Caroline Wozniacki can pride herself on more than her tennis results – this sharp answer regarding what else than her No.1 ranking deserves special attention.

Q. Do you think it’s unfair when people criticize you or when people talk your game and they say, She gets lots of balls back, but she hasn’t got a big weapon? You’ve got to No. 1 in the world. Do you think that’s unfair when you hear people say that?

CAROLINE WOZNIACKI: Um, well, if I don’t have a weapon, then what do the others have? Since I’m No. 1, I must do something right. I think there’re not actually criticizing me. I think the other players should be offended.

En route to the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships title, Wozniacki reclaimed her No.1 ranking, only briefly occupied by Kim Clijsters (for seven days, in particular), and will reign the position for at least another four weeks.

Therefore, the 20-year-old Dane is or will have been No. 1 longer than Tracy Austin, Kim Clijsters, Jelena Jankovic, Jennifer Capriati, Maria Sharapova, Ana Ivanovic, Arantxa Sánchez-Vicario, Venus Williams and Evonne Goolagong. Impressive! Especially when you see it like this on paper. (photo: Ralf Reinecke)

Caroline Wozniacki raced to the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships title without losing a set, including the final against Svetlana Kuznetsova, while playing the tournament only for the second time (last year she lost in the third round to Shahar Peer). Championship match score: 6-1 6-3.

The unfortunate Kuznetsova is still awaiting her first Dubai title, even though today's final was her third at the tournament – in 2004 she fell to Justine Henin and in 2008 to Elena Demetieva. The final appearance will still bring a nice improvement in world No.23 Kuznetsova's ranking – at least ten spots.

Not only did Wozniacki win the high-profile tournament of Dubai, but she also ensured her comeback to top ranking position, with a quarterfinal win over Shahar Peer. By further progressing in the event, and eventually winning the title, Wozniacki is projected to occupy the No.1 spot for at least next four weeks.

The title is Wozniacki's 13th and her first in 2011. As for financial gain, Wozniacki earned $360,000, while Kuznetsova earned $180,000. (photo via Dubai tournament)

Caroline Wozniacki had reached the semifinals of the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships, thus ensuring her return to the No.1 ranking, and today she went a step further by defeating Jelena Jankovic for the first time in their five meetings and advancing to the final.

The top-seeded Wozniacki confidently profited on all Jankovic's lost opportunities, impatience and tiredness – in the first set Jankovic blew a 5-3 40-0 lead and later a chance to force a tiebreak while leading 40-15 on Wozniacki's serve in the 12th game. Jankovic's troubles marked the end of the set as well, when her double fault gave Wozniacki a set point and then a lucky net handed the Dane the set.

In the second set Wozniacki broke the sixth-seeded Jankovic in the fifth game, and even though the Serb immediately broke back to level at 3-3, her concentration was on a very low level and her defeat rapidly approached. Final score: 7-5 6-3.

Wozniacki's opponent in the final of the $2,050,000 Dubai event will be 16th seed Svetlana Kuznetsova, who defeated seed No.11 Flavia Pennetta 6-4 6-4 in the semifinals. (photo: Women Who Serve)

Kim Clijsters may have taken the No.1 ranking from Caroline Wozniacki, but only a week later the 20-year-old Dane ensured her return to the very top. Probably a week wasn’t enough for Wozniacki to rest from all the talks about how she doesn’t deserve the position because she hasn’t won a Grand Slam, but like it or not, she’ll be spending her 19th week at No.1. That’s a pretty long reign, I would say. Clijsters, the winner of 41 singles titles including four Grand Slams, has held the top spot for 20 weeks in her career (in four different periods and over the course of eight years). Wozniacki is extremely close to that number even though she first became No.1 in October 2010, less than half a year ago. Read more »

Top seed Caroline Wozniacki defeated qualifier Ayumi Morita 6-1 6-0 to reach the quarterfinals of the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships, and ninth-seeded Israeli Shahar Peer, who says to be feeling like home in Dubai despite all the security measures, is the last obstacle standing between the Dane and her regaining of the No.1 ranking. Shahar was a semifinalist last year in Dubai, and her route to the final four included a straight set victory over Wozniacki in the third round.

