Top seed Serena and No. 4 seed Jankovic suffer losses on Day 5 in Stanford; Venus advances after beating Sharapova in straight sets

American Serena Williams had a tough day on Friday in Stanford, as the No. 1 failed to reserve a spot in the semifinals after being beaten by Australian Samantha Stosur in three sets, while sister Venus continued her run at the event after beating Maria Sharapova in straight sets.

Serena was stunned by the Grand Slam doubles champion with a score of 62 36 62, which was a hard task for Stosur to complete.

No. 3 seed Elena Dementieva spent her day by beating Daniela Hantuchova easily, 62 64.

No. 4 seed Jelena Jankovic was the other seed to go home, as the Serbian player suffered a loss to No. 8 seed Marion Bartoli, 36 76(3) 63.

Venus was in great shape for her quarterfinal match against Sharapova, as the No. 2 seed demolished the Russian champion with a score of 62 62.

Friday, July 31, 2009

Singles - Quarterfinals

Samantha Stosur (AUS) d. (1) Serena Williams (USA) 62 36 62

(2) Venus Williams (USA) d. Maria Sharapova (RUS) 62 62

(3) Elena Dementieva (RUS) d. Daniela Hantuchova (SVK) 62 64

(8) Marion Bartoli (FRA) d. (4) Jelena Jankovic (SRB) 36 76(3) 63

Serena and Venus get victory on Day 4 in Stanford

No. 1 seed Serena Williams had a tough time against opponent Melinda Czink, but the American still managed to win the match in straight sets to advance to the quarterfinals, while sister and No. 2 seed Venus easily ousted Alla Kudryavtseva on Day 4 in Stanford.

Serena won the first set against the Hungarian easily, but then Czink made Williams go to a tiebreak, which Serena eventually won, the match ending with a score of 63 76(7).

Venus won the first set against her Russian opponent in a much easier manner, but then Kudryavtseva gathered up her strength, but Venus ended the match with a score of 61 75.

No. 8 seed Marion Bartoli was also on the winner's list on Thursday, as the Frenchwoman struggled but won to qualifier Melanie Oudin 75 64.

No. 4 seed Jelena Jankovic was the last seed to play, and she played the night match against Sabine Lisicki. The Serb was in awful shape in the first set, as Lisicki won it easily, but then Jankovic won the next two sets to win the match, with a score of 26 62 64.

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Singles - Second Round

(1) Serena Williams (USA) d. Melinda Czink (HUN) 63 76(7)

(2) Venus Williams (USA) d. (Q) Alla Kudryavtseva (RUS) 61 75

(4) Jelena Jankovic (SRB) d. Sabine Lisicki (GER) 26 62 64

(8) Marion Bartoli (FRA) d. (Q) Melanie Oudin (USA) 75 64

Sharapova breezes into quarters on Day 3 in Stanford

Maria Sharapova powered through into the quarterfinals of the Bank of West Classic after demolishing No. 5 seed Nadia Petrova, while No. 3 seed and compatriot Elena Dementieva beat her Russian opponent with the same score as Sharapova on Day 3 in Stanford.

Sharapova didn't have quite a good match in the first round, but she proved that she was better in her second round match, as she ousted Petrova with a score of 61 62.

"When you get to an opponent like Nadia, you have to expect she'll be playing very good tennis. She has a big game and she's very explosive," Sharapova said. "I didn't make many mistakes and I kept doing what I needed to do. After the first round I knew what I needed to improve, and I learned from it today."

Next up for Sharapova is either No. 2 seed Venus Williams or qualifier Alla Kudryavtseva. The Russian last played Williams two years ago at Wimbledon, suffering a 61 63 loss.

"I'm excited. I'd love to play against her," Sharapova continued. "It has been a while. It's always great to be coming back and having a chance to play a player like her, at the top of the game and playing well. I'm looking forward to it."

Dementieva was also not challenged, by Maria Kirilenko, as she won the match with a score of 61 62.

The only seed to be on the loser's list on Wednesday was No. 7 seed Agnieszka Radwanska, who was beaten by more experienced Daniela Hantuchova after the Pole led 64 42, with the ending score being 46 76(6) 61.

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Singles - Second Round

(3) Elena Dementieva (RUS) d. Maria Kirilenko (RUS) 61 62

Maria Sharapova (RUS) d. (5) Nadia Petrova (RUS) 61 62

Daniela Hantuchova (SVK) d. (7) Agnieszka Radwanska (POL) 46 76(6) 61

Samantha Stosur (AUS) d. Monica Niculescu (ROU) 61 75

Maria Sharapova looks to be in top form ahead of the American hard-court season

On the 23rd of July our team was lucky enough to see former world number one Maria Sharapova practicing at the Home Depot Centre in Los Angeles, California. A guy came to play a practice match against her and they first had a warm up. Maria's footwork looked solid and her shots looked smooth with no signs of flaws. Her coaches were in great attention of her toss on the serve. No signs of pain in her shoulder could be seen as they had a warm-up of about 15-20 minutes before starting the match. Maria started the match on serve and sturdily pounded the ball hitting winner after winner before taking the match 61 61. She did have 6 double faults, but her coaches told her to stay calm about that issue and just keep on pounding that ball. She then stopped to take a break and took a couple of photographs with the onlooking fans. Picture on right features Maria with one of top tennis prospects, Dasha Sulimoff from Russia. Maria then continued her training session by hitting more serves to get that confidence that was bothering her a bit through out the match.

This training session definitely confirmed her message that she is 100% healthy, after she beat 5th seeded Nadia Petrova easily in the second round with a score of 61 62.

Here's a video of her practicing: