Ana Ivanovic is featured in a new marketing campaign, called "Me, Myself", for her clothing sponsor adidas.

There are two versions of Ivanovic’s poster which shows the images from the 21-year-old’s training sessions. You can also see the number 30. Of course, it’s not Ivanovic’s age, but the number of minutes she needs for herself in order to be a successful player: "Ana, 30. Thirty minutes of 'me' time – it's what I need before I can meet my next challenge. Impossible is nothing."

"The new adidas philosophy of Me, Myself is inspiring to me because it shows women as individuals; that we are all athletes in our own right and that we all have things that we do differently whatever level of athlete we are," said the 2008 Roland Garros champion Ivanovic.

The campaign will be featured in adidas stores and in print and website advertising. I think the posters look great and I would like to see them advertise adidas on my website. That would be cool. (via Ana Ivanovic's official website)

Contrary to the Moorilla Hobart International where not even one seeded player reached the quarterfinals, the seeds at the Medibank International Sydney were doing strong in their second-round matches. Actually, six of the quarterfinalists are seeded players.

Top seed Serena Williams cruised past Italian Sara Errani 6-1 6-2 in 50 minutes. Good for Williams. Her first-round match was everything but easy, as she had to save four match points against Samantha Stosur.

Svetlana Kuznetsova was pushed to the limit by Estonian Kaia Kanepi, while Dinara Safina, Elena Dementieva, Agnieszka Radwanska and Caroline Wozniacki are safely through to the last eight of the season's first Premier series event.

Quarterfinal pairs at the Sydney International include: Serena Williams vs. Caroline Wozniacki, Elena Dementieva vs. Agnieszka Radwanska, Svetlana Kuznetsova vs. Ai Sugiyama, Alize Cornet vs. Dinara Safina. (source: Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, photo by our dear reader Jacob who attended the tournament)

Top seed Flavia Pennetta was defeated in the second round of the Moorilla Hobart International, along with fourth seed Zheng Jie and seventh seed Alona Bondarenko, which leaves the tournament’s quarterfinals without seeded players.

The world No.13 Pennetta was upset by No.57-ranked Magdalena Rybarikova 7-5 6-3, who scored her first Top 20 win.

Earlier in the day, the Chinese No.1 Zheng lost to Gisela Dulko 6-3 6-3, while the Ukrainian No.1 Bondarenko lost to Petra Kvitova 6-2 6-1.

Other seeds at the Moorilla Hobart International were all defeated in the first round already, and they were No.2 seed Patty Schnyder, No.3 seed Anna Chakvetadze, No.5 seed Agnes Szavay, No.6 seed Aleksandra Wozniak and No.8 seed Tamarine Tanasugarn. (photo by Dima Korotayev/Epsilon/Getty Images via Sony Ericsson WTA Tour)

Vera Zvonareva, Victoria Azarenka and Marion Bartoli pulled out of the Medibank International Sydney because of injury and illness.

Russian world No.7 Zvonareva withdrew from her first-round match against Spain's Anabel Medina Garrigues after suffering a bout of gastroenteritis.

Belorussian world No.14 Azarenka, who won her maiden WTA title last week in Brisbane, pulled out because of a mystery virus.

Bartoli, the world No.17 from France and the last week's finalist at the Brisbane International, quit her match against British qualifier Melanie South after just two games because of a calf injury. (source: Reuters, photos: Getty Images via Sony Ericsson WTA Tour)

Three seeds fell on the second day of the Moorilla Hobart International, and most notably No.3 seed Anna Chakvetadze.

The world No.18 Chakvetadze was up in the third set, but Carla Suarez Navarro eventually beat her 7-6(5) 1-6 7-5 in the first round. Suarez Navarro became better known at Roland Garros last May when she reached the quarterfinals as a qualifier. Her win over Chakvetadze is her best career victory.

Chakvetadze was playing her first Sony Ericsson WTA Tour event of the season. In 2008, the Russian lost six of her last eight matches and fell from the Top 10 to where she is now.

