The Brisbane tournament, which will be upgraded from International to Premier status next season, will host Serena Williams for the first time in 2012.

Well, I never played in Brisbane and I've never been to Brisbane (but I've) heard great things about it. It's brand new (for me) so all that is going to be really exciting and it will help me with my seeding going into the Australian Open too, so that would be good.

Other confirmed stars:

Samantha Stosur – reigning US Open champion who would like to bring her A-game to her home tournaments of Brisbane and Australian Open

Maria Sharapova – just like Serena, first-time Brisbane participant

Kim Clijsters – 2010 champion who will play her first tournament since August 2011

Ana Ivanovic – played the quarterfinals in 2009 and semifinals in 2010

Additional info: Talking about the Australian part of the season, let’s just remind you that Serena is expected to play mixed doubles with Andy Roddick at the Australian Open. (source: ESPN, photo by our reader Jacob)

It may be just for a second, but if you look closely you will see a smiling Serena Williams in the latest video of Enrique Iglesias for the song "I Like How It Feels" .

Serena appears around 3:25 in the video.

Serena still hasn’t played after her infamous incident in the US Open final. She was scheduled to arrive in Beijing for the China Open, but was left out of the draw, for which the organizers did not give the reason. (via DeShawn Besabella)

While the talks of Serena Williams’ outrage in the US Open final are still very much alive, and while a portion of the public believes her behavior is setting a bad example for the young tennis lovers, the American champion is appointed UNICEF's international Goodwill Ambassador especially dedicated to helping children.

UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake welcomed Serena to the family by saying: "Serena Williams isn't just a world tennis champion, she is a champion for children".

The 13-time Grand Slam singles titlist will use her popularity to support UNICEF's mission to provide good education for vulnerable children through the Schools for Africa program and the upcoming Schools for Asia initiatives.

Williams' first work with UNICEF was in Ghana in 2006. Also, along with the Hewlett Packard company, Serena opened a school in Matooni, Kenya in 2008. (photo via WTA Tour)

Thanks to our reader, Tennis Fan, I was referred to the hindrance rule of the WTA's Rulebook and it suggests that chair umpire Eva Asderaki possibly made a wrong decision in the US Open final when she handed the point to Samantha Stosur because Serena Williams shouted "Come on" before the point was completely finished. The reasoning in favor of Williams is that she did not shout in order to distract her opponent, her reaction was unintentional.

I believe the outcome of the match would be the same anyway, and Williams was attacked by tennis community and fined $2000 because of her aggressive reaction to the disputable call (I still believe everyone should control their temper, even when faced with injustice), but let's see what the official rule for such a situations says:

26. HINDRANCE

If a player is hindered in playing the point by a deliberate act of the opponent(s), the player shall win the point. However, the point shall be replayed if a player is hindered in playing the point by either an unintentional act of the opponent(s), or something outside the player’s own control (not including a permanent fixture).

Let's put Serena's behavior aside, what to you think of Eva Asderaki's call? Was her decision right? Did Serena shout intentionally? Read more »

Serena Williams has had more than awe-inspiring comeback and she reached the US Open final with all straight-set victories, many of which were very decisive, and she entered the championships match as a strong favorite against Samantha Stosur, but all that admiration Williams' tennis deserves quickly vanished when she showed utter lack of control and shameful impoliteness in the beginning of the second set.

Stosur had spent a lot of time on the court en route to the final and had never won a Grand Slam title and was therefore an underdog, however, the Australian had a diverse game accompanied by good use of Williams' missed first serves and she won the first set 6-2. In the first game of the second set, down 40-30 on her serve, Williams seemed to have saved the break point with a forehand winner, but her loud "Come on" before the ball reached Stosur was perceived as a shout in the middle of a point, and chair umpire Eva Asderaki handed Stosur the point and hence the game. It triggered such an anger in Williams, that she started yelling disgraceful things at the Greek umpire. Here's the video:

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Both Samantha Stosur and Serena Williams reached the 2011 US Open final in an amazing way – Stosur played the longest US Open women's singles match in the third round against Nadia Petrova, and followed it with a match against Maria Kirilenko which featured the longest women's tiebreak at any major, then played three sets against suprise semifinalist Angelique Kerber, while her final obstacle was Serena Williams, who hadn't dropped a set at the tournament and who crushed world No.1 Caroline Wozniacki in the semis.

The favorite was Serena Williams because of all her solid wins in the lead-up to the tournament and at the tournament and because she's the owner of 13 Grand Slam titles in singles, including three US Open. However, Stosur was focused, put nerves aside, and played a smart all-round game, while Williams overshadowed her tennis with a verbal attack at chair umpire Eva Asderaki which looked really inappropriate and showed Williams' lack of class.

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Caroline Wozniacki can remind us of her amazing number of titles and matches won, but that will do little to silence the ever-more-annoying yet understandable criticism of her occupying the number one ranking. In her first meeting with Serena Williams since she overtook the top ranking from the American, Wozniacki had a perfect opportunity to show that her defensive game works against everyone, but that was far from the truth. Instead, the Dane was humbled by Serena's intimidating first serve and power tennis, and will finish yet another season without a Grand Slam title.

