Black Tennis Pros

American Sloane Stephens after defeating Italy's Francesca Schiavone on day 2 of the 2012 US Open.

Judging by Sloane Stephens' performance on Louis Armstrong Stadium Tuesday evening, women's tennis is out with the old, in with the new. The 19-year-old American sensation stunned veteran Francesca Schiavone 6-3, 6-4 in an intense first-round matchup that saw her upset yet another seed in Flushing Meadows, in the same fashion as she did in her debut here last year.

Stephens has had a stellar year since making her presence known at this event last year, when she reached the third round as a wild card and upset two seeds (No. 23 Shahar Peer and No. 16 Ana Ivanovic) en route. In her 2012 season, Stephens has tallied career-firsts, reaching the semifinals of two events, at Washington and Strasbourg, as well as a fourth round appearance at Roland Garros, all of which have played a part in her catapult up the ranks to No. 44. As for former French Open champ Schiavone, who played in her 13th Open this year, the last time she made a first-round exit in New York was in 2001.

The matchup between the rising, fresh-faced American and the fiery, theatrical Italian had high expectations, and the two players didn't disappoint in rally exchanges. Schiavone, the No. 22 seed, began the match with a severe case of service woes, double-faulting five times in her opening service game to hand the early break to Stephens on a silver platter. But her level of play picked up after that, and both players showed off their amazing court speed throughout the match, trading angled drop shots and tracking them down in winning efforts, much to the disbelief of the animated crowd.

Schiavone used high-looping topspin shots to keep Stephens behind the baseline, but the teenager countered her opponent's heavy spin by flattening it out with down-the-line winners, drawing a roar from the crowd with every winner she struck. Faced with battling not only Stephens' power and speed, but also the pro-American crowd and the chair umpire (the two exchanged a few words after Schiavone was warned for losing her temper), the 32-year-old Italian began to commit a slew of unforced errors (36 in the match) that eventually cost her the match.

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American Serena Williams

American Serena Williams

Britain's Heather Watson

Italy's Francesca Schiavone

Serbia's Ana Ivanovic

Serbia's Jelena Jankovic

Germany's Andrea Petkovic

Denmark's Caroline Wozniacki

Britain's (r)Anne Keothavong and (l)Laura Robson

Russia's Maria Sharapova

American Bethanie Mattek-Sands

India's Sania Mirza

Romania's Sorana Cirstea

Germany's Sabine Lisicki

France's Alize Cornet

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In today's quarterfinal action at the Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open, American Venus Williams, who won her third round match against Italy's Francesca Schiavone on Wednesday, will meet Australian Samantha Stosur against whom she currently stands 3-0. All of those matches came in straight sets, and none of the sets went past 6-4.

It would appear that Stosur has her work cut out for her.

On the men's side, Frenchman Gael Monfils, who has been on the injury list as of late, will meet Spain's one and only Rafa. Rafael Nadal, who is undefeated on clay this season (12-0), holds a 5-1 career mark against Monfils.

Monfils obviously has his work cut out for him too.



Lastly, No. 1 doubles seeds Venus and Serena Williams who are well on their way to becoming the world no. 1 doubles team, will go up against Iraeli Shahar Peer and her Italian teammate Francesca Schiavone.

The sisters defeated Russian Maria Kirilenko and Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska 6-2, 6-4 in the quarterfinals.

Should be good tennis on tap for today!!

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MADRID, Spain - Venus Williams cemented a return to the No.2 ranking at the Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open on Wednesday, beating Francesca Schiavone in the third round of the $4.5-million Premier-level event. The last time the 29-year-old Williams was in the Top 2 was May 11, 2003, almost exactly seven years ago.

"In the rankings, you keep going until you get to that No.1 spot," Venus said. "Of course, Serena and I being No.1 and No.2 in the world is what we dreamed of growing up. But we each dreamed of being No.1 - neither of us dreamed of No.2. I congratulate Serena on that ranking but I'm aiming to get there myself."

Way to go Venus!!

