"That has nothing to do with me"

A Change of Ends had the nerve to go where no one else would during All Access Hour Monday in Charleston. Here is the transcript of an interview with Nadia Petrova about her recent tennis outfits. (Only the actual quotations do it justice.)

Petrova appeared on the court in simple, attractive clothing for her chilly morning match yesterday, but arrived in an Ellesse outfit for her doubles match in the afternoon.

Tatishvili goes to 3rd round in Charleston

Anna Tatishvili

It took her almost three hours, but qualifier Anna Tatishvili managed to take out the 9th seed at the Family Circle Cup Wednesday. Tatishvili advanced to the third round when she defeated Maria Kirilenko 5-7, 7-5, 6-3.

Defending champion Stosur serves to her opponent

Elena Vesnina pulled off upsets in both singles and doubles. She defeated 14th seed Bethanie Mattek-Sands 6-4, 7-6, and she and partner Sania Mirza took out 2nd seeds Liezel Huber and Lisa Raymond, 6-3, 6-4.

Julia Goerges and Nadia Petrova defeated Alisa Kleybanova and Yan Zi 2-6, 6-4, 10-3 in the first round of doubles play. Petrova won the doubles championship in both 2009 and 2010, but until yesterday, she had never played doubles with Goerges. In fact, as of Monday, Petrova and Goerges had never even practiced together, and Petrova was understandably concerned about the defense of her title. The Russian, who is also the 7th seed in singles, was troubled by an episode of vertigo in Miami, and is still undergoing treatment. She won her second round singles match easily yesterday morning.

Daniela Hantuchova

Top seeds Caroline Wozniacki, Sam Stosur and Jelena Jankovic all won in straight sets on Wednesday, and 10th seed Daniela Hantuchova dropped only one game in her second round match.

Can she hit the bottles?

Hantuchova & Radwanska win Miami

Daniela Hantuchova and Agnieszka Radwanska have won the 2011 Sony Ericsson Open doubles championship, defeating 3rd seeds Liezel Huber and Nadia Petrova. Hantuchova and Radwanska won the first set in a tiebreak, then Huber and Petrova quickly took the second set 6-2, but the winners prevailed 10-8 in the super-tiebreak.

Hantuchova will be playing doubles with Maria Kirilenko at the Family Circle Cup, which begins tomorrow. Huber will team with Lisa Raymond, and Petrova will be paired with Meghann Shaughnessy. Radwanska will not be in Charleston.

2 former champions enter Family Circle Cup

Sabine Lisicki, who won the Family Circle Cup in 2009 when she was seeded 16th, has entered the 2011 event. Lisicki, who has suffered through a long series of injuries, illnesses and rehab, was not able to participate last year. The German player made WTA history in 2009, however, when she became the lowest seed and the lowest ranked player (63) ever to win in Charleston.

What I recall most about that event was how relaxed Lisicki was. She played the piano on the Grand Lawn, tended bar, and just looked like she was having so much fun throughout the entire tournament. After upsetting Venus Williams in the third round and Marion Bartoli in the semifinals, Lisicki easily defeated Caroline Wozniacki in the final, and looked as though she were headed toward something big. It will be good to have the affable German back in Charleston.

Also entering this year is 2006 champion Nadia Petrova, who was also part of the 2010 championship doubles team (Liezel Huber was her partner). Petrova also won the 2009 doubles title, with partner Bethanie Mattek-Sands. Petrova's 2006 Family Circle Cup victory was part of a major clay run that resulted, most unfortunately, with Petrova's injuring herself during practice right before the commencement of the French Open. In Charleston that year, she defeated Patty Schnyder in an exciting three-set final. This will be Petrova's seventh Family Circle Cup appearance.

Qualifying for the Family Circle Cup begins on April 2, and main draw play starts on April 4. The field this year also includes defending champion Sam Stosur, Jelena Jankovic, Shahar Peer, Maria Sharapova, Daniela Hantuchova, and Melanie Oudin.

The Family Circle Cup, a premier WTA event, in played on green clay. This year's special Game! Set! Rock! Tennis, Amplified, presented by Dove, will include an exhibition match featuring former champions Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova, in addition to former ATP stars Todd Martin and John McEnroe.

