Except for the week of February 13, 2011, when Kim Clijsters interrupted her reign, Caroline Wozniacki has occupied the top spot of the WTA rankings for a year now and during the China Open the Tour presented the Dane with a cake to celebrate the anniversary.

On October 11, 2010, Wozniacki overtook the No.1 position from Serena Williams and spent 18 successive weeks there, and after Kim Clijsters' brief interruption, Wozniacki has been on the top for her 33rd straight week. Overall, it's her 51st week which makes her the ninth in the history of No.1 ranking occupants.

Of active players only Serena Williams is ranked better in the list with 123 weeks spent as No.1, while Dinara Safina, Kim Clijsters, Jelena Jankovic, Maria Sharapova, Ana Ivanovic and Venus Williams are all below Wozniacki. (photo via Tennis Forum)

This season Li Na became the first Asian to win a Grand Slam, at the Australian Open she became the first Asian Grand Slam finalist, the Chinese 29-year-old also equaled the highest ranking ever for an Asian player in June and now she became the first player from her country to qualify for the $4,900,000 season-ending Championships, which will be held in Istanbul, Turkey, October 25-30.

Three more berths in the singles field are left in Istanbul, as Caroline Wozniacki, Maria Sharapova, Petra Kvitova and Victoria Azarenka have already qualified. Azarenka, the second seed at this week’s China Open, retired from the tournament in the third round against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova with right foot injury. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)

To reach the quarterfinals of the China Open in Beijing Ana Ivanovic showed her mastery of consistent aggressive tennis and good focus against third-ranked Vera Zvonareva and scored her first Top 5 victory since June 2008 when she beat fellow Serb, then world No.3, Jelena Jankovic in the semifinals en route to the French Open title.

In the 6-2 6-1 win over Zvonareva, Ivanovic hit 29 winners to Zvonareva's four.

In the first round Ivanovic blew away Kimiko Date-Krumm 6-1 6-1, then powered past Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-2 6-3, and now she's in the the quarterfinals where she will face either Sofia Arvidsson, who upset Wimledon champion Petra Kvitova, or Agnieszka Radwanska, who won the Tokyo Premier tournament last week. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)

Just a week after eliminating the newly-crowned US Open champion Samantha Stosur in the second round of the Premier-level tournament in Tokyo, Maria Kirilenko repeated the feat by ousting the Australian from another high-profile event – the China Open in Beijing – also in the second round. However, in Tokyo it was Stosur's opener, while in Beijing she scored a 6-4 6-0 victory over Tsvetana Pironkova in her first match.

The unseeded Kirilenko advanced to the third round with a 7-5 1-6 7-5 victory over Stosur, after recollecting herself from a second set slump and a loss of six straight games. Next for Kirilenko is Tamira Paszek, who upset seed No.10 Jelena Jankovic in the first round.

Not even one 2011 Grand Slam champion is left in the China Open draw, even though it's still only the beginning of the tournament. French Open winner Li Na went out in the first round to Monica Niculescu 6-4 6-0, Wimbledon winner Petra Kvitova lost her opener to Sofia Arvisson 7-6(6) 4-6 6-3, while Australian Open champion Kim Clijsters hasn't even been playing since August. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)

The word is out that Swiss Martina Hingis might play mixed doubles with Roger Federer at the 2012 Australian Open and that the pairing could also be active at the 2012 London Olympics.

Herald Sun, in the article entitled "Martina Hingis back for Australian Open", says that Hingis is understood to be contemplating a two-pronged involvement at Melbourne Park next year and Hingis is believed to be considering partnering Federer in mixed doubles.

What can be said with greater certainty is that the 31-year-old will be present in Melbourne to help launch the first veterans' event for women (women’s legends event).

Hingis retired for the second time in 2007 because of a series of injuries and health problems and she was also accused of doping when traces of cocaine were found in her blood. Hingis' two-year ban ended September 30, 2009. Roger Federer was supportive of his compatriot in those hard times.

Additional info: The 2012 Australian Open will be the 100th edition of the Australian men’s championship and it will be the richest tournament in Grand Slam history with the record prize money of $25 million. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)

To further celebrate Samantha Stosur's first major title, Australia Post created a souvenir stamp sheet with images of the Australian holding her US Open trophy.

I'm really excited Australia Post has decided to release a souvenir stamp sheet to celebrate my US Open win. The past couple of weeks have been very exciting and I'm still coming to terms with the idea of being a Grand Slam winner. This is something I'll remember forever.

The limited-edition stamp sheet can be bought for $15.95 until stocks last.

Reminder: Remember the golden days of Serbian women's tennis, when Ana Ivanovic and Jelena Jankovic had their images on stamps? (source: Samantha Stosur's official website)

It may be just for a second, but if you look closely you will see a smiling Serena Williams in the latest video of Enrique Iglesias for the song "I Like How It Feels" .

Serena appears around 3:25 in the video.

Serena still hasn’t played after her infamous incident in the US Open final. She was scheduled to arrive in Beijing for the China Open, but was left out of the draw, for which the organizers did not give the reason. (via DeShawn Besabella)

Since her triumph at Roland Garros Li Na has been consistent with arranging  new sponsorship deals, but her tennis results are regularly disappointing. The Chinese has recently signed on with two more sponsors, Crown (Australia's leading integrated entertainment and resort operator) and Kunlunshan (China's first mineral water brand), but when it comes to tennis, she doesn’t know what to do to help herself.

The world No.5 Li followed her US Open first round exit with a defeat in her first match at the Beijing Premier-level tournament. Against qualifier Monica Niculescu of Romania, Li was bageled in the second set and in the first set won four games, only after coming back from a 5-1 deficit.

Right now I've just lost all confidence. On the court I don't know what I can do. I felt even winning one point was tough for me. My coach came out and told me exactly what was right, but I couldn't do it.

To make things worse, Li played the semifinals of Beijing last year, so she will lose a lot of points. Niculescu, ranked 58th in the world, scored her first Top 10 win. (via WTA Tour, photo: © Neal Trousdale)

Dinara Safina's brother Marat says that given his sister's physical condition, i.e. the state of her back, it is impossible for her to come back to tennis. She should forget about putting more strain on her body and simply lead a normal life.

She had tried several times to make a comeback but it only caused her more problems. Now she must think of herself, not if she could play again, but just to live a normal life. She must continue with her therapy, but would not be able to play again.

Marat also said that Dinara will make an official announcement of the inevitable retirement herself.

In August Safina announced she would not play tennis until the end of the year for sure, and possibly indefinitely, while she hadn't competed in tournaments since the Madrid Open in May because of the persistent back injury. She is now ranked 130th.

This outcome is so unfortunate. Safina is still young and she's a powerful player with one of the most interesting personalities on the Tour. (source: Reuters, photo by our reader Tony)

Elena Dementieva ended her slamless but amazing career last year in October and married her long-time boyfriend, Russian hockey player Maxim Afinogenov in July. The tennis star will now try herself out in a new career field, as a TV host of the show entitled Kukhnya ("Kitchen" in Russian). The show will be aired on a Russian hockey channel KHL and will feature the personal lives of hockey players.

Above you can see Elena Dementieva talking about the show in Russian. (source: Tennis Info Blog)