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DUBAI — Venus Williams' bid to hang on to one of her two remaining titles made a reassuring start as she quashed the challenge of one of the tour's brightest young hopes to reach the last 16 of the Dubai Open.

The defending champion's 6-2, 6-3 win over Sabine Lisicki, the 20-year-old Wimbledon quarter-finalist, contained consistent serving, well-timed increases in pressure, and a conspicuously tight focus.

A good week here is important for the five-time Wimbledon champion's belief that, approaching her 30th birthday, she remains capable of winning more majors, and that need showed in the quality of her performance.

There was only one brief moment when it seemed that the hard-hitting but variable German might find sufficient control to get into the match - when she played a brilliant game to break Williams' serve for the only time, and edge up to 3-4 in the second set.

Williams responded immediately, applying extra pressure on her returns to break Lisicki's delivery a fourth time, then smartly closing out the match for the loss of only a point.

She had been put through her paces robustly by her father Richard, before the match, and it appeared to have helped.

"I still try to listen to him," she said, smiling, "and not to rebel against what he says."

The champion's sharp start earned her a meeting with Belarus' Olga Govertsova, a surprise survivor who is coached by her brother, and who brought down the 14th seeded Italian, Francesca Schiavone, in straight sets.

If Williams gets past that as she should, she could go on to a semi-final with the top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki.

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MADRID (AFP) — Sluggish and injured Serena Williams lost her third consecutive clay match to crash out of the Madrid Masters after pulling the plug while trailing 4-6 to Francesca Schiavone in the first round Monday.

The exit of the second seed leaves Williams in a precarious position without a victory on the dirt heading into the May 24 start of Roland Garros.

"After the first set I did not want to risk anymore. I'm hoping to be ready for Roland Garros," she insisted.

Williams, who also lost in Marbella and last week in Rome and has suffered with thigh and knee injuries, effectively stayed on court for 45 minutes to avoid a 75,000 fine which the WTA would have imposed for failing to play the new tournament.

The sanction would have been imposed had she pulled out of the event and then not shown up on site for essentially a public relations appearance under the rules.

The multimillionairess has already lost several hundred thousand dollars in year-end bonus pool money as a result of refusing to compete at Indian Wells last March.

"I don't know about you, but 75,000 is a lot of money to me," said the winner of more than two million dollars in prize money so far this season.

"I'm redecorating a house and 75,000 is my furniture budget, some stairs...

"I can't just go writing cheques for 75,000 in this economy," added the ten-time Grand Slam champion, a 24-million-dollar woman over the course of her career.

Williams insisted with some bravado that she would aim to play both singles and doubles at the French Open, starting a week from Sunday.

Williams has not won a match since April 2 in a Miami semi-final over her sister Venus.

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Italy is hoping the Williams sisters decide to skip the Fed Cup final in November. Either way, though, the 2006 champions plan to host the United States in the best-of-five series on the slowest clay they can find.

"I hope the Williams sisters don't come," Italy captain Corrado Barazzutti told The Associated Press on Tuesday. "If they do come, we'll try to beat them. It's not impossible on clay. (Flavia) Pennetta has already beaten Venus more than once."

The 14th-ranked Pennetta beat Venus Williams twice last year _ including a victory at the French Open _ although Venus won their last two meetings.

Italy beat Russia 4-1 and the United States edged the Czech Republic 3-2 in the semifinals last weekend. The Williams sisters _ Venus and Serena _ skipped the trip to Brno, and Fed Cup rookies Alexa Glatch and Bethanie Mattek-Sands lined up for United States captain Mary Joe Fernandez.

The Nov. 7-8 final immediately follows the season-ending WTA Championships in Doha, and Barazzutti expects the Williams sisters to play there. Italy would like to host the final in the south to play outdoors on slow clay to soften the impact of the Williams sister's fierce groundstrokes.

"We're definitely going to play on clay _ very slow clay _ and if possible, outdoors," Barazzutti said. "First we need to determine if we can play outdoors, then we'll choose the most uncomfortable setting possible. Uncomfortable in the sense that it suits us and not the Americans."

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