Serena Captures 3rd Clay Title At Charleston, Kirilenko Takes Estoril!

April 20th, 2008

Charleston, South Carolina

Earlier in the week when the WTA Tour made its stop in Charleston for its annual Family Circle Cup, big names such as Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova and defending champion Jelena Jankovic, offered fans an exciting week to come. One match in particular was on the mind's of many, Serena Williams vs. Maria Sharapova in the Quarter-Finals.

It certainly was the blockbuster of the tournament according to big names. The match went back and forth with Williams taking the first set in a tough battle, 7-5. Sharapova however came back in the 2nd and did her best to keep Serena down with a 6-4 win. The 3rd and final set was all Williams as she rushed to a 5-0 lead before finally ending the match 7-5, 4-6, 6-1. It was their first meeting on clay.

The defending champion, Jankovic fell in the Quarter-Finals to Vera Zvonareva in a shock loss. It was a tough loss that caused Jankovic to begin to tear at the end of the match. The Semi-Finals weren't filled with surprises as Williams defeated a tough opponent in Cornet 7-5, 6-3. Williams was down 4-1 in the first set. Zvonareva defeated Dementieva in a three set contest to make the Finals.

Williams and Zvonareva are no strangers to each other, with their head to head being 4-1. They last met during the 2007 US Open, which Williams won. Serena started strong, winning the first set 6-4, and things seemed to be going her way before she began getting negative and proceeded to make error after error, losing the 2nd Set, 6-3. Williams and Zvonareva were matched evenly in the 3rd set until 3-3 when Williams broke and went on to finish the match strongly 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.

It was Williams' 3rd career title on clay and first since 2002 when she won Roland Garros. It was also Serena's 31st career title overall. Williams now moves to 19-1 on the season, with her sole loss coming at the Australian Open. Williams now moves up to number 6 in the world and should next be seen playing in Berlin next month.

In Estoril this week, Maria Kirilenko showed the tennis world that no one should count her out by defeating Iveta Benesova in the Finals, 6-4, 6-2. It was Kirilenko's third career title overall.
Next week, the tour stops for Fed Cup and in both Morocco and Czech Republic.

Sharapova Earns First Clay Court Title At Amelia Island!

April 13th, 2008

Amelia Island, Florida

It took Sharapova 18 career titles before she could raise up her first championship trophy on clay, her 19th career title and 3rd of 2008. The Russian was the highest profile star at Amelia Island this week, with some competition coming from players such as Lindsay Davenportand Anna Chakvetadze. However, Sharapova struggled throughout the tournament and was often taken to the limit even before reaching the Finals.

Sharapova was stretched to three sets in both her 3rd Round and her Quarter-Finals victories over Anabel Medina Garrigues and Alona Bondarenko respectively. Lindsday Davenport pulled out of her Semi-Finals match with Sharapova before it even began citing a viral illness that put her on the shelf. Sharapova faced off little known, but rising star Dominika Cibulkova who defeated Alize Cornet in the Semis.

It wasn't the easy match Sharapova may have wanted, but all was going her way as she was in the lead, 5-4 in the opening set. Then she was broken and down 6-5. This is where Sharapova kicked into a second gear and would move through a tough Tiebreak to win the set 7-6(7). The 2nd Set was more to Sharapova's liking as she finally got comfortable on the green clay and won 6-3. It was Sharapova's first clay title, although it is Green Clay, she can take confidence from this victory next week as she tries to win at the Family Circle Cup in Charleston. The field there includes big names such as Jelena Jankovic and Serena Williams, the Finalists from Miami last week.

Serena Captures 5th Miami Crown, Ties Graf!

April 5th, 2008

Miami, Florida

Serena Williams was up and then she was down and then back up again, and then down before finally closing out a dramatic and sub par Final between herself and Jelena Jankovic. Serena was going for her 5th Sony Ericsson Open title in the last 7 years. Jankovic on the other hand was trying to gain her largest tournament victory of her career.

The match started out surprisingly well for Williams who last met and lost to Jankovic in the Quarter-Finals during the Australian Open. It wasn't until Williams was leading 6-1, 5-3, that things started to fall apart. Williams' serve went Awol as did her ground game, but to give credit to Jankovic, she was doing her best to return everything and make Williams hit that extra shot. And it worked, Jankovic went on to win the 2nd Set 7-5 after Williams made a double fault on set point.

The 3rd Set was more drama, as is expected from two of the Tour's best dramatic performers. Williams raced out to a 5-0 lead before problems began occurring again. Jankovic started to fight back, and Williams once again got tight and over anxious, making error after error. Before you knew it, the score was 5-3 with Jankovic having chances to make it 5-4. Williams fought hard and tried to keep the Serbian at bay and it wasn't until her 8th Championship Point where Williams smashed an overhead that the title was hers.

Serena Williams has captured her 30th career title and 5th Sony Ericsson Open. She ties Steffi Graf's record for most for a female, Andre Agassi has the most out of anyone with 6 titles. Williams will pocket more than $500,000 while Jankovic will take over more than $200,000. For Jankovic, this week was a good showing, giving her confidence coming up on the clay, one of her favorite surfaces. For Williams, she will take a small break and return on the clay to try and continue some momentum heading towards Roland Garros in May.

Sony Ericsson Open

Center Court

Serena Williams d. Jelena Jankovic - 6-1, 5-7, 6-3

Serena, Jankovic Soar Into Miami Final!

April 3rd, 2008

Miami, Florida

Today was Semi-Final action at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami. Today's match ups were highlighted by the defending champion, Serena Williams taking on Svetlana Kuznetsova during the day. At night Jelena Jankovic went head to head with Vera Zvonereva.

Starting with the night match, Jankovic was the heavy favorite and she showed her composure to handily win the match in straight sets, 6-1, 6-4. Jankovic who has had her ups and downs so far during the year has made a big move by making it to her first Miami Final. Zvonereva who has had ups and downs the last 4 years reminded people during the week why she was once ranked in the Top 10 long ago.

The day match was so far the match of the tournament however with Serena Williams taking on Svetlana Kuznetsova. Williams was bothered with a slight back injury in the first set, and Kuznetsova ended up taking it 6-3. Serena would not be denied however and continued to fight, staging a comeback and taking the second set 7-5. The third was up for grabs and in true Serena fashion, she took the fight to Kuznetsova who couldn't handle it and Williams won the match, 3-6 7-5, 6-3.

Williams now goes on to face Jankovic who has given her trouble in the past. At this years Australian Open, Jankovic defeated Serena in straight sets. Can Serena get revenge or will Jankovic raise the trophy for the first time?

Sony Ericsson Open

Center Court

Serena Williams d. Svetlana Kuznetsova - 3-6, 7-5, 6-3

Jelena Jankovic d. Vera Zvonereva - 6-1, 6-4