Passing shots

Svetlana Kuznetsova has split with her coach, Carlos Cuadrado. When it comes to Kuznetsova and Ivanovic, I need to have a "________ has split with _________" template on the ready.

Petra Kvitova and Vera Zvonareva are skipping the tournament in Rome. Kvitova will play in a $100k challenger in Prague.

Lisa Raymond recently had brunch with Billie Jean King and Ilana Kloss in New York City. Raymond calls King a "ball of positive energy."

Piotr Wozniacki has taken a page from the Walter Bartoli playbook, and--during the clay season--is requiring Caroline to do three-hour workouts every day, including the days she plays matches.

Here is a video peek of Maria Sharapova's Eiffel Tower-inspired French Open dress.

Passing shots

Ana Ivanovic has already parted ways with new coach Antonio van Grichen. Ivanovic says her plan is to hire a full-time hitting partner while she shops for a coach. van Grichen, who formerly coached both Victoria Azarenka and Vera Zvonareva, had been working with Ivanovic only since the off-season.

Meanwhile, Galina Voskoboeva has returned to the tour and has a new coach--recently retired WTA player Alina Jidkova. Voskoboeva defeated Sania Mirza, the number 1 qualifying seed, in Pattaya City, and is into the second round with a defeat of Romina Oprandi.

Li Na has signed a deal with ice cream company Haagen-Dazs, and is set to sign one with Rolex.

Petra Kvitova is blogging from Paris.

Lisa Raymond is now writing a regular blog, Lisa's Spin, for the WTA Tour.

Melbourne miscellany

The Rally for Relief was deemed a success. Kim Clijsters, Sam Stosur, Ana Ivanovic, and Justine Henin joined several members of the ATP to play in exhibition matches to raise funds for the victims of the recent Queensland floods. About 7650,000 was raised, but more money will come in when players auction shirts, gear and various other items. Both the WTA and the ATP tours are donating $10 for every ace served in the summer tournaments, and Sam Stosur is donating $500 for every ace she serves at the Australian Open. Bethanie Mattek-Sands is another player who has pledged money for the cause.

Most of you probably know this--C Note is in Australia, delivering tasty stories and photos regularly from all venues. She also has this story on Caroline Wozniacki in USA Today. And here is a link from Forty Deuce to a story on how Sam Stosur is learning to cope with sports stardom.

Virginie Razzano has slipped into the main draw and no longer "needs" her wild card, so it has been given to Caroline Garcia, about whom I know little, except that she lives in Lyon, and she isn't Kristina Mladenovic.

Lisa Raymond is blogging from Melbourne.

Elena Baltacha is writing a column for the BBC.

Carlos Cuadrado is in Melbourne, working as Svetlana Kuznetsova's new coach. Kuznetsova had hired Loic Courteau, friend and former coach of Amelie Mauresmo, but parted ways with him when she discovered he would not travel with her consistently (shouldn't she have known this before they signed the contract?). The Russian star has gone through a lot of coaches in the last several years.

Miscellany

Sabine Lisicki, the number 2 seed in this week's 75k Shrewsbury ITF tournament, was upset in the second round by Heather Watson. Watson lost to 8th seed Eva Birnerova in the quarterfinals.

Rosie Casals talks with Adam Lincoln.

And here is David Rosenberg's interview with Lisa Raymond and Rennae Stubbs.

Dinara Safina recently had a coaching session with her brother, Marat.

The city of Opitter, Belgium, where Kim Clijsters grew up, has honored her with a fountain and sculpture.

Chanda Rubin and Katrina Adams have been nominated to serve on the USTA board of directors. Adams is already a director at large.

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.

Miscellany

Here are photos of Maria Sharapova's U.S. Open dresses. I was hoping she'd do some type of deep blue at night, and here it is. (It's supposed to be a deep purple, but it's definitely a purple with a lot more blue in it than we generally associate with the color.)

And speaking of Sharapova, don't miss the latest edition of the Backspin Time Capsule (warning to JJ fans--you'll relive the whole 2006 U.S. Open nightmare).

Lisa Raymond will never have to worry about leaving her iPod where I can get my hands on it.

Serena Williams will resume playing in Tokyo at the end of September.

2009 junior U.S. Open champion Heather Watson lost today in the first round of qualifying for the 2010 U.S. Open main draw.

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova has begun practicing for the U.S. Open, so fingers crossed....

