The Australian Open website is not the only virtual place where you can get involved with the first Grand Slam of the year. If you can’t visit the Melbourne Park in real life, you can do it in Second Life, an Internet-based virtual world. Plus, there is a competition in this cyber world where you can even win some money, virtual money though.

You can test out your designing skills at IBM's competition. The person who designs the best virtual tennis outfit will win $250,000 Linden dollars, virtual currency used in Second Life. Of course, you can’t use this money in the real world, but with it you can buy plenty of things in the universe of Second Life.

The winner of IBM's competition will be announced on January 25. I'm looking forward to the results of the competition, I suppose there will be some inspiring, fresh, and futuristic designs. (source: Australian Open)

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Fourth seed Ana Ivanovic reached her second career Grand Slam final after ninth seed Daniela Hantuchova let slip a 6-0 2-0 lead to eventually lose 0-6 6-3 6-4. Hantuchova was annoyed with Ivanovic’s behavior during the match and accused the Serb of intentionally distracting her in serving by squeaking with her feet.

Only after 45 minutes did Ivanovic take her first game, but then she settled and took the second set 6-3. The third set went with serve until 4-4 when three errors from the Slovak helped Ivanovic to break, and the Serb closed things out 6-4.

Hantuchova criticized Ivanovic of using tactics to distract her. As Hantuchova was preparing to serve Ivanovic was shuffling her feet which resulted in loud squeaking. Read more »

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Former world number one Maria Sharapova of Russia wasn’t as perfect as against top seed Justine Henin, but she defeated Serbia's Jelena Jankovic 6-3 6-1 without much struggle.

From the start of the match up until the very end third-seeded Jankovic was weak and without solution to Sharapova’s aggressive play. Injured and with tears in her eyes Jankovic wasn't happy even when she made a perfect shot. She was disappointed and in the last game of the match she evidently gave up as she didn’t fight as in the matches that brought her to the semifinal.

We can say that tiredness and countless injuries have finally caught up with Jankovic, who took four pain killers to be able to play the match. I hope Jankovic will now take a long break and come back fresh and in top form. Read more »

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Ana Ivanovic defeated six-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams and reached the Australian Open semifinals for the first time in her career. The final score was 7-6 6-4. Ivanovic’s next opponent will be Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia who ended the remarkable run of Polish teenager Agnieszka Radwanska beating her 6-2 6-2.

The first set of the Ivanovic vs. Williams match was pulsating, with six consecutive breaks of serve. It was taken to a tiebreak which fourth seed Ivanovic won 7-3. Eighth seed Williams got to a 3-0 lead in the second set, but wasted it with inconsistent play while Ivanovic woke up and the former world No.1 couldn’t stop her from closing out the match. Read more »

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Maria Sharapova ended Justine Henin's 32-match winning run to advance to the Australian Open semifinals for the fourth straight year. In one of the most consistent performances of her career, fifth-seeded Sharapova thrashed the world number one 6-4 6-0.

Henin, who suffered her last 6-0 rout back in 2002, hasn't been playing her best tennis in Melbourne and her shaky performance enabled powerful Sharapova to finish the match with such an impressive score. I'm sure the final result surprised everyone!

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