Today is the 23rd birthday of Vera Zvonareva, Russian female tennis player currently ranked 28th in the world. I will use her birthday as an opportunity to take a look at her career achievements.

She has won five WTA Tour singles titles (2006 – Birmingham, Cincinnati; 2005 – Memphis; 2004 – Memphis; 2003 – Bol) and four WTA Tour doubles titles (2006 – US Open, Auckland, 2005 – Berlin, 2004 – Moscow). Her highest-ever ranking was number nine, in both singles and doubles.

This season: The first few months were quite satisfying. I will point out some of her best results in 2007: she reached Auckland final, fourth round at the Australian Open, and Indian Wells quarterfinals. But then, in April, left wrist injury occurred and she had to retire from her Charleston semifinal match. Zvonareva was sidelined by the injury all the way until the US Open.

Latest result: As No.27 seed Vera Zvonareva lost in the third round of the US Open to Serena Williams. (source: WTA Tour)

Chinese number one Na Li will miss this month's China Open because of a right rib injury which has been bothering her since June. Everything started at the DFS Classic, a tournament in Birmingham, when Na Li couldn’t stop coughing because of her pollen allergy. Since then, we haven’t seen her on court at all.

Another Chinese player will miss China Open. World No.129 Jie Zheng, Wimbledon 2006 doubles champion, won’t play in Beijing because of an ankle injury.

These persistent injuries prevented Na Li and Jie Zheng from taking part in both Wimbledon and US Open, and there is little hope that they will recover soon.

"It is very bad news," Chinese Tennis Association (CTA) vice president Gao Shenyang told China Daily.

"Their rehabilitation is slower than we expected, I am not sure when they will be back." (via Reuters)

No wonder Maria Sharapova is irritated by the fact that many people have written her off just because she lost in the third round of the US Open the year she defended her title. In the so called weekly doodles at her official website, in order to prove that she’s here to stay, Masha depicted all the hardships that she went through on her way to the top:

“Anyways I know it's just as tough for my fans to handle my losses as it is for me, but let me point something out….I didn't leave my mom at the age of 7 for nothing. I didn't spend 6 hours a day practicing in the Florida sun at the age of 9 for nothing. I didn't spend those extra hours on the back courts with my dad figuring out if I'm going to play right-handed or left-handed for nothing. I didn't sleep in little cods for 3 years eating oatmeal out of a packet, while playing ITF's in the middle of nowhere for nothing. Read more »

Before flying back home, Martina Hingis attended the BCBG – Max Azria 2008 spring/summer show. The Swiss tennis star was photographed with singer Natasha Bedingfield and Nigel Barker from 'America's Next Top Model'.

Hingis lost to Belorussian Victoria Azarenka in the third round of the US Open 2007. (source: Tennis Served Fresh)

Twelfth seed Venus Williams of the USA set up a semifinal clash with Justine Henin at the US Open 2007 with the triumph over third seed and last year’s semifinalist Jelena Jankovic of Serbia.

Williams’ fast serve was not a big problem for Jankovic who made a break twice in the first set. However, she won it 6-4 because she didn’t hold one of her serves. Second set completely belonged to the American, who stayed in the match with a decisive 6-1. In that set Jankovic kind of surrendered, and began to save energy for the third set. The decider was a thrilling tie-breaker, and Venus won it 7-6 (4). Read more »

For those of you who are wondering what Monica Seles is doing these days, here she is at the US Open 2007. The nine-times Grand Slam champion was spotted watching Justine Henin vs. Serena Williams quarterfinal.
(via Down the Line)

Two Russians, Anna Chakvetadze and Svetlana Kuznetsova have accompanied Justine Henin in the 2007 US Open semifinals.

Sixth-seeded Chakvetadze reached her first Grand Slam semis with a 6-4 6-1 triumph over eighteenth-seeded Shahar Peer, the first woman from Israel to play in the U.S. Open quarterfinals.

Chakvetadze’s next opponent is fourth-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova, who advanced to the final four with a confident 6-1 6-4 victory over Hungarian rising star Agnes Szavay.

In the all-Russian semifinal, Kuznetsova is the favorite, but Chakvetadze is definitely not an easy opponent. After all, she couldn't have won four titles this season if she hadn't been in top form.

The last women's quarterfinal was scheduled for Wednesday night, with two-time Open champion Venus Williams playing third-seeded Jelena Jankovic.

While practicing with Mikhail Youzhny before the US Open 2007, fun-loving Novak Djokovic imitated Maria Sharapova. Hilarious! Nole has done this before, both with Sharapova and Rafael Nadal, but this time he impersonated Masha so well that I felt like I was watching her.

(via On the Baseline)

Top seed Justine Henin gave a magnificent display to beat Serena Williams 7-6 6-1 in their much-anticipated US Open quarterfinal clash.

Eighth-seeded Williams had a set point at 6-5 in the first set, but Henin claimed the set on a tiebreak, 7-3, and then won the second set in just 36 minutes.

Serena was unable to hide her disappointment after the loss. Take a look at what she said at a post-match press-conference. Read more »

At the beginning of the US Open, American tennis player Bethanie Mattek drew attention to herself with her outrageous gold dress and matching headband. Later on, she sported her somewhat better-looking outfit, but it was still too provocative and the ball boy was being distracted. Haha, no wonder!

Mattek lost to Shahar Peer in the singles second round, while in women’s doubles she’s still in action, having reached the quarterfinals with Sania Mirza of India.