Alisa Kleybanova hasn't played tennis since May and on the day of the celebration of her 22nd birthday she decided to write a public letter revealing a serious health problem that has kept her off the courts for the long time. The young WTA star has been diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma, a form of cancer, and is currently being treated in Perugia, one of the best places in Italy specialized in that problem.

The Russian is going through the most difficult time in her life, but she is sure she will be able to defeat the cancer. However, when talking about her return to tennis she was not absolutely certain: "There's a chance that I'll be able to play tennis again." A lot of effort and patience will surly be necessary.

The last tournament Kleybanova played was Rome, where she lost in the second round to Shahar Peer. At that time Kleybanova was ranked 26th, now she's not much lower, at No.28. The two WTA titles she won (Kuala Lumpur and Seoul) came last year.

Alisa, Women's Tennis Blog wishes you peaceful and full recovery. (photo: Stephane Martinache)

Former world No.1 Ana Ivanovic may have downgraded from playing Doha two years ago to playing the lower-rate Bali, but she’s on a good way to get back to the Top 20, being one win away from achieving that.

On the day of her 23th birthday, Ivanovic defeated Kimiko Date Krumm, the only player in the Bali field whom she wasn’t familiar with, and reached the final of the last tournament this season.

The 40-year-old Date Krumm won the first three games of the match and had double set point at 5-3, but Ivanovic then went on a six-game streak to win the first set and lead 2-0 in the second. Still, even though Ivanovic was serving for the match at 5-3 in the second set, Date Krumm managed to stay in there, forced a tiebreak and won it despite trailing at first. The third set was Ivanovic’s, as she broke her opponent in the first and seventh games to move into the final with a 7-5 6-7(5) 6-2 victory.

The other finalist is Alisa Kleybanova, who defeated Daniela Hantuchova 6-3 6-1 in the semis. Kleybanova was the one who took out defending champion Aravane Rezai in the previous round. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)

Newly-acquired BMW driving skills were of no help to Aravane Rezai against Alisa Kleybanova in their opening match at the Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions in Bali.

Together with Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who was dominated by Ana Ivanovic on Thursday, Rezai practiced reversing, maneuvering and braking in the new wheels of BMW X5 in Bali, but on the tennis court it was Rezai’s opponent who was in control, beating her 6-1 6-2.

Rezai didn’t manage to defend her Bali title, but will always stay in the history of this new WTA tournament, as the winner of the inaugural edition of the Balinese event.

Kleybanova is looking for her third title in Asia this year, after Kuala Lumpur and Seoul. Her next opponent will be the winner of the match between Yanina Wickmayer and Daniela Hantuchova. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)

Russia’s Alisa Kleybanova came to the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo fresh off her second career title in Seoul and lost in the very first round to none other than Ana Ivanovic who had a disappointing showing in Seoul the week before, losing in the first round.

The world No.38 Ivanovic had a pretty easy victory over Kleybanova, 6-3 6-2, and as I read she played very well "great serving, fantastic movement, and phenomenal hitting on her forehand side."

Unlike last week in Seoul where Ivanovic lost in the first round and Dinara Safina won, this time we had reverse situation and Safina fell to Julia Goerges 6-1 5-7 6-2. (photo: Stephane Martinache)

Russian world No.28 Alisa Kleybanova won her second career title in her second Sony Ericsson WTA Tour singles final with a 6-1 6-3 victory over 39th-ranked Czech Klara Zakopalova at the Hansol Korea Open. Kleybanova's first title came at the inaugural Malaysian Open in Kuala Lumpur this year.

After winning the longest tiebreak of the year (15-13) against Ksenia Pervak in the second round, the fifth-seeded Kleybanova didn’t lose more than three games per set on her way to the Seoul title.

Zakopalova, who advanced to the title match as top seed Nadia Petrova retired because of stomachache in the first set of their semifinal, has now lost seven of her eleven career finals. (photo via Hansol Korea Open)