Two seeds didn't go past the second round of the China Open in Tuesday's matches, and those were Maria Sharapova and Victoria Azarenka.

The twelfth-seeded Sharapova lost to fellow Russian Elena Vesnina 7-6(3) 6-2. After the match Sharapova gave a lot of credit to Vesnina's game, but also pointed out how she was not able to train properly after the US Open (where she lost in the round of 16 to Caroline Wozniacki) and is still trying to regroup. Following the US Open, Sharapova also played in Tokyo, but lost in the first round already, to home favorite Kimiko Date Krumm.

The eighth-seeded Azarenka retired from her second round match with a left thigh strain, handing Timea Bacsinszky a 4-6 3-2 retirement victory.

All the other seeded players that played today advanced to the third round of the China Open, including No.2 seed Vera Zvonareva, No.5 Francesca Schiavone, No.7 Elena Dementieva, No.9 Li Na and No.15 Shahar Peer. Ana Ivanovic is also through – she managed to stay calm when 4-1 down in the second set against Olga Govortsova and win 6-0 7-5. (source: Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, photo: © Neal Trousdale)

I was given a great opportunity to interview Bethanie Mattek Sands and she did a great job answering my questions. I believe you'll enjoy the interview. Bethanie seems to prefer the way men's tennis players are dressed, she has quite a few very good friends on the WTA Tour in the times when camaraderie is very rare in professional tennis, and I also got to ask her what she thinks of the attitude of the Williams sisters towards participation in the Fed Cup. Enjoy!

You are famous for your tennis clothes, I've recently even made a short overview of them, so what's your favorite outfit you have worn on the tennis court?

One of my favorites was my initial high sock outfit back a few years ago at Wimbledon against Venus. I've kind of made it my staple this past year along with my Under Armour gear. Next season I'm hoping to add some more colors and designs though. DryMax makes the high tennis socks especially for me so we'll see what we can come up with for next year.

Whose on-court fashion style do you like?

I think Nike does a great job with Rafa! All his colors are coordinated, from wrist bands to shoes, and considering he's extremely superstitious I'm willing to bet his undies are matching too! I'm loving all the neon colors he was wearing this year but I think what makes his style even better is that Roger is polar opposite!

Can you tell us something about the tattoos on your right arm? Are those the only ones you have?

The ink on my forearm is a swarm of bees. When I was young my nickname was killer bee and believe it or not now that I have a few inked on me I can't bring myself to swat at or step on any of the little buggers! The flowers on my bicep are water lilies and along with being one of my favorite flowers it means enlightenment and change, so its kind of my own personal zen garden. I have one more (for now) and its my husband name scrawled on the inside of my left ring finger. Awwww! He has my name too!

Is there some player on the Tour that you, for whatever reason, simply hate to see as your next or possible opponent in the draw?

Read more »

Rising Serbian star Bojana Jovanovski faced compatriot and former world No.1 Jelena Jankovic in the second round of the China Open and upset her 4-6 6-2 6-2. Jankovic, who won the tournament in 2008 and reached the final in 2007, was seeded third this year.

The world No.93 Jovanovski advanced through qualifying to make her first appearance in Beijing, and in the first round she defeated Kateryna Bondarenko, now outside the Top 100, but last year ranked 29th. Then against the seventh-ranked Jankovic, Jovanovski scored her first Top 10 win.

Two struggling former world No.1s Dinara Safina and Ana Ivanovic seem to be making a trend – it’s the fourth successive tournament that they lose or win in different rounds – if Safina wins, Ivanovic loses, and vice versa. Today in Beijing Ivanovic won her first round match, upsetting No.11 seed Marion Bartoli 6-2 6-3, while Safina lost in the same round, to second seed Vera Zvonareva 6-4 7-6(6).

Sixth seed Agnieszka Radwanska lost to Angelique Kerber 5-7 7-6(3) 7-5 in the opening round and the news is that she will miss the rest of the season as well as possibly the beginning of the next season, maybe even including the Australian Open, because of a serious stress fracture to her foot. The Pole is not sure how she picked up the injury, but she felt it prior to coming to Asia to play Tokyo and Beijing. In Tokyo she retired against eventual champion Caroline Wozniacki in the quarterfinals. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)

There has been a lot of debate about screams that some players produce when hitting a ball and whether it distracts their opponents, thus affecting the result of the match. One of our readers, David Fearnhead, recently shared here on Women’s Tennis Blog his suspicion that screams are part of tactics. Well, we have scientific facts now – screaming does help you win tennis matches, according to the study conducted by American and Canadian researchers.

