Jelena Jankovic’s terrible 2009 season is rapidly going even more downwards. After losing her opening match at the previous tournament, the BNP Paribas Open, Jankovic succumbed to Gisela Dulko in her opening match at the Sony Ericsson Open. Venus and Serena Williams, on the other hand, continued to do well, and both advanced to the third round in straight sets.

We have to mention that Dulko didn’t defeat the third-seeded Jankovic easily. Jankovic led 4-2 before losing the first set, and then in the second led 5-2 with two set points in that game and another at 5-3, and also led 5-2 in the tiebreak. The last year’s runner-up eventually lost 6-4 7-6(5).

Five-time Sony Ericsson Open champion Serena Williams, the No.1 seed, defeated American wildcard Alexa Glatch 6-2 6-3, while fifth-seeded Venus Williams was down a break in both sets against Shahar Peer, but won 6-3 6-3. (source: Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, photo: Ralf Reinecke)

Venus Williams and Andy Murray played a game of traffic tennis on Ocean Drive prior to the Sony Ericsson Open which starts this week in Miami, Florida.

So far we’ve seen tennis matches on a desert island, on water court, and in many other strange places (the two came to my mind first) and I was wondering what would be next. Read more »

You probably already know that Serena and Venus Williams don’t want to play at Indian Wells ever again, because they detest the tournament claiming they were booed and suffered racial abuse there in 2001.

The big problem has emerged this year, however: the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells is now a premier event and any player who declines to play one of the four premier events without a legitimate medical excuse – which the top 10 players are required to play – would be suspended for the next two premier events. So everyone was wondering how the problem with the Williams sisters would be resolved.

World No.1 Serena Williams and world No.5 Venus Williams will not play tennis at the event, but will perform promotional activities for the tournament, as new stipulations were put into place that any player declining to play an event for personal reasons would be allowed to do so under the conditions mentioned.

Therefore, the Williams sisters will avoid suspension by performing some activities, which will be determined by the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour in due course. (source: Tennis Head, photos via Tennis Channel)

World No.1 Serena Williams defeated older sister Venus 6-4 6-3 to win the $1.2 million BNP Paribas Showdown for the Billie Jean King Cup, a one-night exhibition event held at Madison Square Garden.

The Williams sisters pleased the home crowd of 12,026 by reaching the final. Firstly, world No.5 Venus Williams advanced with a 6-4 victory over third-ranked Jelena Jankovic in the four-women show, and later Serena Williams shook off an early challenge from seventh-ranked Ana Ivanovic and won 6-3 in the second semifinal.

Winning the tournament, Serena took home $400,000, Venus settled for $300,000, while the Serbs got $250,000 each.

Venus Williams followed up last week's win in Dubai with a 6-1 6-2 defeat of Flavia Pennetta in the final of Abierto Mexicano TELCEL presentado por HSBC.

Williams has won four of her last five tournaments and 20 of her last 21 matches. She won titles late in 2008 at Zurich and the Sony Ericsson Championships, plus Dubai and now Acapulco this year.  A second round loss to Carla Suarez Navarro at the Australian Open is that one loss Williams had.

Williams, the top seed, was serving amazing during the final. She lost just 13 points in her eight service games, five of those coming from double faults. Williams was great on the return too, breaking Pennetta four times, and finishing the final in only an hour and two minutes.

"What happened to me? Venus Williams is what happened to me. The No.5 player in the world is what happened to me!" joked the second-seeded Italian, who was playing her sixth straight Acapulco final. "She was just playing so strong, serving so well, it was hard to fight against her power. I didn’t feel I played badly, she just overpowered me." (source: Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, photo via Yahoo)

Sixth seed Venus Williams won her 40th career Sony Ericsson WTA Tour singles title with a 6-4 6-2 win over unseeded Virginie Razzano in the final of the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships.

Dating back to the 2007 season, Williams has won seven of her last eight finals appearances, and that sole final she lost was to Razzano at the 2007 Japan Open. Razzano then defeated Williams in three sets, by saving as much as three match points in the second set tiebreak. Today’s Williams’ victory could therefore be seen as a nice revenge.

Venus Williams, currently ranked 6th, will move back to the world’s Top 5, for the first time since August 2003.

Despite the loss, the world No.58 Razzano can be more than satisfied with her success at the tournament, since she experienced the best week of her career. Her victory over world No.2 Dinara Safina was her first victory over a Top 5 player; and then a few days later came a win over world No.5 Vera Zvonareva, which was the longest match of the tournament.

"I have to congratulate Virginie on such a great week – she beat so many Top 10 players and just played so well today. She really had a better week than I did," Williams said.

By reaching the finals Razzano is projected to move into the Top 40. (photo via Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships)

Sixth seed Venus Williams advanced to the final of the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships with a three-set victory over sister Serena. Venus beat Serena 6-1 2-6 7-6 after winning a third set tiebreak 7-3.

The world No.1 and top seed Serena Williams was the first player to take a set off Venus Williams this year in Dubai. Winning the 19th meeting with her sister, Venus now leads their all-time series 10-9.

By reaching the semifinals, Venus Williams is projected to move into the Top 5 for the first time since the week of August 25, 2003.

In the title match of the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships, Venus will play a surprise finalist Virginie Razzano, who advanced by defeating Kaia Kanepi in the semifinals. Interestingly, the last time Razzano played Venus Williams, she saved three match points and won. (photo via Sony Ericsson WTA Tour)

Virginie Razzano, Kaia Kanepi, Venus Williams and Serena Williams reached the semifinals of the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships on Thursday.

France’s Virginie Razzano, who upset world No.2 Dinara Safina in the second round, defeated fifth seeded Russian Vera Zvonareva 7-6(7) 7-5 to advance to the final four where she’ll face Estonian Kaia Kanepi.

Seed No.16 Kanepi is expected to become the first Estonian to break into the world's top 20 after following up her victory over Jelena Jankovic by ending qualifier Elena Vesnina’s run in Dubai, defeating her 6-3 7-5.

Sixth seed Venus Williams went past seed No.4 Elena Dementieva 6-3 6-3, while Venus’ younger sister Serena, ranked 1st in the world, beat Ana Ivanovic 6-4 6-4 in the last quarterfinal. Ivanovic leveled at 2-2 after being two games down in the first set, and was even leading 3-0 in the second, but Serena bettered the Serb to set up a semifinal with sister Venus. (photos: Stephane Martinache, Arijit Basak, danlamouette, Ralf Reinecke)