Millionaire athletes Caroline Wozniacki and Rory McIlroy have been dating for a couple of months and they like to share a portion of their relationship with the media. In August we witnessed a very public kiss and now Caroline is bragging on Twitter about a personalized golf club her golfer boyfriend gave her.

Is this a new trend, to make up a couple name? This couple is called Wozzilroy and Caroline is already using it on Twitter with a hashtag. Read more »

Caroline Wozniacki can remind us of her amazing number of titles and matches won, but that will do little to silence the ever-more-annoying yet understandable criticism of her occupying the number one ranking. In her first meeting with Serena Williams since she overtook the top ranking from the American, Wozniacki had a perfect opportunity to show that her defensive game works against everyone, but that was far from the truth. Instead, the Dane was humbled by Serena's intimidating first serve and power tennis, and will finish yet another season without a Grand Slam title.

Not long ago Serena was hospitalized for blood clots in her lungs and this US Open is only her sixth tournament after almost a year-long absence with injuries and health problems, but the 13-time Grand Slam champions needs no warmup – of those six tournaments she won two Premier-level titles and is now in the final of the US Open without dropping a set on the way. Her 11 aces in the semifinal, and 34 winners to Wozniacki's five, could only leave the Dane awe-struck.

Wozniacki is known for being strong and not letting the critics take away her pleasure in enjoying the top ranking and great win-loss record, and unfortunately, she will still need lots of good verbal defense after being blown away by Serena 6-2 6-4 in the US Open semifinals.

Serena's last obstacle to her fourth US Open trophy will be Samantha Stosur, who defeated surprise semifinalist Angelique Kerber 6-3 2-6 6-2. The 92-ranked Kerber started nervously but didn't let the semifinal finish straightforward, taking the second set from Stosur before permitting the Australian to take a 5-0 lead in the third set. The world No.10 Stosur, who had a rollercoaster ride to reach the semis, said that she realized her dream by reaching the final of the US Open, after twenty years of tennis career.

Stosur played the final of Roland Garros 2010 and lost it to Francesca Schiavone. Williams leads Stosur 4-2 in career meetings, and her most recent victory was this year in Toronto final. They met later at Cincinnati, but Stosur advanced with a walkover. (photos: © Neal Trousdale)

After two days of rain troubled the US Open organizers and fans, women's quarterfinals finally took place and we have our final four: Serena Williams, Caroline Wozniacki, Angelique Kerber and Samantha Stosur. Semifinals will be played on Saturday.

Serena Williams (28) vs. Caroline Wozniacki (1)

This semifinal will be especially interesting because it is an encounter of a supposed deserved No.1 and real No.1. Wozniacki has to win this one if she wants to prove all the doubters in her game wrong, this is a perfect opportunity to do so. Since Wozniacki overtook the top position in the rankings from Serena, the two haven't clashed, but in their last and only two meetings in 2009, Williams won.

Serena is yet to lose a set at the tournament. The quarterfinal with Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova featured six breaks of serve in the beginning before Serena got on track and in the 12th game broke the Russian to take the first set. In the second set Williams lost just three points on her serve and ended the match with her sixth ace. Final score: 7-5 6-1.

Wozniacki advanced with a 6-1 7-6(5) win over Andrea Petkovic. Wozniacki let a 5-3 lead in the second set slip and ended up playing a tiebreak, in which Petkovic made five unforced errors and spoiled the comeback.

Samantha Stosur (9) vs. Angelique Kerber

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Dear readers, Florian Meier from OnlineTennisInstruction.com is back to preview the US Open quarterfinals. One of his and actually the world's biggest favorites Maria Sharapova was eliminated early, but Serena Williams is still doing strong. Let's see what Florian's predictions look like now.

US Open quarterfinals preview: Serena still the tournament favorite

We are now at the quarterfinals stage of the tournament and Serena looks almost unbeatable to me at this point (join our poll to vote who has the best chance of shaking Serena's dominance this US Open). Let’s have a closer look at the upcoming quarterfinal match-ups.

CAROLINE WOZNIACKI versus ANDREA PETKOVIC

Wozniacki has had a really good draw so far in this tournament and to me she was not all that convincing in her victory against Svetlana Kuznetsova. I am not sure how strong her form actually is. She was down 4-1 in the second set against Kuznetsova who is also not in her best form at the moment.

Andrea Petkovic looked convincing in her last two matches but she has not faced any really strong players so far in this tournament. Petkovic is also playing with an injured knee but it seems to be holding up fine so far in the tournament. Wozniacki and Petkovic are 1-1 in their career matches. Petkovic won this year on a hard court in Miami and Wozniacki won on an indoor clay court in Stuttgart.
In order to beat Wozniacki you have to be able to get by her with some firepower and be patient enough to work the point a few times. I believe Petkovic has these capabilities. Andrea is fired up like I have never seen her before and I think she is also mentally ready to beat someone like Wozniacki in a Grand Slam quarterfinal.

Assuming that Petkovic’s knee holds up, I pick her as my favorite in a very close match.

Read more »

Top-ranked Caroline Wozniacki cruised through the first three rounds of the US Open losing only 12 games and now she’s in the quarterfinals after a 6-7(6) 7-5 6-1 victory over 2004 champion Svetlana Kuznetsova.

In the first set both players had their serves broken three times and even though Wozniacki was the first to lead in the tiebreaker, 5-2, Kuznetsova came out of the opening set victorious, despite her 31 unforced errors. In the second set Wozniacki came back from a 4-1 deficit to take the match to the third set, through which she cruised.

Kuznetsova actually finished the match with a total of 78 unforced errors to Wozniacki's 26. Of course, Kuznetsova hit more winners, 40 to her opponent's 20.

