Govortsova upsets Cibulkova and advances to Ponte Vedra Beach final

Olga Govortsova, unseeded at the MPS Group Championships, upset 3rd seed Dominika Cibulkova 6-4, 7-5 in the semifinals today. Govortsova will play top seed and defending champion Caroline Wozniacki in the final. Wozniacki defeated 4th seed Elena Vesnina 1-6, 7-6, 6-4 in the semifinals.

2nd seeds Chuang Chia-Jung and Peng Shuai will play number 1 seeds Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Yan Zi in the final. 

Williams sisters join Black & Huber in U.S. Open semifinals

Since the U.S. Open began, I have generally watched two matches at once (a practice I don't recommend). This afternoon, however, it was hard to take my eyes off of the quarterfinal match between the Williams sisters and the comeback Chinese team of Yan Zi and Zheng Jie. Venus Williams had a consistently troublesome serve, which opened the door for the aggressive team of Yan and Zheng. Zheng is the showier of the two, and some of her volleys are stunning, but many times, they are set up expertly by the quiet and steady Yan.

Serena Williams served for the first set at 5-2, and was broken. Yan and Zheng held, as they continued their aggressive tactics. Up to this point, Venus was the only player who had not been broken, but when she served for the set at 5-4, she double-faulted twice. Serena rushed the net and saved a break point, but the team was broken when Venus double-faulted a third time.

When Yan and Zheng served at 5-all, there was a thrilling rally which ended when Zheng went to the net to save a break point. The Chinese team was broken on the next break point, however, and the Williams team held to take the set 7-5. The Williams sisters went up an early break in the second set, but were broken, then Yan and Zheng were broken right back. When the Williams team served again, Yan and Zheng had a break point, but Zheng over-hit a volley, which went long, and the Williams sisters were able to hold for 6-4 and the match.

(Note to Doug Adler: Four women on the court do not "man" their positions.)

In the other quarterfinal, top seeds and defending champions Cara Black and Liezel Huber faced Nuria Llagostera Vives and Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez. Black and Huber took the first set 6-3, and the Spanish team took the second, 6-2. In the final set, Black and Huber went down 4-5, 0-30, but found a way to hold--because that's what Black and Huber do. At 5-6, sitting on the bench during the changeover, Liezel Huber turned to her box and gave a thumbs-up to her team. The team then faced another break point, but saved that one, too, then broke the Spanish team. Black and Huber then held for a 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 victory.

In the semifinals, Black and Huber will play 3rd seeds Sam Stosur and Rennae Stubbs. The Williams sisters, who are seeded 4th, will play the 13th seeds, Alisa Kleybanova and Ekaterina Makarova.

Chuang & Yan win Los Angeles championship

The team of Chuang Chia-Jung and Yan Zi defeated Maria Kirilenko and Agnieszka Radwanska today in Los Angeles to win the LA Women's Tennis Championships doubles title. Chuang and Yan (whom most people know from their respective pairings with Chan and Zheng) won the match in a super-tiebreak, 6-0, 4-6, 10-7.

Neither team was seeded.

Doubles results

I never thought I would see a 6-1, 6-1 scoreline against Yan Zi and Zheng Jie, but the former top five players have had their work cut out for them, getting match-tough again after injury problems. The 2nd seeds were defeated today in the final of the Warsaw Open by 3rd seeds Raquel Kops-Jones and Bethanie Mattek-Sands.

In Strasbourg, 2nd seeds Nathalie Dechy and Mara Santangelo took the title, defeating Claire Feuerstein and Stephanie Foretz, 6-0, 6-1.

Stevenson gets Charleston wild card

Alex Stevenson has been given a wild card to play in the Family Circle Cup. Stevenson is ranked 196 in the world. Also, Yan Zi is a late entrant to the tournament. Her doubles partner, Zheng Jie, however, has not entered the tournament.

Australian Open tidbits

Abigail Lorge nicely sums up the Safina-Cornet match.

Speaking of Safina, some commentator--I think it was Pam Shriver--said that "She (Safina) has a new name now," referring to Dinara's request to be called "SAFina," rather than "SafEEna." That is the kind of nonsense we have come to expect from commentators (and especially Shriver) when they are asked to correctly pronounce a player's name. Safina does not have a new name--she has just become assertive about getting people to pronounce it correctly. In the past, she followed the Sharapova example of giving up before even making an effort. I wish players would not do that because I consider the act of dumbing down to be a cultural crime.

Here's a quick interview with Yan and Zheng.

For some of us, it was hard to watch the U.S. National Figure Skating Championships and the Australian Open at the same time.

Ana Ivanovic has decided that perhaps getting a coach is a good idea, after all.

