Seed No.14 Kim Clijsters and third seed Victoria Azarenka made premature exits at the BNP Paribas Open, while sixth seed Jelena Jankovic fought her way into the fourth round.

Two-time Indian Wells champion Kim Clijsters lost to Alisa Kleybanova 6-4 1-6 7-6(4) in the third round, despite storming through the second set and having a 4-0 lead in the third-set tiebreak.

"I definitely think I let it slip away but credit to her," said Clijsters after losing to the No.23 seed. "She played some really good points to get back into it."

Victoria Azarenka fell to 28th-seeded Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez 7-6(4) 6-2 at the very tournament that propelled her into the Top 10 last year. The Belorussian quickly fell behind 5-1 and even though she saved four set points and leveled to 5-5, she lost the first set and shortly after the second as well.

Sixth-seeded Jelena Jankovic beat Sara Errani 2-6 7-6(6) 6-4 despite making 57 unforced errors compared to Errani's 42. The world No.9 quickly lost the first set, won the second in a tiebreak, and let her experience prevail in the decider of the marathon match to prevent Errani from scoring her first Top-10 victory in 12 attempts. (photo: Stephane Martinache)

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The Laureus World Sports Academy recognized tennis stars Serena Williams and Kim Clijsters to be among the most successful athletes of the past year, naming them winners of the prestigious Laureaus Sports Awards at the Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi on Wednesday.

The world No.1 Williams won the Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year Award, while the Laureus Comeback of the Year Award went into the hands of Kim Clijsters. Williams has won her third Laureus Award and second in the same category, following her impressive 2009 Grand Slam successes, that is her victories at the Australian Open and Wimbledon. Clijsters owes her award to her amazing run at the 2009 US Open, when she won the title while playing only her third tournament after a two-year absence. (via On the Baseline)

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The long-awaited Billie Jean King Cup in the BNP Paribas Showdown took place on Monday night in New York and the winner is seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams.

Firstly, the one-set, no-ad semifinals were played at the Madison Square Garden. Kim Cijsters defeated Serena Williams’ replacement Ana Ivanovic 7-6 (7-2), while Venus Williams took care of Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-4. I would like to point out a non-promising statement of Ana Ivanovic, who has a new coach: "It was a tough match. I was actually very nervous, but it makes it an important match. I just wanted to do so well." I can't believe we are listening to the same old story.

The final between Venus Williams and Kim Clijsters followed. Williams, who lost in the finals to her sister Serena last year, defeated Clijsters 6-4 3-6 7-5 in front of the crowd of 11,702 and earned $400,000 of the astonishing $1.2 million prize money. Good on you, Venus, for earning $787,000 in prize money in the past two weeks and one day ($350,000 for Dubai victory, $37,000 for winning Acapulco, and now these latest $400,000).

Billie Jean King herself did not attend the event because she is recovering from a recent double-knee replacement. (source: ESPN)

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Serena Williams will face Kim Clijsters and Svetlana Kuznetsova will play Venus Williams in the semifinals of the BNP Paribas Showdown for the Billie Jean King Cup, exhibition event to take place March 1 at Madison Square Garden in New York.

The semifinal pairs were determined according to the 2009 year-end rankings. The highest-ranked player was paired with the lowest ranked, and the remaining two are to face each other.

The exhibition features no ad scoring format, and each participant will compete in a one-set semifinal with the winners advancing to a best of three-set final.

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Barbie manufacturer Mattel, the world's largest toy company, made a doll to celebrate great sportswoman Kim Clijsters and her little daughter Jada, who made Kim’s 2009 US Open victory even sweeter and melted the hearts of all tennis fans.

However, the honor would be much greater if the Barbie looked more like real Kim, and not like "Kim on crack" as one commentator on Tennis Forum rightfully said. Also, Jada is much more beautiful than her doll, in reality she is cute, and here she looks like those poor girls they treat for hours to take part in beauty pageants.

Fortunately, the Barbie won’t be sold. It was made only to be exhibited and it was unveiled today in the German city of Nuremberg.

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