozniacki meet on a hard court to determine who wins the Championships.

In doubles semifinal play, Kveta Peschke and Katarina Srebotnik defeated Lisa Raymond and Rennae Stubbs 7-5, 6-3. Vania King and Yaroslava Shvedova, who have suprised fans this season with their victories in really big events, apparently didn't find Doha quite big enough: They were defeated 6-4, 6-4 by Gisela Dulko and Flavia Pennetta, this year's top doubles team. Dulko and Pennetta defeated Peschke and Srebotnik in the finals in both Stuttgart and Montreal.

Doubles draw made in Doha

The doubles draw has been made in Doha, and Gisela Dulko and Flavia Pennetta will play Vania King and Yaroslava Shvedova in the semifinals. Kveta Peschke and Katarina Srebotnik will play Lisa Raymond and Rennae Stubbs in the other semifinal match.

The first semifinal is of particular interest. Dulko and Pennetta--close friends who have been occasional doubles partners for years and decided to play as a consistent team this year--are the top-ranked team, with six 2010 doubles titles. They won Miami, Stuttgart, Rome, Bastad, Montreal, and Moscow. They also reached the finals in Madrid and Beijing.

King and Shvedova, on the other hand, had played together in only two tournaments--both this year--when they won the 2010 Wimbledon title. In their next three events, they failed to get beyond the second round. But then they won the U.S. Open, defeating Dulko and Pennetta along the way.

Azarenka and Vinci win Moscow & Luxembourg titles

There was no report yesterday on the Moscow and Luxembourg matches because I was traveling and did not have Internet access. As everyone knows by now, 6th seed Maria Kirilenko defeated Vera Dushevina in the Kremlin Cup semifinals, and 2nd seed Victoria Azarenka defeated 8th seed Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez.

Today, Azarenka won the Kremlin Cup by defeating Kirilenko 6-3, 6-4. Top seeds Gisela Dulko and Flavia Pennetta won the doubles title, defeating 3rd seeds Sara Errani and Martinez Sanchez 6-3, 2-6, 10-6.

Roberta Vinci won the Luxembourg Open, defeating 8th seed Julia Goerges 6-3, 6-4. In the semifinals, Vinci defeated Anne Keothavong, and Goerges defeated Angelique Kerber. The doubles title was won by 2nd seeds Timea Bacsinzky and Tathiana Garbin. They defeated top seeds Iveta Benesova and Barbora Zahlavova Strycova 6-4, 6-4.