Since the Birmingham final in mid June, Jelena Jankovic lost openers in five of six tournaments and this week she's fallen from No.18 to No.34 in the rankings, her lowest ranking in six years. Whether that was a wake-up call or not, at the ongoing Texas Tennis Open, the former world No.1 has won three matches in a row and is now in the semifinals. The tournament is not big, but still, the victories count, and in her last match Jankovic defeated Sorana Cirstea 6-2 6-1, to whom she had lost both their previous encounters in three sets.

Next for the second-seeded Jankovic is first-time WTA semifinalist Casey Dellacqua. The other semifinal pair at the Texas Tennis Open is Jankovic's fellow Serbian Bojana Jovanovski vs. third seed Roberta Vinci.

At the New Haven Open, quarterfinals are set and four-time defending champion and third seed Caroline Wozniacki is in there, awaiting sixth seed Dominika Cibulkova, who ended Andrea Petkovic's comeback tournament in the second round. Wozniacki is now on a 19-0 winning streak at New Haven and if she wins the title again she will become just the fourth WTA player ever to win a title five years in a row, joining big names Chris Evert, Steffi Graf and Martina Navratilova, who achieved the feat at three different tournaments!

Other New Haven quarterfinal pairs are: Olga Govortsova (the only unseeded player in the final eight) vs. Maria Kirilenko [7], Marion Bartoli [5] vs. Sara Errani [4] and Lucie Safarova [8] vs. Petra Kvitova [2]. (photos: sr_cranks)

The 2012 US Open will be the last tournament of Kim Clijsters' career and Fila is honoring its biggest WTA representative with a symbolic star-patterned collection.

There are 11 bigger stars in the print, paying tribute to the 11 years the Belgian has spent with Fila, while four stars have a tennis ball, honoring Clijsters' four Grand Slam titles. The main colors of the collection are white and navy with red accenting, typical Fila style. Read more »

Hardcourt season didn't have a warm welcome in cards for Agnieszka Radwanska. The abrupt switch from grass took its toll on the Pole's body and now she's retired from her New Haven opener with a right shoulder injury. Radwanska, who was top seed at the New Haven Open, is hoping that resting will recover her by Monday and the US Open.

I've been struggling with my shoulder for a couple of weeks now, pretty much since the start of the hardcourt season two weeks ago. I think maybe the change of surface and balls since coming from the Olympics was just too much, and I've played a lot this year as well.

Olga Govortsova won the first seven games of the second-round encounter with Radwanska, and at 6-0 2-1 down the world No.2 retired. (source: WTA Tour, photo: Ralf Reinecke)

Yesterday we told you about the withdrawals of Flavia Pennetta, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Kaia Kanepi and Elena Baltacha, and now we're learning that Vera Zvonareva will also miss the US Open, due to a viral illness. This is the third Grand Slam of 2012 that the Russian is pulling out from – from Wimbledon she retired in the middle of her third-round match with upper respiratory illness, while Roland Garros she skipped entirely due to a right shoulder injury.

The 2010 US Open runner-up's replacement in the draw will be Casey Dellacqua of Australia. The Olympic Games were Zvonareva's last event and she lost in the fourth round to eventual gold medalist Serena Williams. (source: ESPN, photo: sr_cranks)

It was a tough, but sweet first-round victory for Andrea Petkovic at the New Haven Open at Yale. After being out for most of the season, first with a back injury and then with an ankle injury, the German defeated Timea Babos 6-3 5-7 7-5, after leveling from 4-5 in the third set and then winning eight of the last nine points.

Between the back and the ankle injury, Petkovic played just one and a half matches, in Stuttgart, in April, but the latter injury she wanted to handle on her own, without a sports psychologist.

As a result of the absence, Petkovic's ranking has fallen from No.10 in January to the current No.43, but she used her down time to catch up with friends and all the concerts she always wanted to go to.

Next for Petkovic at the New Haven Open is sixth seed Dominika Cibulkova. It will be their first meeting. (source: WTA Tour, photo: © Neal Trousdale)