Saturday, April 27, 2013

Schiavone, Dominguez Lino in Grand Prix SAR final


Francesca Schiavone beat South African Chanelle Scheepers 7-6 (4), 6-1 to set up a Grand Prix SAR final against Lourdes Dominguez Lino, who overcame a slow start to beat Luxembourg's Mandy Minella 2-6, 6-0, 6-1 on Saturday.

Sharapova makes Stuttgart final along with Li


Defending champion Maria Sharapova rallied in the third set to beat Angelique Kerber 6-3, 2-6, 7-5 Saturday and earn a spot in the final of the Porsche Grand Prix. Sharapova will play either Li Na for the title in the indoor clay-court tournament on Sunday. Li made the final after beating an American qualifier Bethanie Mattek Sands 6-4,6-3

Friday, April 26, 2013

Sharapova battles past Ivanovic, semi finalists set


Top-seeded Maria Sharapova got through another tough test in outlasting Ana Ivanovic 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 on Friday to advance to the semifinals of the Porsche Grand Prix. Sharapova will next play third-seeded Angelique Kerber, who defeated Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan 6-3, 7-6 to reach her third semifinal of the season.Bethanie Mattek-Sands, an American qualifier, beat Sabine Lisicki of Germany 6-4, 6-2. The American next goes against second-seeded Li Na of China, who defeated fifth-seeded Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic 6-3, 7-5.

Thursday, April 25, 2013

Ivanovic upsets Petrova, Kvitova through

 
Ana Ivanovic of Serbia beat eight-seeded Russian Nadia Petrova 6-4,6-3 to enter her first quarter final on clay since 2010 Rome. Ivanovic also extends her head to head series to 9-5 against the world number 11 Russian. Seeded players Li Na, Angelique Kerber and Petra Kvitova also advanced to the quarterfinals. The second-seeded Li swept past qualifier Mirjana Lucic-Baroni 6-1,6-2, and the third-seeded Kerber defeated Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-0, 6-4. The fifth-seeded Kvitova rallied past 2011 champion Julia Goerges, 2-6,7-6,6-2. Kvitova, the 2011 Wimbledon champion, is looking for her second title of the year after winning Dubai earlier this year.

Sharapova survives, Jankovic knocked out

 
Top-seeded and the defending champion Maria Sharapova needed three sets and more than three hours Thursday in her clay-court season opener to overcome Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic for a place in the Porsche Grand Prix quarterfinals. Sharapova finished the 3 hour marathon with a 6-4,6-7,6-3 scoreline. Sharapova will face Ana Ivanovic in the last eight stage. Jelena Jankovic and Carla Suarez Navarro caused two biggest upsets in the singles draw in round 1 but both of them dramatically fell in round 2 to Sabine Lisicki and Yaroslava Shvedova respectively. Shvedova defeated Suarez 7-5,6-4 while Lisicki beat Jankovic of 7-6,7-5

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

Wozniacki, Stosur out, Goerges wins


Caroline Wozniacki lost in the first round of the Porsche Grand Prix on Wednesday, falling to Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain 7-6 (6), 6-1. Fifth seed Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic survived an opening round defeat when she beat wild-card entry Annika Beck of Germany 7-5,6-70,6-3 in tight three sets. Julia Goerges of Germany, who beat Wozniacki for the 2011 title in Stuttgart, advanced to the second round when Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium retired with stomach problems. Goerges was leading 6-2, 2-1.
Former world number one Jelena Jankovic of Serbia caue the second upset of the day outclassing former US Open champion Samantha Stosur. Jankovic finished the match with a 6-4,6-4 scoreline to reach second round.

Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Ivanovic wins Stuttgart opener, Petrova too


After two magnificent wins over Angelique Kerber and Mona Barthel at Fed Cup world group play off tie against Germany on Porsche Arena, Ana Ivanovic claimed yet another win over a German this time in WTA's premier event Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in the same venue. Ivanovic eased past Andrea Petkovic 6-3,6-2 in 72 minutes of play. Former world number one enjoyed her first-round win against wild-card Petkovic, who is on her way back after a series of injuries, with impressive serving and ground strokes. Petkovic was playing her first match since withdrawing mid-tournament in Charleston earlier this month due to a calf injury - and that was just her third tournament back from a knee injury earlier in the year. The only seeded player in action on Tuesday, Nadia Petrova won a tight straight-setter against Germany's Dinah Pfizenmaier 7-6,6-4 while another German Sabine Lisicki overcame Italian qualifier Nastassja Burnett 6-3, 6-4. Ivanovic will take on Petrova in round 2.

Sunday, April 14, 2013

Williams sisters to lead Fed Cup team against Sweden


Serena and Venus Williams will lead the U.S. Fed Cup team against Sweden on hardcourts at the Delray Beach Tennis Center on April 20-21. The team announced Wednesday will also include No. 16-ranked Sloane Stephens and No. 27 Varvara Lepchenko. The winner will advance to the 2014 world group and have a chance to compete for the Fed Cup title next year. The losing team will be relegated to world group II in 2014. Sweden's team will consist of Sofia Arvidsson, Johanna Larsson, Hilda Melander and Sandra Roma.

Vinci upsets top-seed Kvitova in Katowice


Roberta Vinci defeated top-seed Petra Kvitova 7-6,6-1 to claim the BNP Paribas Katowice Open in Poland. A tight opening set lasted 69 minutes as second-seed Vinci took it on the tie-break, before dominating World No. 8 Kvitova throughout the second set and win her eighth WTA Tour title.


Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Clijsters & USANA Celebrate In Paris


Kim Clijsters made a special appearance for USANA in Paris over the weekend, helping them celebrate their first year anniversary in Europe at their European Conference on Saturday. Clijsters, a USANA Brand Ambassador, was the featured speaker at the event on Saturday and spoke to more than 600 of USANA's European Associates at Le Grand Rex, an historic venue - actually the largest cinema, theater and music venue in Paris. She also hit autographed tennis balls to the crowd and did media interviews throughout the day, including with Eurosport and L'Equipe. It was a big celebration for the company in Europe - they are now in 16 markets throughout the continent.

Clijsters announced a few weeks ago that she was pregnant with her second child and was expecting a baby boy later this year.