Ana Ivanovic, seeded 24th this year, was defeated 6-2 6-4 by world No.63 Anastasija Sevastova in the second round, and Ivanovic won't be even a Top 50 player any more. The Serb hired a new coach, the former one of tennis legend Steffi Graf, but the light at the end of the tunnel is still nowhere to be seen.

Two-time Indian Wells champion Kim Clijsters defeated Barbora Zahlavova Strycova 6-2 6-1, while seed No.21 Daniela Hantuchova, another former champion in this year’s draw, suffered a 6-3 7-5 upset by Roberta Vinci. (photo: Tidalist)

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Billie Jean King Cup in the BNP Paribas Showdown

Firstly, the one-set, no-ad semifinals were played at the Madison Square Garden. Kim Cijsters defeated Serena Williams’ replacement Ana Ivanovic 7-6 (7-2), while Venus Williams took care of Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-4. I would like to point out a non-promising statement of Ana Ivanovic, who has a new coach: "It was a tough match. I was actually very nervous, but it makes it an important match. I just wanted to do so well." I can't believe we are listening to the same old story.

The final between Venus Williams and Kim Clijsters followed. Williams, who lost in the finals to her sister Serena last year, defeated Clijsters 6-4 3-6 7-5 in front of the crowd of 11,702 and earned $400,000 of the astonishing $1.2 million prize money. Good on you, Venus, for earning $787,000 in prize money in the past two weeks and one day ($350,000 for Dubai victory, $37,000 for winning Acapulco, and now these latest $400,000).

Billie Jean King herself did not attend the event because she is recovering from a recent double-knee replacement. (source: ESPN)

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So, Jankovic defeated Kuznetsova 6-3 4-6 6-3, but her countrywoman Ana Ivanovic couldn’t finish off the tie and lost to Alisa Kleybanova 6-2 6-3 in the following match. Ivanovic’s free fall ended a long time ago, but the sad thing is that she is still lying wounded on the ground.

With the result tied at 2-2, the decisive doubles match was played, and as Jankovic and Ivanovic are not used to playing doubles, they were knocked out by Kuznetsova and Kleybanova 6-1 6-4.

Four-time Fed Cup champions Russia thus entered the Fed Cup semifinals which will be played on 24-25 April. Their opponent will be the US, who won 4-1 in France, without the Williams sisters. (photo via Blic)

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Jelena Jankovic recovering from a set and 4-1 down to beat Alisa Kleybanova

World No.4 Kuznetsova defeated Ivanovic 6-1 6-4 in the first match of the day. After blowing the Serb in the first set, Kuznetsova rallied from 4-2 down in the second to seal the first win for Russia. Once ranked No.1 now No.23 Ivanovic made 50 unforced errors and six double faults.

The second match of the day looked to be heading in the direction of Russia’s victory as well, but world No.8 Jankovic overturned the result while trailing 4-6 1-4 and won 11 games in a row to defeat 31st-ranked Kleybanova 4-6 6-4 6-0.

As you can see, after the first day of the Serbia vs. Russia Fed Cup quarterfinal the countries are tied at 1-1. Reverse singles and doubles will be played tomorrow, on Sunday. (photos via Blic)

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Serena Williams will face Kim Clijsters and Svetlana Kuznetsova will play Venus Williams in the semifinals of the BNP Paribas Showdown for the Billie Jean King Cup, exhibition event to take place March 1 at Madison Square Garden in New York.

The semifinal pairs were determined according to the 2009 year-end rankings. The highest-ranked player was paired with the lowest ranked, and the remaining two are to face each other.

The exhibition features no ad scoring format, and each participant will compete in a one-set semifinal with the winners advancing to a best of three-set final.

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Russia and Serbia will face each other in this weekend's Fed Cup first-round tie played in Belgrade, Serbia.

The latest news is that Russia’s team will be stronger than previously planned, as their highest ranked player world No.4 Svetlana Kuznetsova changed her mind and joined world No.31 Alisa Kleybanova, No.38 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and No.40 Vera Dushevina in the team.

However, Serbia’s team is likely to be weaker than expected because of Jelena Jankovic’s health problems. It should have consisted of former world No.1s Jelena Jankovic and Ana Ivanovic, along with Ana Jovanovic and Bojana Jovanovski, but now we will see what will happen.

Here’s what Jankovic told her official website:

No, I haven't come to Belgrade yet, and I'm still in Florida, where I'm fighting with back injury received in Melbourne. I didn't want to speak in public about the problems that struck me in Australia, about the cold and the back injury that occurred during a practice while trying to change the way I served, because many would describe it to as a justification for the lost match […] Unfortunately, the situation got complicated, so I'm still in Florida, sad and in great uncertainty whether I would start the journey to my home town.

Serbia is making its World Group debut. Russia won the Fed Cup four times between 2004 and 2008 and Kuznetsova was part of three winning Russian teams. (photo by our reader Elisa)

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Poor Samantha Stosur, she had to go to Bali instead of Hawaii.

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Serena Williams, Venus Williams, Kim Clijsters and Svetlana Kuznetsova will play the 2010 BNP Paribas Showdown for the Billie Jean King Cup.

The $1.2 million tennis exhibition will take place on March 1, 2010 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. There will be two one-set semifinals, followed by a best-of-three-set final.

Last year's participants at the event were the Williams sisters and Serbs Ana Ivanovic and Jelena Jankovic. Serena was the winner.

Tickets will go on sale December 2, 2009 and range from $25 to $1000. (source: Simply Serena Williams)

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The Russian is the fifth Top 10 player to join the Sydney field after No.1 Serena Williams, No.5 and defending champion Elena Dementieva, No.4 Caroline Wozniacki and No.7 Victoria Azarenka.

It will be Kuznetsova’s fifth straight participation at the event. In 2008 she was runner-up to then world No.1 Justine Henin. (source: Medibank International Sydney, photo by our reader Jacob)

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Jelena Jankovic

Prior to the encounter with Wozniacki, Jankovic had spent just 95 minutes on court, while the Dane spent five hours and 48 minutes. Jankovic beat Wozniacki 6-2 6-2. However, Wozniacki could  advance to the semifinals too, if Victoria Azarenka loses to Agnieszka Radwanska in the match which is currently in progress.

In the other match of the day, Svetlana Kuznetsova beat fellow Russian Elena Dementieva 6-3 6-2, and has thus sent Venus Williams into the semifinals.

The third secured semifinalist is Serena Williams, who has earned a perfect 3-0 result at this year’s Championships.

To sum up: Maroon Group semifinalists are Venus and Serena Williams and White Group semifinalists are Jelena Jankovic and Caroline Wozniacki/Victoria Azarenka. (photo: Ralf Reinecke)

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