As 2011 Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova exited on the first day of the US Open, another alarm started flashing when 2011 Wimbledon finalist Maria Sharapova lost the first set 6-3 and was broken at the very start of the second by 19-year-old world No.104 Briton Heather Watson.

Watson, the 2009 junior champion, was playing in the main draw of the US Open for the first time and was close to producing the biggest shock of the tournament, as the third-seeded Sharapova is considered one of the Top 2 favorites, beside Serena Williams.

Sharapova's serve was erratic and Watson was keeping up with the Russian's heavy groundstrokes. Still Sharapova managed to grind out a 3-6 7-5 6-3 victory and advance to the second round.

Kvitova famously made 52 unforced errors in her first round loss, but Sharapova committed even more, 58. The Russian balanced them with 41 winner to Watson's only 9 winners. (Philip Hall/usopen.org)

Professional tennis instructor Florian Meier (OnlineTennisInstruction.com) is back reviewing the favorites for the 2011 US Open (his previous guest post on Women's Tennis Blog was an analysis of Sabine Lisicki's game). Even though world No.1 Caroline Wozniacki won the New Haven Open this weekend, the Dane is not high on Florian's list of favorites. Leaders are Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova. Enjoy Florian's introduction to the US Open!

The US Open starts on Monday and it looks like Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova have the best chances for the title. Let’s quickly review the recent action on the women’s tour and then look at the upcoming US Open, which is certainly one of the most exciting tournaments of the year.

The US Open 2011

The US Open Series

Over the last 8 weeks the US Open Series was played out and Serena Williams ended up in first place in the US Open Series rankings. In case she wins the US Open tournament she would receive a $1 million dollar bonus on top of the regular prize money.

Serena is back to top form and did not lose a match in the US Open Series until pulling out of the second round in Cincinnati to rest a troublesome right big toe. She won the tournament in Stanford and the week after she won the Premier-level event in Toronto.

Toronto finals highlights: Serena Williams in top form

US Open Preview

Looking at the upcoming tournament there is no doubt to me that Serena is the favourite to win the US Open.

Since she won the US Open Series, Serena can now compete for the biggest paycheck in tennis history. If she wins the US Open she will collect $2.8 million dollars. She would get $1.8 million for winning the US Open, and a $1 million dollar bonus for winning both the US Open Series and the US Open. I believe this provides some extra motivation for Serena, especially since she hadn’t played for almost a year.

The other player next to Serena that I see with good chances to win the title is Maria Sharapova.

Sharapova has improved consistently over the last few months. I think she has been working really hard in order to put herself in position to contend for another major. She did well in the US Open Series, winning the Premiere-level event in Cincinnati and she also has the belief and the experience that are usually necessary to win a Grand Slam tournament. For her a lot depends on whether she gets her serve going or not. Read more »

Maria Sharapova is starring in the follow-up to Novak Djokovic’s viral parody of Sharapova herself. The blond wig is now a standard part of Djokovic’s impersonation kit.

These comic videos are part of Head’s marketing campaign for their YouTek IG Instinct racquets. Read more »

Justin Cohen, one of my tennis friends that I met thanks to my blog, attended the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati and took a close picture of Maria Sharapova's hand adorned with a beautiful engagement ring reportedly worth $250.000. The picture was taken after she won the Cincinnati title with a hard-fought victory over Jelena Jankovic in the final.

We learned about Sharapova's engagement to LA Lakers basketball player Sasha Vujacic last October and our first spotting of the huge ring was when the pair took the streets of LA. Any input on when the wedding will take place? During Wimbledon a commentator here was mentioning she would marry in an Orthodox church in Los Angeles in July, but apparently it was just a rumor.

One more photo of the ring after the jump. Read more »

A week ago we already showed you the 2011 US Open Nike looks, but now we have videos of the Nike staff talking in detail about Serena Williams' and Maria Sharapova's dresses and footware.

Creative designer at Nike Tennis, Janice Lucena, explained that as an all-American athlete Serena's colors for the US Open will be red, white and blue. The red dress is for the day, the blue dress is for night matches. Nike's objective was to make an outfit which provides Serena with freedom of movement and breathability. As for the shoes, footwear development director Gary McCourt presented Serena's Nike Mirabella 3, which have red accents to perfectly match the day dress. Read more »

Victory in the title match of the Western & Southern Open was so close to the 2009 Cincinnati champion Jelena Jankovic, but last year’s runner-up Maria Sharapova is never defeated until she loses the match point and her well-known willpower gave her the edge in the crucial second-set tiebreak when the Russian won five successive points.

The match featured 20 double faults and 16 service breaks (8 on both sides), most prominently in the third set in which both players failed to hold their serve in the first six games. Sharapova was the first to stop that trend for a 4-3 lead. An extra break later gave her the set and the match 4-6 7-6(3) 6-3. Read more »

The WTA has added new imagery to their "Strong is Beautiful" campaign, under the title "Active Legends".

Along will players whose faces are not commonly exploited in the WTA marketing, Serena Williams was featured when the campaign launched in May. Venus Williams and Maria Sharapova are now part of the campaign for the first time. Read more »

In the title match of the Western & Southern Open, Maria Sharapova will face the 2009 Cincinnti champion Jelena Jankovic, which will be their first meeting in two years and their fourth meeting in a WTA final.

Sharapova started slow in the semifinal against Vera Zvonareva and lost the first set 6-2. But after dominating the beginning, Zvonareva's concentration dropped, some double faults creeped in and Sharapova's energy level raised. Sharapova won 2-6 6-3 6-3.

As for Jankovic and her semifinal against Andrea Petkovic, after surviving the first set and winning it in a tiebreak, the Serb dominated the second set to advance with a 7-6(4) 6-1 victory.

Sharapova leads Jankovic 5-1 in career meetings, including 2-1 in finals. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)