Dear readers,

Thanks to our reader John Bolan who has collected a lot of players’ autographs at tournaments and was kind enough to send some of them to me, we now have autographed pictures of world No.14 Agnieszka Radwanska and world No.10 Victoria Azarenka and of course, as always, we will give them to you. Plus, there’s a bonus autograph of Sabine Lisicki from last year’s LA Championships.

To enter the contest you should make the right prediction as to who will be the singles winner of the Sony Ericsson Championships to be held in Doha starting October 26. Therefore, below in the comments section of this contest announcement, name the player you think will win the singles title.

Two entrants who provide the correct answer will win the signed photos, and one of them (the one that gets chosen second) will get the extra Sabine Lisicki autograph. The selection will be carried out randomly.

Obviously, winners will be announced after the Sony Ericsson Championships, while you should submit your answer by the time the Sony Ericsson Championships start (October 26), which is, according to the countdown on their website, in three days and ten hours at the moment I'm publishing this.

When leaving comment please provide the email address you check regularly, as I will contact you via that email if you win.

Good luck and thanks for participating!

It is Victoria Azarenka who has benefited from Serena Williams' withdrawal from the Sony Ericsson Championships, taking the last eighth berth in the singles draw.

Even though Li Na is currently ranked higher in the Race to the Sony Ericsson Championships, with five points more she is one spot ahead of Azarenka, but Li lost in the first round of this week’s Kremlin Cup while Azarenka moved into the second round with a victory 6-4 2-6 6-1 over Andrea Petkovic. Li is now the first substitute.

It will be the Belorussian’s second straight appearance in Doha. Last year she lost in the round-robin stage – she defeated Jelena Jankovic, but lost to Caroline Wozniacki and Agnieszka Radwanska. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)

Two seeds didn't go past the second round of the China Open in Tuesday's matches, and those were Maria Sharapova and Victoria Azarenka.

The twelfth-seeded Sharapova lost to fellow Russian Elena Vesnina 7-6(3) 6-2. After the match Sharapova gave a lot of credit to Vesnina's game, but also pointed out how she was not able to train properly after the US Open (where she lost in the round of 16 to Caroline Wozniacki) and is still trying to regroup. Following the US Open, Sharapova also played in Tokyo, but lost in the first round already, to home favorite Kimiko Date Krumm.

The eighth-seeded Azarenka retired from her second round match with a left thigh strain, handing Timea Bacsinszky a 4-6 3-2 retirement victory.

All the other seeded players that played today advanced to the third round of the China Open, including No.2 seed Vera Zvonareva, No.5 Francesca Schiavone, No.7 Elena Dementieva, No.9 Li Na and No.15 Shahar Peer. Ana Ivanovic is also through – she managed to stay calm when 4-1 down in the second set against Olga Govortsova and win 6-0 7-5. (source: Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, photo: © Neal Trousdale)

Ana Ivanovic needed just 56 minutes to beat seed No.21 Zheng Jie and advance to the third round of the US Open.

The world No.40 Ivanovic is building on the momentum started in Cincinnati recently, which was abruptly interrupted by a left foot injury. Luckily, Ivanovic is not showing signs of it and she displayed impressive form to avenge the 2008 Wimbledon defeat to Zheng, who then became the third-lowest ranked player to beat a reigning world No.1.

Tenth seed Victoria Azarenka could not bear the hot weather in New York and 34 minutes into her second round match against Gisela Dulko, while trailing 5-1, Azarenka collapsed and had to be taken off the court in a wheelchair and was later transported to the hospital. Also, it didn’t help that Azarenka was wearing an all-black dress in the sun (the dress  Serena would have worn hadn’t she withdrawn).

Dulko, who is now through to the third round, commented on the weather conditions: "It's really hot, really humid. You sweat so much, sometimes it's impossible to hold the racquet."

Update: It has been revealed that heat was not the main reason for the accident, but Azarenka's fall in the gym that happened before the match.

Here's Azarenka's statement:

I was warming up in the gym prior to my match against Gisela Dulko when I fell while running a sprint. I fell forward and hit my arm and head. I was checked by the medical team before I went on court and they were courtside for monitoring. I felt worse as the match went on, having a headache and feeling dizzy. I also started having trouble seeing and felt weak before I fell.

(photo: © Neal Trousdale)

Rich from Down the Line has been busy visiting the pre-US Open events in New York, and the latest one he attended was the Taste of Tennis sponsored by BNP Paribas, where tennis stars joined a number of the world's top chefs for great food, a few cooking lessons and lots of partying all to benefit the New York Junior Tennis League.

Women’s tennis players spotted at the event were Victoria Azarenka, Christina McHale, Sorana Cirstea, Sabine Lisicki, Vera Zvonareva and Kim Clijsters. Rich interviewed most of them about tennis and food and we’re expecting him to share the video soon.

Update: As promised, here are Rich's interviews. Really professional, he did a great job.