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.

Robson out of Australian Open qualifying

Laura Robson, who was scheduled to play in the qualifying rounds of the Australian Open, has been forced to withdraw because of an upper thigh injury she sustained in Hopman Cup competition. Robson has also withdrawn from the first round of Fed Cup play. She will rest her leg and receive treatment for three weeks.

Robson is one of four players who were injured playing in Perth.

Miscellany

Laura Robson, who has been training at the Mouratoglou Academy for a year, has hired Patrick Mouratoglou to be her coach for the 2011 season.

Serena Williams and her crystal-encrusted rehab boot are now being spotted on tennis courts.

Tennis Channel is now airing its Hot Shots of 2010. Look for the feature to be shown several times.

Hopman Cup competition begins on January 1.

Justine Henin reports that it may take months for her elbow to be fully healed.

Olivia Rogowska has been given a wild card into the main draw of the Hobart Inernational tournament. She recently won the Australian Open wild card playoffs in Australia.

Miscellany

The USTA has filed a suit against Olympus, the sponsor of the U.S. Open Series. The contract between Olympus and the USTA, which runs through 2013, stipulates that the camera company can opt out of the last two years if wishes to, but Olympus officials decided to opt out in 2011, which is a year early. The USTA is calling this action a breach of contract, but Olympus maintains that the USTA already breached the contract by permitting Panasonic to infringe on Olympus's sponsorship rights. USTA officials have referred to this opinion as being "without merit."

Don't miss WTA Backspin's WTA Yearbook.

A number of tennis and sports websites are reporting that Kimiko Date Krumm will retire next year. When she lost in the Asian Games, she said that she was very tired and maybe would have to quit next year, then she almost immediately felt better and talked about her future tennis plans. Though she certainly could stop after next year, the statement that she absolutely "will retire" was taken out of context by the Asian press and has been carelessly reprinted.

Laura Robson, who split with her coach in September, is reported to be looking for a new one.

Here are some early, and really cute, photos of the Williams sisters.

Robson out of U.S. Open junior draw in 3rd round

Laura Robson, whose decision to not play in juniors somehow never come to pass, lost in the third round of the U.S. Open junior girls' competition today. Robson, seeded 8th, was defeated by the USA's Robin Anderson. Also going out was 4th seed Elina Svitolina, 6-4, 6-0. Stephens is seeded 15th.

Karolina Pliskova advanced to the quarterfinals. Her sister, Kristyna, lost in the second round.

Pre-U.S. Open Miscellany

Anastasia Pavlyuchenko began her stay in New York by doing a photo shoot for Babolat.

Laura Robson defeated Jelena Dokic 6-1, 6-4 in the first round of U.S. qualifying. Of note: Robson hit eleven aces.

"Even though she’s a mom, success still matters a great deal to her," says Matt Cronin of defending champion Kim Clijsters. (Because we all know that having a child wipes out all desire and ambition in women.)

Vera Zvonareva and Lisa Raymond are two of the players who have designated tomorrow as a shopping day in New York.

To prepare for the Open, Maria Sharapova has been training at the Bollettieri Academy.

Serena Williams was co-commentator for Nike's Prime Time Knockout last night at Pier 54 in Manhattan. Victoria Azarenka was one of the participants.

Robson defeated in semifinals

8th seed Laura Robson lost her semifinal match in Wimbledon junor competition today. She was defeated 7-5, 7-6by 10th seed Sachie Ishizu. Ishizu's opponent in the final will be 9th seed Krystina Pliskova, who defeated Yulia Putintseva 6-1, 6-4. Robson won the event in 2008.

In the doubles quarterfinals, the 2nd-seeded Pliskova sisters were upset by 5th seeds Veronica Cepede Royg and Cristina Dinu.

Robson to play in Wimbledon junior competition

Britain's Laura Robson, who went out in the first round in Wimbledon singles, doubles and mixed doubles, is using a wild card to play in the junior Wimbledon Championships. Robson won the event in 2008, when she defeated Noppowan Lertcheewakarn in the final.

Robson, who is seeded 8th, will play Risa Ozaki of Japan in the first round. The top seed this year is Elina Svitolina of Ukraine. Seeded fourth is Karolina Pliskova, who defeated Robson in the Australian Open junior girls final.

