World No.4 Elena Dementieva has been honored in her home Russia, with the order given to citizens of high achievements. Russia's President Dmitry Medvedev put the Order of Honor on the left side of Dementieva's chest.

As you all know, the US Open women’s semifinal between Serena Williams and Kim Clijsters ended infamously. Williams was called for a foot fault which handed Clijsters two match points. Provoked, the 11-time Grand Slam champion yelled at and threatened the line judge and was consequently penalized which caused her to lose such an important match.

The incident will be investigated by the International Tennis Federation, Grand Slam Committee and US Open referee Brian Earley. A representative from the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour is also expected to be included.

Let's see what the world No.2 Williams, who is expected to be fined heavily, said about the scandal at the post-match press conference.

(source: Women Who Serve)

I fell asleep and missed the much-awaited semifinal between former No.1 and 2005 US Open champion Kim Clijsters and current world No.2 and 11-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams, to wake up with the news that Clijsters progressed (wow!) and that the victory was quite controversial.

Since I didn’t watch the match, I have to say that for me the fact that wildcard Clijsters reached the final leaves a much greater impression than the controversy. I mean, who could put their money on Kim prior to the US Open? We all knew she was a great champion, and had a great potential even after child-birth and playing just the third tournament of her 2009 comeback, but a Grand Slam final is a very high goal. Not to mention that the title is not far away for Kim, having in mind her opponent will be world No.8 Caroline Wozniacki, who had never before went further than the fourth round at a Grand Slam.

Now let’s see what brought about the controversy. Serving at 5-6 15-30, the second-seeded Williams was called for a foot fault on a second serve, giving Clijsters two match points. The outraged Williams said a lot of things to the lineswoman, which resulted in a penalty and losing the point and the match.

"I swear to God I'm… going to take this… ball and shove it down your… throat, you hear that? I swear to God," said Williams, who will now not overtake Dinara Safina at the top of the rankings.

"It's unfortunate that a match I was playing so well in had to end that way," said Clijsters after a 6-4 7-5 victory. "The normal feelings of winning a match weren't quite there, but when everything sunk in a little bit and what happened got explained to me, it became easier to understand, not to celebrate, but at least to have a little joy."

The Belgian is the first player ever to beat both Williams sisters at the same tournament twice, having also done it at the Sony Ericsson Championships in 2002 (at the 2009 US Open she beat Venus in the fourth round).

If Clijsters wins the final, she will enter the Top 20 and become the first women's wildcard to win a Grand Slam singles title, and if she loses she will rise to around No.30 in the rankings.

Let's just give some space to the other semifinal as well. Apparently, there will be no all-Belgian final at this US Open, as Danish Caroline Wozniacki defeated unseeded and error-prone Belgian Yanina Wickmayer 6-3 6-3 in the other semifinal. The surprise semifinalist Wickmayer made 40 unforced errors, compared to Wozniacki's 14. (sources: Reuters, Sony Eriscsson WTA Tour, videos via Forty Deuce)

Teerin, devoted reader of Women’s Tennis Blog , saw my video overview of women’s tennis fashions at the 2009 US Open and seeing my clumsy video (that’s my interpretation, but I have to admit it is clumsy) decided to make a much better one (that's also my interpretation) and gratefully give it to me.

Enjoy Teerin’s piece of work while witnessing another rainy New York day ruining the US Open.

Teerin and I are planning to cooperate on the videos for my blog in the future, and I'm very happy to announce that.

Thank you Teerin for you selfless help!

While the rain is messing up the US Open schedule for the second day in a row, let’s once again talk about the star of the tournament – 17-year-old American Melanie Oudin.

The $175,000 that Oudin earned by reaching the quarterfinals weren’t the only financial benefit the sensation of the US Open took home. The success brought Oudin the biggest endorsement of her career, a multi-year contract with data mining firm BackOffice Associates, believed to be for a six-figure sum guaranteed annually, plus performance bonuses.

