The Women’s Tennis Association and Sony Ericsson have extended their agreement to the end of 2012, but in a reduced form.

Sony Ericsson will lose its naming rights when the current six-year $88-million contract expires at the end of 2010, so the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour will get back to being simply the WTA Tour, and the prestigious season-ending Championships will not be called the Sony Ericsson Championships any more. Nevertheless, Sony Ericsson will continue to be the leading partner of the WTA Tour.

"To have that leverage, for us to have our own brand back will give us new opportunities to attract revenues. By getting some rights back we can grow further," said Stacey Allaster, CEO of the WTA Tour.

No financial details have been released, but media reports estimate the new sponsorship deal to be around $27 million for the nearly three-year period. (source: Reuters, photo: warrenski)

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Dear readers,

I asked you to tell me something about yourselves, in the last days of 2009, while I was in China. I would really like to thank you for actively participating in the comments section and giving me and all the other readers an opportunity to meet you. Also, I would like to thank you for greatly supporting Women's Tennis Blog, and giving it all the praise there is.

We have learned that people from all over the globe visit this website. Practically all age groups are present here, and our readers are both people who play tennis, and those that only enjoy watching it.

As you presented yourselves, I should do so as well. Read more »

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World No.1 and defending Australian Open champion Serena Williams tops the list of 32 seeds at the 2010 Australian Open.

The seedings follow the WTA rankings from numbers 1-15, then skip Yanina Wickmayer who has to qualify because her doping ban was lifted after the entry deadline, and hence every player ranked from No.17 onwards is seeded one spot higher than their ranking.

Here's the full list of women's seeds:

1. Serena Williams (USA)
2. Dinara Safina (RUS)
3. Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS)
4. Caroline Wozniacki (DEN)
5. Elena Dementieva (RUS)
6. Venus Williams (USA)
7. Victoria Azarenka (BLR)
8. Jelena Jankovic (SRB)
9. Vera Zvonareva (RUS)
10. Agnieszka Radwanska (POL) Read more »

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I'm glad to share with you that Own the Zone, the first sponsors of Women's Tennis Blog, are back and the latest in their offer are Rudy Project sunglasses which they want to let you know about.

Own the Zone Sporting Goods, the maker of the OTZ band dampener, has become the online distributor for Rudy Project sunglasses for the tennis market. Besides being technically cool looking, Rudy Project sunglasses with ImpactX technology offer a breakthrough in optical excellence. Made in Italy, these sunglasses provide superior eye protection and are guaranteed unbreakable for life.

Read more »

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Dear readers,

I feel obliged to write this short note to update you on what's going on. I'm still on vacation, for six more days. I'm really sorry I haven't had much time to update Women's Tennis Blog, but as soon as I return everything will be back to normal. I hope you understand.

Right now I'm in Shanghai again. I visited Beijing for four days, and I spent one day in Hangzhou. I'm having a great holiday and I hope you understand that I can't spend much time on the Internet. In addition, here in China there is no access to Facebook and similar websites, so I can't be active there as well.

I promise I'll answer all your comments and emails when I come back.

And of course, thank you all so much for voting for Women's Tennis Blog in 2009 Baseline Awards! I'm so happy my blog has won this award for the first time. It's all thanks to your support!

See you in a few days!

All the best,

Marija

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