Black Tennis Pros

USA's Serena Williams waves to the crowd after effectively dismissing Serbia's Jelena Jankovic 6-1, 6-3.

With big sister Venus and America's First Lady, Michelle Obama, cheering her on, Serena Williams easily defeated Serbia's Jelena Jankovic 6-3, 6-1, and advanced to round two of the 2012 Olympic Games.


Just weeks after claiming victory in Wimbledon stadium for the 2012 Wimbledon Championships, Serena returns to the same stadium in pursuit of another Gold Medal to add to the impressive array of trophies and titles she has already earned.

Serena represented the USA proudly in a red, white and blue outfit with a red Nike headband adorning her hair.

Jankovic showcased some impressive shots and aces during the match, but none of it was sufficient to counter the powerful strategic game that Serena very effectively produced in a brief 61 minutes.

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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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As unlikely as it seemed in the beginning, American sisters Venus and Serena Williams will appear in yet another final, this one being that of the year-end Sony Ericsson Championships.

As defending champion, older sister Venus had a hard time sinking her teeth into this tournament and it was the actual performance of others in the Maroon Group, Russians Svetlana Kuznetsova and Elena Dementieva, that allowed Venus to ascend to the semifinals.

Against Serbian Jelena Jankovic in Saturday's final, Venus came out strong but was not able to hold on to the first set. More consistent play and some impressive serving propelled Venus to a 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 win.

Serena has literally sailed through the tournament undefeated and had no problem making her way to the final. The semifinal against Caroline Wozniacki even provided a little more breathing time as the high-spirited Dane retired at 6-4, 0-1.

For big fans of the sisters, such as myself, the title will remain in the family for at least another year.

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In what was one of the strangest retirements from a match that I've ever witnessed, on Wednesday at the Sony Ericsson Championships during a second round match between Russian Dinara Safina and Serbian Jelena Jankovic, a sobbing and clearly overwhelmed Dinara Safina simply began crying, walked over to the official, retired, shook her opponents hand and made her way off court. It was heart wrenching to see.

We were later informed that she had been struggling with a back injury for three months and had been taking cortisone injections.

Safina said she will be sidelined for at least six weeks and is struggling to compete in the opening grand slam of 2010 in Australia.

"My body just gave up. I did everything possible to play. I went to have a cortisone injection, but I couldn't handle the pain anymore," Safina told reporters.

Hopefully she will have a speedy recovery.

On the flip side, the woman that caused all kind of ruckus earlier this year when she stated "we all know who the real number one is, will indeed be the real world number 1, again, come Monday, November 2.

After playing a very tight match against big sister Venus, and then being asked if she knew that she would regain the number one ranking Serena said," It's a great feeling to be world number one, but I feel really sorry for Dinara. She's a great player and never gives up."

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In first round action at the Bank Of The West Classic, Stanford, California today, Serbian Jelena Jankovic brought the rain and five aces today as she defeated American Angela Haynes 6-3, 6-1.

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American Serena Williams may have left the Andalucia Tennis Experience tournament, but not Marbella, Spain. According to the tournament website, she is fully taking advantage of her days in Marbella to get to know the Andalusian culture first hand. In a day dominated by sun and great climate, Serena did not want to miss the chance to follow a performance by horses from the Royal Andalusian School of Equestrian Art and enjoyed the dance of these thoroughbreds on the beach. Serena was delighted by their beautiful dance and didn't hesitate posing for a pictures with them.


In the evening, flamenco was a central part of the official party of the Andalucía Tennis Experience first edition. During the performance, Serena was thrilled with how the dancers moved and accompanied them with hand clapping. Other famous faces to attend the show were Serbian, Jelena Jankovic, the Spanish medal winners in Peking, Virginia Ruano and Anabel Medina.

Jelena Jankovic, Serbia (far right)

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KEY BISCAYNE, FL - MARCH 25: Serena Williams and other ladies of the WTA talk to the media during day three of the Sony Ericsson Open at the Crandon Park Tennis Center on March 25.

Ana Ivanovic, Serbia

Venus Williams, USA

Vera Zvonareva, Russia

Photos by Al Bello/Getty Images

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