Riske advances to quarterfinals in Birmingham

Before she came to Birmingham, Alison Riske had never won a match in a Sony Ericsson WTA Tour main draw. As of today, with her defeat of Anna Chakvetadze, Riske has advanced into the quarterfinals of the AEGON Classic in Birmingham. Riske, a qualifier, upset 9th seed Aleksandra Wozniak yesterday, and today, she defeated Chakvetadze 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 in the third round.

Riske's next opponent will be 3rd seed Yanina Wickmayer, who defeated Tammy Tanasugarn today.

Defending champion Magdalena Rybarikova, seeded 10th at the tournament, was upset today in the third round by qualifier Sesil Karatantcheva. Karatantcheva's 6-2, 6-7, 6-2 victory books her a spot against three-time Birmingham champion Maria Sharapova in the quarterfinals.

Karatantcheva and Groth get last Australian Open wild cards

The Asian wild card into the Australian Open has been given to Sesil Karatantcheva, and the other remaining one has been given to Australian player Jarmila Groth. The 8 wild cards are:

Justine Henin
Olivia Rogowska
Alicia Molik
Jarmila Groth
Casey Dellacqua
Sesil Karatantcheva
Stephanie Cohen-Aloro
Coco Vandeweghe

Kazakhstan has a new player

Former Bulgarian Sesil Karatantcheva has agreed to become a citizen of Kazakhstan and represent that country for three years on the Sony Ericsson WTA tour. The contract gives her some financial stability which she did not have before.

For those who are happy to see Sesil Karatantcheva back...

And I'm certainly one of them...Peter Bodo has written an excellent (despite a bit of confusion over parts of speech) feature on her return to the tour.

Sadly, Karatantcheva lost her second round qualifying match at the U.S. Open today. She was defeated by Julie Coin, 6-3, 6-7, 6-3.

Larcher de Brito watch--today's news is bad

Michelle Larcher de Brito did not make it past the first round of Wimbledon qualifying; she was defeated by Stephanie Foretz.

In better news, Sesil Karatantcheva defeated Elizabeth Thomas of Great Britain.

And in terrible news, Alicia Molik did not get past the first round of qualifying, either. She lost to Tatiana Poutchek.

Lisicki stops Karatantcheva in Strasbourg qualifying

Sesil Karatantcheva failed to make it to the main draw in Strasbourg today when she was defeated by up-and-coming German player Sabine Lisicki, 7-6, 7-5.

What are they doing?

Where are the players who dropped out for a while because of injury and illness or other problems? What are they doing?

Anastasia Myskina just had a baby.

Sam Stosur is playing in challengers. She just lost to Yanina Wickmayer in the quarterfinals of the Boyd Tinsley USTA Pro Women's Tennis Championships in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Tatiana Golovin is playing in challengers. She just lost to in the second round of the Cagnes-Sur-Mer in France to Maret Ani.

Sesil Karatantcheva was playing in challengers and is now playing in Tour events.

Jelena Dokic just keeps coming back, over and over, but to no avail.

Medina Garrigues stops Karatantcheva in Fes

Could it be that Sesil Karatantcheva is on her way back? Maybe. Today, she gave number 1 seed and clay specialist Anabel Medina Garrigues a hard time in the second round in Fes, Morocco. Karatantcheva served for the match at 5-3 in the second set, and again at 5-4, and was broken both times. The set went to a tiebreak, which Medina Garrigues won, and the Spaniard then cruised through the third set to win the match.

Medina Garrigues needed this win. She suffered a big loss in the first round two weeks ago in Charleston when she had a kind of meltdown against an in-formTatiana Perebynis.

Medina Garrigues def. Karatantcheva, 3-6, 7-6, 6-1

Karatantcheva follows Bovina out the door

After defeating Elena Bovina in the third round of qualifying for the Tennis Channel Open, Sesil Karatantcheva was defeated today in the first round by wild card Madison Brengle, 7-6, 2-6, 6-2. An examination of the match statistics, however, makes me wonder how Brengle could have won.

Bovina out in 3rd qualifying round in Las Vegas

Yesterday, I wrote about both Elena Bovina and Sesil Karatantcheva, who--for different reasons--are trying to re-establish themselves on the tour. Today, they played each other in the third round of qualifying for the Tennis Channel Open, an ITF event, in Las Vegas. Karatantcheva defeated Bovina, 6-1, 4-6, 7-5.

It makes me sad to report the cheery news that Bovina goes to the 3nd round of qualifying in Las Vegas

Former world number 14 Elena Bovina, whose 2005 right shoulder injury has kept her more or less out of competition for a couple of years, won her second qualifying round today in the Tennis Channel Open, an ITF women's event. Bovina, a talented and delightful Russian player, played two events in 2006. In 2007, she was plagued with Morton's neuroma, and had to withdraw from several tournaments because of continuing injuries to her right foot. She is now ranked number 333 in the world. It makes me sad that it is a big deal that she is into the second round of an ITF contest, but at least she is playing.

In other comeback news, Sesil Karatantcheva also won her second qualifying round in Las Vegas, defeating Amber Liu. Next, she plays Bovina.

Bovina def. Lu Jingjing, 6-3, 6-4

Karatantcheva def. Liu, 6-3, 6-3

Top qualifying seed out in Memphis

Sandra Kloessel, the number 1 qualifying seed at the Regions Morgan Keenan Tennis Championships, was defeated today in the second round of qualifying by Brenda Shultz-McCarthy, 6-4, 7-5.

Yesterday, wild card Sesil Karatantcheva was taken out of the first round of qualifying by Hana Sromova, 7-6, 6-4.

Karatantcheva: interview-wise, she's almost as much fun as the Bondarenkos

Here are some snippets from a recent interview with Sesil Karatantcheva:

You have a new tattoo. Is it a sign of a new beginning?
After they banned me from the court, I needed only two days to make up my mind about the tattoo. I wanted something that was both beautiful and unique. My tattoo represents a fairy. I still believe in miracles.

Not before long you told journalists that you had a German boyfriend. How do you sustain your relationship?
God bless the mobile phones! I think that all these writings about my personal life are more than enough.

And finally, this gem...

What's the sharp lesson that you learnt from this ban?
I learnt I should always use condoms.

Karatantcheva makes her way back

Sesil Karatantcheva, who--as far as I can tell--was yet another victim of the so-called doping rules--just won a 25k tournament in Surprise, Arizona. When the cheeky Bulgarian player was given her two-year suspension, she also lost all of her ranking points and had to forfeit $129,000. (The suspension was given under very iffy circumstances, and Karatantcheva never even got to testify.)

Karatantcheva, in 2005, at age 15, was the youngest female player ever to reach the quarterfinals of the French Open, a feat she accomplished by beating Venus Williams in the round of 16.

In Surprise, Karatancheva had to play three qualifying rounds before she could enter the tournament. She defeated Angela Haynes in the final.

The sooner we see the talented Bulgarian back on the tour, the better.