Straight from winning the Family Circle Cup in Charleston, Caroline Wozniacki rushed to Monte Carlo for an exhibition match at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters with the 2010 French Open champion Francesca Schiavone. The Danish world No.1 lost the one-set match, 6-4.

Wozniacki is bursting with confidence, so much that she booked her flight so close to the end of her Charleston final that they could have easily overlapped. Here’s what Diane of Women Who Serve, who regularly attends Charleston, said:

After the final, she dashed in to a press conference, and then almost immediately dashed right out. The champion had to catch a flight to the ATP tournament in Monaco […] So I'm left with a couple of questions: What if the second set in Charleston had gone to a tiebreak? What if it had gone to three sets?

Despite losing at the Monte-Carlo Country Club, Wozniacki enjoyed her appearance at the ATP event, especially because her home is just up the street from the Monte Carlo tournament venue. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)

What's this with off-court injuries? It's not only the busy schedule that's threatening players' health, restaurants and weddings are dangerous too. Kim Clijsters sustained a right ankle injury at her cousin Tim's wedding and "the consequences are rather dire", as her official website reports.

Clijsters’ ankle is completely immobilized and she will not be able to use her foot for a few days, while she faces a recovery of at least four to six weeks. Therefore, her participation at the French Open is very unlikely. The Belgian will use the time out to continue working on her recovery from shoulder and wrist injuries.

As you know, Serena Williams has been sidelined with an off-court injury for almost a year. The American stepped on broken glass at a restaurant in Munich, and she's since endured two surgeries and various complications. (photo: Tennis Buzz)

Two WTA events were played this week and two good friends clinched titles: Caroline Wozniacki at the Family Circle Cup in Charleston and Victoria Azarenka at the Andalucia Tennis Experience in Marbella.

The world No.1 Wozniacki survived a string of tough matches to reach the final for a chance to win her first Charleston title in three appearances (one of which was a runner-up finish in 2009 and last year’s hurtful injury retirement in the semifinals). On her first tournament on clay this year, Wozniacki survived Barbora Zahlavova Strycova in the third round after two tiebreaks, and followed it with another thriller, in the quarterfinals against Yanina Wickmayer. The Dane avoided an upset in the semis against Jelena Jankovic, beating the Serb 6-4 6-4, and in the title match she didn’t face much threat against surprise finalist Elena Vesnina and won 6-2 6-3.

Wozniacki has now added Charleston to her Dubai and Indian Wells 2011 titles. Her number of WTA titles now totals 15. As for the 56th-ranked Vesnina, the week will stay as a bright point in her career, she recorded upsets of Bethanie Mattek Sands, Julia Goerges, Peng Shuai, and most importantly, her first Top 5 win against Samantha Stosur. Read more »

All the quarterfinal matches at the Family Circle Cup have finished and we have our members of the final four: Caroline Wozniacki, Jelena Jankovic, Peng Shuai and Elena Vesnina.

World No.1 Wozniacki and 2007 Charleston champion Jankovic will clash in the first semifinal. The two high-profile players didn't go through the quarterfinals with the same amount of difficulty: Wozniacki came from behind in both the second and third set to beat sixth seed Yanina Wickmayer 4-6 6-4 6-4, while No.3 seed Jankovic rolled past 18-year-old American Christina McHale 6-2 6-0. Still, Jankovic stated that the match wasn’t as easy:

The score looked pretty easy today, but the match was a lot tougher. My opponent played really well. She has a great serve and a pretty big forehand. Maybe I was better on the important points, especially at the start of the match. I took two long games and from then on I had the momentum. But she plays very well and she's going to be a very good player in the future. Read more »

In the quarterfinal of the Andalucia Tennis Championships against top seed Victoria Azarenka, Dinara Safina retired while trailing 5-1 because she felt the back pain similar to the reappearing one that has been disrupting her participation in tennis tournaments for a couple of years now. The lower back issues seemed to have been overcome, but with the familiar pain reoccurring, Safina didn’t want to take any risks and withdrew from the tournament:

It was a sad end to the week. I was playing well. I had another problem with my back. I started to feel a pain similar to the one I used to have. I was very afraid, so I am going to have an MRI and see what that shows. I hope it's nothing serious and that it's just my fear, but I want to double check. It's not as strong a pain as before, but I have a similar sensation.