French Open champion out in 1st round of Wimbledon

Last year, Francesca Schiavone suprised everyone by reaching the quarterfinals of Wimbledon. This year, she suprised a lot of people by winning the French Open. But her 2010 Wimbledon run did not even go for one match, though it did go for 2 hours and 54 minutes. Schiavone and former junior Wimbledon champion Vera Dushevina played a hard-fought match that ended with a 6-7 (all 7 points to Schiavone), 7-5, 6-1 victory for Dushevina.

4th seed Jelena Jankovic had to deal with the big-serving Laura Robson and a crowd of Robson supporters. Robson hit 13 aces, but could not overcome the deft movement of Jankovic (who, by the way hit ten forehand down-the-line winners). Eastbourne champion Ekaterina Makarova was down 2-5 in her second set against Agnes Szavay, but won the match 6-4, 7-6. And Alison Riske--though she played quite well--was not able to defeat Yanina Wickmayer twice in a row. Wickmayer, the 15th seed, won their match 6-4, 5-7, 6-3, but one could not help but be impressed with both the game and the poise of Riske.

It took her four match points but 13th seed Shahar Peer defeated Ana Ivanovic 6-3, 6-4. 2nd seed Venus Williams, 8th seed Kim Clijsters, and 17th seed Justine Henin all won in straight sets, as did Melanie Oudin. Alona Bondarenko served for the match in the second set, and was broken; opponent Katie O'Brien then won that set in a 12-10 tiebreak. When Bondarenko served for the match a second time, she won (6-3, 6-7, 6-4) on her fourth match point, after facing a break point.

Jankovic and Robson first on Centre Court

The first round match between 4th seed Jelena Jankovic and wild card Laura Robson will take place on Wimbledon's Centre Court tomorrow, following defending champion Roger Federer's first round match. Robson, who won the Wimbledon junior championship in 2008, is currently ranked number 234 in the world. She received a wild card last year, also, and lost in the first round to Daniela Hantuchova.

The winner will play either Eleni Daniilidou or Aleksandra Wozniak, who lost in Birmingham to Robson's peer, Heather Watson. Watson also has a wild card for the Wimbledon main draw.

Now that the draw has been changed to reflect the withdrawals of Dinara Safina and Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, Melanie Oudin--who replaced Safina in the draw--will face Anna Lena Groenefeld in the first round. She was originally scheduled to play Kirsten Flipkens. Kateryna Bondarenko, who was to have played Maria Sharapova in the first round, will now play Greta Arn.

Robson and Watson get Wimbledon wild cards

Laura Robson and Heather Watson have been granted wild cards into the main draw of Wimbledon. Katie O'Brien and Melanie South have also been granted wild cards, and four more wild cards will be announced at a later date.

Robson received a wild card last year, and lost to Daniela Hantuchova in the first round.

Voegele retires, Robson advances to 2nd round in Birmingham

Stephanie Voegele retired today during her first round in Birmingham, in a match against qualifier Laura Robson. Voegele retired with a lower back injury. Also retiring from lower back problem was Regina Kulikova.

12th seed Elena Baltacha will play her first round match against qualifier Kaia Kanepi tomorrow, and Anne Keothavong will play Pauline Parmentier. The other British players--wild card Naomi Broady, wild card Melanie South, Katie Obrien, and wild card Heather Watson--all lost today.

Also going out today was qualifier Michaella Krajicek, defeated by Anastasia Rodionova.

Quote of the day

While Robson isn't exactly John Mayer, she has carried the torch of misogyny long toted on the WTA tour.

David Rosenberg

And this is the player who's promoting gender equality?

"Some of the tennis girls, they’re sluts. They go with every guy and make such a bad name for themselves--and you don’t want to be known for stuff like that. You want to be more discreet."

Thank you, Laura Robson, for using your considerable public platform to perpetuate the tired patriarchal sexual double standard. Are you also going to give us a lecture on the "tennis guys" who "go with every girl" and are therefore "sluts"?

I didn't think so. And even if you did, that would still be a a boldly judgmental take on the personal preferences of others.

