Nicole Vaidisova news

Tennis player wins first-round match is rarely a reason for much celebration - unless your name happens to be Nicole Vaidisova.

Few players have made such an impact so young as the tall Czech, but even fewer have dropped off the radar in such a spectacular way.

At the age of 18, Vaidisova had reached two grand slam semi-finals and two quarter-finals and risen to number seven in the world rankings.

Swiftly labelled the new Maria Sharapova, the striking 6ft blonde seemed destined for major honours at the very top of the game.

Heather Watson has taken her biggest scalp yet in senior tennis by beating former world number seven Nicole Vaidisova in the United States.

The 17-year-old from Guernsey beat Vaidisova 4-6 7-6 (12-10) 7-6 (7-4) in the first round of the Tangipahoa Tennis Classic in Louisiana.

Watson will face Australia's fifth seed Michelle Adamczak, who has a senior world ranking of 150, in round two.

The tournament is part of the second-tier ITF circuit.

Tennis player wins first-round match is rarely a reason for much celebration - unless your name happens to be Nicole Vaidisova.

Few players have made such an impact so young as the tall Czech, but even fewer have dropped off the radar in such a spectacular way.

At the age of 18, Vaidisova had reached two grand slam semi-finals and two quarter-finals and risen to number seven in the world rankings.

Swiftly labelled the new Maria Sharapova, the striking 6ft blonde seemed destined for major honours at the very top of the game.

Top-seeded Russian Maria Sharapova and second-seeded rising American Melanie Oudin were easy second-round winners Wednesday at the $220,000 Regions Morgan Keegan Championships & the Cellular South Cup tennis event.

Former world No. 1 and three-time major champion Sharapova drilled American Bethanie Mattek-Sands 6-1, 6-1 in just under one hour on the indoor hardcourts at The Racquet Club of Memphis.

Sharapova's next test will come from eighth-seeded Brit Elena Baltacha, who handled Canadian Valerie Tetreault 6-4, 6-4.

Number two seed  defeated fellow-American Alexa Glatch, 6-2, 6-2 in the Cellular South Cup in Memphis on Tuesday.

Karolina Sprem of Croatia upset No 4 seed Lucie Hradecka of the Czech Republic 6-4, 6-4, and No 8 seed Elena Baltacha of Britain beat the Czech Republic's Renata Voracova, 7-5, 6-1.

Nicole Vaidisova, a former top 10 player whose ranking has dropped to nearly 200 in the world, advanced with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over American Laura Granville.

Promising career on rise sidetracked by injuries

Three-time Grand Slam champion Maria Sharapova is in Memphis for the second time in her career. A semifinalist in her only previous appearance, she has her eye on the Cellular South Cup.

There’s a women’s tournament going on this week in Midland, Michigan, population about 41,000. It’s a $100,000 Challenger event and features two players who may both be past their primes, Maureen Drake, 38, of Toronto and Nicole Vaidisova, 20, of the Czech Republic.

One of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour's fiercest competitors of all time will be rolling into Memphis this year, as Maria Sharapova graces the courts of the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships & the Cellular South Cup.

Russian veteran Nadia Petrova arrived in Melbourne for the Australian Open with little to get excited about after back-to-back first-round losses in 2010 but she suddenly looms as a chance to go all the way.

The 27-year-old has announced herself as a contender for the crown with consecutive wins over comeback queen Kim Clijsters, who she thrashed 6-0 6-1 in the third round, and No.3 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova, who she downed in three sets in the fourth round on Sunday.

Nicole Vaidisova, a former top 10 player and a 2006 semifinalist at the French Open, is boosting the marquee value of the Cellular South Cup tennis tournament next month at The Racquet Club.

Vaidisova, 20, has accepted a wild card to play in the Sony Ericsson Women's Tennis Association event, joining world No. 12 Maria Sharapova and rising American Melanie Oudin, the highest-ranked U.S. player behind Venus and Serena Williams.

If hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, Serena Williams should be pumped up, or more so than usual, when the Australian Open starts Monday, or Sunday, depending on where you live. Yes, tennis junkies in the U.S. and Europe are in for some crazy hours until the end of January. Let's hope the excitement comes close to matching the Packers-Cardinals thriller last weekend, making the long nights worthwhile. Williams, of course, was involved in the single biggest incident at the U.S.

Former top-10 player Nicole Vaidisova hasn't been playing much tennis lately - no good tennis, no bad tennis. No tennis.

But apparently she and 11-years-older boyfriend Radek Stepanek are still going strong.

Here is Vaidisova (above) watching Stepanek play Novak Djokovic in the Basel semi-finals Saturday (that's Daddy Djokovic on the far left of the left photo; with the Djoker's entourage so big, it spilled out of their box a little).

Standing 6-foot-2, Maria Sharapova could post-up most players on the WTA Tour and the Los Angeles Times reports Sharapova is now playing pick-and-roll with Lakers reserve guard Sasha Vujacic.

L.A. Times Laker beat writer Mike Bresnahan reports the Sharapova and Vujacic, aka "Sashapova", are dating.

"Yes, I'm happy," Vujacic told The L.A. Times. "Everything's good."

For those still interested in who would finish the year as women's No. 1, well, you got your answer earlier than expected in Doha.