Speaking of coaches, Ricardo Sanchez pleased Marion Bartoli with a nice gesture following her defeat of his protege, Jelena Jankovic. He went to her and told her how well she had played.

Bartoli, by the way, has added running to her already-grueling training regimen.

Two champions enter Family Circle Cup

Happy JJ leaves the court after her high-wind championship victory in 2007

2007 Family Circle Cup champion Jelena Jankovic and 2003 and 2005 champion Justine Henin have entered the 2008 event, to be held in April on Daniel Island, near Charleston, South Carolina.

The Family Circle Cup is the oldest all-women's tennis tournament in the U.S., and one of only two clay events in the country. The green clay plays a bit faster than the European red clay, but if you like clay court tennis, the Tier I Family Circle Cup offers plenty of it. This is an exceptionally well-run tournament, with lots of player access and a very lovely and comfortable environment.

The Family Circle Cup was the first U.S. tournament Justine Henin won, in 2003. She could not attend in 2004 because of her virus, and in 2005, she was taken out in the semifinals by Patty Schnyder, who is the hands-down favorite in Charleston every year (she has been a finalist twice, once after mowing down all the top seeds). Last year, Henin had to withdraw because of respiratory problems.

Jankovic did not do well at all at the Family Circle Cup until her breakthrough year last year. She beat Venus Williams in a hard-fought semifinal, then skillfully weathered a torrential storm with very high winds (the final was almost canceled) to defeat Dinara Safina and win the tournament.

The 2007 doubles champions were Yan Zi and Zheng Jie, who defeated Peng Shuai and Tiantian Sun in the final.

Last year's scheduled line-up included not only Henin and Jankovic, but Mauresmo, Hingis, Sharapova, Kuznetsova, and Serena Williams. Not only did Henin withdraw, but so did Mauresmo (appendicitis) and Sharapova (shoulder and hamstring). At the last minute, Hingis and Kuznetsova also had to withdraw because of injury, and Serena Williams retired in the first set of her first match. To make matters worse, Schnyder, facing a sudden turn in the weather, made her exit in the second round. It could have been a disaster, but there were still plenty of good players--Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic, Safina, Vera Zvonareva, Sybille Bammer, and a very exciting wild card in the form of Michaella Krajicek.

Zvonareva's wrist injury, which took her off the tour for a long time, occurred in Charleston, and the tournament staff--to compensate for the let-down of a couple of cancelled matches (singles and doubles)--put together a doubles "exhibition" match that was one of the funniest things I've ever seen. Gisela Dulko, Flavia Pennetta, Liezel Huber, Katerina Srebotnik, and umpire Lynn Welch put on a show that made me ache, I laughed so hard for so long. My only regret is that no one at the tournament thought to videotape it.

This will be my fourth year to attend the Family Circle Cup, and I am excited about it. Someone I know called it the most fan-friendly sports event she had ever attended, and that does not surprise me.

Yan and Zheng get upset--in a big way

Yan Zi and Zheng Jie have not played together for a long time because of Zheng's ankle injury, which has kept her off the tour since the French Open. One might not have expected them to do that well in their first tournament since Zheng's return, but they made it to the final of the Mondial Women's Hardcourts tournament. They lost that match, however, when Dinara Safina and Agnes Szavay--who had already taken out top seeds Black and Huber--beat them 6-1, 6-2, to take the title.

Rogers Cup: All fall down

Yan Zi of China took out Rogers Cup defending champion Ana Ivanovic in straight sets

Maria Kirilenko, whose promising career went seriously south and has seen a recent upswing, injured her left knee today in her match against Marion Bartoli, and had to retire.

Ana Chakvetadze, who has been sick for a few weeks, probably should not have entered the Rogers Cup; in fact, it was my understanding that she had withdrawn. She retired during her match against Virginie Razzano.

Elena Dementieva said goodbye today, when she was defeated by Francesca Schiavone, 6-7, 7-3, 6-2. Schiavone's sagging career has also been on the rise again. And Meghann Shaughnessy, whose once excellent career took a serious slide and is looking a bit brighter these days, took out Lucie Safarova, 3-6, 6-4, 7-5.

But the biggest fall of all was that of defending champion (and new East West Bank Classic champion) Ana Ivanovic, who made her exit in the second round. She was defeated, 6-3, 6-1, by qualifier and doubles specialist Yan Zi, who has qualified for a number of tournaments in a row recently. A legitimate argument can be made that Ivanovic was too tired after her run to the Los Angeles title, especially after the semifinal grinder between her and Jelena Jankovic. An argument can also be made that Ivanovic, despite her immense talent, still isn't very consistent. And of course, both of these arguments may be relevant.