Women's Tennis Blog is back! Sorry for this week of absence. I traveled to Brussels and I had expected I would be updating my blog, but access to the Internet was too expensive and complicated so I decided to make a short break. Anyways, there was only the Fed Cup going on over the weekend and Serbia and the Czech Republic became the finalists when Serbia defeated Russia 3-2 and the Czechs defeated Italy 4-1 in the semis. The Fed Cup final will be played in the beginning of November.

Let's see what else happened this past week:

• Kim Clijsters is still recovering from her hip injury and will skip the French Open.
• Svetlana Kuznetsova shocked with a new haircut.
• Jelena Jankovic is reportedly on a trial with coach Zeljko Krajan, who has stopped working with Dominika Cibulkova this month. Krajan is most famously known for his cooperation with Dinara Safina.
• Andrea Petkovic returned to action for the first time since Sydney, playing the Fed Cup, but lost her singles rubber to Sam Stosur.
• Caroline Wozniacki released music video for "Oxygen".
• Maria Sharapova turned 25 on April 19. Yes, just 25!

Referring to her statement in the Telegraph:

I think tennis players are actually underpaid, but I might be a little biased. I like to think we are rewarded for the hard work we put in.

Thanks for the patience, friends. From tomorrow I'll resume normal posting.

Twice Sony Ericsson Open champion, Kim Clijsters, this time went out in the third round, to her fellow Belgian Yanina Wickmayer. Before losing 6-4 7-6(5) Clijsters saved six match points late in the second set. In the previous rounds Clijsters also had tough battles, against Jarmila Gajdosova and Julia Goerges.

Miami was Clijsters’ first tournament since the Australian Open in January, and although she gave credit to Wickmayer for her consistency throughout the match, Clijsters found it frustrating that she wasn’t far from having victory in sight even though she was playing with less than 50% of her abilities. Clijsters also regrets not using Wickmayer’s nervousness at the end of the match, and Wickmayer earned her first victory over Clijsters.

Big names besides Clijsters were all through to the fourth round in straight sets on Saturday: Serena Williams, Maria Sharapova, Caroline Wozniacki, Samantha Stosur, Li Na, and Sabine Lisicki. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)

Serena Williams followed her sister Venus in a successful comeback and defeated Zhang Shuai 6-2 6-3 in Miami opener, Serena's first match since loss to Ekaterina Makarova in the fourth round of the Australian Open (if we don't count her two victories in the Fed Cup in February). Serena has won five titles in Miami, but due to injuries and illness she hadn't played the tournament since losing to Victoria Azarenka in the 2009 final. This year an ankle sprain had put her away from the courts. In the match against Zhang, Serena's game was far from being free from mistakes, but she did serve six aces and on her first serve her opponent won only seven points.

In another second round encounter, Kim Clijsters successfully moved on, following up her tough win in the first round against Jarmila Gajdosova with an upset of seed No.14 Julia Goerges, 6-2 7-5. In the second set against Goerges, nine games out of 12 were breaks of serve. Numerous injuries have made sure that this is only Clijsters' sixth tournament since Miami last year, and her first since the 2012 Australian Open semifinals where she lost to Victoria Azarenka.

The highest seed to lose so far on Tuesday is No.13 Jelena Jankovic. She fell at the first hurdle this month in Indian Wells, and now Mona Barthel wrote the same destiny for JJ in Miami. Jankovic lost 6-0 6-3 after just 61 minutes of play. Both the players had four break chances – Barthel used all her opportunities, while Jankovic converted none. It is Barthel's first Top 20 victory. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)

Having reviewed the semifinal between Maria Sharapova and Petra Kvitova, our guest poster Omair is now moving on to the analysis of Victoria Azarenka's 6-4 1-6 6-3 win over Kim Clijsters to reach her first Grand Slam final.

Everyone had been criticizing the top players for their inconsistency and inability to dig deep through the tournament draws, but with the three of the top four seeds making it to the Australian Open final, along with Kim Clijsters, nobody can doubt the consistency of the top players now.

None of us could have asked for a better semifinal line-up, and the semifinals lived up to their expectations, both the matches producing some jaw-dropping tennis, intense rallies, seemingly impossible shots from players. There were momentum swings in both matches, but overall the quality of tennis was very high and they were worth watching.

Azarenka and Clijsters were the first to walk on to the Rod Laver Arena today to begin the battle for a spot in the championship match. Azarenka moved Clijsters all over the court testing her ankle in the first set, while taking the set 6-4. Clijsters could not find a way into Azarenka's game and by the end of the first set when she got into Azarenka's game it was too late since Azarenka took the set. Read more »

Semifinals are set at the Australian Open and the first one on schedule is Victoria Azarenka vs. Kim Clijsters. Our favorite stats analyst, Omair, was so grateful to provide us with his previews of both the semifinal encounters. Let's  start with the Azarenka vs. Clijsters one.

Azarenka comes into this match knowing that she is one of the two players who have beaten Clijsters twice since she came out of retirement, the other player being Vera Zvonareva, if I am not wrong. Azarenka comes into this match knowing that she won her last match against Clijsters, in straight sets. She comes into this match knowing that the top spot is up for grabs and she will have a huge chance if she stops Clijsters – after all there will be no better way to justify her top spot (if she attains it) than by beating Clijsters in the semis, and then either Maria Sharapova or Petra Kvitova in the finals.

Clijsters comes into this match knowing that this is the last Australian Open of her career, and she intends to go out in style which she showed in her match against Li Na and then against Caroline Wozniacki. Read more »