It was a very windy day in Toronto, but top-ranked Justine Henin managed to beat Nadia Petrova in straight sets 7-6 6-3. The Belgian will next meet Chinese qualifier Yan Zi, famous for defeating defending champion Ana Ivanovic in the second round. Yan Zi reached the semis, when her opponent in the quarterfinals, Marion Bartoli, retired because of a virus while trailing 6-2 3-0.

The other semifinal pair is Jelena Jankovic vs. Tatiana Golovin. In the quarterfinals the second-seeded Serb beat Virginie Razzano 7-5 6-2, while the Frenchwoman advanced to the semis with the 2-6 7-5 6-1`win over third seed Svetlana Kuznetsova.

Weather conditions were a real problem to the players. "I can tell you it was terrible out there," said Henin. "Here the wind turns all the time, it's hard to play good tennis. It's tough, very tough." Jankovic was also bothered by the wind: "Today was the strongest I have ever experienced". (via BBC)

France’s Amelie Mauresmo and China’s Na Li won’t play at the US Open which starts August 27.

As expected, former world number one Amelie Mauresmo has pulled out of the final Grand Slam of the year in order to fully recover from a groin injury and to get her motivation back in the meantime. This is only a continuation of a tough 2007, in which Mauresmo endured a two-month lay-off with appendicitis after which her results on court have been much worse than usual.

Mauresmo hasn’t played any competitive tennis since the Fed Cup in July, while the last regular tournament she played was Wimbledon where her title defence ended with a fourth-round defeat by Czech Nicole Vaidisova. However, we might see her at the China Open in the second half of September.

World No. 21 Na Li has withdrawn because of a rib injury which has been bothering her since the Wimbledon warm-up tournament in Birmingham. So, the US Open is the second consecutive Grand Slam that the best-ranked Chinese player must skip.

The WTA tour is not the same without Mauresmo and Li; I hope they will fully recover soon. (via BBC, Reuters)

Defending champion Ana Ivanovic was surprisingly beaten 6-3, 6-1 by China's Zi Yan in the second round of Toronto. Yan, a Grand Slam champion in doubles, played well above her ranking of 169, giving Ana no time to get into rhythm.

I think that Ivanovic was tired, both emotionally and physically, since she won the East West Bank Classic in Los Angeles just a few days ago. Anyway, it’s probably even better that she lost this early in the tournament because she’ll have more time to practice for the US Open. Read more »

Maroon 5’s frontman Adam Levine didn’t get what he had expected from Maria Sharapova. He thought that the tennis star grunts in bed just as she grunts on the court…but, that is not the case, in fact, it’s quite the opposite! Hihihi, made me chuckle. Here’s what he said:

“She wouldn’t make any noise during sex. I can’t tell you how disappointed I was. I really thought, like a lot of guys, that she’d be the loud screaming type. But instead, she just lay there like a dead frog. She even got angry if I started to moan, said it ‘ruined her concentration.’ It was so disillusioning that I went on Paxil for a month afterwards. Really, it was much more of a shock than when I found out there’s no such thing as the Easter Bunny.”

Adam and Masha had a brief romance after her 18th birthday. (via Tennis Served Fresh)

Highest-paid female athlete Maria Sharapova plans to visit Chernobyl, perhaps after Wimbledon next July, as a United Nations goodwill ambassador.

Sharapova's family was one of many affected by the nuclear catastrophe that took place 21 years ago. Her father and her mother fled the city of Gomel in Belarus — about 80 miles north of Chernobyl — shortly before the future tennis star was born in Nyagan, Siberia. Read more »

Third seed Ana Ivanovic clinched her second title of the year beating fourth seed Nadia Petrova in the final of the East West Bank Classic in Los Angeles. The Serb won 7-5 6-4 to continue the form that took her to the French Open final and Wimbledon semis this year.

Ivanovic’s powerful serve and impressive forehand were on display once again. Petrova was stunned: "She just rips it off without thinking. Sometimes I think she has no idea where it's going to go but, compared to other players, it's by far the best forehand out there." And remember what Jelena Jankovic said about Ana’s serve after their semifinal match? Read more »

World No.5 Ana Ivanovic extended her head-to-head superiority over Jelena Jankovic to 4-1 defeating her 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 in an all-Serbian semifinal at the East West Bank Classic.

The Ivanovic vs. Jankovic match was a real thriller in which Ana showed her fighting spirit, and off course, her powerful serve, shooting 12 aces. I think that the best thing about Ana is that she plays point by point, which enables her to recover when she’s losing. In the Saturday’s semifinal, the 19-year-old fought off two match points, and came back from near-defeat on numerous other occasions throughout the match. She was as fantastic as in the Wimbledon quarterfinals against Nicole Vaidisova. Congratulations! Read more »

I can’t believe it! Just when I thought that Hingis was the driving-force of Stepanek’s fantastic form and spectacular results (the Czech plays better than ever, as if he’s in top 10!), I hear that they have broken off their engagement. What a disappointment!

"Radek asked me to pass on a message announcing that he and Martina Hingis have split up, they will remain good friends," a spokesman for the ATP said on Saturday.

The pair became engaged last November when Stepanek proposed to Hingis in Prague. (via Reuters, photo via: ACE 2007 > tennis)

Maria Sharapova is added to the never-ending list of Toronto withdrawals. The reason is that she has played too many matches lately, and she needs to rest for the US Open.

Sharapova’s withdrawal was more or less expected; here’s what the Russian said on her website: “As I previously indicated to the Rogers Cup, I entered the event on the basis that my participation depended on my health and performance during the course of the summer. This is the reason that I asked the tournament not to include me in their advertising, which to their credit they did not do. “

Still, four of the world's top five women's tennis players are coming to Toronto.

Rogers Cup is doomed! The list of withdrawals is getting longer every day. The latest stars to cancel their appearance in Canada are Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza. The Swiss former world number one has withdrawn due to a sore hip and back, while the rising Indian star cited personal reasons. (via Tennis Magazine)

Amelie Mauresmo, Venus Williams and Nicole Vaidisova have pulled out earlier this week.