Vera Zvonareva is looking for her third straight title at the PTT Pattaya Open. The top-seeded Russian started off well, with a 6-4 6-2 victory over Tamira Paszek in the first round. Actually, in the first set Zvonareva had a 1-3 deficit, but overcame it and will next play 475th-ranked Thai qualifier, Nungnadda Wannasuk. Zvonareva now has a 13-2 record at the PTT Pattaya Open and her Tuesday’s win is her 11th straight at this tournament.

Second seed Ana Ivanovic was playing only her second WTA match of the season, after her first-round exit at the Australian Open, and beat Nudnida Luangnam 6-0 6-2. By the way, Ivanovic’s trial period with Portuguese coach Antonio van Griche has ended, and they are not continuing their cooperation.

Seventh seed Zheng Jie was taken out by Akgul Amanmuradova, 6-4 7-6(6). She was the only seed that fell on Tuesday. Last year’s finalist Tamarine Tanasugarn is also out, as Ayumi Morita defeated her 6-3 6-2.

Seeds that advanced are No. 4 Daniela Hantuchova, No.5 Roberta Vinci and No.8 Sara Errani. (photo: chascow)

On the left you can see the results of this weekend’s Fed Cup action in World Group.

The first thing I’d like to point out is that Russia recovered their Saturday’s two hurtful losses on home soil in Moscow (Svetlana Kuznetsova’s to Alize Cornet, and Maria Sharapova’s to Virginie Razzano) and defeated France 3-2 to reach the semifinals. At least on paper, the improvement happened when Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova replaced Maria Sharapova! Pavlyuchenkova defeated Cornet, Kuznetsova defeated Razzano, and the two of them together clinched victory for Russia by winning the deciding doubles over Julie Coin and Pauline Parmentier.

Russia will play holders Italy in April’s semifinals. Italy eased past Australia 4-1, and that result includes the repeat of the 2010 French Open final in which Francesca Schiavone beat Samantha Stosur.

The other semifinal will feature Belgium and the Czech Republic. Belgium won 4-1 against the United States, last year's runners-up. Kim Clijsters and Yanina Wickmayer both won their two singles matches. As for the Czech Republic, they earned an unassailable 3-0 lead with Petra Kvitova’s victory over Daniela Hantuchova in the first singles match on Sunday. Later, Czech Lucie Safarova retired from the match against Slovak Jana Cepelova in the third set, and the Slovaks won the doubles, so the final score is 3-2.

Additional info: You must be expecting me to update you on the Serbia vs. Canada World Group II tie. Well, Serbia won 3-2 after a deciding tight doubles match! By winning all the matches she played, Bojana Jovanovski just confirmed her status of a solid player rushing to the very top, but there is more great news – Serbia has a new tennis prospect lurking, Aleksandra Krunic took our hearts and showed that she is also the one to watch! The 17-year-old Krunic closely lost her singles match against Rebecca Marino on Saturday, but then didn't let the disappointment repeat and earned the victory for Serbia in the decisive doubles, teamed up with Bojana Jovanovski. (photo via Fed Cup)

The first day of Fed Cup play came to a close, and let's have a look at how it went. In the above screenshot you can see the World Group First Round results.

Australia and Italy are tied at 1-1 after Day 1, which featured two three-setters. Jarmila Groth defeated Francesca Schiavone and Flavia Pennetta defeated Samantha Stosur.

Russia lost both singles rubbers on home soil! Maria Sharapova lost to France's Virginie Razzano and Svetlana Kuznetsova lost to Alize Cornet.

The Czech Republic has good prospects of improving their perfect 3-0 record against Slovakia, as Petra Kvitova beat Dominika Cibulkova, Lucie Safarova beat Daniela Hantuchova, and both matches were finished in two sets.

Belgium is doing great with the latest Grand Slam champion Kim Clijsters in their team. The winner of the 2011 Australian Open scored a 6-0 6-4 victory over American Melanie Oudin, while Yanina Wickmayer saw off Bethanie Mattek Sands, 6-1 7-6(6).

I'd also like to mention the Fed Cup action happening in my city of Novi Sad, Serbia. As it can often happen in Fed Cup, new faces have a chance to draw attention to themselves. Last year it was the case with Bojana Jovanovski, who is now an established player ranked as high as No.54, with very bright prospects. Actually now she is the leader of Serbian team, with Ana Ivanovic and Jelena Jankovic absent, and she defeated Aleksandra Wozniack 6-4 7-5 during Saturday's World Group II First Round. Still, the preceding match, encounter of 17-year-old Serbian Aleksandra Krunic, ranked 281st, and Canada's world No.84 Rebecca Marino, was much more emotional.

