Second seed Serena Williams beat 133rd-ranked Virginia Ruano Pascual of Spain 6-2 6-0 to move into the third round of Roland Garros. Jelena Dokic, whose comeback I enjoy following, had to retire against fourth seed Elena Dementieva because of a back injury.

Williams had a much easier time in the second round than in her first-round match when she needed nine match points to get through a three-setter. Interestingly, the American believes her game is much better now than when she won four consecutive Grand Slam titles in 2002-03.

The 'Serena Now' would definitely beat the 'Other Serena,' just in general. I'm older. I think I'm wiser. I think I'm just a more mature player. Back then, it was more nitty-gritty. And now it's more composed and planned-out playing.

Jelena Dokic progressed to the second round, and it’s very disappointing that she was forced to retire while leading by a set against Dementieva. Dokic left the court in floods of tears, after quitting with the score at 6-2 3-4 against. She appeared to pull something in her lower back at 2-2 in the second set.

Dementieva was full of sympathy for her distressed opponent and even said: "I didn't deserve to win this match." (sources: FOX Sports, Reuters; photos: Stephane Martinache)

The only seeds playing on the Warsaw’s clay on the second day of the Premier-level tournament survived their first-round opponents.

As the first round came to a conclusion, No.5 seed Sara Errani of Italy rallied from 4-2 and 5-3 down in the third set to edge qualifier Greta Arn 6-2 1-6 7-6(2), while No.6 seed Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia came from 6-3 3-1 down to beat Nuria Llagostera Vives 3-6 6-3 6-3.

Former world No.4 Jelena Dokic, now ranked 72nd, still hasn’t added up to her more than sensational run to the Australian Open quarterfinals. Since then, the Australian hasn’t made a better result than the second round of Miami, and today at Warsaw Open she lost in the first round to qualifier Ioana Raluca Olaru 6-4 6-3.

The entire second round will be played on Wednesday, and the most popular participant at the tournament, Maria Sharapova, will have a first career meeting with lucky loser Darya Kustova. Sharapova will play only her second singles match after a nine-month injury layoff. (photo: Ralf Reinecke)

Besides talking about her traumatic past in the May issue of Sport & Style, Jelena Dokic posed for the magazine in elegant clothes.

The once-again-tennis-star is on the cover of the issue and I absolutely love that she is back in the tennis world, and also active in common off-court activities such as photo shoots.

By the way, I have to mention that Jelena’s father Damir Dokic was arrested on Wednesday for threatening the Australian ambassador to Serbia and is facing up to three years in prison.

Now, forget about Damir and enjoy the pics!

Read more »

Statements by Jelena Dokic surfaced yesterday, revealing that she was physically abused by her father as a child. The full story will be available on Thursday, in Herald’s Sport & Style, but we already have complications.

Damir Dokic, who by the way hung up when contacted by the Herald, threatened the Australian ambassador in Belgrade that he would blow up her car with a grenade launcher if she didn’t do something about the interview.

According to Serbian paper Blic, Damir confirmed he made the threatening phone call, and claimed that the article about his abusiveness was full of lies and that the ambassador had to fight that as a representative of a country. Read more »

Jelena Dokic’s career-reviving run to the 2009 Australian Open quarterfinals has brought her some additional financial fruits in the form of an endorsement deal with Lacoste, believed to be potentially worth close to $4.4 million over three years.

We could see the 25-year-old Dokic dressed in Lacoste at the ongoing Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, where she reached the second round, but her further progress was stopped there by Caroline Wozniacki.

After becoming the most-talked about person at this year’s Australian Open, Dokic, who is now represented by management giant IMG, also entered into a lucrative arrangement with Australian budget airline Jetstar. (source: The Age, photo: Ralf Reinecke)