Zakopalova & Kleybanova to play in Seoul final

Top seed Nadia Petrova retired with a gastro-intestinal illness today during the first set of her semifinal match in Seoul. Her opponent, Klara Zakopalova, will play 5th seed Alisa Kleybanova in the final. Kleybanova defeated 8th seed Agnes Szavay 6-3, 6-2 in the semifinals.

The doubles final will be contested between the teams of Natalie Grandin and Vladamira Uhlarova and Julia Goerges and Palona Hercog. Grandin and Uhlirova are seeded fourth in the tournament.

Petrova defeats Groth in Seoul

Top seed Nadia Petrova defeated Guangzhou champion Jarmila Groth 6-3. 6-2 in the first round of the Korea Open today. Rain has postponed much of early round play. 2nd seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova advanced by defeating Anastasia Rodionova 7-6, 6-1, and defending champion Kimiko Date Krumm also advanced to the next round. Vera Dushevina defeated wild card and 7th seed Ana Ivanovic 2-6, 6-4, 6-2.

3rd seed Anna Chakvetadze retired today in Tashkent. Chakvetadze is suffering with a viral illness.

They did it again! King & Shvedova win U.S. Open title

Yesterday, the rain came when Vania King and Yaroslava Shvedova were down 2-6, 6-4, 4-5, 0-15. It was also Shvedova's birthday, but, as it turns out, she had to wait a day to receive her most lavish gift. Today, at 3 p.m. New York time, King and Shvedova--and their opponents, number 2 seeds Liezel Huber and Nadia Petrova--returned to Arthur Ashe Stadium to complete the U.S. Open championship match.

The circumstances could not have been more tense. Huber and Petrova were only three points from the title, and suddenly, King was serving at 30-40. King saved that championship point (the second onw the team saved) with a ferocious forehand swipe down the line. Later, spectators would cheer loudly when Shvedova hit a backhand lob with heavy topspin and painted the back line. Despite increased aggression by Petrova, some formidable volleys from Huber, and a fast service game for the 2nd seeds at 5-all, King and Shvedova were able to force a tiebreak. Under the most challenging conditions, they held serve.

This match "deserved" a tiebreak, so to speak, for only a tiebreak could increase the drama for spectators who had waited overnight for a result. Throughout the match, but especially during the tiebreak, King and Shvedova did the same thing they did at Wimbledon--they enjoyed themselves. And when Shvedova hit yet another line-skimming lob--this one with her forehand--at match point, it was the perfect ending to a great doubles championship match.

King and Shvedova had a quite a tournament. They defeated the top seeds, Gisela Dulko and Flavia Pennetta, in straight sets in the quarterfinals.  And in the third round, they won a wild three-hour thriller against Iveta Benesova and Barbora Zahlavova Strycova.

King and Shvedova had played together only twice when they entered the 2010 Wimbledon tournament and won it. Now they have done it again. In her speech, King said that, two years ago, she wasn't sure she wanted to play tennis anymore, and she didn't know if she believed in herself. How fortunate--for us, and for Yaroslava Shvedova--that King decided to keep going.

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.

Petrova out of U.S. Open

17th seed Nadia Petrova was defeated in the first round of the U.S. Open tonight by Andrea Petkovic. Petkovic is a streaky player whose fragile mentality often does her in, but she made it through a third set tiebreak in tonight's match. Petrova, who lost to Caroline Wozniacki in the New Haven final, called for the trainer several times during tonight's match.

The featured--and very late--night match on Tuesday was a pretty easy outing for top seed Caroline Wozniacki, who defeated wild card Chelsey Gullickson 6-1, 6-1. Gullickson, the 2010 NCAA singles champion,will probably make a decision soon about whether she will return to school (University of Georgia) or turn professional. (Darren Cahill's question, "Why would she return to college?" was more than I could take. Fortunately, Pam Shriver was as put off by it as I was.)

U.S. Open miscellany

Today, I heard a commentator call for on-court coaching all the time. He said that if a player didn't have a coach, the USTA could appoint one (I know---it sounds like a Miranda warning). I'm not sure how that would work for the hundreds of players who do not play for the United States. In more ways than one, the commentator needed to think this dreadful idea through a bit more.

