Serena Williams reaches quarterfinals at the Olympics

Serena Williams reaches quarterfinals at the OlympicsAmerican Serena Williams defeated France's Alize Cornet 3-6 6-3 6-4 and joined sister Venus in the quarterfinals of the Olympics Tennis Event in Beijing. The possibility of an all-Williams final is still alive.

During the match Serena made 48 unforced errors and had her serve broken on three of five occasions.

The fourth seed even smashed a racquet in frustration. "It was in the middle of the first set," said Williams. "I missed so many shots and I was not playing anywhere near the way I was practising, so it was just kind of frustrating to have practised so well and to come out and do the total opposite."

In the end, however, great hope of French women's tennis Alize Cornet surrendered to her mightier opponent.

Next for Serena is fifth-seeded Elena Dementieva of Russia, a silver medalist in Sydney eight years ago. (source: Xinhua, photo: Getty Images)

Serena and Venus Williams advance to the third round of the Olympics

Serena Williams at Beijing OlympicsVenus WilliamsThe Williams sisters confidently advanced to the third round of the Beijing Olympics.

Serena Williams beat Australia’s Samantha Stosur 6-2 6-0 in just 44 minutes dropping only six points on her serve in the match. From 2-2, the fourth-seeded Williams won 40 of the final 49 points and 10 consecutive games. In addition, she lost only five points in the second set.

Sister Venus, seeded seventh, soon joined Serena with a 6-1 6-4 victory over Iveta Benesova of the Czech Republic. Venus didn’t face one break points in the match, and lost only two of 24 points on her first serve.

The Williams sisters are playing doubles together at the Beijing Olympics. They are supposed to play their first match on Tuesday night. Venus and Serena won the gold in doubles at Sydney in 2000.

In singles, Serena will next face France’s Alize Cornet, while Venus will play Victoria Azarenka.

Additional info: No matter how well Serena was moving on the court, after the match she almost fell into the photographers' pit while signing autographs. Oops. Luckily, she didn't get hurt. (source: ESPN, photos: Getty Images)

Jelena Jankovic wins first match as number one

Jelena Jankovic wins first match as number oneJelena Jankovic of Serbia has today officially become top-ranked player in the world and she celebrated that fact with a 6-3 6-3 victory over Zimbabwe's Cara Black in the first round of the Olympic Tennis Event.

Unfortunately, I'm sure Jankovic can’t be completely happy because she has an injury which can easily wreck her campaign.

"It's quite special to be playing as number one and I was quite excited about that," she said.

"I had some problems but I managed to finish the match. I will see what the doctors say and receive some treatment and see how I will feel for tomorrow."

Jankovic will face Ukraine's Alona Bondarenko in round two.

BTW: JJ looked great in a red dress specially designed for the Olympics. (source: AFP)

Sania Mirza retires from singles at the Olympics

Sania MirzaSania Mirza of India retired in her first-round match at the Olympic tennis event. The world No.65 was trailing Czech Iveta Benesova 6-2 2-1 when painful right wrist forced her to retire.

"It was hurting before I even came to Beijing but it's the Olympics so you have to try and give it your best shot," said Mirza who recently had wrist surgery.

The 21-year-old Mirza may still play doubles with Sunitha Rao.

Too many women's tennis players have withdrawn from the Olympics so far: Maria Sharapova didn’t even come to Beijing because of a shoulder injury, Lindsay Davenport pulled out of singles, top seed Ana Ivanovic withdrew because of a thumb injury, Tatiana Golovin also can't play due to a back injury. Injured Jelena Jankovic will play, but who knows how long she'll stay in the competition. (source: Reuters, photo: Getty Images)

Ana Ivanovic withdraws from the 2008 Olympics

Ana Ivanovic in BeijingRight thumb injury eventually prevented world number one Ana Ivanovic from taking part at the Beijing Olympics.

Top-seeded Ivanovic wasn't able to practice in Beijing at all because of the injury, but she was still hoping to recover. "This is one of the worst moments of my career," said the Serb.

Ivanovic sustained the injury when she returned to training after losing at Wimbledon. (source: Reuters, photo: Getty Images)

Tatiana Golovin withdraws from Olympic Tennis

Tatiana GolovinShortly before the scheduled start of the tennis event at the 2008 Olympics French world No.28 Tatiana Golovin pulled out of singles and doubles.

The 20-year-old, who played only nine matches this season, was forced to withdraw from the Beijing Olympics because of a back injury.

Golovin was to play doubles with Pauline Parmentier. In singles, she will be replaced by Maret Ani of Estonia. (source: CBS Sports, photo: Getty Images)

Nicole Vaidisova and Radek Stepanek at the opening ceremony of the 2008 Olympics

Nicole Vaidisova and Radek Stepanek at the opening ceremony of the 2008 Olympics

Tennis couple Nicole Vaidisova and Radek Stepanek was at the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympic.

Irresistible Radek took pictures of his 11 years younger girlfriend while she was walking with Czech flag at the event. Nice of him!

No rumors about this unexpected couple, everything seems to be all right in their relationship. (via Great Tennis Photos)

Jelena Jankovic might withdraw from the 2008 Olympics

Jelena Jankovic practises in BeijingJelena Jankovic, who will become world number one on Monday, decided to miss the spectacular opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics because of a calf strain, and now I’m reading she might not be able to take part in the event because of the injury.

"I'll practise today and I'll see tomorrow how everything goes," said Jankovic who appeared at a press conference with her right leg strapped.

"If I can't play, if I'm not going to be able to give my best on the court, I will not go. It's not a risk I will take."

Ahaha, now she doesn't want to risk her health, at the Olympics! She could've adopted that policy earlier! (source: NDTV, photo: Getty Images)

Jelena Jankovic misses opening ceremony of Beijing Olympics

Jelena Jankovic misses the opening ceremony of Beijing OlympicsOh my God, Jelena Jankovic is already injured. The world No.2 will miss the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics because she sustained some minor injury during her Friday morning practice.

By the way, the other tennis star from Serbia, Ana Ivanovic, is also not certain whether she’ll recover enough to participate in the Olympic Tennis Event. The world No.1 remains in doubt because of a persistent thumb injury.

The Tennis Event at the 2008 Olympics starts August 10. (source: Mondo)

Lindsay Davenport withdraws from the 2008 Beijing Olympics singles

Lindsay Davenport

American Lindsay Davenport, the 1996 Olympic champion, has withdrawn from the Olympic singles tournament because of a knee injury, but is expected to play doubles with Liezel Huber.

The injury is the same one that forced Davenport to pull out of Wimbledon in June.

The 2008 Beijing Olympic tennis events begin on Sunday. (photo: Getty Images)


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