Everybody knows Maria Sharapova and Novak Djokovic are good friends, but during the last week’s Pacific Life Open we learned they are soccer bodies too.

Djokovic and Sharapova met on the tennis complex, as their matches were scheduled one after the other, and they took a few minutes to play footsies. Fun!

Sharapova was one of Djokovic's greatest supporters at the 2007 US Open final, after which they were seen singing together in a club, they shared the court at the recent Desert Smash Charity Celebrity Tennis event, and were both spotted at the LA Lakers game this past Sunday.

All these things have lead to speculations that they are in love, but I believe Djokovic's claims they are just good friends. Not that they wouldn’t make a great couple, though. (via Down the Line)

Share This

In the battle of the two top seeds, Serbia’s Ana Ivanovic solidly defeated Russia’s Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-4 6-3 in the Pacific Life Open final for her sixth career title and the first one of the season.

In the first set there were no breaks until the ninth game when top-seeded Ivanovic made a crucial break and then quickly served out for the set without losing a point. The second set was a bit more undecided. The players exchanged breaks early in the set, but again Ivanovic made a break that proved to be fatal for Kuznetsova – Ivanovic broke for a 4-3 lead, and then cruised to victory losing only one point.

Kuznetsova simply can’t win a final any more. The Russian has lost eight of her last nine finals, and that lone title came with an injury retirement win at New Haven last August.

Despite winning the Pacific Life Open, Ivanovic will remain the second-ranked player in the world, but Kuznetsova will fall from No.3 to No.4.

Ivanovic has now extanded her head-to-head record against Kuznetsova to 5-1 and has at the same time scored her first straight-set victory over the Russian.

Runner-up Kuznetsova has earned $163,000 at Indian Wells, while champion Ivanovic takes home $332,000. (image via Yahoo)

Share This

Top seed Ana Ivanovic and second seed Svetlana Kuznetsova will meet in the final of the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells after both prevailed in the semifinals on Friday.

Ana Ivanovic extended her head–to-head record against fellow Serb Jelena Jankovic to 5-1 beating her 7-6(3) 6-3 in the semis. Well, Ivanovic is on a good way to become as fatal to Jelena Jankovic as Justine Henin.

In the other semifinal, Svetlana Kuznetsova beat Maria Sharapova 6-3 5-7 6-2. Kuznetsova’s triumph ended Maria Sharapova's 18-0 winning streak and handed the Australian Open champion her first loss of the season.

After the loss, Sharapova said she has been traveling too much lately (and we know exactly how much), so she's considering taking a little break from the tennis court. There is even a possibility she'll skip the upcoming Sony Ericsson Open in Miami.

A look at the stats shows us that Ivanovic is 4-1 all-time against Kuznetsova, which includes winning all three matches last year. Still, all Ivanovic’s victories over Kuznetsova have come in three sets, including the one in their only prior meeting in a final, at Qatar Telecom German Open, which propelled Ivanovic into the Top 10 for the first time.

If Ivanovic wins the Pacific Life Open title, she’ll remain the world No.2, while Jankovic would go back to her career high at No.3, and Kuznetsova would fall to No.4. If Kuznetsova wins the tournament, she and Jankovic would stay in their current position. (photo: Getty Images)

Share This

Jelena Jankovic joined Svetlana Kuznetsova, Maria Sharapova and Ana Ivanovic in the last four at the Pacific Life Open when American Lindsay Davenport retired from their quarterfinal because of a back injury.

The 31-year-old Davenport, two times a champion at Indian Wells, summoned her trainer when trailing third-seeded Jankovic 4-1. After losing the first set 6-2, Davenport decided to retire.

"I've gone down this road before and you never know, maybe it'll loosen up," said Davenport. "My back was injured before I came here (to Indian Wells) but it got better and got better.

"Then I woke up this morning and I just couldn't move. It was pretty obvious to me after two games that it was pretty sore out there and pretty hard to rotate."

This year at Indian Wells we’ll have an all-Russian semifinal featuring Kuznetsova and Sharapova, and an all-Serbian semifinal with Ana Ivanovic and Jelena Jankovic. Interestingly, all the semifinalists are Top 5 players. (source: Reuters, photo: Getty Images)

Share This

Top seed Ana Ivanovic defeated Vera Zvonareva 6-1 6-4 to reach the last four of the Pacific Life Open and join Maria Sharapova and Svetlana Kuznetsova there.

Playing her fourth quarterfinal in five tournaments this year, world No.2 Ivanovic broke twelfth-seeded Zvonareva four times and lost only one of her own service games. In the Indian Wells quarterfinal the Serb produced one of her best ever first serve percentages of 73, and powerful groundstrokes enabled her to defeat world No.21 Zvonareva without much difficulty.

If Jelena Jankovic beats Lindsay Davenport in the remaining quarterfinal, we will have an all-Serbian semifinal at Indian Wells. (photo: Getty Images)

Share This