The first day of the Fed Cup meeting between Russia and Serbia ended with both teams winning one match. Somewhat surprisingly, especially after the talks about her injury, Jelena Jankovic upset Svetlana Kuznetsova on Day 2, which gave Serbia a 2-1 lead on home soil. Congratulations to Jankovic for winning both her singles matches!

So, Jankovic defeated Kuznetsova 6-3 4-6 6-3, but her countrywoman Ana Ivanovic couldn’t finish off the tie and lost to Alisa Kleybanova 6-2 6-3 in the following match. Ivanovic’s free fall ended a long time ago, but the sad thing is that she is still lying wounded on the ground.

With the result tied at 2-2, the decisive doubles match was played, and as Jankovic and Ivanovic are not used to playing doubles, they were knocked out by Kuznetsova and Kleybanova 6-1 6-4.

Four-time Fed Cup champions Russia thus entered the Fed Cup semifinals which will be played on 24-25 April. Their opponent will be the US, who won 4-1 in France, without the Williams sisters. (photo via Blic)

World No.1 Serena Williams has pulled out of next week’s Open GDF SUEZ in Paris, citing a leg injury she sustained on the way to winning her fifth Australian Open title last month.

The 28-year-old American has won the Paris tournament twice, in 1999 and 2003, both times beating France’s Amelie Mauresmo in the final. By the way, retired Mauresmo will be honored Wednesday night in a ceremony at the Open GDF SUEZ which she won last year.

With Williams withdrawing Russia's Elena Dementieva has become the highest-ranked player in the tournament. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

I was supposed to go to Fed Cup tie between Serbia and Russia in Belgrade, but the weather conditions are so bad that there was no way I could travel 86 km. Anyway, I watched it on TV from my cozy room and I could see Ana Ivanovic getting crushed by Svetlana Kuznetsova, and Jelena Jankovic recovering from a set and 4-1 down to beat Alisa Kleybanova.

World No.4 Kuznetsova defeated Ivanovic 6-1 6-4 in the first match of the day. After blowing the Serb in the first set, Kuznetsova rallied from 4-2 down in the second to seal the first win for Russia. Once ranked No.1 now No.23 Ivanovic made 50 unforced errors and six double faults.

The second match of the day looked to be heading in the direction of Russia’s victory as well, but world No.8 Jankovic overturned the result while trailing 4-6 1-4 and won 11 games in a row to defeat 31st-ranked Kleybanova 4-6 6-4 6-0.

As you can see, after the first day of the Serbia vs. Russia Fed Cup quarterfinal the countries are tied at 1-1. Reverse singles and doubles will be played tomorrow, on Sunday. (photos via Blic)

In November 2009 we confirmed Maria Sharapova's new boyfriend to be Slovenian-born Lakers player Sasha Vujacic.

Now we're having a photo update proving that the relationship is still in full swing. Read more »

Serena Williams will face Kim Clijsters and Svetlana Kuznetsova will play Venus Williams in the semifinals of the BNP Paribas Showdown for the Billie Jean King Cup, exhibition event to take place March 1 at Madison Square Garden in New York.

The semifinal pairs were determined according to the 2009 year-end rankings. The highest-ranked player was paired with the lowest ranked, and the remaining two are to face each other.

The exhibition features no ad scoring format, and each participant will compete in a one-set semifinal with the winners advancing to a best of three-set final.

Chinese tennis stars Zheng Jie and Li Na have arrived home after their enormous success in Australia and were welcomed by crowds of fans and media.

Zheng and Li made history for China when they reached the 2010 Australian Open semifinals. Actually, never before had two Chinese players been in the second week of a major at the same time. Moreover, Zheng and Li are now both within Top 20 in the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour rankings – Zheng is No.20 and Li has become the first Chinese Top 10 player by reaching No.10.

The national celebration of Zheng’s and Li’s arrival took place in Beijing. They answered questions from fans and media, and donated their equipment to the Chinese Tennis Association's Youth Foundation. Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications China President Roger Eriksson presented Zheng and Li with special gifts for their achievements. (source: Sony Ericsson WTA Tour)

Barbie manufacturer Mattel, the world's largest toy company, made a doll to celebrate great sportswoman Kim Clijsters and her little daughter Jada, who made Kim’s 2009 US Open victory even sweeter and melted the hearts of all tennis fans.

However, the honor would be much greater if the Barbie looked more like real Kim, and not like "Kim on crack" as one commentator on Tennis Forum rightfully said. Also, Jada is much more beautiful than her doll, in reality she is cute, and here she looks like those poor girls they treat for hours to take part in beauty pageants.

Fortunately, the Barbie won’t be sold. It was made only to be exhibited and it was unveiled today in the German city of Nuremberg.

An the 2010 Australian Open Fila debuted spring 2010 Tennis Heritage Collection through women's tennis stars such as Svetlana Kuznetsova, Kim Clijsters, Agnes Szavay and Anna Chakvetadze.

This season Fila is featuring its signature design features – crimson, Chinese red, peacoat and white, boldly accented by contrast piping, stripes and diagonals. The shoe of choice was Fila Alfa performance tennis shoe, a modern complement to the classic style of the Heritage collection.

I like the way Fila is preserving its classic style, which makes it easily distinguishable from other brands. My favorite Fila representative is Svetlana Kuznetsova, and I can't imagine the Russian wearing anything else.

Below you can see some pieces from the new Fila collection.

What do you think of Fila tennis apparel and Spring 2010 Heritage collection?

Russia and Serbia will face each other in this weekend's Fed Cup first-round tie played in Belgrade, Serbia.

The latest news is that Russia’s team will be stronger than previously planned, as their highest ranked player world No.4 Svetlana Kuznetsova changed her mind and joined world No.31 Alisa Kleybanova, No.38 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and No.40 Vera Dushevina in the team.

However, Serbia’s team is likely to be weaker than expected because of Jelena Jankovic’s health problems. It should have consisted of former world No.1s Jelena Jankovic and Ana Ivanovic, along with Ana Jovanovic and Bojana Jovanovski, but now we will see what will happen.

Here’s what Jankovic told her official website:

No, I haven't come to Belgrade yet, and I'm still in Florida, where I'm fighting with back injury received in Melbourne. I didn't want to speak in public about the problems that struck me in Australia, about the cold and the back injury that occurred during a practice while trying to change the way I served, because many would describe it to as a justification for the lost match […] Unfortunately, the situation got complicated, so I'm still in Florida, sad and in great uncertainty whether I would start the journey to my home town.

Serbia is making its World Group debut. Russia won the Fed Cup four times between 2004 and 2008 and Kuznetsova was part of three winning Russian teams. (photo by our reader Elisa)

Maria Sharapova is a part of an inventive and memorable Nike campaign called "Lace Up. Save Lives", designed to fight AIDS in Africa. You can contribute to the cause by lacing up a pair of (NIKE)RED laces in your favorite shoes. Of course, you first have to buy them.

All the profits from (NIKE)RED laces are split equally between The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, which funds AIDS programs that provide medicine for those living with HIV, and football-based community initiatives that deliver education and understanding around HIV/AIDS prevention. (source: Maria Sharapova's official website)