Wozniacki’s opponent in the quarterfinals will be tenth seed Andrea Petkovic who defeated Carla Suarez Navarro 6-1 6-4 in the fourth round.

Additional info: Wozniacki, as well as Maria Sharapova, are the first players to qualify for the TEB-BNP Paribas WTA Championships, to take place in Istanbul, Turkey. It will be Wozniacki's third straight year to play the elite year-end Championships, while Sharapova hadn't qualified since 2007. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)

New York and fashion go hand in hand, and tennis outfits are no exception, especially when we have a high-profile event such as the US Open. So let's see what the manufacturers of tennis clothes prepared for our WTA stars and there is no better way to start than with American Bethanie Mattek Sands who integrated patriotism in her attire.

Don't you love the American-flag tube socks and the accompanying red shoes? Bethanie looks awesome in her Under Armour outfit with accessories that perfectly match the US Open occasion.

Bethanie is known for her experiments with fashion and her most recent took place before and during Wimbledon, when she incorporated tennis balls in her player party and on-court outfits.

Venus Williams shocked with her EleVen US Open dress as much as she did with her subsequent abrupt withdrawal due to a long-undiagnosed syndrome.

Top seed Caroline Wozniacki and Stella McCartney absolutely failed to inspire with a white dress much more suitable for Wimbledon. Why not use colors for the US Open when you can?

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Top seed Caroline Wozniacki is feeling good about her current game and eased into the fourth round of the US Open with a 6-2 6-4 victory over American Vania King.

In the first round against Nuria Llagostera Vives Wozniacki lost just four games, in the second against Arantxa Rus just two and against the 103rd-ranked King six games. As is usually the case with Wozniacki's matches, she hit less winners than her opponent – 14 to King's 24, and even dropped serve three times in windy conditions, but King made many unforced errors and Wozniacki advanced while bigger favorite Maria Sharapova crashed out in the third round.

King said she would have reconsidered playing both doubles and mixed doubles if she had known she would reach the third round in singles.

Wozniacki's opponent in the quarterfinals will be either Svetlana Kuznetsova or Akgul Amanmuradova. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)

Now that we've seen the kiss and read Rory McIlroy's statement that we can call Caroline Wozniacki his girlfriend, Caroline revealed the things she enjoys in the relationship with her golfer boyfriend – they are both professional athletes and each of them has something the other one is yet to achieve. The slamless Wozniacki would like to match the 22-year-old Rory's US Open title.

I'm definitely trying to keep up. He has something I'm looking for and I have something he's looking for. He wants to be number one, so it's good to have something on each other.

The 21-year-old Wozniacki, who has been on top of the WTA rankings for 46 weeks, was more keen to answer questions about her love life than about her status of a No.1 without a Grand Slam title.

I think we should move on. Ask me about something else, something more interesting.

The top-seeded Dane cruised to the second round of the US Open with a 6-3 6-1 victory over Nuria Llagostera Vives and her next opponent will be Arantxa Rus of the Netherlands. (source: BBC, photo: © Neal Trousdale)

Golfer Rory McIlroy confirmed his relationship with Caroline Wozniacki in a press conference and planted her a kiss on the lips in front of cameras and a Yale University football team on Friday night.

Last month's rumors about the two dating surfaced when a tennis fan spotted them in London and shared photos on Facebook. Later McIlroy was attending Wozniacki's matches as a spectator, but their relationship wasn't publicly announced. As DeShawn Besabella reports, Rory confirmed relationship with Caroline in a press conference mostly concerning the state of his injuries sustained at a recent tournament. He told the press that they could refer to Caroline his girlfriend. Caroline still hasn't revealed anything officially, but the public kiss should be considered enough.

As you know, the photos of Rory and Caroline with the football team were revealed before, but this photo of the kiss is a new addition, I saw it only today.

The world No.1 Wozniacki won her fourth successive New Haven Open title over the weekend and is top seed at the US Open.

Professional tennis instructor Florian Meier (OnlineTennisInstruction.com) is back reviewing the favorites for the 2011 US Open (his previous guest post on Women's Tennis Blog was an analysis of Sabine Lisicki's game). Even though world No.1 Caroline Wozniacki won the New Haven Open this weekend, the Dane is not high on Florian's list of favorites. Leaders are Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova. Enjoy Florian's introduction to the US Open!

The US Open starts on Monday and it looks like Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova have the best chances for the title. Let’s quickly review the recent action on the women’s tour and then look at the upcoming US Open, which is certainly one of the most exciting tournaments of the year.

The US Open 2011

The US Open Series

Over the last 8 weeks the US Open Series was played out and Serena Williams ended up in first place in the US Open Series rankings. In case she wins the US Open tournament she would receive a $1 million dollar bonus on top of the regular prize money.

Serena is back to top form and did not lose a match in the US Open Series until pulling out of the second round in Cincinnati to rest a troublesome right big toe. She won the tournament in Stanford and the week after she won the Premier-level event in Toronto.

Toronto finals highlights: Serena Williams in top form

US Open Preview

Looking at the upcoming tournament there is no doubt to me that Serena is the favourite to win the US Open.

Since she won the US Open Series, Serena can now compete for the biggest paycheck in tennis history. If she wins the US Open she will collect $2.8 million dollars. She would get $1.8 million for winning the US Open, and a $1 million dollar bonus for winning both the US Open Series and the US Open. I believe this provides some extra motivation for Serena, especially since she hadn’t played for almost a year.

The other player next to Serena that I see with good chances to win the title is Maria Sharapova.

Sharapova has improved consistently over the last few months. I think she has been working really hard in order to put herself in position to contend for another major. She did well in the US Open Series, winning the Premiere-level event in Cincinnati and she also has the belief and the experience that are usually necessary to win a Grand Slam tournament. For her a lot depends on whether she gets her serve going or not. Read more »