World No.14 Marion Bartoli, Jelena Jankovic’s opponent in the upcoming quarterfinal of the Bank of the West Classic, said before Jankovic's second round match against Sabine Lisicki that she would rather face Jankovic than Lisicki.

Bartoli’s reason is the following: "I always beat her." The Frenchwoman is 4-3 against the sixth-ranked Jankovic and has won their last three matches.

Haha, JJ was, of course, stunned to hear the comment and here’s her reaction:

She talks like she’s just Serena Williams. Everybody had a right to say what she wants. I’m not really focused on Bartoli. She’s not like my biggest rival or someone I look up to or I’m scared of. She’s just one of the players on tour, not a big name, or someone who is making the big results or headlines in the game.

"Bartoli is going to get it tomorrow," Jankovic added with a smile. Hahaha, she will even have her revenge.

Additional info: Interestingly, even Jelena Jankovic, a slamless No.1 herself, doesn’t think that Dinara Safina is the world’s best player. JJ finds herself the best, and she would put Serena Williams second.

Haha, it's so bizarre. If anyone Jankovic should be the one defending Safina, but no, she’s even saying this: "To be number one, you should be complete and if you are number one you have to be beating the Williams sisters. I’m one of the rare players who has a positive record against the Williams sisters"

Note: Jankovic is 5-4 against Venus and 3-4 against Serena. (source: Tennis Reporters, photo: Forty Deuce)

Ana Ivanovic has parted ways with Scott Byrnes, her strength and conditioning coach of the past three years.

Here’s what Ivanovic had to say about her cooperation with Byrnes:

I would like to thank Scott for all his hard work. We achieved so much together and I will always look back with fondness at this period of my career. Scott really transformed my fitness and I wish him all the best for the future.

Byrnes will embrace a more tranquil life in his native Australia, after constantly being on the road for several years. (source: Ana Ivanovic's official website, photo: Ralf Reinecke)

Maria Sharapova is continuing her comeback by going past fifth seed and world No.10 Nadia Petrova 6-1 6-2 to advance to the quarterfinals of the Bank of the West Classic.

The 62nd-ranked Sharapova beat Petrova for the second time since returning from shoulder injury, having also won over the fellow Russian in the second round of Roland Garros.

Her 18th match since coming back from the injury Sharapova will play either against Venus Williams or Alla Kudryavtseva.

Also advancing to the quarterfinals were third seed Elena Dementieva who defeated Maria Kirilenko 6-1 6-2, Daniela Hantuchova who upset seventh seed Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland 4-6 7-6(6) 6-1, and Samantha Stosur who beat Monica Niculescu 6-1 7-5. (photo: Ralf Reinecke)

Austrian Tamira Paszek supposedly violated anti-doping rules, unintentionally as she claims, and is now facing a provisional suspension while officials investigate whether that is the case or not.

The 18-year-old had her blood taken for enrichment and later reinjected in her lower back, the treatment prohibited under international anti-doping rules.

The Austrian anti-doping agency has asked its disciplinary committee to temporarily ban the 59th-ranked Paszek.

Committee chairman Gernot Schaar said Wednesday that Paszek has seven days to respond. (source: The Canadian Press, photo courtesy of Women Who Serve)

World number five Svetlana Kuznetsova has pulled out of the August 3-9 LA Women’s Tennis Championships presented by Herbalife due to a foot injury.

Kuznetsova hasn't played WTA tournaments since losing in the third round of Wimbledon. In addition, she missed the LA event last year as well.

The LA Women’s Tennis Championships has attracted 10 of the world's leading 15 players, including world number one and defending champion Dinara Safina. (photo: Jacob)

Top seed Vera Zvonareva and second seed Patty Schnyder were upset in the opening round of the Istanbul Cup on Tuesday.

The Russian world No.7 was defeated by Mariya Koryttseva of Ukraine 6-2 1-6 6-4, while the Swiss world No.19 fell to Rossana de los Rios 7-6(3) 2-6 6-3.

Zvonareva was playing for the first time since withdrawing from the third round of Wimbledon with a right ankle injury, and handed Koryttseva her first ever Top 10 win, and first ever Top 30 win as a matter of fact.

The highest seed left in the draw is third-seeded Spaniard Anabel Medina Garrigues who topped Anastasiya Yakimova of Belarus 6-4 6-2. (photo: Stephane Martinache)

The Sony Ericsson WTA Tour asked players whether they go out on Friday and Saturday nights or stay at home.

Alize Cornet is one extreme, watching TV with her parents, while Julie Coin is on the other side, barely remembering one night out in New York. Somewhere in-between are Bethanie Mattek-Sands, Nadia Petrova, Ana Ivanovic, and others.

Maria Sharapova will be participating in this year’s Arthur Ashe Kids’ Day on August 29th.

The annual event kicks off the 2009 US Open at the USTA Tennis Center in New York. Other personalities taking part in the full-day tennis and music festival are ATP player Andy Roddick, American Idol Winner Jordin Sparks, rising stars Honor Society and Justin Bieber, as well as comedian Will Ferrell.

Additional tennis players participating will be announced shortly. (photo: Ralf Reinecke)

Two WTA events finished on Sunday and our weekend winners are world number one Dinara Safina, as it was highly expected, and 21-year-old Andrea Petkovic.

From what the scoreboard was showing, the final at the Banka Koper Slovenia Open was not as simple for Safina as her road to the final, but the match finished in her favor as she overcame fifth seed Sara Errani 6-7(5) 6-1 7-5.

In the first set both players took each other’s serve four times, and the set was decided in a tiebreak. The second was more straightforwardly won by Safina, while the third brought the thrill again. In the end Safina won the see-saw decider and closed out victory in 2 hours and 53 minutes to solidify her number one position in the rankings with her third WTA title in 2009.

World No.98 Andrea Petkovic of Germany claimed her first WTA Tour title, beating Ioana Raluca Olaru of Romania 6-2 6-3 at the NURNBERGER Gastein Ladies. Petkovic has won eight ITF titles, but had never before played a WTA quarterfinal.

In the title match against another first-time WTA finalist, who upset top seed Alize Cornet in the semis, Petkovic raced into a 5-0 lead before winning the opening set, and with one break up won the second set. (photos via Sony Ericsson WTA Tour)

World No.1 Dinara Safina, top seed at the Banka Koper Slovenia Open, has reached her seventh final of the year, while top seed at the NURNBERGER Gastein Ladies, world No.28 Alize Cornet, suffered an upset in the semifinals.

Safina defeated 107th-ranked Alberta Brianti 6-4 6-3 without much difficulty. The 29-year-old Brianti was playing her first WTA Tour semifinal.

The Russian will next face fifth seed Sara Errani of Italy, who beat Stefanie Voegele 6-1 6-2 to advance to the final. Safina and Errani have met only once so far, this year in Stuttgart, and Safina won that encounter 6-0 6-1.

In the other WTA event taking place this week, NURNBERGER Gastein Ladies, top-seeded Alize Cornet fell to Romania's world No.66 Ioana Raluca Olaru 3-6 7-5 6-3. The 20-year-old Olaru has thus reached her first WTA Tour final and in the title match she will meet another first-time WTA finalist 21-year-old German Andrea Petkovic, ranked 98th. (photo: Stephane Martinache)