Month of October , 2007

We put the same questions to Serbian sensations Ana Ivanovic and Jelena Jankovic. See what each said.
 

The ATP Tour will not increase its quota of Asian players in events held on the continent despite threats by Asia's tennis body to pull out of the tour and start its own rebel circuit, a tour official said.
 
Brad Drewett, a senior ATP official, said the global men's circuit would not bow to a demand by the Asian Tennis Federation (ATF) that 25% of the field in every event on the continent be comprised of Asian players.
 
"We have rules in place based on merit, and we have no plans to change them," Drewett told Reuters in an interview.

Already reeling from the withdrawal of world number one Roger Federer, the Japan Open began on Monday with players scuttling on and off court because of rain.
 
Federer's late pullout robbed Tokyo organisers of their main drawcard, the Swiss blaming fatigue for his decision to not defend his title in the Japanese capital.
 
His absence leaves world number eight David Ferrer the tournament's highest-ranked player and new top seed in the men's event.
 

Justine Henin is coming off her latest triumph in Flushing Meadows, but a win in Stuttgart isn’t going to come easily. Serena Williams, Svetlana Kuznetsova and both Serbians are just four of the all-star cast bidding to steal Nadia Petrova’s title.

Justine Henin of Belgium maintained first place in the latest women's tennis rankings issued on Monday by the WTA, with former number one Venus Williams moving one place to eighth.

The US Open champion Henin has 5,200 points, with Russia's Svetlana Kuznetsova a distant second on 3,609 points and Jelena Jankovic of Serbia third on 3,445 points.

Venus Williams was due in Tokyo on Monday, leading a parade of weekend title winners into this week's Japan Open.

The Wimbledon champion who before last week had played just two matches in the post-US Open period over the previous two seasons, won her third trophy of the year and 26th overall on Sunday in Seoul.

Andy Murray and Jamie Murray will play doubles together for the first time since April this week at Metz.
 
The Scottish siblings have not played together since losing in the first round at Monte Carlo in April.
 
The pair - both key elements to the British Davis Cup team - will face Argentine duo Martin Garcia and Sebastien Prieto in the first round of the indoor tournament on Monday.
 

Sania Mirza made an impressive start at the Japan Open on Monday, posting a 6-0 6-4 victory over local player Ayumi Morita in the first round.
 
In her first event since the US Open, the 20-year-old second seed from India ripped through the first set before running into some trouble in the second, trailing early on.
 
However, she captured breaks in the fourth and eighth games to seal the match in 66 minutes.
 

Serena Williams starts a swing through Europe in the Stuttgart Grand Prix this week but whether she will still be around for the season-ending championship in Madrid next month is still uncertain.
 
It is rare to see Williams play in Europe this late in the season but she says the trip is not about racking up points to qualify for a place in the eight-player draw in the Spanish capital.
 
"If I play my game I'm sure I'll make it but that's not why I'm here," world number seven Williams said. "I'm just here to play.
 

Bordentown, NJ – October 1, 2007 – In only one year, Nintendo’s Wii Tennis has become something of a video game phenomenon complete with millions of die-hard fans.  

Around the globe, people of all ages have gotten up off the couch to engage in a new form of video competition that lets friends and families play “virtual” tennis against each other, complete with real footwork and real follow-throughs.  

For a woman who loves fast cars, Jelena Jankovic is at the right tournament at the Porsche Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Germany. Whether it will make traffic cops back in Serbia happy is another question.
 
Whether it will make traffic cops back in Serbia happy is another question.
 
So far, they have been giving her breaks but eventually her speeding might get her into trouble. Especially if she wins this tournament and drives home in a Porsche 911 Turbo convertible. The winner can also opt for the other option, $92 410 in cash.
 

World number one Justine Henin said on Monday she was hoping to make it third-time lucky at Stuttgart's WTA tournament this week after twice losing finals on previous visits here.
 
The 25-year-old is the favourite in Stuttgart and enjoying a superb season with a convincing 50-4 win-loss record on her way to seven more career titles including two Grand Slams.
 
Wins at both Roland Garros and the US Open have cemented her place at the top of the WTA Tour rankings.
 

Former world number one Venus Williams overpowered fellow American Jill Craybas 6-3 6-1 to reach the Japan Open second round in Tokyo on Tuesday.
 
Williams, winner of the Korea Open title at the weekend, recovered from an indifferent start, wrapping up the match in 59 minutes with a fierce backhand down the line.
 
Japan's Ai Sugiyama was an early loser, however, the fourth seed upset 6-3 6-3 by Chinese qualifier Yuan Meng to spoil her 14th appearance in her home event.

The last player to lose a match at last year's event became the first to win one this year, as Tatiana Golovin cruised through her first round at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix on Monday. Joining her in the second round was Dinara Safina, who beat Katarina Srebotnik in the only other singles main draw match of the day.
 

Defending champion Nadia Petrova put a poor start behind her to beat German wildcard Tatjana Malek 2-6 6-1 6-1 in the first round of the Stuttgart Grand Prix.
 
Petrova dropped her serve twice in the first set, conceding it in 32 minutes on centre court at the Porsche Arena via a series of unforced errors.
 
The Russian, seeded seventh at the $650,000 hardcourt tournament, improved markedly in the second, keeping Malek pinned back with her much more powerful ground game and moving 5-0 up on her way to levelling the match.
 

Nobody can adequately explain how it happens. It appears to be inadvertent rather than calculated, a manifestation of synchronicity rather than the fruit of government initiative or the globalization of tennis. Whatever the reason, it works roughly like this: One day you wake up and discover that your off-the-tennis-radar nation -- say, Sweden in the mid-1970s or Belgium in late 1990s -- has emerged as a superpower.
 

Serena Williams made a successful return to the Porsche Grand Prix, overwhelming Zuzana Ondruska 6-0, 6-0 in the first round Tuesday.
 
“I think I played really well. Most of all I am excited to be back at the tournament,” the sixth-seeded Williams said.
 
Williams, who has rarely traveled to Europe in the fall, last played at the Porsche Grand Prix in 1999.
 

Amelie Mauresmo wrote the headlines at the WTA Tour Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Germany, overnight, when she became the first big-name casualty at the tournament.

Mauresmo, the Australian Open and Wimbled champion last year, crashed 6-2 7-5 to Elena Dementieva from Russia in just 57 minutes after making several unenforced errors in the first set and giving herself too much to do in the second.
 

Andy Murray survived a second-set slump against Janko Tipsarevic to reach the second round of the Moselle Open in Metz.
 
The British number one took the first set 6-4, lost the second 6-1 to his Serbian opponent but roared back to win the decider 6-2.
 
Murray was playing his first singles match since helping Great Britain regain their place in the Davis Cup World Group.
 
Seeded third, he took control from the start and needed only one of five break points to clinch the first set.
 

Wimbledon champion Venus Williams thrashed fellow American Vania King 6-0 6-4 to reach the Japan Open quarter-finals.

The former world number one, who captured the Korea Open title at the weekend, cooled off after a red-hot start but still had too much power for King, winning in just 66 minutes.

Williams closed out proceedings with another thumping crosscourt forehand on her second match point that King could only dump into the net at full-stretch.