Former world number one Justine Henin, playing only her second tournament since coming back to the WTA Tour and her first Grand Slam since the 2008 Australian Open, beat 19th seed Nadia Petrova to reach the semifinals at the Melbourne Park. The Belgian’s opponent in the last four will be second-time Grand Slam semifinalist China’s Zheng Jie, one of the most responsible players for putting China on a tennis map.

The seven-time Grand Slam champion Henin, a wildcard in Melbourne, had to dig deep to beat Nadia Petrova 7-6(3) 7-5. Both players struggled to hold serve, but it was Petrova who made 41 unforced error to Henin’s 26. Nevertheless, Petrova’s 2010 Australian Open run will be remembered, as she took out third seed Svetlana Kuznetsova and 15th seed Kim Clijsters out of the tournament.

Unseeded Zheng Jie advanced by stopping Russia’s Maria Kirilenko 6-1 6-3 in the quarterfinals. Kirilenko had an astounding tournament, but in the match against Zheng she was always a step behind, and the fact that her thigh was heavily strapped didn’t help either. We should note that Kirilenko played singles, doubles and mixed doubles during the tournament, and she’s still alive in the doubles competition, partnered with Agnieszka Radwanska.

The remaining semifinalists will be known after the Serena Williams vs. Victoria Azarenka and Venus Williams vs. Li Na matches are finished. (photos via Australian Open)

World No.35 Zheng Jie was the first player to reach the 2010 Australian Open quarterfinals after a 7-6(5) 6-4 upset of seed No.31 Alona Bondarenko.

Zheng has now become the first Chinese ever to reach the quarterfinals of the Australian Open, while two years ago at Wimbledon she became the first player from her country to reach semifinals of a Grand Slam event.

"I feel tennis is going up very quickly in China," said Zheng who played a large role in raising the popularity of the sport in her country. "We have a good tournament, the China Open, and you can see lots of the newspapers talking about tennis much more now. We have more top players now too."

Zheng will face Russian Maria Kirilenko in the quarterfinals. (photo via Australian Open)

Elena Dementieva, Maria Kirilenko, Sania Mirza and Zheng Jie took part in an annual exhibition tournament the Glam Slam – Showdown of Champions in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Our friend HCFoo attended the meet-the-fans session held on Friday and followed the rest of the event at home.

Dementieva and Kirilenko defeated Mirza and Zheng 3-0. The Russians won in doubles on Saturday 6-4 5-7 10-8. Then on Sunday, Kirilenko beat Zheng 6-3 4-6 6-4, and Dementieva completed Russian domination by downing Mirza 6-4 7-6 (7-0).

HCFoo's overall impression is that the Glam Slam – Showdown of Champions wasn't actually glamorous and that the organization should have been much better. In addition, the attendance was bad and there was lack of publicity. Still, the matches were worth watching, as the players took them seriously and fought hard.

Elena Dementieva left a lovely impression on HCFoo:

I've never met a player so friendly… she would look deep in your eyes, greet you and give you a big smile! *faint*

Kuala Lumpur, Malasya, will welcome Russians Elena Dementieva and Maria Kirilenko, Indian Sania Mirza and Chinese Zheng Jie at the Showdown of Champions 2009, an exhibition event set to take place December 18-19.

The exhibition is a nice intro to the Malasya Classic, a new International-level tournament added to the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour calendar to be hosted by Kuala Lumpur in February 2010. (source: HCFoo's Tennis Blog, photos: chascow, Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, Ralf Reinecke)

China's Zheng Jie recorded one of the biggest wins of her career by beating world No.1 Dinara Safina 7-5 4-6 6-4 at the $700,000 2009 LA Women’s Tennis Championships presented by Herbalife.

The 23nd-ranked Zheng had beaten a world No.1 before – Ana Ivanovic in the third round of last year's Wimbledon – but had never beaten Safina.

"She’s a good player and it’s tough to play her," said Safina after the third-round defeat. "In this match I didn’t do the right things. I should have played better. Today, she took her chances and beat me."

Zheng, the 14th seed, will next face Australian 13th seed Samantha Stosur, who dominated current world No.11 Ana Ivanovic 6-3 6-2 in the third round. Stosur has scored her sixth win over a Top 15 opponent this year. Also, she has defeated former top-ranked players in consecutive weeks, having beaten Serena Williams in the Stanford quarterfinals.