Other seeds sent packing were No.5 seed Agnes Szavay, who was defeated by Anne Keothavong 6-3 7-5, and No.6 seed Aleksandra Wozniak, who saved seven match points in the second set but eventually lost to Polish qualifier Urszula Radwanska 3-6 7-6(3) 7-5. (source: Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, photo: annachakvetadze.com)

Unseeded world No.44 Tsvetana Pironkova of Bulgaria has ended Patty Schnyder’s hopes of a second title at the Moorilla Hobart International, defeating the Swiss second seed 6-2 6-4 in the first round.

"To beat the number 14 is a big win, I've only had three or four top 20 wins so this is a big win for me," Pironkova said.

Eighth seed Tamarine Tanasugarn also lost in the first round, being defeated by Czech Iveta Benesova 7-5 7-5. Surviving a scare was seventh seed Alona Bondarenko, who overcame Romania's Monica Niculescu 6-4 2-6 6-2. (source: Reuters, photo: Tennis Channel)

Top seed Serena Williams avoided an early exit at the Medibank International Sydney, fighting off four match points against Australia's Samantha Stosur in the first round.

Stosur was serving for victory at 5-4 in the third set, and even earned a 40-0 lead. However, the American leveled, then held her own serve, and then broke Stosur’s serve in the following game to win the match 6-3 6-7 (4-7) 7-5.

Williams will next play either Italian Sara Errani or another home favorite Casey Dellacqua.

Fifth-seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia also survived a scare on the first day of the Sydney International, coming from a set down to defeat Peng Shuai 3-6 6-1 6-3. (via Tennis Head, photo: Tennis Channel)

In the middle of our worries about why Maria Sharapova hasn’t landed on a plane to Australia yet, the withdrawal of the reigning Australian Open champion from this year’s event hits the news.

The 21-year-old Sharapova still hasn’t completely overcome her shoulder injury troubles, which prevented her from playing competitive tennis since August.

"I am very sorry to announce that I am not going to be able to defend my title at this year's Australian Open," the Russian said in a statement.

"My shoulder is doing great but I just started training a few weeks ago and I am just not near the level I need to be to compete at the highest levels."

The world No.9 Sharapova didn't play the recently-finished JB Group Classic exhibition event citing the same reasons.

Thank you Pat for being the first to tell me about this piece of news. Oh, the 2009 season hasn't started well. Sharapova will not be there to defend her title, Jelena Jankovic and Ana Ivanovic are both sick, what's next? (source: Reuters, image: Tennis Photos)

Venus Williams hasn’t lost one singles match at the JB Group Classic in Hong Kong, and her last victim was Russian world number seven Vera Zvonareva.

The 28-year-old American rounded off her only preparation for the Australian Open with a 6-2 6-2 victory over Zvonareva.

From what we’ve seen of the world number six this week, she’s on a great way to win her first Australian Open title.

Prior to beating Zvonareva, Williams had defeated Anna Chakvetadze 7-6 6-3, and world number one Jelena Jankovic 6-2 6-2.

Williams' win helped Team Americas claim victory over Team Russia in the JB Gold Group final. Other members of Team Americas were Gisela Dulko of Argentina and American Coco Vandeweghe.

We’re in the middle of the global financial crisis and the Australian Open is increasing prize money. Apparently, the crisis won’t hit everyone the same.

The singles finalists of the 2009 Australian Open will receive more money than ever before. The total prize money for the Grand Slam will be A$23.4 million (US$15.7 million), an increase of 12.3 per cent on last year, with the bulk going to the champions and the runner-ups. Both singles champions will receive a record A$2 million while the runners-up will each earn A$1 million.

"We believe that A$2 million is an appropriate reward for winning the biggest sporting event in the world in January," Tennis Australia Chief Executive Steve Wood said.

Organizers had already announced in October they were lifting the first prize amounts, but decided to raise it again to counter the drop in exchange rates.

The Australian Open starts on January 19th in Melbourne. (source: Reuters)