Azarenka’s semifinal opponent in Marbella will be Sara Errani, the eighth seed who beat fourth seed Alexandra Dulgheru of Romania 6-2 6-2. The other semifinal features second seed Svetlana Kuznetsova, who defeated Lara Arruabarrena Vecino in the quarterfinals, and Romanian qualifier Irina Begu, who advanced with a win over sixth seed Klara Zakopalova. (via the WTA Tour, photo by our reader Tony)

Second seed and last year's titlist Samantha Stosur crashed out of the Family Circle Cup in Charleston, falling to unseeded Elena Vesnina 6-4 6-1 in the third round.

After a 4-2 lead in the first set, Stosur lost 10 of the next 11 games and the 56th-ranked Vesnina scored her first Top 10 victory since defeating Francesca Schiavone in Cincinnati last year. Vesnina said that the doubles title at the Premier-level Indian Wells with Sania Mirza lifted her confidence. Read more »

World No.1 Caroline Wozniacki had an easy second-round match at the Family Circle Cup in Charleston, but the third round against the tricky opponent of Barbora Zahlavova Strycova was a big challenge for the Dane, who eventually prevailed with a 7-6(6) 7-6(9) score.

The match lasted more than two hours and a half. In the first set, despite establishing a 4-1 lead, Wozniacki played a tiebreak and saved a set point then. The second tiebreak was difficult too, as Wozniacki squandered four match points before defeating the 48th-ranked Zahlavova Strycova, seeded 15th at the Premier-level tournament.

Wozniacki's opponent in the quarterfinals will be sixth seed Yanina Wickmayer, who defeated Anna Tatishvili 6-4 7-5 in the third round. (via ESPN, photo: © Neal Trousdale)

The fourth birthday celebration of Women's Tennis Blog is slowly coming to a close. Our last contest, as part of the festivities, is including Naemeh Shirazi's sculpted lace earrings provided by Stevie's Artisans. You can win one of the seven pairs of earrings shown in this article if you complete the simple step I am about to explain.

Answer the following question in the comments below this contest announcement: Which female tennis player is in the picture? Of those of you who qualify with the right answer, I will randomly draw one person who will be the lucky winner.

Help: she is a three-time Grand Slam champion. Should be easy. Read more »

Top three seeds, Caroline Wozniacki, Samantha Stosur and Jelena Jankovic, were victorious in the second round of the Family Circle Cup in Charleston.

Wozniacki faced no break points and won more than twice as many points as her 128th-ranked opponent, Irina Falconi, to win 6-1 6-1. Wozniacki played the final of Charleston in 2009, but last year's memories from the tournament are not pleasant, as the Dane injured her ankle in the semifinals and had to retire.

Defending champion Stosur defeated Patricia Mayr-Achleitner 6-1 6-2 in less than an hour, and Jankovic, also once a champion at Charleston, followed with a 6-2 6-3 victory over Tamira Paszek.

Jankovic said she was satisfied with her movement on clay and also took the spotlight to say a few words about her flowery Anta dress:

It's my new ANTA dress. I've been working with them for two or two and a half years now, and it's pretty cool. It's a nice color for spring and I have these flowers, so it's kind of like the spring blossom. I'm blossoming. I've gotten a lot of compliments for it, so I'm happy!

Wozniacki also sported a new fashion combination: the adidas by Stella McCartney orange tank and a pleated skirt. (via: WTA Tour, photos: © Neal Trousdale)

Adidas made a nice presentation of their designs for Roland Garros 2011 in the form of an e-magazine called Adizene. There our beautiful player photos accompanied by a short interview embedded on the page.

You are certainly already familiar with these outfits, we've been seeing them around for months already. Ivanovic will wear her beautiful Adidas Adizero, only the pink and orange version with green details this time. I always love when clothing brands match the unmatchable colors. I especially love when for the red clay they use colors that resemble the red color of clay, and you think it would bland too much, but what you actually get is an intriguing and compatible combination. Read more »