In Berlin quarterfinal Jelena Jankovic continued her tradition of winning the opening set against Justine Henin, and eventually coming out as a loser. So far, they have played five times, and four times Jelena won the first set; still, all the five times she lost the match!

In Saturday's quarterfinal Jelena was so close to victory — in the third set she had a 4-0 lead. Henin seemed disturbed, you could see her watching anxiously at her coach. However, she managed to recover and win six consecutive games to advance to the semis.

"I don't know how that could happen," said the Serbian.

"I thought I had everything under control and I am really upset, I was so close to beating her. It was slippery out there and I didn't feel safe on the court.

"But it was all my own mistake that I lost, I wasted all my chances to win." (Source: BBC Sport)

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Maria and Martina have both suffered injuries and they are considering whether or not to compete in Roland Garros which starts on 27 May.

The Russian hasn't played since March when she lost to Serena Williams in Miami. Her right shoulder injury made her pull out of next week's Italian Open, and she's still considering whether to play in France. "I just want my fans to know that I am doing everything possible to be ready to play at the French Open," she said.

The Swiss player has back and hip injuries and has also pulled out of Rome. She may recover till Roland Garros, but she won't play unless she's 100% ready. "I don't know if it's going to get better that quickly. I'll see how far I get in the next two weeks," she said. (Source: BBC Sport)

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Kim Clijsters of Belgium was supposed to quit after the tournament in Stuttgart, taking place in October, but she changed her mind and retired May 6, 2007. Even though still in the top 5, she decided to quit after losing to a qualifier Julia Vakulenko in Poland and in that way failing to defend her title.

Former world No. 1 in both singles and doubles had too many injuries in her career, so she decided to leave tennis at the young age of 23. "It's tiring to get out of bed and to use an hour just to warm up stiff muscles in the morning," she wrote on her online diary. "The constant injuries and continual rehabilitation … it makes it all even more difficult to go on." All those injuries lead to tiredness and lack of motivation. In addition, she's had enough of packing and unpacking, enough of jet lag and gossips in newspapers.

"It is time for a new life," she said. "Time for marriage. Time for children? Time also to relax and to play with my dogs. And especially to spend a lot of time with my family and friends."

The first Belgian player to be ranked No. 1 in the world won 34 career singles titles and 11 doubles titles. She has one Grand Slam title having won the 2005 U.S. Open.
Kim Clijsters will stay in our minds as not only a great player, but also a great person.

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Seventh seed Elena Dementieva needed 159 minutes to overwhelm unseeded Meilen Tu of America 6-7 (5), 6-0, 7-5.

This was Russian's first match since February 15th, and the first one she has won since February 2nd. World No. 13 was sidelined by injury for two and a half months; she broke three of her ribs while training with her new coach. When she complained about the pain she felt, the coach kept telling her that it was a normal part of the exercise. In the end, he lost his job, and Dementieva lost two months of practice. However, it could have been even worse — "I kept wondering if I should come back to competitive tennis," she said.

Weather conditions, severe wind and light snow, made Dementieva's comeback match even more difficult; "When it's this cold, I can feel my broken ribs. It's so nice to sit in a warm room," she said in a press conference.

Demetieva is happy to have won this match, but still, she feels that her tennis was rather poor. (via: J&S Cup)

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Russians Nadia Petrova and Anna Chakvetadze overcame the cold and wind and reached the second round of the J&S Cup. "The conditions were I think the worst," Petrova said. "It was cold, it was windy — before we went on it was a little bit drizzling."

Fifth seed Petrova downed Katarzyna Piter of Poland 6-3, 7-5. The 24-year-old Petrova, who won three clay-court titles last season, had little trouble overpowering her 17-year-old opponent. Still, she wasn't completely satisfied with her play — "I really had a difficult time because last week I didn't do much practising." In the second round, Petrova meets Mara Santangelo of Italy, who beat Severine Bremond of France 6-2, 6-3.

Sixth seed Anna Chakvetadze was better than her American opponent Jill Craybas. The Russian won in straight sets, 7-6 (8-6), 7-5. Anna's next opponent will be the winner of the match Tathiana Garbin vs. Laura Granville.

(sources: ESPN, BBC Sport)

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