Not long ago Serena was hospitalized for blood clots in her lungs and this US Open is only her sixth tournament after almost a year-long absence with injuries and health problems, but the 13-time Grand Slam champions needs no warmup – of those six tournaments she won two Premier-level titles and is now in the final of the US Open without dropping a set on the way. Her 11 aces in the semifinal, and 34 winners to Wozniacki's five, could only leave the Dane awe-struck.

Wozniacki is known for being strong and not letting the critics take away her pleasure in enjoying the top ranking and great win-loss record, and unfortunately, she will still need lots of good verbal defense after being blown away by Serena 6-2 6-4 in the US Open semifinals.

Serena's last obstacle to her fourth US Open trophy will be Samantha Stosur, who defeated surprise semifinalist Angelique Kerber 6-3 2-6 6-2. The 92-ranked Kerber started nervously but didn't let the semifinal finish straightforward, taking the second set from Stosur before permitting the Australian to take a 5-0 lead in the third set. The world No.10 Stosur, who had a rollercoaster ride to reach the semis, said that she realized her dream by reaching the final of the US Open, after twenty years of tennis career.

Stosur played the final of Roland Garros 2010 and lost it to Francesca Schiavone. Williams leads Stosur 4-2 in career meetings, and her most recent victory was this year in Toronto final. They met later at Cincinnati, but Stosur advanced with a walkover. (photos: © Neal Trousdale)

After two days of rain troubled the US Open organizers and fans, women's quarterfinals finally took place and we have our final four: Serena Williams, Caroline Wozniacki, Angelique Kerber and Samantha Stosur. Semifinals will be played on Saturday.

Serena Williams (28) vs. Caroline Wozniacki (1)

This semifinal will be especially interesting because it is an encounter of a supposed deserved No.1 and real No.1. Wozniacki has to win this one if she wants to prove all the doubters in her game wrong, this is a perfect opportunity to do so. Since Wozniacki overtook the top position in the rankings from Serena, the two haven't clashed, but in their last and only two meetings in 2009, Williams won.

Serena is yet to lose a set at the tournament. The quarterfinal with Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova featured six breaks of serve in the beginning before Serena got on track and in the 12th game broke the Russian to take the first set. In the second set Williams lost just three points on her serve and ended the match with her sixth ace. Final score: 7-5 6-1.

Wozniacki advanced with a 6-1 7-6(5) win over Andrea Petkovic. Wozniacki let a 5-3 lead in the second set slip and ended up playing a tiebreak, in which Petkovic made five unforced errors and spoiled the comeback.

Samantha Stosur (9) vs. Angelique Kerber

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Dear readers, Florian Meier from OnlineTennisInstruction.com is back to preview the US Open quarterfinals. One of his and actually the world's biggest favorites Maria Sharapova was eliminated early, but Serena Williams is still doing strong. Let's see what Florian's predictions look like now.

US Open quarterfinals preview: Serena still the tournament favorite

We are now at the quarterfinals stage of the tournament and Serena looks almost unbeatable to me at this point (join our poll to vote who has the best chance of shaking Serena's dominance this US Open). Let’s have a closer look at the upcoming quarterfinal match-ups.

CAROLINE WOZNIACKI versus ANDREA PETKOVIC

Wozniacki has had a really good draw so far in this tournament and to me she was not all that convincing in her victory against Svetlana Kuznetsova. I am not sure how strong her form actually is. She was down 4-1 in the second set against Kuznetsova who is also not in her best form at the moment.

Andrea Petkovic looked convincing in her last two matches but she has not faced any really strong players so far in this tournament. Petkovic is also playing with an injured knee but it seems to be holding up fine so far in the tournament. Wozniacki and Petkovic are 1-1 in their career matches. Petkovic won this year on a hard court in Miami and Wozniacki won on an indoor clay court in Stuttgart.
In order to beat Wozniacki you have to be able to get by her with some firepower and be patient enough to work the point a few times. I believe Petkovic has these capabilities. Andrea is fired up like I have never seen her before and I think she is also mentally ready to beat someone like Wozniacki in a Grand Slam quarterfinal.

Assuming that Petkovic’s knee holds up, I pick her as my favorite in a very close match.

Read more »

Serena Williams is storming through the US Open draw and her confidence, stability and power make me wonder if there is any player on the Tour that could beat this Williams. Therefore, instead of doing a regular poll on who your favorites for the US Open title are, I am asking you whether you think Serena has a major threat en route to the title?

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In brackets there is Serena's head-to-head record against players and as you can see she's leading each one of them. In her first tournament after a year-long absence, Eastbourne, Serena lost to Vera Zvonareva 3-6 7-6(5) 7-5 and in August she played Samantha Stosur, in the Toronto final, and won 6-4 6-2, one of her two Premier titles in five tournaments she played since her comeback in June.

In the quarterfinals of the 2011 US Open Williams plays Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who eliminated Jelena Jankovic and Francesca Schiavone from the tournament. Williams' possible semifinal opponent is world No.1 Caroline Wozniacki. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)