Dementieva reported to be engaged to be married

According to a couple of Russian newspapers, Elena Dementieva is officially engaged to her long-time partner, Buffalo Sabres right wing, Maxim Afinogenov. According to reports, they will wed in July of next year.

Hantuchova wins in Linz; Williams drops out of the race

Being a Patty Schnyder fan is not for sissies, and once again, today, we were disappointed to see Patty stand as a finalist in yet another tournament. So many finals...so few wins. She was defeated by Daniela Hantuchova, who tends to choke at big moments, but not today. Or perhaps Schnyder's head problems were just greater than Hantuchova's.

Having won the Generali Ladies Linz, Hantuchova moved to a tie with Maria Sharapova for the number 8 spot in the race to the Year-End Championships. Theoretically, the 8th spot would have gone to the player who had played more tournaments, but number 7 Venus Williams withdrew today, citing medical reasons, so both Hantuchova and Sharapova are in. Sharapova could withdraw, however, because of her shoulder injury, and that would put Marion Bartoli into the 8th spot.

NOW can we call it a rivalry?

Daniela Hantuchova and Patty Schnyder, who have played each other sixteen times and have each won eight matches, will renew their rivalry on Sunday in theGenerali Ladies Linz final. If Hantuchova wins, she will move to the 8th spot in the race to the Sony Ericsson WTA Year-End Championships.

Schnyder took out Marion Bartoli, 7-6, 6-3 to reach the final, and Hantuchova beat Nicole Vaidisova, 2-6, 6-2, 7-6.

Final four selection completed

The doubles team of Katarina Srebotnik and Ai Sugiyama, along with the team of Kveta Peschke and Rennae Stubbs, will participate in the Sony Ericsson WTA Year-End Championships in Madrid next month. The other two teams--Black and Huber, and Chan and Chuang--were the first two to qualify. Defending champions Lisa Raymond and Sam Stosur cannot compete because Stosur is recovering from viral meningitis.

Blogging to slow down

I am going on vacation, so blogging will slow down, especially for a few days when I will have no Internet access of any kind. I will resume regular blogging in a week and a half.

Number 1 seed out of Linz

Indoor carpet specialist Patty Schnyder pulled off the smackdown of the Generali Ladies Linz tournament today, taking out number one seed Anna Chakvetadze, 6-1, 6-0. Schnyder will play Marion Bartoli (I hate that...I want them both to win) in the semifinals; Bartoli defeated Julia Vakulenko 6-1, 1-6, 6-4.

Daniela Hantuchova, who defeated Alona Bondarenko, will face Nicole Vaidisova, who got past Dinara Safina, 6-3, 7-6.

Serving up a storm

During the first set of today's Linz quarterfinal match between Alona Bondarenko and Daniela Hantuchova, neither player faulted on a first serve. In the third set, Bondarenko did not fault on any first serves. The overall match statistics show Bondarenko with a 99% first serve percentage (she got 95% in in the second set). That is some clean serving! Hantuchova, for her part, had an overall 88% first serve percentage, and she also hit five aces. Both players had similar first serve win percentages (69 and 67).

Hantuchova took the first set, Bondarenko ran away with the second, and in the last half of the third, Hantuchova got the break and emerged the winner, 6-4, 1-6, 6-3.

Worth noting: Two of Ukraine's top players, Bondarenko and Julia Vakulenko, made the quarterfinals of this tournament.