One of the best-known tennis couples were Russians Maria Kirilenko and Igor Andreev, and without the news of their breakup a photo of the 24-year-old Kirilenko with another man emerges on Twitter. Namely, on November 30 Russian hockey player Alexander Ovechkin tweeted the above photo of him and Kirilenko saying:

Me and my girlfriend Maria….she is my queen!!!!

The 26-year-old Alex Ovechkin describes himself as a proud captain of the Washington Capitals. Read more »

Just a week after eliminating the newly-crowned US Open champion Samantha Stosur in the second round of the Premier-level tournament in Tokyo, Maria Kirilenko repeated the feat by ousting the Australian from another high-profile event – the China Open in Beijing – also in the second round. However, in Tokyo it was Stosur's opener, while in Beijing she scored a 6-4 6-0 victory over Tsvetana Pironkova in her first match.

The unseeded Kirilenko advanced to the third round with a 7-5 1-6 7-5 victory over Stosur, after recollecting herself from a second set slump and a loss of six straight games. Next for Kirilenko is Tamira Paszek, who upset seed No.10 Jelena Jankovic in the first round.

Not even one 2011 Grand Slam champion is left in the China Open draw, even though it's still only the beginning of the tournament. French Open winner Li Na went out in the first round to Monica Niculescu 6-4 6-0, Wimbledon winner Petra Kvitova lost her opener to Sofia Arvisson 7-6(6) 4-6 6-3, while Australian Open champion Kim Clijsters hasn't even been playing since August. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)

Maria Sharapova injured her ankle while serving at 3-4 against Petra Kvitova in Tokyo quarterfinals and was unable to continue the match because her ankle showed immediate signs of swelling. In other Tokyo news, Maria Kirilenko, who knocked out newly-crowned US Open champion Samantha Stosur in the second round and then 2008 French Open champion Ana Ivanovic, was eliminated by fourth-seeded Vera Zvonareva in the quarters.

Sharapova had a chance to possibly overtake the No.1 ranking from Caroline Wozniacki if:

1) she reached the final in Tokyo and

2) followed it with a Beijing title.

Read more »

Unseeded Maria Kirilenko continued her surge through the Tokyo draw, following up her upset of fresh US Open champion Samantha Stosur with a 6-3 6-1 victory over 12th seed Ana Ivanovic in the third round.

One break of serve was enough for Kirilenko to take the first set, in which she herself fended off three break points. The 27th-ranked Russian then dominated the second set, winning 91% of points on first serve and breaking Ivanovic three times.

Another seeded player is Kirilenko's next obstacle – her quarterfinal opponent will be fourth seed Vera Zvonareva, who beat Iveta Benesova 6-1 6-2 in the third round. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)

Samantha Stosur and Maria Kirilenko met in the fourth round of the US Open this month and played one of the most exciting matches of the tournament featuring the longest tiebreak in Grand Slam history. Then the winner was Stosur with a 6-2 6-7(15) 6-3 score and afterwards the Australian defeated Vera Zvonareva, Angelique Kerber and Serena Williams to claim her first major title.

In today's match at the $2,050,000 Toray Pan Pacific Open Kirilenko found revenge and defeated the sixth-seeded Stosur in what was another close encounter, 6-2 4-6 6-4. The 27th-ranked Kirilenko moved to the third round where she will face Ana Ivanovic, even though Stosur came back from a break down to win the second set and from a 4-2 deficit to 4-4 in the third set. (source: WTA Tour, photo: © Neal Trousdale)

In the fourth round of the US Open Samantha Stosur and Maria Kirilenko played the longest tiebreaker in the history of Grand Slam women's singles. In the tiebreak Stosur had five match points and saw all of them slip by as Kirilenko won 17-15. The ninth-seeded Stosur recovered from losing the historic set in one hour and 24 minutes and in the final set won the match 6-1 6-7(15) 6-3.

Here's what Stosur said about the tiebreak:

I lost track of the score, I didn't know at one point if I should be serving or receiving. With all the challenges it was super-exciting. The crowd was into it. I couldn't hear myself think.

Stosur's previous match also made history: her 7-6(5) 6-7(5) 7-5 third round victory over against Nadia Petrova was the longest women's singles match at the US Open. In that encounter the Australian wasted two match points in the second set and won in the third set on her fifth match point. Each set lasted more than an hour and the match lasted three hours and 16 minutes.

In the quarterfinals Stosur will play 2010 US Open and Wimbledon finalist Vera Zvonareva, who defeated Sabine Lisicki 6-2 6-3. (via BBC, photos: © Neal Trousdale)

The first week of the US Open has almost come to a close and Adidas-clad Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Maria Kirilenko are both working their way through singles and doubles draws (in singles they are in the fourth round and in doubles in the second). There's one thing you may not have noticed, though: Pavlyuchenkova and Kirilenko are wearing personalised miadidas Barricade Adilibria shoes that you can make your own.

To celebrate these one-of-a-kind shoes, Adidas has lauched a specific auction site and the tennis stars' shoes can go straight from their feet to yours. The idea behind free-bid is for users to tell Adidas how these shoes will inspire them by completing the phrase, "the ones that will".

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 »

As our readers Yellybean and Stiven suggested, we are doing a review of non-Stella McCartney Adidas by presenting Adidas' two lines - Adilibria and Barricade - and what better than on the examples of Ana Ivanovic and ex-Stella McCartney face Maria Kirilenko.

Along with Serena Williams' Nike designs, Ana Ivanovic had the most beautiful outfits in 2010. As always with Adidas, it was the mixture of high-quality, simplicity, innovativeness, classic look and sporty look.

I absolutely love how Ana Ivanovic and Adidas Adilibria match, but I have to say that the line looked perfect on Flavia Pennetta and Sorana Cirstea as well. Read more »

The prize of our latest contest is now even more relevant as one of the winners will get the signed photo of the new Kremlin Cup champion Victoria Azarenka. The Belarusian world No.10 defeated Andrea Petkovic in three sets in her opening round of the Kremlin Cup in Moscow, which qualified her for the Sony Ericsson Championships in Doha, but she didn’t stop there and went all the way to the title.

Apart from the first round match, Azarenka’s route to the Premier-level Moscow title included only straight-set victories. In the final against sixth-seeded Maria Kirilenko, No.2 seed Azarenka rallied from 0-4 in the second set to win the title with a 6-3 6-4 victory.

Russia's Kirilenko lost just nine games en route to the Moscow final, and is projected to return to the Top 20. It will be her 12th week in the elite 20. (photo via Kremlin Cup)