Recap + news: Serena makes another statement, Safina not back soon
Women's Tennis Blog is back from summer vacation! Glad to be back with you and tennis. Thanks for all your emails and comments of support, it's nice to know you've been missed. 
Before proceeding with regular reports from the world of women's tennis I would like to take a very quick look on the ten days behind us.
The biggest news was Serena Williams' Stanford title. In only her third tournament after a year-long absence Serena won a Permier-level event beating Maria Sharapova 6-1 6-3, Sabine Lisicki 6-1 6-2 and in the final Marion Bartoli 7-5 6-1. The victory saw Serena rise in the rankings from No.169 to No.79. Serena has once again proved her undeniable quality and silenced much of the tennis world!
Elsewhere, Nadia Petrova won inaugural Citi Open by beating top seed Shahar Peer in the final 7-5 6-2. The Russian entered the tournament as a wildcard and was seeded second. It's her tenth career title and first since 2008. Read more »
