Martina Hingis is the latest tennis star to appear in a reality TV show.

The Swiss five-time Grand Slam champion has been in London filming her appearance on ITV’s Beat the Star, a show that pits a star against a member of the public in physical and mental challenges.

Laura Beardsmore, a 22-year-old dentistry student from Leeds, will use her multiple skills to try to take out the former world No.1 WTA player. Laura will be competing for the £50,000 prize, and if she loses, the money will roll over to the final show of the series.

The show is on ITV1 on Sunday April 26. (source: Tennis Head, photo: momovieman)

Last week, before my leaving for Prague, I promised to make a summary of all the things I would have missed in the tennis world, and here it is.

Sabine Lisicki and Roberta Vinci were victorious, Lisicki at the Family Circle Cup, and Vinci at the Barcelona Ladies Open.

Two weeks ago we announced that Dinara Safina was to overtake Serena Williams at the top of the rankings, and that day has come today. It’s interesting to point out that Safina and her older brother Marat Safin are the only brother-sister duo to have been No.1 in professional tennis.

Ana Ivanovic made some family photos public and also updated her online diary, talking about the Easter traditions in Serbia. I can make a note that Serbs are Orthodox Christians and their church calendar is the Julian calendar and not the Gregorian calendar, so Easter in Serbia was celebrated yesterday, April 19.

In addition, Ana Ivanovic and Venus Williams have been nominated for 2009 Laureus World Sports Awards.

Maria Sharapova is supposedly about to return before the French Open. Russia's Fed Cup captain Shamil Tarpishchev said: "I spoke with her father the day before yesterday and he told me that she is training seriously for Roland Garros. She is getting ready to play a couple of tournaments before the French Open. Maria is now back to full training. We can only hope that she does well." I have to see it to believe it, though.

Of course, Sharapova’s continuing her modeling career. The latest are her photos for Nike, and Nike must have known we missed Masha, so they gave us plenty of her in one place.

Vera Zvonareva badly hurt her ankle while playing against Virginie Razzano at the Family Circle Cup. She has two torn ligaments, one full tear and one partial.

Zheng Jie signed with ANTA, the Chinese brand already promoted by Jelena Jankovic. The Asia’s No. 1 WTA player also visited her home province of Sichuan, the first time after the devastating earthquake hit it last year in May. Don’t forget that Zheng donated her Wimbledon prize money to help the victims of the disaster.

I hope this summary is giving you a nice overview of the events I missed to report because of my Prague adventures.

Glad to be back blogging,

Marija

Unseeded Italian Roberta Vinci beat defending champion Maria Kirilenko 6-0 6-4 at the Barcelona Ladies Open to win her second Sony Ericsson WTA Tour singles title.

Vinci went trough her first three rounds in straight sets – including a second-round 6-1 6-2 victory over world No.14 Flavia Pennetta, her sixth win over a Top 20 player.

Vinci had little trouble in the final, beating the sixth-seeded Russian in just an hour and 11 minutes to win first title since Bogota two years ago.

The 26-year-old Vinci has climbed from No.61 to No. 52 in the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour rankings. (source: Sony Ericsson Open, photo via Craig Hickman's Tennis Blog)

Germany’s Sabine Lisicki beat fifth seed Caroline Wozniacki 6-2 6-4 in the final of the Family Circle Cup to claim her first career WTA title and cap the most unlikely run in the tournament history.

Lisicki, seeded 16th, won the title being ranked 63rd, and became the lowest-ranked player ever to win the Family Circle Cup. The 19-year-old Lisicki has climbed to No.43 after the victory.

Prior to upsetting No.2 seed Venus Williams in the third round and eventually winning the tournament in Charleston, Lisicki had been known for defeating Lindsay Davenport in the Fed Cup. (photo via Family Circle Cup)

Dear readers,

Women’s Tennis Blog won’t be updated until Monday because I’m leaving for a little trip to Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic.

I've already been there in 2007, but for two days only, and now I'm going to revise this beautiful city. Haha, maybe I'll meet Vaidisova and Stepanek.

Don’t worry, when I come back you will get the summary of all the most important things that will have happened in the tennis world.

Love,
Marija

Have you missed Tatiana Golovin? The player once ranked 12th in the world, now ranked as low as No.799, met with the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour after a recent autograph session.

The Frenchwoman talked about meeting her fans, her goals for 2009, and of course about her ongoing recovery from back problems.

It’s nice to see Tati in tennis news, and not only smoking in the streets and in dating rumors.

Second seed Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark defeated Canada's Aleksandra Wozniak 6-1 6-2 to win The MPS Group Championships and her fourth Sony Ericsson WTA Tour career title, but the first one on clay.

Wozniacki and Wozniak both had difficult way to the final. Wozniak, the fifth seed, saved a match point in the quarterfinals against Tamira Paszek, while Wozniacki survived an even bigger scare, saving four match points against Elena Vesnina in the semifinals.

Despite losing, Wozniak had a fantastic week, reaching her third Tour final and beating the world No.10 and top seed Nadia Petrova in the semis.

Wozniacki took home $37,000 of the tournament's $220,000 purse.

Maria Sharapova has signed with Unilever and will market their dandruff shampoo called Clear.

Unilever is an Anglo-Dutch corporation, famous for Dove soap, Knorr soups, and Surf detergent. It has been grabbing market share in Asia and across the Middle East, and is now making its western debut with the help of Maria Sharapova.

The shoot for the upcoming commercial was filmed in Los Angeles, and was directed by Jake Nava, who did spots with Beyoncé for L’Oréal, Jessica Alba and Halle Berry for Revlon, and a lot of music videos. (source: Off the Baseline, photo: Ralf Reinecke)

Second seed Jelena Jankovic beat fifth seed Carla Suarez Navarro 6-3 3-6 6-3 in the final of the inaugural Andalucia Tennis Experience to win her first Sony Ericsson WTA Tour title of the season.

The world No.4 was coming off a very disappointing start to the season, but the title on the red clay of Marbella is a beautiful ending of the return-to-form week for Jankovic. The Serb cruised through her first two matches at the Andalucia Tennis Experience, and then won three straight marathons to take the trophy.

Jankovic claimed her 10th career singles WTA title, and fifth on clay. (source: Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, photo via Andalucia Tennis Experience)

Defending champion Serena Williams has withdrawn from the Family Circle Cup because of a left leg injury.

The world No.1, soon to drop in the rankings, said she hurt her leg earlier this month at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, where she lost to Victoria Azarenka in the final. Later she flew to Spain to play the Andalucia Tennis Experience, but was shocked in the first round affected by the injury.

By the way, Azarenka withdrew from Charleston too, while Serena’s older sister Venus and third-ranked Elena Dementieva are scheduled to compete at the Family Circle Cup. (via CBS Sports, photo: Ralf Reinecke)