Raymond & Stubbs upset in 1st round of Pilot Pen

Lisa Raymond and Rennae Stubbs were upset in the first round in New Haven today by the ad hoc team of Raquel Kops-Jones and Alla Kudryavtseva. Kops-Jones and Kudryavtseva defeated the 2nd seeds 5-7, 6-2, 10-5.

Kirilenko wins consecutive doubles titles

Last week, Maria Kirilenko and partner Zheng Jie won the doubles championship in San Diego. Today, the Russian, paired with Victoria Azarenka, won the championship in Cincinnati. Azarenka and Kirilenko defeated 4th seeds Lisa Raymond and Rennae Stubbs 7-6, 7-6.

Raymond and Stubbs upset in Stanford

The top-seeded doubles team in Stanford, Lisa Raymond and Rennae Stubbs, were upset yesterday in the first round by Raquel Kops-Jones and Sarah Borwell. Kops-Jones and Borwell defeated the 1st seeds 6-0, 4-6, 12-10.

5th seed Maria Sharapova won a close (6-4, 7-5) match against Zheng Jie, and Melanie Oudin defeated 2008 Stanford champion Aleksandria Wozniak 6-7, 7-5, 6-3. Oudin was down 1-5 in the second set, and saved a match point, and she was also down 1-3 in the third.

Black & Paes win Wimbledon mixed doubles championship

The number 2 seeds, Cara Black and Leander Paes, won the Wimbledon mixed doubles championship today, defeating 11th seeds Lisa Raymond and Wesley Moodie 6-4, 7-6.

Black won the mixed doubles championship with in 2004 with her brother, Wayne.

Vesnina & Zvonareva advance to Wimbledon doubles final

The unseeded team of Elena Vesnina and Vera Zvonareva advanced to the Wimbledon final today, with a 6-3, 6-1 defeat of 4th seeds Gisela Dulko and Flavia Pennetta. That means that Zvonareva will play in both the singles and doubles final. She has one major title; in 2006, she and Nathalie Dechy won the U.S. Open.

The Russians' opponents in the final will be the unseeded team of Vania King and Yaroslava Shvedova, who upset the 5th seeds, Liezel Huber and Bethanie Mattek-Sands.

In the mixed doubles semifinals, 2nd seeds Cara Black and Leander Paes defeated 9th seeds Iveta Benesova, and Lukas Dlouhy, and 11th seeds Lisa Raymond and Wesley Moodie defeated 10th seeds Rennae Stubbs and Marcelo Melo. Raymond and Stubbs are women's doubles partners (Dlouhy and Paes are partners in men's doubles, also).

Raymond and Stubbs win Eastbourne championship

Lisa Raymond and Rennae Stubbs, seeded 4th at the AEGON International, won the championship today in Eastbourne. Raymond and Stubbs defeated 2nd seeds Kveta Peschke and Katarina Srebotnik 6-2, 2-6, 13-11. Peschke and Srebotnik held two match points in the super-tiebreak.

Azarenka retires in her first Charleston match

Victoria Azarenka, the 3rd seed in Charleston, won her first set against Christina McHale this morning in the Family Circle Cup Stadium. However, at 6-2, 2-2, Azarenka retired because of the hamstring injury that caused her to retire in the Marbella quarterfinals last week.

Also retiring was Ayumi Morita, who sustained a left adductor muscle strain while she was playing Daniela Hantuchova. The match ended with Hantuchova leading 6-4, 2-0. And though she finished the match, Bethanie Mattek-Sands began cramping in both thighs in her third set against 9th seed Alona Bondarenko. Bondarenko won, 4-6, 7-5, 7-5.

Top seed Caroline Wozniacki advanced to the third round with a straight set win over Barbora Zahlavova Strycova, and 6th seed Nadia Petrova advanced with a straight set win over Vania King.

An enthusiastic Australian crowd was on hand to deliver cries of "Aussie Aussie Aussie, Oi oi oi!" during Sophie Ferguson's match, but their enthusiasm wasn't enough to get Ferguson past Melanie Oudin. The 13th seed won, 6-2, 6-4, and thereby booked a date with countrywoman Christina McHale in the third round.