Second-seeded Vera Zvonareva played one of her worst matches in a while, as she later stated, and lost to fellow Russian Alisa Kleybanova 6-3 6-2.

The third round also featured a rematch of the epic Australian Open third round encounter between Francesca Schiavone and Svetlana Kuznetsova. In Australia, Schiavone saved six match points and won the longest women's Grand Slam match in history, while today in Dubai she also saved six match points, but finally succumbed, 1-6 6-0 7-5.

"It's good, because I still have our last match in my heart. I still have this pain, because I fought so hard and I had so many chances and it was a Grand Slam. But it happens, I guess. I won this time," said Kuznetsova, who lost the first set. (via WTA Tour, photo: Ralf Reinecke)

World No.2 Caroline Wozniacki has a chance to regain her No.1 ranking from Kim Clijsters if she reaches the semifinals of the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships and she's on a good way, having overcome Anna Chakvetadze after a first-round bye. Actually, if it can be perceived as a victory, because Chakvetadze collapsed during the match and retired right afterwards.

The 51st-ranked Chakvetadze lost the first set 6-1, but was up in the second, serving at 5-3 when she fell to the ground with her eyes rolling. Upon receiving medical attention, Chakvetadze wanted to continue the match, but had to give up after just one point. The Russian was later diagnosed with gastroenteritis. Read more »

As our reader Brenda from Argentina asked for my overview of the 2011 Australian Open tennis fashion, here it is – a little bit of every brand, a little bit of good and bad.

Let's not save the best for the last. Let's start with by far the biggest fashion attention-grabber of the tournament – Venus Williams. The American played three matches (actually two, but she started her third one) and showcased the same number of outfits. The following one is the unofficial ugliest tennis outfit of the decade.

Venus, a graduate in fashion design and the person behind clothing line EleVen, made the outfits herself.

Believe it or not, Venus' dresses, or whatever they can be called, have gained a fan base. Whoever likes Venus' latest EleVen dresses, please leave a comment! I'm sure the world would love to hear your reasoning.

I'd like to continue with Nadia Petrova, the representative of Ellesse. Petrova has also had some colorful and imaginative styles (remember her US Open 2010 outfit that had stripes of all the possible colors?). There might be sound logic behind Petrova's support of EleVen.

Another fashion favorite is always Aravane Rezai. Even though this time her family drama attracted more attention than her dress, the Frenchwoman stayed faithful to the touch of crazy uniqueness. Although, she definitely can do better!

Let's move on to adidas – plenty of it. Read more »

China’s Li Na has retained her perfect match record this season by upsetting world No.1 and top seed Caroline Wozniacki and becoming the first Asian player in the Open Era to reach a Grand Slam final in singles.

The victory didn't come without excitement – Wozniacki took the first set as Li made 17 unforced errors to 7 winners, and then the Dane had a match point at 5-4 in the second set. The thing that makes tennis amazing is that it's never over til it's over – Li shot a risky forehand, saved the match point and eventually won the set 7-5. In the third set Li again had more unforced errors than winners, although only two more, but Wozniacki hit zero winners! Can't beat that!

The ninth-seeded Li won the match 3-6 7-5 6-3 and continued to write tennis history for China.

Li’s opponent in the championship match will be Kim Clijsters, who has played in the finals of three of four Grand Slams, although she was victorious only at the US Open. With a 6-3 6-3 victory over second seed Vera Zvonareva in the semis, third-seeded Clijsters closely approached her second straight Grand Slam title.  But before the Belgian holds the winner's trophy, she'll have to overcome Li, who defeated her this month in the Sydney final. As for overall career record, Clijsters leads Li 4-2.

Additional info: Reuters has a great factbox about the progress of Chinese tennis. (photos: Tidalist)