In the encounter of two Serbian players and former No.1s, Ana Ivanovic eliminated defending champion Jelena Jankovic 6-4 6-2 in the fourth round of the BNP Paribas Open. Ivanovic, who won the tournament in 2008, having defeated Jankovic in the semifinals, has now extended her career record against the compatriot to 7-3.

Sixth-seeded Jankovic, who defeated current world No.1 Caroline Wozniacki to win the Indian Wells title last year, converted only one of seven break opportunities and after the match, the 26-year-old said how she felt flat, how her feet were not moving and her best game was not there. Ivanovic, on the other hand, was solid and took advantage of Jankovic’s weaknesses.

Quarterfinal opponent of the nineteenth-seeded Ivanovic will be Marion Bartoli. The Frenchwoman advanced when Kim Clijsters retired from their fourth-round encounter with a shoulder injury, despite winning the first set. Clijsters has been taking painkillers for the shoulder problem since before she won the 2011 Australian Open.

Here's how concerned Clijsters is about the injury: "On hard courts I know that I am able to control it. I'm concerned for what's coming up next, and that's the claycourt season." (photo via WTA Tour)

The WTA Tour made a very nice interview with world No.2 Kim Clijsters at Indian Wells. When it comes to her professional life, by playing against Steffi Graf and Monica Seles, Kim realized one of her tennis dreams, even though she lost to both of them. She played Graf at Wimbledon in 1999 and lost 6-2 6-2, and Seles in Miami in 2002 and lost 4-6 6-3 6-3. As for her private life, the successful tennis mom is revealing that her big goal is to adopt a child. Also, she's straight forward with one thing – she'd like her daughter, Jada, to be whatever she wants to be, but not a professional tennis player.

When it was revealed that constant flying, especially long flights, played a role in Serena Williams' potentially deadly blood clots in her lungs, in addition to the complications from her foot surgery, the tennis world was shaken.

As spending time flying is an ever-present part of tennis pros' lives, tennis star Kim Clijsters got seriously concerned. The reigning US Open and Australian Open champion pointed out how as a healthy athlete you worry about injuries, and you don't think much about the hazards of frequent flights that your profession requires. Serena's life-threatening health problem alarmed Kim:

Injuries can happen, but to be close to dying…it opened my eyes and made me even more aware of where we need to be. The toughest part for us is flying all over. It's very scary. It's very serious.

Serena is now fine, but her agent, Jill Smoller, said that Serena cannot state the exact date she will come back to the sport. (photo: Tennis Buzz)

Kim Clijsters is in Indian Wells for the BNP Paribas Open and the four-time Grand Slam champion took some time off her tennis preparation to shoot a commercial for Usana, a leading nutritional supplement company and the official health supplement supplier of the WTA. Here’s the behind-the-scenes video:

Big women’s tennis names such as Sam Stosur, Zheng Jie, Liezel Huber, Melanie Oudin, and Aleksandra Wozniak are all promoting Usana’s products.

Clijsters is seeded second at the BNP Paribas Open and has a bye in the first round. The Belgian will have a chance to overtake Caroline Wozniacki in the WTA rankings and become No.1 again, as I mentioned in my previous post. Clijsters won the Indian Wells tournament in 2003 and 2005.

Tomorrow-to-be-number-one Kim Clijsters is vulnerable just like every other player on the WTA Tour, and Petra Kvitova proved that by beating the Belgian 6-4 6-3 in the final of the Open GDF Suez in Paris.

The Paris title is Kvitova’s third, but it is her biggest one and of course, her biggest match victory so far. However, the fourth-seeded Kvitova had closer matches earlier in the tournament – the left-handed Czech barely made it to the quarterfinals, having been a match point down against Barbora Zahlavova Strycova (final score: 6-4 6-7(6) 7-6(9)), and then Yanina Wickmayer had a 5-3 lead in the third set before Kvitova reached the semis.

Clijsters will enjoy her regained No.1 ranking anyway, for the first time since 2006, while world No.18 Kvitova can enjoy her great victory and already the second title this season, after the Brisbane International. (via WTA Tour)