Oudin signed the contract just 20 minutes prior to her quarterfinal encounter with Caroline Wozniacki. (sources: On the Baseline, Sports Business Daily)

After the failure with Fernando Verdasco, Ana Ivanovic has more and more been seen with golfer Adam Scott (things started warming up in the Australian sun in January), and now we can be 100% sure that Ana has a new relationship.

Am I right, this is the first time we're seeing Ivanovic and Scott holding hands? I have an impression that with Verdasco the public display of affection happened much faster.

Ivanovic and Scott were spotted strolling the streets of New York. Ana has had plenty of time to enjoy the NYC, having lost in the very first round of the US Open.

Additional info: Here's a photo of Adam supporting Ana at Wimbledon, and after that the evidence of Ana supporting Adam at the Scottish Open.

You can see more of Adam and Ana enjoying New York during the US Open over at Great Tennis Photos.

Ninth seed Caroline Wozniacki joined Kim Clijsters, Serena Williams and Yanina Wickmayer in the semifinals of the 2009 US Open, putting an end to Melanie Oudin's fairytale.

Wozniacki defeated Oudin 6-2 6-2 in the quarterfinals, but still, the world No.70 Oudin gave her career a major boost, to the extent that now we’re reading gossip about her family (her father is seeking a divorce from his wife because she cheated on him with Melanie’s tennis coach).

"I've gone from being just a normal-like tennis player to almost everyone in the United States knowing who I am now," said the 17-year-old Oudin, who had defeated four higher-ranked Russians to reach the quarterfinals.

"It's definitely different but I enjoyed it."

Wozniacki's opponent in the semifinals will be Yanina Wickmayer and they have never played each other before. (source: Reuters, photo courtesy of Women Who Serve)

American 17-year-old Melanie Oudin has suddenly become famous by placing herself as a player the US can count on besides the Williams sisters, although, I have to remind you, she first made headlines at this year’s Wimbledon, having come out of nowhere to reach the fourth round.

As world No.70 Melanie Oudin, the talk of the 2009 US Open, is still a less known player, people have had a few problems with her identity. On the Baseline’s Paula Vergara has made a funny Top 10 list of the comments most overheard at the US Open about Oudin. I love it!

10. She’s French, right?

9. Twin sister? You mean there are two of them?

8. Her boyfriend is cuter than she is.

7. Is that Reese Witherspoon?

6. I say Justine Henin is taller.

5. It’s so weird. She looks American.

4. I heard she writes on her shoes.

3. Who’s that "giant killer?"

2. Oudin speaks English really well.

1. At least she doesn’t grunt.

(photo courtesy of Women Who Serve)

Wow, we’re having two Belgians in the US Open semifinals, and Justine Henin is not one of them – there is less known 19-year-old Yanina Wickmayer, ranked 50th in the world, winner of one WTA title (the 2009 Estoril Open), and former world No.1 Kim Clijsters, who is playing only her third tournament after a two-year-long absence from competitive tennis. Who would have expected this?

The 2005 US Open champion Clijsters was the first to reach the semis, with her victory over Li Na. Wickmayer, who had never went further than the second round at a Grand Slam, became one of the final four players at this US Open by beating Ukrainian Kateryna Bondarenko 7-5 6-4 in the quarters.

For a place in the final Wickmayer will play against another teenager, either American hope Melanie Oudin or No.9 seed Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark. (photo: emmett.hume)

Fortunately, we have had plenty of occasions to watch Kim Clijsters at the US Open, but one thing has been unclear by now: What's that mark on Kim's face? I’m sure you’ve noticed it.

The Belgian explains the bizarre and unfortunate course of events behind the strange mark. To watch the following video you will need to click on it and watch it on YouTube (why are they so unfriendly as to disable embedding?).

Additional info: Besides her YouTube channel which I would recommend, Kim has redesigned her website, and her Twitter account is very live as well. Check them all out!