Black Tennis Pros

At the Bank Of The West Classic in Stanford, California on Thursday, American sisters Venus and Serena Williams set up their quarterfinal matches with wins over Russian Alla Kudryavtseva and Hungary's Melinda Czink respectively.

Serena started the day with a 6-3, 7-6 (7) win over Melinda Czink. After looking strong in the first set, Williams trailed the entire second set until prevailing in the tiebreaker.

Subsequently, Venus cruised to a 6-1 win in the first set and looked to be in complete control midway through the second frame with a 5-3 lead. But Alla Kudryavtseva won back-to-back games to tie the set at 5-5 before Williams swiped the next two games for a 6-1, 7-5 triumph.

In Friday's quarterfinal matches Venus will go up against Russian Maria Sharapova, and Serena against Australian Samantha Stosur. I think the Serena/Samantha match will be the one to watch.

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American Shenay Perry, a qualifier, upset 15th-seeded Barbora Zahlavova Strycova of the Czech Republic 7-5, 6-1 on Tuesday to advance to the second round of the Family Circle Cup in Charleston, South Carolina.

At the same tournament, 'can't stop won't stop' American Angela Haynes had her marathon of tennis halted by Russian Alla Kudryavtseva 6-4, 5-7, 6-0.

This is usually not a good thing, but in Haynes' case, the opportunity to rest just might be.

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I'm tired and energized for her!

American Angela Haynes was unable to compete on Saturday for day one of qualifying at the Family Circle Cup, Charleston, South Carolina because she was in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida playing a doubles semifinal match.

Haynes and doubles partner Liga Dekmeijere of Latvia were knocked out of the MPS Group Championships by the team of Sania Mirza and Chia-Jung Chuang 6-4 6-3.

So what does Haynes do next? She make her way to Charleston, South Carolina where she has to play two rounds of qualifying on Sunday, and of course win both, for a potential slot in the main draw.

And damn it, she does it!

Haynes will meet Russian Alla Kudryavtseva in the first round.

American Shenay Perry also prevailed in the qualifying rounds to secure a spot in the main draw. Ahsha Rolle, Danielle Mills, and Mashona Washington were all eliminated.

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PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Fourteen-year-old Madison Keys made her WTA Tour debut a memorable one, upsetting Russia's Alla Kudryavtseva 7-5, 6-4 on Monday in the opening round of The MPS Group Championships.

The teen from Boca Raton, Fla., fell behind 5-2 in the first set but used powerful groundstrokes to break Kudryavtseva twice and a serve that averaged 101 mph to win the set.

Keys lost the first game of the second set before going on a four-game run, and after the 81st-ranked Kudryavtseva fought back to 4-5, Keys won the match with an ace.

"The first two or three games I was nervous," she said. "It was kind of just the first few games of just hitting the ball and feeling it and really getting into a rhythm that made me feel a lot better."

Keys could face the tournament's top seed and the world's ninth-ranked player, Nadia Petrova, in the second round. The Russian opens play Tuesday against Olga Govortsova.

"I actually got into tennis because of Venus and Serena (Williams)," Keys said. "I was watching Wimbledon one year and Venus was playing and I really liked how she was playing but I also liked her outfit.

"I told my dad I wanted a dress like Venus' and he said 'only if you play tennis.' So, I went to Walgreen's, got a racket and started playing."

Keys gets press grilling after big win:

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