To defend her Acura Classic title, top-seeded Maria Sharapova of Russia will have to overcome 11th seeded Patty Schnyder of Switzerland.

In the semifinals, Maria Sharapova beat fellow Russian Anna Chakvetadze 6-3 6-2 and in that way ended the third seed’s hard-court run of 12 straight victories. However, soon after the loss to Sharapova, the 20-year-old Chakvetadze together with Victoria Azarenka of Belarus reached the doubles final by defeating Ai Sugiyama of Japan and Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia 6-2, 3-6, 10-6. Read more »

In contemporary tennis world, personalized sneakers are a must-have. The customization is a symbol of success, but can also minimize confusion in the locker room – Jelena Jankovic won’t accidentally put on Shahar Peer’s tennis shoes any more, since Reebok has customized the gear of both players. Maria Sharapova, of course, isn't legging behind, she has her distinctively designed sneakers as well.

Anyway, if I were a tennis player, I wouldn't have written my name on my gear. I don't like self-centered people in love with their name, their image in a picture, people who promote themselves all the time. Ok, I understand that in tennis it's all part of the industry, but still,… it's kind of cheesy. (Tennis Served Fresh and Tennis Country, thanks for the inspiration)

We might have the pleasure of watching an encounter of two second ranked tennis players Rafael Nadal and Maria Sharapova. That should be interesting! The exhibition match could happen in the inaugural Merdeka Tennis Challenge at the Malawati Stadium in Shah Alam on November 18-25.

Actually, Rafael Nadal will probably play either against Marcos Baghdatis or Maria Sharapova (the two are expected to participate in the event, but are not confirmed yet). What is certain is that two big names Roger Federer and Pete Sampras will meet in one of the exhibition matches on November 22. (source: NST Online)

Maria Sharapova was criticized a lot lately since she withdrew from the Fed Cup on two occasions in 2007; actually the 20-year-old is yet to make a Fed Cup appearance for her native country.

Both times the highest-ranked Russian player pulled out because of injuries, but after the second withdrawal, which was at the last minute, Russian tennis officials accused her of putting her own interests ahead of her country.

"I'm telling you, just forget about all these promises," said Russia's chief tennis coach Vladimir Kamelzon. "Her closest advisers are Americans and they would never allow her to play for Russia," he added. Read more »

Click here to check out who are currently the most beautiful female athletes and vote for your favorites. At the moment, they are all in the first round, but then they can advance to so called “Sexy 16”, “Elite Eight”, “Fab Four”, “Women’s Final”, and in the end one of them will be named the “Hottest Athlete”.

Out of WTA players there are Maria Sharapova, Daniela Hantuchova, Serena Williams, Ana Ivanovic, and Maria Kirilenko.