Dear readers,

For the third time in a row the Baseline Awards have nominated Women’s Tennis Blog in the Best Tennis Blog category.

Those of you that have been with us for more than a year know that Women's Tennis Blog is sort of defending its title now, as it was voted the best tennis blog of 2009, thanks to your votes of course. So, if you still like Women's Tennis Blog, take action and vote HERE now to give us a nice present for the start of the 2011 season. Online voting is open until January 3rd, 2011.

Other nominees in the Best Tennis Blog category are: Peter Bodo’s Tennis World / Steve Tignor’s Concrete Elbow / Straight Sets Blog by The New York Times / Tennis Talk, Anyone? / Open Court with Stephanie Myles / ZooTennis / Tennis Served Fresh / Forty Deuce.

The winners will be announced on January 5th, 2011 at On the Baseline.

Of course, there are other categories as well, such as: Player of the Year, Newcomer of the Year, Fan Favorite of the Year, Best Tennis Writer, Doubles Team of the Year, and many more.

I was approached by Lisa who is working on spreading the word about the multiple benefits girls get from playing sports and asked to blog on Rally for Girls’ Sports Day, December 8th. As a women's tennis blogger I've joined the initiative and I would like to remind you of how sports can benefit you in many ways, not only those obvious ones.

Participation in sports decreases girls’ chances of becoming obese and developing heart disease, osteoporosis, and breast cancer. Female athletes have higher levels of self-esteem, a lower incidence of depression and a more positive body image than non-athletes. Girls who play sports have higher grades, better test scores, and are less likely to drop out. They also have more opportunities to apply for athletic scholarships, which can help them attend college. Female athletes are also more likely to participate in traditionally male-dominated occupations, which are typically higher paying. In addition, more than four out of five executive businesswomen played sports growing up, and the vast majority reported that the lessons they learned on the playing field contributed to their success in business.

By playing sports, girls win more than a game, and I couldn't agree more – playing sports as you grow up makes your more disciplined, more confident, more organized, you get the sense of responsibility, you meet a lot of people, practice team work and social interaction, and not to mention numerous health benefits. I can also confirm that playing sports helped me with my school as well, as I easily finished both school and university studies.

This particular initiative is focusing on the girls, so I apologize to all the male readers who may feel left out, but I would say the same applies to boys.

What benefits have sports brought you? Can you name a few?

Slovenia’s Katarina Srebotnik put her country on the women's tennis map with successful singles and doubles careers, but her missing most of 2009 due to Achilles and shoulder injuries set the stage for the big decision – to focus on playing doubles only.

Highlights of Srebotnik's singles career include the 2008 season-ending ranking of No.20 and four WTA titles (Estoril in 1999, Acapulco in 2002, Auckland and Stockholm in 2005).

However, fans have many reasons to look forward to Srebotnik’s doubles-only career. The 29-year-old won Indian Wells and New Haven with Kveta Peschke in 2010 and played the finals of another five tournaments including Roland Garros, and not to mention the Roland Garros mixed doubles title with Nenad Zimonjic. Srebotnik and Peschke also reached the semifinals of the WTA Championships.

Srebotnik owns a total of 23 doubles titles and four mixed doubles Grand Slam titles. In addition, she had 25 runner-up doubles finishes, including four at Grand Slams. Srebotnik is currently ranked sixth in doubles, while her highest ranking was No.3. (via Women Who Serve)

Australian world No.55 Jarmila Groth defeated Russian world No.103 Alla Kudryavtseva in the Landsky Lighting Guangzhou International Women's Open final for her first WTA title. The following article is of my blogging friend John Bolan, who is friends with Alla, so I thought it would be nice to share his analysis of the final.

Alla Kudryavtseva had a great run at the Guangzhou WTA tournament before dropping the final to Jarka Groth, the number 2 Australian. Alla nevertheless added 200 points to her ranking. She will jump back into the top 80 in women's tennis. This continues her success in Chinese tournaments after last year's doubles finals appearance in the China Open. This year Alla was named to her country's powerful Fed Cup team for the first time.

Kudryavtseva dropped the first set 6-1 without much of a fight in less than 30 minutes. The second set was a different story. Alla led 4 games to 3 in a tightly played match before losing 6-4. Groth hit 11 aces in the match which was the big difference in the statistics.

Jarka has been playing great tennis and will move into the top 50 on Monday when the new rankings will be released. This will be a new career high ranking for her. She won $37,000 and a chance to play in the Bali Tournament of Champions. (photo via Guangzhou Open)

Top seed Jarmila Groth and unseeded Alla Kudryavtseva will play their first WTA final at the $220,000 Landsky Lighting Guangzhou International Women's Open in China. They both had quick victories in their semifinals. Groth beat Edina Gallovits 6-0 6-1 in 38 minutes, while Kudryavtseva bageled Zhang Shuai in the first set and won the second set 6-4 to win the match in 64 minutes.

China’s Zhang was the one who defeated probably the biggest name of the tournament, Sania Mirza, in the quarterfinals. Mirza, once ranked 27th in the world, has fallen out of the Top 100, but prior to falling to Zhang, Mirza had a winning streak of three qualifying and one main draw match at the US Open and two matches at Guangzhou.

Groth is expected to crack the Top 50 for the first time. Kudryavtseva, on the other hand, can celebrate not only her first final, but also her semifinal appearance, as her best Tour finishes before this week were five quarterfinals. Groth and Kudryavtseva played each other two times so far, and each won one match, but their last meeting was more than two years ago. (photos: © Neal Trousdale)