Bikini photos: Azarenka, Cibulkova, Bondarenko, Chakvetadze in French FHM

Victoria Azarenka in French FHM

Victoria Azarenka, Dominika Cibulkova, Alona Bondarenko and Anna Chakvetadze appear in this month’s French edition of FHM, an international monthly men's lifestyle magazine.

Dominika Cibulkova in FHM

Read more »

Emotional Jelena Dokic beats Anna Chakvetadze in Australian Open second round

Jelena DokicIt was the hottest match on day 3 of the Australian Open and the outcome was even hotter. Home favorite Jelena Dokic, who "went through hell and back" while absent from the tennis world, erased 17th seed Anna Chakvetadze from center court 6-4 6-7 (4) 6-3 and made way into the third round of the Australian Open.

Dokic fought hard, despite having a right foot injury, and claimed the momentous victory over the world No.18 Chakvetadze on her third match point.

The last time Dokic played on Rod Laver Arena was eight years ago. Estranged from her father Damir, in Dokic’s player’s box sat only boyfriend Tim Bikic and her new coach Borna Bikic. After the emotional win, Dokic bowed to the crowd and to her boyfriend.

The Serbian-born Australian, who was once the fourth ranked player in the world, will play 11th seed Caroline Wozniacki in the third round.

Women's Tennis Blog has been following Dokic's comeback closely, so browse through our Jelena Dokic category to read how she has been reviving her tennis career.

Some other notable day 3 results we haven’t already mentioned:

Top seed Jelena Jankovic battled past Kirsten Flipkens 6-4 7-5, seventh seed Vera Zvonareva demolished Edina Gallovits 6-0 6-0, while seed No.19 Daniela Hantuchova beat Mathilde Johansson in three sets.

Chakvetadze was the only seed that lost on the third day, so No.9 seed Agnieszka Radwanska remained the highest fallen seed at the Australian Open so far. (via The Sydney Morning Herald, photo: Getty Images)

Anna Chakvetadze upset in Hobart, seeds falling

Anna ChakvetadzeThree seeds fell on the second day of the Moorilla Hobart International, and most notably No.3 seed Anna Chakvetadze.

The world No.18 Chakvetadze was up in the third set, but Carla Suarez Navarro eventually beat her 7-6(5) 1-6 7-5 in the first round. Suarez Navarro became better known at Roland Garros last May when she reached the quarterfinals as a qualifier. Her win over Chakvetadze is her best career victory.

Chakvetadze was playing her first Sony Ericsson WTA Tour event of the season. In 2008, the Russian lost six of her last eight matches and fell from the Top 10 to where she is now.

Other seeds sent packing were No.5 seed Agnes Szavay, who was defeated by Anne Keothavong 6-3 7-5, and No.6 seed Aleksandra Wozniak, who saved seven match points in the second set but eventually lost to Polish qualifier Urszula Radwanska 3-6 7-6(3) 7-5. (source: Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, photo: annachakvetadze.com)

Venus Williams beats Anna Chakvetadze at Hong Kong exhibition

Venus WilliamsHard-hitting Venus Williams defeated Anna Chakvetadze 7-6(1) 6-3 at the JB Group Classic in Hong Kong, while Vera Zvonareva came from behind to beat Gisela Dulko 6-4 0-6 6-3 which means that Team Americas and Team Russia are tied at 1-1 in the JB Gold Group.

Chakvetadze played well in the first set, but the Russian couldn't maintain her form in the second.

Williams will play Zvonareva and Dulko faces Chakvetadze on Saturday, before a final doubles match.

Just for the record: Don’t forget that Williams crushed world No.1 Jelena Jankovic on Thursday. And by the way, Team Europe captain Jankovic, paired with Michelle Larcher de Brito, lost to Zheng Jie and Sania Mirza 6-1 6-1 in doubles on Friday. Also, Mirza upset Hungary's Agnes Szavay 6-3 6-4, so Team Asia-Pacific beat Team Europe 2-0. (source: ESPN, photo: Ralf Reinecke)

Anna Chakvetadze looking forward to 2009 season

Anna Chakvetadze at Zurich OpenAnna Chakvetadze isn’t satisfied with her 2008 tennis season. The 21-year-old won one singles title, in Paris that was, and had one runner-up finish, at New Haven (Chakvetadze was 7-0 lifetime in Tour singles finals before New Haven).

