Svetlana Kuznetsova qualified for the Sony Ericsson Championships for the fifth time in her career and joined Dinara Safina, Serena Williams, Caroline Wozniacki and Elena Dementieva in the elite field.

During this tennis season, the Russian won her second Grand Slam title at the French Open and the Premier-level tournament in Stuttgart, and in both finals she defeated world No.1 Dinara Safina.

Top 8 singles players of the 2009 season will compete at the Sony Ericsson Championships, which means that three more players can qualify for the singles competition. Of course, top 4 doubles team will also compete.

For the second year in a row the season-ending event will take place at the Khalifa International Tennis Complex in Doha, Qatar, from October 27 to November 1. (source: On the Baseline)

Top seed Dinara Safina, second seed Venus Williams and fifth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova all suffered upsets in the second round of the Toray Pan Pacific Open. The fact that so many of them got upset at the same time kind of makes their individual losses milder, and early losers Ana Ivanovic and Flavia Pennetta look better.

World No.1 and defending champion Dinara Safina fell to 18-year-old Taiwanese qualifier Chang Kai-Chen, ranked 132nd, 7-6(5) 4-6 7-5. Safina had an opportunity to close out the match in the third set, but double-faulted, dropped her serve, and went on to lose.

Venus Williams lost to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 7-6(6) 7-5, while Svetlana Kuznetsova, who just like Safina and Williams had a bye in the first round, lost 7-5 4-6 6-3 to Germany's Andrea Petkovic. (source: BBC, photo: Jean-Sebastien Marceau)

Melanie Oudin won’t have the pleasure of meeting yet another Russian at this US Open, as Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark will be her next opponent, who eliminated the last Russian in the draw, sixth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova.

Ninth seed Caroline Wozniacki reached her first Grand Slam quarterfinal by defeating Kuznetsova 2-6 7-6(5) 7-6(3). Wozniacki converted her third match point, having wasted one at 5-4 and one at 6-5 in the third set.

"I hit too many unforced errors and I couldn't control my emotions. And I wanted it so much, so it was pretty hard to control," world No.6 Kuznetsova said. "All credit to her. But you can't win against anybody with those errors. No chance."

The world No.8 Wozniacki was the highest-ranked player never to have been among the final eight at a Grand Slam. World No.18 Virginie Razzano is that player now. (source: Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, photo: Ralf Reinecke)

Top seed Dinara Safina was almost taken out in the first round of the US Open, while her fellow Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova, seeded sixth, advanced to the second round much more easily.

The world No.1 Safina double faulted to lose the first set tiebreak, having had four set points, to 167th-ranked Olivia Rogowska of Australia. Safina then hit back to win the second set, but again had to dig deep in the third set to eventually clinch a 6-7(5) 6-2 6-4 victory.

Sixth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova, the 2004 US Open champion, was broken early in her first-round match against Julia Goerges, but recovered to score a 6-3 6-2 victory.

Safina’s struggle in the first round has only confirmed how vulnerable even the top players are, showing the absolute openness of the women’s draw. (photo via Zygonyx)

Eighth seed Amelie Mauresmo upset top seed Svetlana Kuznetsova in the quarterfinals of the Pilot Pet Tennis presented by Schick 7-6(9) 2-6 6-3.

The former world No.1 Mauresmo saved five set points in the opening set, and won the tiebeak 11-9. The second set she lost easily, while in the third she reclaimed the momentum to advance to the semifinals.

Mauresmo’s next opponent will be Elena Vesnina, who defeated Gisela Dulko in the first round, seed No.9 Samantha Stosur in the second, and Anna Chakvetadze in the quarterfinals. (photo: Stephane Martinache)

Wildcard Kim Clijsters is still doing impressively well in her comeback after a two-year-long break and a child birth, scoring her third Top 20 victory in three matches she played since returning to competitive tennis at the Western and Southern Financial Group Women's Open. Third seed Venus Williams fell to No.14 seed Flavia Pennetta in the third round.

Clijsters started her third-round match with a 4-1 lead, and even though sixth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova leveled at 4-4, the Belgian won the set 6-4. We can safely say that Kuznetsova was saved by the challenge system in the second set. Clijsters was leading 3-0, and then 4-3, and just when we thought she broke Kuznetsova for 5-3, the Hawk-eye system said Kuznetsova's ball was in and in the end she leveled at 4-4 to eventually win the set. Still, Clijsters triumphed in the decider to defeat the sixth-ranked Russian, after victories over No.13 Marion Bartoli and No.20 Patty Schnyder.

No.14 seed Pennetta defeated third seed Venus Williams 7-6(2) 6-4 and extended her winning streak to 14 matches. The Italian won back-to-back titles in Palermo and Los Angeles, and has now reached the quarterfinals of Cincinnati.

Clijsters might face world No.1 Dinara Safina in the quarterfinals, while Pennetta, who is now 4-3 against Williams, will next play Daniela Hantuchova, the winner over seventh seed Vera Zvonareva in the third round.

Additional info: The Sony Ericsson WTA Tour made this nice video clip dedicated to Kim Clijsters’ comeback.

(photo via Life.com)

The 3rd August issue of Russian magazine called PROsport is featuring beautiful pictures of Svetlana Kuznetsova. In my opinion, Kuznetsova has never looked better.

The same magazine included equally wonderful photos of Vera Zvonareva last year. (via: Tennis Info Blog)

World number five Svetlana Kuznetsova has pulled out of the August 3-9 LA Women’s Tennis Championships presented by Herbalife due to a foot injury.

Kuznetsova hasn't played WTA tournaments since losing in the third round of Wimbledon. In addition, she missed the LA event last year as well.

The LA Women’s Tennis Championships has attracted 10 of the world's leading 15 players, including world number one and defending champion Dinara Safina. (photo: Jacob)

Beauty of a player is among the things taken into consideration when deciding on the court selection at Wimbledon and it has been confirmed by All England Club spokesperson Johnny Perkins.

"Good looks are a factor," said Perkins, and added that court selection is "a great big mixture of where the players are in the draw, who they're playing, what their ranking is".

Svetlana Kuznetsova was among those bewildered by the situation:

It's weird. If you look at the schedule, it's not only about me. It's about Dinara on Court No 2, Venus (Williams) on Court No 1 and the girls who are not very highly seeded they play on Centre. I respect them. They're great players for sure. But this is what's weird for me; what's their strategy, what's their plan of making the schedule?

Kuzzy, I’m illustrating this article with your photo!

Despite the frustrations of the supposedly less-pretty top players, BBC is benefiting from Wimbledon’s scheduling policy.

A BBC source said:

No one has heard of many of the women now, so if they are pretty it definitely gives them an edge. Our preference would always be a Brit or a babe as this always delivers high viewing figures.

(source Daily Mail via Down the Line, photo courtesy of Life)

Fifth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova did not let sixth seed Jelena Jankovic hold the title of the biggest upset in the first week of Wimbledon for long, as she quickly followed her out by losing to Sabine Lisicki 6-2 7-5.

The world No.41 Lisicki won the first set in 37 minutes and established a 5-2 lead in the second. Kuznetsova then fought back and even served at 5-6, 40-love for the tiebreak, but Lisicki broke Kuznetsova and finished the match on her fifth match point.

Unseeded Lisicki reached the fourth round of a Grand Slam for the first time by beating Kuznetsova, who has today turned 24.

In the fourth round Lisicki will play ninth seed Caroline Wozniacki, who easily defeated 20th-seeded Spaniard Anabel Medina Garrigues 6-2 6-2. (photo courtesy of our reader Jacob)