Second seed Vera Zvonareva won an entertaining three-set Qatar Ladies Opensemifinal against fifth seed Jelena Jankovic, in which the winner was uncertain until the last moment.

The beginning of the match was very misleading - just as at 40-0 it seemed that Jankovic would confidently win her first service game and give great resistance in the match, Zvonareva won five straight points and broke the Serb. The set finished pretty much as miserably for Jankovic, as she lost it win only one game won.

The situation prepared Jankovic's fans for a meltdown, but Jankovic offered a surprise, slowly coming back, and bit by bit outweighing her downs with ups, she won the second set 6-2. Read more »

Semifinals of the Qatar Ladies Open in Doha will feature a clash of two potentially weak players – Vera Zvonareva may be tired from her 3 hours and 10 minutes long battle against Daniela Hantuchova in the quarterfinals and Jelena Jankovic who sustained a left knee injury in her quarterfinal.

Zvonareva avenged her defeat to Hantuchova in the recent semifinals of the PTT Pataya Open, but not before an exhausting 7-5 6-7(5) 7-5 match. The second-seeded Zvonareva, who hit 48 winners to Hantuchova’s 29, rallied from 5-3 down in the deciding set. Hantuchova committed a total of 57 unforced errors. Read more »

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)

Tsvetana Pironkova, Dominika Cibulkova, Vera Zvonareva, Daniela Hantuchova and Jelena Jankovic took part in a photo shoot for Oriflame in Tokyo and I’d say it was a success. They all look great individually, but also as a group. Plus, it's nice to see Vera taking the spotlight.

Haha fellow blogger Forty Deuce has a sharp eye, Cibulkova taller than Hantuchova? In real life Cibulkova is 20 cm shorter, that’s about 7.9 inches!

You all know about the scandal involving Jelena Jankovic and a photo of her "full mouth" face expression that a German company used in an advertisement for a Swiss sperm bank, without JJ's consent. The tennis star decided to sue them and give all the money the trial will probably earn her to humanitarian causes.

Here's what Jelena's mother, Snezana, said about their plans to sue:

Jelena has a good reputation. Linking her to a sperm bank for us in Serbia is absolutely unacceptable and reprehensible. We forwarded the whole case to a lawyer, who will take all the necessary legal procedures, so the responsible will have to explain their action in the court.

Very nice of Jelena to decide to help humanitarian organizations! (source: Blic Online)

Thanks to our reader, Zex, I am learning about this hilarious story involving who else than Jelena Jankovic. Hahaha this is the funniest tennis scandal!

Because of the funny faces JJ makes when playing tennis, the WTA star ended up in an advertisement for a sperm bank in Switzerland. Postcards with Jankovic and her full mouth were being sold in many Swiss cities for two francs. The text on the postcard translates as (according to Google): "Make a donation here".

Jankovic ended up on these postcards without her knowledge and approval, and when it became a scandal, "Modern Times" from Germany, the company that made the postcard, said they did not know it was Jankovic in the picture and were sorry for the inconvenience.

The postcards have been withdrawn both from Swiss shops and from online stores. (source: Novosti)

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 »

When Serbia's Ana Ivanovic exited the Australian Open as early as the first round, there was still hope for her country with two strong players left in the draw, the established Jelena Jankovic and young star Bojana Jovanovski. However, both of them were defeated in the following round of the tournament, and both the losses happened on the Hisense Arena.

Even though Jankovic was leading 5-2 in the first set against Shuai Peng, the seventh-seeded 2008 Australian Open semifinalist allowed the 54th-ranked Peng to recover and force a tiebreak, which she won 7-3. A decisive break in the sixth game of the second set allowed Peng to progress to the Australian Open third round for the second time in her career. Final score: 7-6(3) 6-3.

The match between 19-year-old Bojana Jovanovski and second seed Vera Zvonareva followed. The bright Serbian prospect may have lost the match, but not before scaring Zvonareva by winning the first set 6-2. The final score was 2-6 6-3 6-1.

Third seed Kim Clijsters is confirming her dominant status, as she followed her 6-0 6-0 victory over Dinara Safina, with a 6-1 6-3 win over Carla Suarez Navarro in the second round. The match involved eight successive games won by Clijsters.

Besides Jelena Jankovic, seeds that fell on Day 4 include: No.18 Maria Kirilenko who lost to Iveta Benesova 6-3 6-1, No.26 Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez who was defeated by Alize Cornet 7-5 6-1, and No.24 Alisa Kleybanova who fell to Simona Halep 6-4 7-6(2). (photo: uristilman)

The 2011 season has just started and we're already thinking about the year-end rankings. Our friend John Bolan used a number of indicators to calculate how the Top 10 will look at the end of 2011. Isn't this a perfect time to get playful and test our projection abilities?

My friends and I play a game each year before the new tennis season begins: "Name the Top 10 players in order at the end of the year". We all have favorites, but I try to use a little logic in the picks.

First, see where the players finished this year. Then think about which good players have been injured for long periods during 2010. Finally, consider how many points players have to lose. Players with many points now must play better than players with fewer points to retain their ranking. Of course we all have personal favorites and think that different players will either rise or sink in the rankings.

My pick for number 1, Victoria Azarenka, has a combination of all the above factors – she has been injured, has fewer points to lose than anyone else in the Top 10, and is definitely a rising young star. Number 2, Justine Henin, and number 3, Maria Sharapova, also fit in the same mold.

One can’t forget to rank the Top 3 players from 2010. Kim Clijsters, Caroline Wozniacki and Vera Zvonareva are my next 3 picks. Although they have many points to subtract, they are the best 3 players in 2010.

Number 7 is Yanina Wickmayer. She is young and very strong. 2011 will be her breakout year.

Dinara Safina has very few points to lose, has been injured all 2010 and has more to prove than any other player. She will be back in the Top 10. Dinara is also my pick for a comeback player of the year 2011.

Ana Ivanovic is determined. She is working very hard.

In the last spot is Jelena Jankovic who will be steadier in 2011 and hold onto her Top 10 ranking.

There is no expectation on my part that any of you will agree with me on these picks! That is why we play the game! So use the comments and make your picks!

It will be interesting to get back to these projections when the 2011 season finishes. The time will come before we know it! (photos: Karla St John, John Bolan)

We are continuing our little series of women's tennis players and their mothers, and we're starting with one of the most famous tennis moms of the present – Jelena Jankovic's mother Snezana.

Here's a very nice video of Snezana and Jelena together, that the WTA Tour took last year for the Mother's Day. Snezana is talking about what Jelena was like as a child and how she got into tennis.

Another famous Serbian tennis mom is Dragana Ivanovic, also a very frequent site in the stands. Dragana is a lawyer, but more importantly, she's the mother of Grand Slam champion Ana Ivanovic.

The following photo shows Dinara Safina's mother, Rauza Islanova, who used to train her daughter when she was young.

Maria Sharapova's mother Yelena is less seen than her husband Yuri, so enjoy the following few photos of Sharapova and her family. Read more »