At the beginning of the US Open, American tennis player Bethanie Mattek drew attention to herself with her outrageous gold dress and matching headband. Later on, she sported her somewhat better-looking outfit, but it was still too provocative and the ball boy was being distracted. Haha, no wonder!

Mattek lost to Shahar Peer in the singles second round, while in women’s doubles she’s still in action, having reached the quarterfinals with Sania Mirza of India.

Sixth seed Anna Chakvetadze of Russia advanced to the US Open quarter-final with a victory over 16-year-old Tamira Paszek of Austria 6-1 7-5 on Monday.

World No. 43 Paszek fought off a match point with Chakvetadze serving at 5-4 in the second set and broke to make it 5-5. The 20-year-old Russian broke right back and held serve to claim victory in 78 minutes on Arthur Ashe Stadium court. Read more »

Agnieszka Radwanska’s run at the US Open ended with a 6-4 6-1 defeat by eighteen-seeded Shahar Peer of Israel. The teenager from Krakow became famous for upsetting defending champion Maria Sharapova in the third round, but she was not strong enough to overcome her next obstacle, world number nineteen Shahar Peer.

In her second Grand Slam quarterfinal of the year, Shahar Peer will face the winner of the match Anna Chakvetadze vs. Tamira Paszek.

Top seed Justine Henin of Belgium breezed past Russian Dinara Safina 6-0 6-2 on Sunday to book her place in the US Open 2007 quarterfinals where she will face eight-seeded Serena Williams.

Henin, the 2003 US Open champion, broke the hard-serving Safina, seeded 15th, seven times in the 59-minute match on Arthur Ashe Stadium court. Note that Henin lost just eleven games in her first four matches!

Everyone has been waiting for the encounter of Justine and Serena because it promises entertainment and good tennis. The last time the two players met was in the Wimbledon quarterfinals when the 25-year-old Belgian won in three sets 6-4 3-6 6-3. However, Williams is the one who leads their overall head-to-head series 6-5. I certainly can’t forget the 2007 Miami final when Serena battled back to beat Henin 0-6 7-5 6-3.

World number five Ana Ivanovic still hasn’t found the way to beat six-time Grand Slam singles champion Venus Williams. In their fourth round match on Sunday, twelfth-seeded Williams won 6-4 6-2.

Ivanovic had no trouble defeating her opponents on the way to the round-of-16, but the reigning Wimbledon champion was too much for her. The 19-year-old Serb’s well-known forehand and serve were on a good level, but her net approaches were unsuccessful, which is 22 % compared to Venus’ 75 %. Read more »