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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Billie Jean King Cup in the BNP Paribas Showdown

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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Former world No.1 Kim Clijsters suffered the worst loss of both of her careers which featured 555 matches, losing to seed No.19 Nadia Petrova 6-0 6-1 in the third round of the Australian Open in just 52 minutes.

The 15th-seeded Clijsters, who won the US Open last season and the Brisbane International just before coming to the Australian Open, scored only five points in the first set and made 17 unforced errors.

The Belgian couldn’t find her game throughout the match:

The way I played today, I was completely off and I didn't feel the ball at all. She was good, but she really didn't have to do much. She served really well and was aggressive, but that's because I let her play into the court.

Before this one, Clijsters’ worst defeat came nine years ago in Miami when she lost to Serena Williams 6-0 6-2. (photo via Australian Open)

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Tennis players took part in what proved to be a very successful tennis charity event called "Hit for Haiti", which raised over $185,000 for the victims of the recent earthquake.

Women's tennis players Serena Williams, Kim Clijsters and Samantha Stosur joined men's tennis stars Roger Federer, Lleyton Hewitt, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Andy Roddick.

The exhibition was organized on Roger Fereder's initiative, in less than one day, and still, the 15,000-seat Rod Laver Arena was packed.

Some players didn’t play in the exhibition, but donated the money. For example, Maria Sharapova contributed with $10,000. (source: The Canadian Press, photo via Great Tennis Photos)

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First of all, I would use this opportunity to once again thank all of you for voting for Women's Tennis Blog in 2009 Baseline Awards, as thanks to you my blog won the in the Best Tennis Blog category.

Secondly, I missed quite a few tennis events and stories during my time off, and I would like to do a little wrap-up of what happened while I was away. The Brisbane International and the ASB Classic are over and here's what happened there.

Brisbane saw an all-Belgian epic final, with Kim Clijsters defeating Justine Henin 6-3 4-6 7-6(6). En route to victory Clijsters saved two match points and wasted three.

Just after the Brisbane final, Henin withdrew from the Sydney International because of the left leg injury sustained in that title match. Henin wanted to make sure she was healthy for the upcoming Australian Open.

The other WTA tournament I skipped to cover was the ASB Classic in Auckland. The titlist at the event was Yanina Wickmayer who defeated top seed Flavia Pennetta 6-3 6-2 in the final. The victory was the best moment of Wickmayer’s career as she entered the Auckland draw after a court overturned a year's ban imposed by the Belgian doping authority.

The most exciting off-court piece of news is that Nike signed an eight-year, $70-million endorsement deal with Maria Sharapova. In addition, the Russian will be getting a percentage of sales from the line she'll help develop. Wow! And by the way, Sharapova beat Venus Williams 6-3 6-4 at an exhibition event in Thailand.

Feel free to mention in the comments some stories that I missed to write about that you find interesting. I would love you to enrich this post by your links and perspective on the past two weeks. (photos via Sony Ericsson WTA Tour)

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They were playing in front of 14,000 people in the stands and Clijsters said that not even the US Open final can compare with the feeling of winning in your native country before a packed Sportpaleis. (source: Reuters, photo via Sony Ericsson WTA Tour)

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Serena Williams, Venus Williams, Kim Clijsters and Svetlana Kuznetsova will play the 2010 BNP Paribas Showdown for the Billie Jean King Cup.

The $1.2 million tennis exhibition will take place on March 1, 2010 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. There will be two one-set semifinals, followed by a best-of-three-set final.

Last year's participants at the event were the Williams sisters and Serbs Ana Ivanovic and Jelena Jankovic. Serena was the winner.

Tickets will go on sale December 2, 2009 and range from $25 to $1000. (source: Simply Serena Williams)

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