In 2007, however, the Russian won four singles titles and finished the year ranked sixth in the world, while now she’s 18th. Still, Chakvetadze is staying strong, looking forward to the new tennis season.

I know 2008 has been a tough year for me, tennis wise. But I just have to learn from it and look forward to a better 2009. I also know for a fact that all athletes, including myself, goes through tough times in there career. Loosing is tough but it’s not the end of the world. You win some, you lose some. As I’ve said "Looking forward to a fresher and better 2009 season : )."

In Chakvetadze’s latest diary entry you can also read in detail about her new look, how she has bangs for the first time in years and what were the reactions of people.

Hopefully with this new fresher look comes with a new fierce attitude and confidence. I already started training again. I tell you it’s not easy. My body is aching and I feel very tired. But it’s all good. No pain, No gain. I pray that my luck will come sooner than I expected.

(photo: annachakvetadze.com)

Safina, Dementieva, Chakvetadze receive Russian awards

ruscupsa28nx1.jpg

Russian WTA players received well-deserved awards from their home country. Dinara Safina, Elena Demetieva, Anna Chakvetadze, Elena Vesnina and Ekaterina Makarova were present at the event. Read more »

Anna Chakvetadze wins a match, good news

Anna ChakvetadzeRussian Anna Chakvetadze fell out of the Top 10 in the summer and had lost six of her last seven matches coming into the FORTIS Championships Luxembourg.

Second seed Chakvetadze finally scored victory, defeating world No.83 Mathilde Johansson 64 76(4) in the first round of the Luxembourg event.

Since losing in the final of New Haven in August, the 12th-ranked Chakvetadze has had a string of early losses, four times in the first round (US Open, Tokyo, Moscow and Zürich) and once in the second round (Beijing).

Chakvetadze will next face either 14-year-old British prodigy Laura Robson or Iveta Benesova against whom she scored the before-mentioned first-round win in Beijing. (via WTA Tour, photo: chakvetadze-anna.com)

Chakvetadze, Schnyder beaten by qualifiers in Zurich Open first round

Anna ChakvetadzeSeventh seed Anna Chakvetadze of Russia was upset in the first round of the Tennis.com Zurich Open by Romanian qualifier Monica Niculescu 3-6 6-3 6-2. Sixth seed Patty Schnyder of Switzerland lost to qualifier Petra Kvitova 6-4 3-6 6-4.

The world No.66 Niculescu won 10 of the final 13 games with her left thigh heavily strapped.

Chakvetadze was the second seeded player to lose at the Tennis.com Zurich Open as eighth seed Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia fell to Maria Kirilenko of Russia on Monday.

Later on Tuesday, Schnyder was upset by the world No.57 Kvitova of the Czech Republic, in three sets like Chakvetadze.

Other today’s results: Italy’s Francesca Schiavone beat Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark 7-6(3) 6-2, and Marion Bartoli of France defeated Hungarian Agnes Szavay 6-4 6-0. (via IHT, photo: chakvetadze-anna.com)

Justine Henin’s coach judges current women’s tennis players, brutally honest

Carlos Rodriguez and Justine Henin

Carlos Rodriguez, best-known as the former coach of once dominant women’s tennis player Justine Henin, was interviewed by Matt Cronin for FOXSports.com and gave harsh reviews of some currently top WTA players.

Ok, the Williams sisters and Maria Sharapova can be satisfied, but Jelena Jankovic could feel more than offended. However, we can’t blame Carlos for being honest; I doubt he wanted to insult anyone. Read more »

Anna Chakvetadze visited Beijing’s Forbidden City

World No.12 Anna Chakvetadze took some time away from the courts during her visit to Beijing for the China Open to learn something about the country’s imperial past. The Russian visited the Forbidden City which consists of 800 buildings. Enjoy the short video with Anna Chakvetadze!

Eighth-seeded Chakvetadze fell in the second round of the China Open to Slovakia’s Dominika Cibulkova 6-3 6-2.


Page 2 of 7«12345»...Last »