World No.4 Venus Williams has withdrawn from the Rogers Cup in Montreal due to a left knee injury. Williams was supposed to play in Montreal for the first time.

Top-ranked Serena Williams will also miss the event because of the right foot injury she sustained when stepping on broken glass at a restaurant. Another Top 5 player, Samantha Stosur, will not play the US Open warmup either, because of an arm injury.

Let’s recall the words of the Montreal tournament director, Eugene Lapierre, when he initially refused to give Ana Ivanovic a wildcard:

"If we didn’t already have the best players in the world, if we didn’t get all the players we think we can get, my choice would certainly be for the wild cards to go to international players, because you want to sell the attraction. But we have them, so it’s normal to give the chance to young players."

Fellow blogger C Note said it well: "But it's ok, you guys!  They have Stephanie Dubois and Valerie Tetreault!  They'll be fine." (photo: Ralf Reinecke)

The 2010 Rogers Cup in Montreal is favoring Canadian players over 2006 champion Ana Ivanovic when it comes to awarding wildcards and so the Grand Slam winner will have to play qualifying to get a spot in the main draw.

The brighter perspective is that Ana will add some spice to the qualifying rounds, but you have to feel some sadness when you read what Ana said two years ago: "In two years I'm gonna come back here and try to be eager to win again. Hopefully, you know, I'll still have the good support."

The former world No.1 Ivanovic is now ranked 65th, and her win-loss record this season is 11-12. (source: Forty Deuce)

As promised, Women's Tennis Blog is continuing its tradition of revising on-court outfits from the season behind us. This year's retrospections will start with the best-dressed WTA player – Nike-clad Maria Sharapova.

Sharapova started the season late, because of her career-threatening shoulder injury, playing her first match of 2009 at the BNP Paribas Open in March. She was introducing herself to competitive tennis slowly, playing doubles first, but her style had to be spot-on from the very beginning, and it was.

People argued that Sharapova’s Roland Garros dress had too much fabric, but I liked it, and I especially favored the blue color against the red clay. Read more »

Elena Dementieva has won her third title of the 2009 season, after Auckland and Sydney in January, defeating Maria Sharapova 6-4 6-3 in the first ever all-Russian Rogers Cup final.

The first set wasn't impressive, featuring 14 double faults and seven breaks of serve. In the second set both players held serve until the sixth game, when Dementieva broke Sharapova for a 4-2 lead. The fourth-seeded Dementieva held her serve throughout and clinched her first Rogers Cup title and 14th career WTA Tour title.

Still, even after this loss Sharapova is leading their head-to-head series 8-3.

The world No.5 Dementieva has never won a Grand Slam title, but the triumph in Toronto might be her lucky charm as the last three Toronto champions proceeded to win the US Open - Justin Henin in 2007, Kim Clijsters in 2005 and Henin in 2003. (photo: AP via Yahoo)

Fourth seed Elena Dementieva avenged her Wimbledon loss to Serena Williams in the semifinals of the Rogers Cup, while Maria Sharapova has continued to climb back to where she belongs and despite persistent struggles with her serve, she beat Alisa Kleybanova to reach her first final in over a year.

The second-seeded Williams had faced only one break point all week, but was broken five times during the semifinal which Dementieva won 7-6(2) 6-1 to move into her fourth final of the year.

It’s amazing how the Williams sisters are unbeatable at a Grand Slam stage. Serena ended Dementieva’s hopes for her first Grand Slam title two times this year, at the Australian Open and Wimbledon, the tournaments Serena eventually won.

Sharapova defeated Kleybanova 6-2 4-6 6-4, despite producing 12 double faults and converting only 5 of 22 break points. It only shows Maria's well-known strongest asset – her undying will.

Additional info: Sharapova will be seeded at the 2009 US Open, as she’ll move from No.49 to the Top 32 in the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour rankings. (source: Reuters, photos via Sony Ericsson WTA Tour)