Defending champion Svetlana Kuznetsova had to withdraw from the ongoing China Open because of an abdominal injury. The world number two reached the US Open final and then led Russia to victory in the Fed Cup in the last two weekends, and the injury has caught up with her. "It's getting worse and worse," said the 22-year-old Kuznetsova. "I came here and had treatment but I just cannot serve." The Russian at least had time to visit the Great Wall of China.

Third seed Amelie Mauresmo of France made an unspectacular return to tennis after a two-month layoff with a 6-2 6-2 win over Romania's Ioana Raluca Olaru at the Tier II tournament in Beijing on Wednesday. Mauresmo has been struggling during this season. She didn’t play for two months because of appendicitis in March, and had won just one title in 2007 at Antwerp before deciding to take some time off. Remember that last year the Frenchwoman won two Grand Slam titles, and was ranked number one in the world.

Lindsay Davenport, on the other hand, has quickly found her form. After being away for almost a year, and giving birth to son Jagger in June, Davenport won a tournament on her singles comeback in Bali last weekend, and has now reached the second round of the China Open by beating fellow American Julie Ditty 6-0 6-2 in just 48 minutes. (sources: Reuters, BBC, photo via WTAworld)

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Members of Russia's winning Fed Cup team have questioned the motives of Maria Sharapova who attended the final against Italy to show her support.

Maria Sharapova has never played Fed Cup for Russia, having had her injuries as a reason, but she has always underlined that she wants to play for her native country. But is Sharapova telling the truth? Many people believe that the 20-year-old from Siberia is just making herself available for Fed Cup in order to be eligible to play at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Kuznetsova, whose victory brought Russia third Fed Cup title on Sunday, made an interesting statement:

"She said she wanted to be our practice partner but if you can't play how then can you practice?" Read more »

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Two tennis legends, Monica Seles and Martina Navratilova, played an exhibition match in Bucharest, Romania, on September 16. A nine-time Grand Slam champion Monica Seles defeated an eighteen-time Grand Slam winner Martina Navratilova 3-6, 6-3, 10-7.

These two greats of tennis are missed a lot, and I see many people asking will Seles ever return to competitive tennis. Unfortunately, I don't believe that will happen. (via Down the Line)

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Russia won their third Fed Cup title in four years with the victory over last year's surprising champions Italy in the final at Moscow's Luzhniki arena. On Sunday, Svetlana Kuznetsova saved two match points in a second-set tiebreaker before beating Italy's Francesca Schiavone 4-6 7-6 7-5 in the first reverse singles and giving the home team an insurmountable 3-0 lead over Italy.

Heavy favorites Russia had enjoyed a 2-0 lead after day one when Anna Chakvetadze beat Francesca Schiavone 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, and Svetlana Kuznetsova defeated Mara Santangelo 6-1 6-2.

In the picture you can see Maria Sharapova celebrating with the Russian team, but she didn't participate in the competition, her role was just that of a supporter. Actually, Sharapova has never played in the Fed Cup, and she was heavily criticized for that.

Here you can see the list of all Fed Cup champions since 1963. (photo via Craig Hickman's Tennis Blog)

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World No.234 Lindsay Davenport defeated second seed Daniela Hantuchova 6-4 3-6 6-2 to win her fifty-second career singles title and become the lowest-ranked player to win a tournament this season. Congratulations!

The victory at the Commonwealth Bank Tennis Classic in Bali is one of the most unlikely title victories of Davenport’s career, since she was playing her first singles event in almost a year and had not known what to expect as she began her tentative comeback. The 31-year-old American had been ready to lose in the first round but instead beat world number three Jelena Jankovic in the quarter-finals. Read more »

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