Russian Maria Sharapova Nadia Petrova has applied for US citizenship. The 29-year-old winner of 10 WTA singles titles has a home in Miami and is delighted by the weather and lifestyle in South Florida.

Everything is here just for the people, you know. I just feel very comfortable here, relaxed atmosphere, and I don't have to stress. I don't have that crazy traffic like it is in Russia. I don't have those cold winters.

It remains somewhat intriguing how Maria Sharapova is holding on to her Russian citizenship so tightly, although she is the most Americanized Russian player, having lived in the US since the age of seven. In an interview at Indian Wells Sharapova was asked whether she feels part American in some way, and her answer was pretty vague:

I've certainly adopted in a way the culture and the life.

You can watch Sharapova's full interview here. (source: Tennis.com, photo: Robertus Pudyanto)

Action began at the season-ending tournament of Bali, and unlike at the let's call it Premier season-ending tournament of Istanbul, the Bali eight-women draw doesn't have the round-robin format preceding the semifinals, but rather regular quarterfinals, semifinals and the title match. Therefore, after the first day of action we already have one semifinal pair: Ana Ivanovic and Nadia Petrova.

Ivanovic served up a 6-3 6-3 victory over Roberta Vinci, the player with whom she made cookies for charity as a pre-tournament activity to raise funds for UNICEF's education projects in Asia-Pacific. In her seventh career match with Vinci, defending champion Ivanovic was aggressive and played well. Read more »

Now that the WTA Championships in Istanbul have come to a close, let's shift our attention to the Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions which is about to start on November 3 in Bali. The Tour actually announced the draw of the really-season-ending tournament on the day the much more important season-ending tournament commenced (how awkward is that?), but I decided to postpone the Bali talk until Istanbul finishes.

You know that in order to qualify for the event in exotic Bali you have to win an International-level WTA tournament in the ongoing season and not qualify for the WTA Championships in Istanbul which features the best eight singles players of the year. To make things even more complicated, Marion Bartoli did not qualify for Istanbul and was therefore eligible to play Bali, but as the first alternate in Istanbul she did eventually play the event because of Maria Sharapova's withdrawal. Nevertheless, Bartoli is still qualified to play Bali. Pretty messed up. But hey, let's see who's in. Read more »

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 »

Nadia Petrova started both sets against Ana Ivanovic with a deficit, but the early advantage wasn't enough for the Serb to end up victorious and the Russian won 6-3 7-6(4) at the Western & Southern Open.

The 15th-seeded Ivanovic had a comfortable 6-0 6-2 victory over qualifier Alexa Glatch in the first round, and against Petrova in the second round Ivanovic started the match by breaking her opponent (she quickly lost that advantage, though, when Petrova broke back in the following game) and in the second set Ivanovic established an initial 3-0 lead. However, no advantage was enough to counterbalance Ivanovic's numerous errors, including eleven double faults.

Petrova's next opponent will be Christina McHale, who made the biggest news of the tournament by defeating world No.1 Caroline Wozniacki. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)