Sania Mirza says that she is managing her wrist pain, and is glad to be resuming her career. Mirza, who was out for several months, has an impressive forehand.

When I saw a photo of Maria Sharapova's daytime dress, I wasn't sure if I liked it. Now that I've seen it on her, I like it very much. The night dress is beautiful, even by itself, in a photo.

I can't bring myself to dislike Nadia Petrova's unusual outfit as much as I think I'm supposed to. (Speaking of Petrova, what was that with Petkovic's dance, after a first-round win?) Aravane Rezai's outfit is another matter.

In the U.S. Open preview issue of Tennis magazine, Steve Tignor writes yet another tribute to Flavia Pennetta--and it's another good read.

Beatrice Capra is the U.S. Open's Player of the Day.

Wozniacki wins 3rd straight New Haven title

Nadia Petrova said that if she hadn't thrown her back out early in the third set of her New Haven final against top seed Caroline Wozniacki, she might have been able to launch a serious challenge to take the title. Perhaps. The back injury certainly didn't help, but throughout the match, Petrova exhibited the frustrating streakiness for which she is known.

Petrova managed to hit twelve aces--four of them in one game (I haven't seen anyone do that since Lindsay Davenport did it several years ago), but she, like her opponent, had problems serving into the bright sun. Petrova repeatedly set up sure-thing winning shots, but failed to execute them by hitting the ball long. Wozniacki won the first set 6-3, but in the second, Petrova--looking a lot like Thrill Ride did before her injury--broke Wozniacki three times to win that set 6-3. She did it the hard way--working around her own errors--but her opponent was making more errors, too.

Wozniacki went up 2-0 in the third set, and Petrova called for a trainer because of an obvious back injury. She then went down 1-3, but broke Wozniacki to get back on serve. She then had significant difficulties with her serve, and was broken at love. Wozniacki took the set 6-3, and thereby won the New Haven tournament three times in a row. This is her fourth title this year, and her tenth career title.

"I'm on a roll," she said afterwards. Wozniacki, who is seeded first at the U.S. Open, won the Rogers Cup in Montreal before going to New Haven. She is also the winner of the U.S. Open Series. Should she win the U.S. Open, she will get a $1,000,000 bonus. If she is the runner-up (which she was last year), she will get a $500,000 bonus. Should she make it no higher than the semifinals, she would get a $250,000 bonus.

Kim Clijsters placed second in U.S. Open series points, and Svetlana Kuznetsova placed third. They, too, are eligible for bonuses.

Petrova goes to Pilot Pen final

Maria Kirilenko was next to perfect in her first set against 8th seed Nadia Petrova today in the New Haven semifinals. Her clean, stylish game (one I always enjoy) got her a 6-2 set win, as Petrova had issues with consistency, and with her backhand. Shortly after that set ended, however, Kirilenko's received treatment for back pain (she has a history of back problems). When she returned to the court following treatment, she was making an obvious effort to keep the points shorter, and it didn't work for her.

At the same time, Petrova pulled her game up to the considerably high level of which she is capable. The backhand began to work very well, and the 8th seed took the last two sets at 6-2 apiece.

Often, when an opponent is injured, a player has some difficulty competing against her, but Petrova said it was Kirilenko's injury that gave her a chance to sharpen her mentality and get her game back on track. Petrova had a setback this summer because of heat illness that she experienced in Cincinnati, and she said she was grateful to get a wild card into the Pilot Pen draw.

She has used that wild card well. In the final, she will play either top seed and defending champion Caroline Wozniacki or 4th seed Elena Dementieva, who also came into the tournament via a wild card.

Petrova hit eight aces in her semifinal match today, and is now the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour ace leader for the season.

As for Kirilenko, she has hurt her back right before a major tournament in which--if healthy--she has the potential to do quite well. Here's hoping this is more of a tweak than an injury--the current situation is getting more serious by the minute.

The land of (missed) opportunity

That's where Marion Bartoli resides, in case you want to drop by and have a chat and some coffee. For the entire first set of the 6th seed's quarterfinal match against 4th seed Elena Dementieva in New Haven today, she squandered chance after chance--seven in all--to break, but was able to succeed with only two of them. She was broken four times by Dementieva, who won the first set 6-3.

