The new statistic in women’s tennis made its debut at the Acura Classic tournament, and it’s about determining how hard the player hits the ball. The “power index”, as it’s called, takes into account a player's fastest groundstroke (forehand or backhand), first serve, second serve, first-serve return, second-serve return and smash or volley. It is measured by ball-tracking technology from company Hawk-Eye Innovations. Read more »

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In the Acura Classic final on Sunday, world No. 2 Maria Sharapova of Russia won her first title of the year overcoming world No. 17 Patty Schnyder of Switzerland in three sets 6-2 3-6 6-0.

What I can say about the match is that Schnyder, seeded 11th, was excellent on numerous occasions throughout the final, but the player with consistent domination was top-seeded Sharapova. Read more »

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To defend her Acura Classic title, top-seeded Maria Sharapova of Russia will have to overcome 11th seeded Patty Schnyder of Switzerland.

In the semifinals, Maria Sharapova beat fellow Russian Anna Chakvetadze 6-3 6-2 and in that way ended the third seed’s hard-court run of 12 straight victories. However, soon after the loss to Sharapova, the 20-year-old Chakvetadze together with Victoria Azarenka of Belarus reached the doubles final by defeating Ai Sugiyama of Japan and Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia 6-2, 3-6, 10-6. Read more »

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In the quarterfinals of the Acura Classic in San Diego third seed Anna Chakvetadze earned the biggest win of her career with a 6-7 (5-7) 7-6 (7-3) 6-2 victory over the reigning Wimbledon champion Venus Williams.

Williams looked sure to put Chakvetadze away, but she double-faulted on match point and was not the same afterwards. Read more »

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In a dramatic third round match of the Acura Classic in San Diego, Maria Kirilenko earned the biggest victory of her career with a 6-2, 3-6, 7-5 win over second seed Jelena Jankovic. The Russian, unseeded and ranked 42nd in the world, booked her place in the Friday quarterfinals where she will face ninth seed Elena Dementieva.

World No. 3 Jankovic, however, won’t be losing ranking points since she had been sent home in the third round of the Acura Classic in the past two years. Additionally, despite the loss, the Serb has already qualified for the prestigious Sony Ericsson Championships in Madrid, together with Justine Henin.

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