How often do injured players retire when closer to victory, and how often when they are losing? Which players are more likely to retire, and which stay in match even though they are losing?

Tennis Magazine, who did this research, took into account the top 20 players and calculated the proportion of times they retired when close to losing a match. The aim of their work was to determine which players retire when they see that defeat is near, which, as they believe, tells a lot about a person's attitude. So, matches where a player retired before the completion of the opening set, as well as those when a player withdrew while less than two games behind, were not included.

Some players are more prone to injuries, but you can see that some of them withdraw when they see that they can't win. It's evident that player's retirement affects the opponent as well as spectators. The opponent can't enjoy the victory as much, because things were left unfinished.

One of favorite WTA players, Kim Clijsters, had lots of injuries in her career, but retired while losing only once. Ana Ivanovic, Shahar Peer, Nicole Vaidisova and Martina Hingis have never left the match when behind.

On the other hand, an unbelieveable 11.4 % of Jelena Jankovic's defeats are retirements while losing, which is more than one in every nine losses. Players following Jankovic are Serena Williams and Anna Chakvetadze.

A spokesperson for the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, who saw the results of the research, said: "There is no evidence that WTA Tour players do anything other than compete their very best." However, John Lloyd, British Davis Cup captain and former Australian Open finalist, claims that "really good champions don't feel they're going to lose until the last point, so they never throw in the towel."

I don't really agree with the view that players who are prone to retiring while losing are players with worse attitude and not real champions. It shows a certain part of their character, but it doesn't make them worse people, or worse players. They are simply like that (it's normal to lose interest when you see you have no chance to win), and after all, it's not forbidden to withdraw while behind.

(more at Tennis Magazine website)

The first player to enter the semifinals at Amelia Island was sixth-seeded Ana Ivanovic who defeated second seed and compatriot Jelena Jankovic 7-5, 6-3. In the following match, Venus Williams was ousted by France's Tatiana Golovin 6-2, 6-3. The third member of the last four is Austria's Sybille Bammer who crushed Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia 2-6, 6-2, 6-2. The last match of the quarterfinals was played by two Russian players; Nadia Petrova, the defending champion, advanced to the semifinals by beating fifth-seeded Dinara Safina 6-4, 7-5. The semifinal matches are scheduled to start today at 1:00 PM local time.

The world No. 17 Ana Ivanovic overwhelmed Jelena Jankovic ranked 9 to reach the semifinals of the Bausch & Lomb Championships in Florida. The younger player won 7-5, 6-3. This victory extends Ivanovic's head-to-head record over 22-year-old Jankovic to 3-1 . Ana's opponent in the final four will be either Tatiana Golovin or Venus Williams whose match is currently in progress.

Sixth seed Ana Ivanovic of Serbia is the first known member of the semifinals. We're still waiting for the results of the following matches: Tatiana Golovin (FRA) vs. Venus Williams (USA), Daniela Hantuchova (SVK) vs. Sybille Bammer (AUT), and Nadia Petrova (RUS) vs. Dinara Safina (RUS). Let me just remind you that Petrova is the reigning champion at Amelia Island.

I'll keep you up with the latest results!

Second seed Jelena Jankovic and sixth seed Ana Ivanovic will face each other in the fight for semifinals of the Bausch and Lomb Championships. They both needed less than one hour to defeat their opponents in the third round. Jankovic crushed Alona Bondarenko of the Ukraine in straight sets 6-2, 6-0, while Ivanovic easily beat world No. 43 Nathalie Dechy 6-1, 6-1.

In their matches Ivanovic leads 2:1 — Ivanovic overwhelmed Jankovic in Zurich and Tokyo, while Jankovic won in Los Angeles. I personally think that Jankovic has slightly higher chances to take the victory. We'll see the result on Friday.

Ana Ivanovic's first ever competitive outing on green clay almost ended up disappointingly. In the 40th minute of the match, Peng Shuai lead 6-1, 2-0 and faced two break points at 15-40. But then, Ana's determination and strength took the lead. She made one of her most impressive comebacks by fighting off those break points and eventually winning the match.

Ana's opponent in the third round is Nathalie Dechy. So far, they played two times, and the score is 2-0 for Ivanovic.

(source: Ana Ivanovic's website)