Top-seeded Justine Henin claimed her sixth title of the year with a thrilling 7-6(3), 7-5 victory over second-seeded Jelena Jankovic at the Rogers Cup presented by American Express in Toronto.

This match was Henin's seventh consecutive win over Jankovic. What a dominance! Even though the Serb is third-ranked player in the world, she has never found the way to beat the world number one. Still, every time these two players faced each other the level of tennis was excellent, and on five occasions they played three sets. In today's final, Jankovic again fought bravely, had her chances, but eventually succumbed to Henin's power.

Winning the Rogers Cup, the Belgian earned her thirty-fifth career title. (via On the Baseline)

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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)

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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)

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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 »

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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)

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