Krunic lost the match 6-3 3-6 7-5, but only after showing lots of heart and fighting spirit. After dropping the first set, Krunic established a 3-0 lead in the second, and managed to take the match to the third set. Marino raced to a 5-0 lead, but it wasn't over! The less experienced Krunic won five successive games and even had a break point for a 6-5 lead! But that's when Krunic's lost opportunities struck, and Marino won her service game and soon after the match.

Krunic started drowning in tears, knowing how close she was to victory. She shouldn't be sad, though, as she showed great spirit and got herself back from what seemed to be a straightforward defeat in the deciding set. With more experience, more luck will come as well!

Additional info: I came across this video of Bojana Jovanovski's training and I saw a familiar face. Her trainer is actually a woman that was my pilates trainer for years! Haha the world is so small. (photos via Fed Cup)

Fed Cup will take place over the weekend of February 5-6, and of course the most important matches will be those among the World Group nations. So who plays whom and where in this first-round action?

Australia meets twice defending champion Italy in Hobart. Flavia Pennetta and Francesca Schiavone, who secured the win for Italy in 2010, are in for the challenge this year as well. Their strongest opponents this time will be Samantha Stosur, Schiavone's opponent in the 2010 French Open final, and Jarmila Groth, who won her second WTA title in Hobart in January.

Russia, the owner of four Fed Cup titles, will face France in Moscow, and the Russian team will be strengthened by Maria Sharapova, who is making her first appearance at a home tie. Interestingly, Russia hasn't lost at home in eight ties. Also in the Russian team are Svetlana Kuznetsova, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Dinara Safina. As Aravane Rezai and Marion Bartoli will not play, world No.67 Alize Cornet will lead France's team.

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Morgan of Fetch Sport contacted me to share their new spring/summer 2011 collection and I decided to show it to you. Fetch prides itself on providing style and function both on and off the tennis court, and from what I can see at their website, it’s true.

This LA sportswear brand was launched in the fall of 2006 by former Southern Methodist University tennis player Christopher Louis, who wanted to unite his love of tennis and fashion.

The Fetch Sport logo shows the relation between dogs and tennis. You may think there’s none, but listen to Christopher’s story:

"I’d be teaching and people walking their dogs would ask me, ‘Hey, can we have a tennis ball for our dog?’. I’d give them a ball and seeing dogs with the ball in their mouth, I thought that would be a cool logo."

Fetch also has a series of t-shirts featuring famous encouraging tennis expressions such as "c’mon", "allez" and "vamos". Fetch, where's "ajde", I have to ask?

And finally, who is wearing Fetch? American WTA players Alexandra Mueller and Riza Zalameda.

You're free to give your feedback on the line. Do you like Fetch?

When Kim Clijsters won the 2011 Australian Open, her Wikipedia page was updated within seconds. This inspired the WTA Tour to interview Kim based on the information about her available on the Internet. So, how well does Kim know herself? Watch the video to find out! I'll tell you she's very good.

Thanks to our reader, Zex, I am learning about this hilarious story involving who else than Jelena Jankovic. Hahaha this is the funniest tennis scandal!

Because of the funny faces JJ makes when playing tennis, the WTA star ended up in an advertisement for a sperm bank in Switzerland. Postcards with Jankovic and her full mouth were being sold in many Swiss cities for two francs. The text on the postcard translates as (according to Google): "Make a donation here".

Jankovic ended up on these postcards without her knowledge and approval, and when it became a scandal, "Modern Times" from Germany, the company that made the postcard, said they did not know it was Jankovic in the picture and were sorry for the inconvenience.

The postcards have been withdrawn both from Swiss shops and from online stores. (source: Novosti)

For the first time in history, all Top 10 players in the WTA singles rankings are from different countries. As for continents, four of them are represented, with Europe being dominant, and Australia, Asia and North America all having one representative (I counted Russia as a European country). We are having Denmark, Belgium, Russia, Italy, Australia, United States of America, China, Serbia, Belarus, and Poland.

These post-Australian Open 2011 rankings are significantly different from the ones preceding the tournament. Only three Top 10 players haven't changed their positions: Wozniacki is still No.1, Jelena Jankovic stayed at No.8 and Victoria Azarenka at No.9.

Serena Williams, who missed the Grand Slam, fell from No.4 to No. 12. Li Na’s Australian Open runner-up position led her to a new career-high of No.7, while champion Kim Clijsters returned to No.2 for the first time since August 2006. Francesca Schiavone reached her all-time best of No.4, which is also the highest ranking ever for an Italian women's tennis player. Agnieszka Radwanska returned to the elite 10.

Names of the recently retired players, Justine Henin, Elena Dementieva and Tathiana Garbin, are not listed any more. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)