The results published in the online issue of Public Library of Science ONE show that loud players make their opponents’ reactions slower and less accurate. The researchers performed the study based on the reactions of 33 students in at the University of British Columbia, who were shown video clips of a player hitting a ball to either the left or right and were supposed to quickly determine the direction. Some shots were accompanied by loud noises such as those of Maria Sharapova and the students did respond slower in such cases.

The report is stating another effect the screams are having – they mask the sound made off the racquet, thus hampering a receiver’s ability to judge the spin and velocity of a ball.

Tennis great Martina Navratilova will sure love this research as she herself referred to screams as "cheating pure and simple." (photo: © Neal Trousdale, sources: BBC, Reuters)

Now we know half of eight players who will compete in the singles competition of the Sony Ericsson Championships in Doha, the tournament which will mark the end of the women’s tennis season.

Caroline Wozniacki was the first to qualify at the end of last month, and shortly after Vera Zvonareva, Serena Williams and Kim Clijsters joined. Williams and Clijsters have both won the tournament twice.

Russia’s Vera Zvonareva earned her place in the Sony Ericsson Championships thanks to her great 2010 season which featured back-to-back finals appearances in Grand Slams (Wimbledon and US Open), two Premier-level finals (Charleston and Montreal), title at the PTT Pattaya Open, and the achievement of reaching the career-high ranking of No.4 where she stands now. Zvonareva will make her third consecutive trip to Doha, which will be her fourth appearance at the prestigious season-ending event.

American world No.1 Serena Williams will have a chance to defend her title in Doha. It will be her seventh appearance at the WTA Championships. In 2010 Williams won two of the four greatest tennis tournaments – Australian Open and Wimbledon, and was a runner-up in Sydney.

Another Grand Slam winner qualified together with Williams, Belgian Kim Clijsters, who added the third US Open title to her resume this year. Clijsters hasn’t lost a final this year, and besides winning the US Open she won Brisbane, Miami, and Cincinnati. (photos: © Neal Trousdale, Emmett Anderson)

Caroline Wozniacki had been sharing the top position of 2010 WTA titles with Kim Clijsters, but with the victory over Elena Dementieva in the final of the Toray Pan Pacific Open the Dane became the only leader with five WTA titles this season. Prior to this year, Wozniacki had never won a match at the Tokyo tournament.

The top-seeded Wozniacki lost only seven games en route to the semifinals in Tokyo, but her last two matches were three-setters – a close 6-2 6-7(3) 6-4 victory over Victoria Azarenka in the semis and a survival of the tough first set loss to defeat Dementieva 1-6 6-2 6-3 in the final. The win at the Toray Pan Pacific Open added $350,000 to the $2,115,988 Wozniacki has earned in 2010.

Not only is world No.2 Wozniacki the Tour leader in the number of titles this season, she’s also the leader in both the number of finals played (she played six finals and lost only one at Indian Wells) and the number of matches won (54 matches). (photos via Toray Pan Pacific Open)

Caroline Wozniacki is closing in on the No.1 ranking by reaching the final of the $2 million Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo where she will face Elena Dementieva.

The top-seeded Wozniacki advanced to the final with a 6-2 6-7(3) 6-4 victory over Victoria Azarenka, No.8 seed. Wozniacki stormed through the first set, before losing the second set which featured eight breaks of serve. In the final set, the second-ranked Dane won five straight games for a 5-0 lead, but Azarenka managed to take the score to 5-4, winning 16 of 19 points. However, Wozniacki held serve in the sixth game and won the match of the young stars.

The other semifinal was seventh-seeded Elena Dementieva vs. fifth-seeded Francesca Schiavone. Dementieva won the match 6-4 7-5 even though she started it by winning only two of the first ten points.

Wozniacki and Dementieva are tied at 3-3 in their head-to-head record. However, Wozniacki won three of their last four meetings, including a close semifinal this year en route to New Haven title. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)