Bartoli raised her level of play in the second set, which she won 6-3. Dementieva quickly moved out in front in the third, but had trouble closing the match, which she finally did--6-3, 3-6, 6-2--on her seventh match point.

Sometimes this match was hard to watch. Dementieva had some obvious trouble with her injured thigh, but that seemed to go away. She did tell interviewers, however, that she is trying to avoid long rallies. The Russian also muttered and chatted and yelled--often at her mother--throughout the three-hour affair. "...what are you telling her?" Mary Joe Fernandez asked her. "You don't want to know," the 4th seed replied.

Dementieva will play defending champion Caroline Wozniacki in the semifinals. Wozniacki won her quarterfinal match by default when she received a walkover from an injured Flavia Pennetta. The top seed's move to the semifinals also means that she has won the U.S. Open Series.

Bartoli double-faulted twelve times, and Dementieva double-faulted seven times. There were 37 break opportunities in the match, and twelve breaks of serve.

The other semifinal will feature two Russians. Maria Kirilenko defeated wild card Dinara Safina 6-3, 6-3 in the quarterfinals, and 8th seed Nadia Petrova defeated 2nd seed Sam Stosur 6-2, 6-1. Petrova is now 4-0 against the Australian.

Ivanovic withdraws from New Haven, Safina and Petrova get wild cards

Ana Ivanovic, who injured her ankle in Cincinnati just when she was making a comeback, has withdrawn from the Pilot Pen event in New Haven. In the meantime, wild cards for the event have been given to former world number1 Dinara Safina and world number 21 Nadia Petrova. Elena Dementieva and Sam Stosur also have wild cards into the New Haven event.

The top seed in New Haven is defending champion Caroline Wozniacki. Last year, Wozniacki won a rain-delayed final that was hampered by gusts of high wind.

Qualifying began today; wild cards Coco Vandeweghe and Christina McHale both lost in the first round, and Vania King retired at the end of the second set of her match against Anastasia Rodionova.

Schiavone and Dementieva advance to French Open semifinals

Today, Francesca Schiavone became the first Italian woman in the Open Era to reach the semifinals of a major, as she defeated 3rd seed Caroline Wozniacki 6-2, 6-3 in the quarterfinals of the French Open. 17th seed Schiavone, whose specialty is clay court tennis, utilized the same tactic that Sam Stosur used against Justine Henin: She repeatedly hit high balls with heavy topspin to Wozniacki's backhand, then rushed to the net to finish the point.

Schiavone also held her serve better, and played so aggressively, she controlled most of the rallies. She hit 25 winners, and broke Wozniacki six times. The rain and cold weather did not appear to bother Schiavone, who put on a clay court clinic while Wozniacki struggled to find a way into the match.

In the other quarterfinal, two injured Russian veterans who have known each other for years fought the cold conditions as their thighs ached and the rain fell. Both players had their thighs taped. By the third set, Petrova was limping, and it was clear that she was playing for the sake of not quitting. Dementieva defeated her 2-6, 6-2, 6-0. Despite her pain, the 5th seed played very well in the last two sets.

Petrova and Stosur retire in French Open doubles

Alona and Kateryna, the Bondarenko sisters, advanced to the quarterfinals of the French Open today when their opponents--4th seeds Nadia Petrova and Sam Stosur--retired at 1-6, 0-1 in the round of 16. My understanding is that Petrova became ill with a g.i. sickness of some sort. I will update as I get more information.

Also advancing were the top seeds, Serena and Venus Williams, who defeated 11th seeds Maria Kirilenko and Agnieszka Radwanska. 3rd seeds Liezel Huber and Anabel Medina Garrigues defeated 5th seeds Gisela Dulko and Flavia Pennetta 1-6, 6-0, 7-6, and 10th seeds Chan Yung-Jan and Zheng Jie were easily upset by Monica Niculescu and Shahar Peer.

One saga completed, another one in the making?

Nadia Petrova and 15th seed Aravane Rezai played very serious tennis last night, some of it in the dark. They each held three match points, and they each failed to convert. With the thriller at its peak--7-all in the third--the match was suspended due to darkness. Today, after a night of disturbed sleep, Petrova won, 6-7, 6-4, 10-8. The two exchanged breaks right away, and it was conceivable that the contest could go on and on, but Petrova held, and that--after 2 hours and 48 minutes--was that.

