Top seed Svetlana Kuznetsova was upset by Carla Suarez Navarro 6-4 4-6 6-1, who earned her second Top 10 win, having famously beaten then-No.6 Venus Williams at last year's Australian Open. Kuznetsova came back from a set and a break down to force the third set, but lost it very quickly and became the first No.1 seed in eight years to lose her first match at Indian Wells, since 2002 when Kim Clijsters fell to now-retired Nathalie Dechy.

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)

The long-awaited Billie Jean King Cup in the BNP Paribas Showdown took place on Monday night in New York and the winner is seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams.

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)

The first day of the Fed Cup meeting between Russia and Serbia ended with both teams winning one match. Somewhat surprisingly, especially after the talks about her injury, Jelena Jankovic upset Svetlana Kuznetsova on Day 2, which gave Serbia a 2-1 lead on home soil. Congratulations to Jankovic for winning both her singles matches!

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)

I was supposed to go to Fed Cup tie between Serbia and Russia in Belgrade, but the weather conditions are so bad that there was no way I could travel 86 km. Anyway, I watched it on TV from my cozy room and I could see Ana Ivanovic getting crushed by Svetlana Kuznetsova, and 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)

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.