On day two of the Qatar Total Open in Doha, Marion Bartoli lost in the second round (in the first round she had a bye), while Agnes Szavay and Sania Mirza left the tournament in the first round.

France’s Marion Bartoli still hasn't managed to replay her fantastic performance from Wimbledon where she was the runner-up. At the Qatar Total Open, the eighth seed lost in straight sets 6-2 6-3 to 17-year-old Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark, who is seriously making her way to the top. Wozniacki is one of the young players to watch. Taking into account her attractiveness, her fruitful tennis career is likely to be accompanied with marketing success. Actually, Wozniacki already did a commercial for Sony Ericsson. Fellow blogger Juan has a nice little article about Wozniacki’s achievements and future career prospects. Read more »

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The series of photos of tennis players when they were kids continues, this time we have Martina Hingis.

Hingis recently ended her career, most certainly not in a way she wanted, but that can't overshadow all the heights she has achieved during the time she played tennis as a professional.

I would like to accompany these childhood photos of Martina Hingis with a short story about the beginnings of her impressive tennis career.

Both Hingis’ parents were tennis players, and they named their daughter Martina, after tennis star Martina Navratilova. Hingis started playing tennis when she was only two years old, and entered her first tournament at the age of four. Read more »

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Top seed Justine Henin beat Italy’s Karin Knapp 6-3 6-3 to win the Proximus Diamond Games in her home Belgium. The Antwerp title is Henin’s second of the 2008 season, the first one was Sydney, and it's her 41st career title.

It was the first meeting between Henin and Knapp. World No.1 Henin continued her not-so-perfect play, but still she was more than Knapp could handle. I must point out, however, that the young Italian didn’t disappoint at all. She was a good opponent, and Henin didn't defeat her easily.

Despite the loss, the 20-year-old Knapp made a great achievement. The world No.47 hadn't won a match in three tournaments this year before her surprising run to the Antwerp final. It was her first career final and she reached it with victories over Nathalie Dechy, Yaroslava Shvedova, fourth seed Patty Schnyder, and ninth seed Na Li.

Winning the Proximus Diamond Games, Justine Henin earned $95,500. For the overly luxurious trophy she’ll have to win two more times.

Additional info: Because of the WTA’s changes to the calendar, from 2009 onwards the Proximus Diamond Games will be a tournament by invitation only. Henin opted to play in Antwerp at the farewell edition despite picking up a $10 000 fine for withdrawing from next week's event in Doha. In addition, she will forfeit $125 000 of her share in the season year-end bonus pool for missing the newly-required event. (photo via Proximus Diamond Games)

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Highest-paid female athlete Maria Sharapova visited Israel two weeks ago as part of the Russian Fed Cup team and used the occasion to buy a luxurious penthouse there, in popular tourist resort.

The apartment is located in Ir Yamim, south of Netanya, which is the favorite destination for many overseas residents who want a holiday home in Israel. World No.5 Sharapova will enjoy the spacious 350-square-meter apartment as well as the panoramic view of the Mediterranean Sea from her three balconies. Additionally, the 20-year-old Russian could also have a swimming pool on the large rooftop of the $2 million apartment.

Maria Sharapova currently lives in the United States. (source RIA Novosti via On the Baseline, photo via Maria Sharapova's website)

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World No.1 Justine Henin had to play three sets to beat qualifier Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 and reach the Proximus Diamond Games final.

The 18-year-old Bacsinszky, ranked 94th in the world, took the first set but couldn't fight well for long enough to beat the top seed. Bacsinszky had as much as seven break points in the second set but didn't convert any of them. She wasted too many chances to produce an upset. Still, favorite Henin was made to work for more than two hours, while Bacsinszky showed she has confidence to challenge a much higher ranked player.

In Sunday's final, Henin will face China's Na Li or Karin Knapp of Italy, who play their semifinal match later Saturday. (photo via Yahoo)

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