World No.61 Maria Sharapova, after upsetting third seed Victoria Azarenka in the previous round, rebounded from a slow first-set start for the second straight day and defeated Alona Bondarenko 4-6 6-0 6-3. In the quarterfinals, Sharapova will face Poland's Urszula Radwanska, who got a walkover from No.12 seed Li Na due to a right knee injury. (photo via Sony Ericsson WTA Tour)

Tennis stars Zheng Jie and Jelena Jankovic are appearing in this TV commercial for the Chinese brand of ANTA, which they have been promoting this year.

I have to notice, of what use is the slogan "Keep moving" when Jelena Jankovic’s feet are melting and hurting in ANTA shoes, which are badly affecting her performance.

A while ago I came across this super cute photo of Chinese tennis star Zheng Jie playing when she was a child. Hehe, I absolutely love her face in this picture, and her hair.

Zheng is now 26 years old and has so far won three WTA Tour titles: Estoril and Stockholm in 2006, and Hobart in 2005. Her best showing at a Grand Slam was last year at Wimbledon, when she was a surprise semifinalist.

Unfortunately, Zheng has today fallen from No.16 to No.24 in the rankings, having reached only the second round of Wimbledon 2009.

Things this blogs likes to feature are photos and videos of famous tennis players when they were kids. Many of you already know how rich our collection is, but for those who are new here, I suggest they check out our Kiddie Pics section.

I can say I’m pleased with Chinese brand ANTA at the 2009 French Open. They have finally made a dress worthy of Jelena Jankovic, and Zheng Jie looks super cute in the lavender/purple outfit.

Jankovic’s French Open dress has much more details in design and print than her previous ANTA ones. Also, the color is lively. Plus, they made the shorts match the dress – I hated those white shorts underneath the orange dress.

Zheng Jie, who became the highest-ranked female Chinese player recently by reaching the No.15 spot (beating Li Na’s No.16 back in 2007), is wearing a blouse trimmed with pleats and a cloud-like print on the collar. Read more »

Last week, before my leaving for Prague, I promised to make a summary of all the things I would have missed in the tennis world, and here it is.

Sabine Lisicki and Roberta Vinci were victorious, Lisicki at the Family Circle Cup, and Vinci at the Barcelona Ladies Open.

Two weeks ago we announced that Dinara Safina was to overtake Serena Williams at the top of the rankings, and that day has come today. It’s interesting to point out that Safina and her older brother Marat Safin are the only brother-sister duo to have been No.1 in professional tennis.

Ana Ivanovic made some family photos public and also updated her online diary, talking about the Easter traditions in Serbia. I can make a note that Serbs are Orthodox Christians and their church calendar is the Julian calendar and not the Gregorian calendar, so Easter in Serbia was celebrated yesterday, April 19.

In addition, Ana Ivanovic and Venus Williams have been nominated for 2009 Laureus World Sports Awards.

Maria Sharapova is supposedly about to return before the French Open. Russia's Fed Cup captain Shamil Tarpishchev said: "I spoke with her father the day before yesterday and he told me that she is training seriously for Roland Garros. She is getting ready to play a couple of tournaments before the French Open. Maria is now back to full training. We can only hope that she does well." I have to see it to believe it, though.

Of course, Sharapova’s continuing her modeling career. The latest are her photos for Nike, and Nike must have known we missed Masha, so they gave us plenty of her in one place.

Vera Zvonareva badly hurt her ankle while playing against Virginie Razzano at the Family Circle Cup. She has two torn ligaments, one full tear and one partial.

Zheng Jie signed with ANTA, the Chinese brand already promoted by Jelena Jankovic. The Asia’s No. 1 WTA player also visited her home province of Sichuan, the first time after the devastating earthquake hit it last year in May. Don’t forget that Zheng donated her Wimbledon prize money to help the victims of the disaster.

I hope this summary is giving you a nice overview of the events I missed to report because of my Prague adventures.

Glad to be back blogging,

Marija

From what I've seen so far, the most beautiful off-court photos of women’s tennis players are taken by celebrity photographer Lorenzo Agius. I loved his last year's work, especially with Anna Chakvetadze.

Lorenzo photographed WTA stars again, and thanks to Gulf News we have some behind-the-scenes photos from the recent shoot in Dubai. Read more »