In doubles action, Ekaterina Dzehalevich and Olga Savchuk led 3rd seeds Lisa Raymond and Rennae Stubbs 5-0, 40-0 in the first round. At that point, Raymond and Stubbs began to turn things around a bit, though Dzehalevich and Savchuk took the first set 6-3. Raymond and Stubbs then became much more aggressive, and took the second set 6-1. But Dzehalevich and Savchuk made the super-tiebreak a dramatic one, saving three consecutive match points at 6-9, and then saving a fourth match point before losing the tiebreak 10-12.

Mattek-Sands recovered from the cramping episode and played her first round doubles match with partner Yan Zi. The third seeds defeated Oudin and Shenay Perry 6-3, 6-4.

Raymond & Stubbs, together again

No one said the "l" word, or even the "g" word, but tonight's lengthy and very entertaining Tennis Channel feature on Lisa Raymond and Rennae Stubbs was as much about their former romantic relationship as it was about their history of playing doubles together. With the world of women's pro tennis constantly straining itself to broadcast "No lesbians here!" in a variety of ways, it was a surprise to see Raymond and Stubbs chatting about their relationship, their breakup, and their enduring love for one another. Even more surprising was that the story was done by a media organization that has made no effort to curb its sexism.

Raymond and Stubbs, together again...

As you always wanted to see them.

Recently, a reader tipped me off to the rumor of a Raymond/Stubbs reunion, but I didn't want to say anything until I had confirmation. Was this inevitable, or is it just what comes of another big turnover in women's doubles?

For those who are new to women's tennis, or who have just stopped keeping up with doubles, here is the short version:

In 2000, Lisa Raymond and Rennae Stubbs won the Australian Open, the first of three majors they would win as a team. They also won the 2001 Sony Ericsson Championships. After the team split, Raymond played with various partners, then settled on Sam Stosur, with whom she also won a number of titles, including two majors.

In the meantime, Stubbs played with various partners, then formed a stable team with Cara Black. They won six titles, including Wimbledon. Stubbs then played with Kveta Peschke, and they won four titles.

At the beginning of 2009, Stosur announced that she and Stubbs would play doubles together, but only during the Australian season. That idea went out the window, and they remained a team all year. Raymond then teamed with Peschke, but then Peschke sustained a serious injury and could not play for much of the season. Stosur and Stubbs did not win any titles, but they qualified for the Sony Ericsson Championships.

The word is that Stosur, a very accomplished doubles player, wants to concentrate on singles now that she has finally made a singles breakthrough. I have no word yet on her doubles schedule.

"We’re both on the same page, trying to be aggressive, and when we’re both in at the net it’s pretty hard to get the ball through us or around us because most people would consider us two of the better volleyers in the world," says Stubbs.

They won't get any disagreement about that.

At long last, Stosur wins a tournament

3rd seed Samantha Stosur, who had previously lost five Sony Ericsson WTA Tour finals, did better today in Osaka. Stosur defeated Francesca Schiavone (who has her own history of problems with finals) 7-5, 6-1.

The doubles title went to top seeds Chuang Chia-Jung and Lisa Raymond, who defeated Chanelle Scheepers and Abigail Spears in straight sets.

Black and Huber win Madrid title

Cara Black and Liezel Huber, who have looked a bit vulnerable lately, managed their top seed billing well today in Madrid by taking the title. They defeated 3rd seeds Kveta Peschke and Lisa Raymond 4-6, 6-3, 10-6.

Peschke and Raymond out of the Australian Open

3rd seeds Kveta Peschke and Lisa Raymond were defeated today in the third round of the Australian Open by Nathalie Dechy and Mara Santangelo, who won won 7-5, 6-3. The number 2 seeds, Anabel Medina Garrigues and Virginia Ruano Pascaul, were also defeated in the third round.

There's more...Number 5 seeds Samantha Stosur and Rennae Stubbs lost 6-4, 6-2 to Venus and Serena Williams. And number 6 seeds Yan Zi and Zheng Jie lost, 7-5, 6-4, to Nuria Llagostera Vives and Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez.

Stosur and Peschke swap doubles partners

Sam Stosur will be playing doubles with Rennae Stubbs in the Australian tournaments, but may not play doubles much after January. In the meantime, Stosur's former partner, Lisa Raymond, has decided to team with Kveta Peschke, who has been playing with Stubbs.

King and Petrova win Tokyo

Vania King and Nadia Petrova have won the Toray Pan Pacific Open doubles title. The unseeded team defeated the second seeds--Lisa Raymond and Samantha Stosur--6-1, 6-4 in the final.