Petrova, seeded 19th, is known for going off mentally during a match, but even with the French crowd making the experience as difficult as possible for her, she steadied herself. She also hit 12 aces and 50 winners. Both players are to be commended for providing so much excitement for fans. Now Petrova gets Venus Williams in the round of 16, and that also has the potential to be a very good match.

The drama continued this evening, with 12th seed Maria Sharapova having to play in conditions that are the least favorable for her. It was raining, and of course--the balls were very heavy. In the first set, she looked lost, sometimes standing still or moving awkwardly to reach Justine Henin's shots. When she did move, it wasn't fast enough. Henin, seeded 22nd (go figure) at this event, went up 4-0, and won the set 6-2.

The outlook appeared grim for Sharapova, but in the second set, she began to play clay court tennis, and focused on confounding Henin's movement. She used a variety of change-ups, including drop shots, to get Henin out of her rhythm. Also, Henin had trouble with her service game. At 3-all, Sharapova broke, and took the set 6-3,  breaking Henin's streak of 40 consecutive set wins at the French Open. Clearly, the momentum was with the Russian, but at this level, momentum can change just as quickly after a set as it can after a night of sleep. To be continued...

Petrova upsets top seed Williams in Madrid

Big-serving Nadia Petrova has had her ups and downs, but today in Madrid--no matter what came her way--she held her nerve, something she hasn't always done. Petrova defeated number 1 seed Serena Williams 4-6, 6-2, 6-3. The 16th-seeded Russian, who is capable of excellent play on clay courts, gave Williams plenty of opportunities to break her, however--11 in the second set, and 18 in all. Williams failed to convert any of the break points in the second set, which undoubtedly gave Petrova a boost of confidence as she entered the final set of play.

Petrova, who advances to the quarterfinals, also hit 11 aces along the way.

I enjoyed watching Venus Williams play 15th seed Francesca Schiavone in their third round match; there were some good rallies of the sort than one generally sees only on clay. Williams prevailed, 3-6, 6-1, 6-2. The 2nd seed will now play the winner of the match between Sam Stosur and Patty Schnyder.

7th seed Jelena Jankovic defeated wild card Ana Ivanovic 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 in a match that contained 19 breaks of serve. Wild card Arantxa Parra Santonja won her second round match against wild card Peng Shuai, 1-6, 7-6, 6-3, and saved two match points in the process. And in the late-night match, Lucie Safarova defeated Alexandra Dulgheru 6-7, 6-1, 7-6. The match lasted over 2 hours and 40 minutes, and Dulgheru held a match point.

In the second round of doubles, there were multiple upsets. Chuang Chia-Jung and Vania King defeated 4th seeds Liezel Huber and Anabel Medina Garrigues, Shahar Peer and Francesca Schiavone defeated 6th seeds Lisa Raymond and Rennae Stubbs (who won only two games), and Virginia Ruano Pascual and Meghann Shaugnessy defeated 7th seeds Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Yan Zi 6-7, 6-3, 10-8.

2nd seeds Nuria Llagostera Vives and Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez advanced to the third round with an easy win over Liga Dekmeijere and Alisa Kleybanova. 8th-seeded Gisela Dulko and Flavia Pennetta advanced to the quarterfinals when they defeated Anastasia Rodionova and Patty Schnyder 6-4, 7-5.

Huber & Petrova win 2010 Family Circle Cup doubles championship

For the second year in a row, Nadia Petrova held a trophy after the championship doubles match in Charleston. Last year, Petrova and Bethanie Mattek-Sands saved three match points and won the championship. Today's match was not thrilling like that one was, but it still a good final. Petrova and Liezel Huber--who had never before played together--defeated Vania King and Michaella Krajicek 6-3, 6-4.

Petrova had not planned to play doubles at the tournament, since her partner, Sam Stosur, decided to play singles only. But Tony Huber, Liezel Huber's coach and husband, asked Petrova if she would be Huber's partner. "How could I say 'no'?" Petrova said, and I'm sure she's glad she didn't.

Since Petrova won the Charleston singles title in 2006, and the doubles title two years running, she was asked what was left for her to do at the Family Circle Cup, and she quickly suggested adding a mixed doubles competition.