Maria Sharapova came to Taiwan to play a charity exhibition match with fellow Russian Vera Zvonareva on Thursday. Sharapova had a glamorous arrival at the Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, was welcomed by screaming fans, and finished her journey successfully – with a 6-3 6-4 victory over Zvonareva at the Taipei Arena.

Both the players are now traveling to Tokyo for the $2,050,000 Toray Pan Pacific Open where Sharapova is seeded second and Zvonareva fourth. Sharapova has won the tournament two times, in 2005 and 2009.

E!News' TV presenter Marijana Rancic made a week-long profile of Sharapova during the US Open. She interviewed the Russian about fashion, especially her collections with Cole Haan and Nike, about her fiancé Sasha Vujacic (Maria revealed she'd prefer a small wedding), about the popularity of her Facebook page, there is a mention of Sharapova's and Novak Djokovic's cooperation on the famous Head commercial, and a walk through Sharapova's favorite places in New York City. (source: Maria Sharapova's official website)

Maria Sharapova and Vera Zvonareva are in Taipei for their Thursday exhibition and both commented on the WTA schedule, now that the season is slowly approaching the end. The two Russians have opposing views: while Sharapova is satisfied, Zvonareva could use more rest, believing that the current schedule can be exhausting at times, thus provoking injuries.

Here's what the world number two Sharapova said:

(The schedule) is so much better than it was years ago. We finish two or three weeks before the men do. You can say that's nothing but it's huge in our sport, it gives us more time to take a breather whereas before after the season you could maybe take a week off. Now you can take two weeks off and not feel guilty about it.

The fourth-ranked Zvonareva would like to have more flexibility and choice:

With this kind of schedule we have to play every single weekend and sometimes you feel good but sometimes you don't feel good but you still push yourself hard and at the end of the day you could get sick or get injured.

Zvonareva added that there are players who want to play more and those that want to play less, but that it is important to discuss and find balance. My impression is that more players would side with Zvonareva. If it's difficult for me to follow all the events as a blogger, I can't even imagine how difficult it is to play so much and travel all the time. (source: Reuters, photos: sr_cranks)

WTA Tour revealed a behind-the-scenes video of Maria Sharapova and Venus Williams shooting the "Strong is Beautiful" campaign. The result of their modeling work can be seen here.

New York and fashion go hand in hand, and tennis outfits are no exception, especially when we have a high-profile event such as the US Open. So let's see what the manufacturers of tennis clothes prepared for our WTA stars and there is no better way to start than with American Bethanie Mattek Sands who integrated patriotism in her attire.

Don't you love the American-flag tube socks and the accompanying red shoes? Bethanie looks awesome in her Under Armour outfit with accessories that perfectly match the US Open occasion.

Bethanie is known for her experiments with fashion and her most recent took place before and during Wimbledon, when she incorporated tennis balls in her player party and on-court outfits.

Venus Williams shocked with her EleVen US Open dress as much as she did with her subsequent abrupt withdrawal due to a long-undiagnosed syndrome.

Top seed Caroline Wozniacki and Stella McCartney absolutely failed to inspire with a white dress much more suitable for Wimbledon. Why not use colors for the US Open when you can?

Read more »

It's over: with zero aces, 12 doubles faults and 60 unforced errors Maria Sharapova, the strongest favorite for the title besides Serena Williams, lost to Flavia Pennetta 6-3 3-6 6-4 in the third round of the 2011 US Open.

The Russian said she hadn’t felt comfortable with most of her game and she lost a three-setter the first time this year (she had a 12-0 record in 2011 when the deciding set had to be played). After being down 3-0 and 4-1 in the final set, Sharapova managed to get the score to 4-all, 15-30 on Pennetta’s serve. Then the downward spiral started for the Russian and the 26th-seeded Pennetta won all the remaining seven points to earn one of the biggest victories of her career in two and a half hours.

Of course, the 2006 US Open champion Sharapova didn’t accept the defeat lightly:

It's disappointing to lose in New York. Losing isn't fun for anyone because we work to win. We don't work to try to lose. So when we're faced with a position where we can win and we didn't in the end, it's tough.

(photo: sr_cranks)

Nike is using Maria Sharapova's always-present never-give-up attitude for the landing page of their women's tennis online store. When Maria says "It's not over until I say it is" we have to believe her, she's proved it so many times, including in her first round at the US Open against Heather Watson.

The Russian is wearing her Maria Ace Day Dress intended for day matches at the 2011 US Open. (via Tennis Served Fresh)

Thanks to Tennis Served Fresh we have these shots of the extended version of Maria Sharapova's night Nike US Open outfit, i.e. the jacket accompanying the gray dress with yellow straps. The same yellow accent from the dress trims the placket and the collar of the jacket.

A stylish Head racquet bag is a perfect accessory as well.

Following her hard-fought win over Heather Watson in the first round, the third-seeded Sharapova had a much easier second round against Anastasiya Yakimova, 6-1 6-1. Yakimova did have five opportunities to break the former US Open champion, but converted none.

Did you know that Sharapova has a perfect 14-0 record in night matches at the US Open?

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 »