Robson is very young, and one is tempted to say that--when she is older--she will realize what a sexist remark she made. But the odds against such a realization are overwhelming because when it comes to the sexual double standard--nothing has changed since the 1950s. A U.S. study done a few years revealed that  university women who even asked men out were considered "sluts." Robson is a product of her culture, and her culture--like mine--is always ready to label as a "slut" a woman who dares to make sexual choices that men are permitted to make with no fuss.

Robson, with her ready wit, is generally a breath of fresh air. But if she is going to promote gender equality and female empowerment, then she needs to help create a non-sexist culture for girls, not attack them because they don't meet an oppressive cultural standard designed to keep women from making choices about their own lives.

Miscellany

Laura Robson and Jamie Murray have asked for a wild card into the Wimbledon mixed doubles competition.

Ai Sugiyama will represent the sport of tennis as an Athlete Role Model at the inaugural Youth Olympic Games, which will be held in Singapore in August.

Li Na will donate her Madrid prize money to the China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation. The organization is helping earthquake victims in Yushu.

Anne Keothavong has been moved to the main draw of the French Open.

Since today is Mother's Day in the U.S., Women Who Serve gives you an update on Tzipi Obziler, who was repeatedly left off of the list of mothers on the tour until the day she retired. I suppose the tour authorities (who still don't list Obziler's motherhood in her official tour bio) and the media thought they couldn't sidestep the "issue" anymore. Obziler is now a council member in the municipality of her home city, Givatayim, in Israel.

Miscellany

Laura Robson has entered the top 300; she now has a ranking of 269.

Here are some FAQs about drug-testing and doping. (Some of us have questions that aren't on that list, however.)

Svetlana Kuznetsova says she's tired of people making negative comments about her tennis.

Shahar Peer has hit 13 aces in three rounds in Stuttgart.

World number 3 Dinara Safina celebrated her 24th birthday on Tuesday.

Serena Williams is in Time Magazine's 2010 "Time 100" list of the 100 most influential people in the world.

Miscellany

Anastasia Rodionova will participate for the first time as an Australian during the Fed Cup playoff taking place later this month. Australia will play Ukraine in Kharkiv. Also on the Australian team are Sam Stosur, Alicia Molik and Rennae Stubbs. Rodionova was born in Russian and played for Russia for several years.

The Sony Ericsson WTA Tour and Sony Ericsson have launched SuperFans, a social media channel that aggregates the social media of all participating players. This is the first project of its kind in professional sports.

Serena Williams has asked organizers of the Italian Open to hold a wild card spot open for her. This year, the event will be played in a new 10,500-seat stadium.

Kim Clijsters has accepted a wild card into the tournament in Marbella.

Laura Robson says her suitcase is this big.

I miss Dinara. A lot.

Karolina Pliskova wins Australian Open junior girls championship

For the second time in two years, Laura Robson is the junior girls Australian Open finalist. Robson was defeated 6-1, 7-6 by Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic in a match that went terribly wrong for Robson at the end.

After winning the first set handily, Pliskova went up a break immediately in the second set. But when she served for the match at 5-4, Robson broke her. Robson then held at love, and the momentum of the match appeared to have turned dramatically. She was unable to break Pliskova, however, so the match went into a tiebreak.

Robson got a mini-break right away and went up 4-1, but Pliskova eventually got the score even at 4-all. When Robson committed her second double-fault of the match, Pliskova went up 6-4. Robson saved a match point with a down-the-line winner, but then double-faulted again on the second match point.

Robson defeated Pliskova's twin, Kristyna, in the semifinals.

The new junior champion, who was seeded 6th at the tournament, hit thirteen aces in the final.

Robson goes to Australian Open junior girls final

Laura Robson defeated Kristyna Pliskova 6-3, 6-1 in the semifinals of junior competition in Melburne yesterday. Robson will play Pliskova's twin, the 6th-seeded Karolina, in the final. Karolina Pliskova ended the run of Tang Hao Chen by defeating her 2-6, 7-6, 6-2.

Robson advances to the quarterfinals

Laura Robson defeated Cristina Dinu 6-3, 6-3 today in the third round of Australian Open junior competition. Robson's next opponent will be Ester Goldfield.

Tang Hao Chen, who upset 2nd seed Heather Watson in the first round, also advanced to the quarterfinals when her opponent, Yana Buchina, retired.