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*

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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)

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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)

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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.

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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.

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