Black Tennis Pros

American Venus Williams will be leaving Moscow, Russia almost as swiftly as she arrived. The Kremlin Cup will not be hers to celebrate as she was knocked out of contention by Italy's Flavia Pennetta. Pennetta defeated Venus 6-4, 2-6, 6-4.

"I totally came here because I love winning. I have never won this title, but I just had a day where I could not control my game. She played well."

Well, at least she seems, as usual, to have a good head about it. Life goes on.

Photo Getty Images

American Venus Williams had to wave goodbye to the fans at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart, Germany, and the beautiful red Porsche 911 Carrera 4S Cabrio as well. Granted, she can probably afford any car that she wants, but it is a nice prize.

Serbian Jelena Jankovic, who became the World No. 1 today, defeated Venus 6-7(8), 7-5, 2-6.

Venus began the match very well and it appeared that no matter what Jankovic did, she would not be able to overcome Venus' game. But for whatever reason, mid-way through the second set Venus' game began to break down on all fronts. Her serve and forehand in particular really got out of rhythm.

Venus said, "she played well and I made too many errors, but I played some good points, too. It was a good competition."

Venus will compete for the Kremlin Cup this week, sister Serena withdrew with an ankle injury.

As much as I would love to have seen American Serena Williams continue her dominance over Russian Elena Dementieva and win the Kremlin Cup, she was clearly out played; and to the victor goes the spoils.

Now let me say that of all the women on Tour, Elena is one of my favorites. She has a rotten serve, a fabulous ground game and a wonderful personality. She's been laughed at by the crowd when virtually double faulting a match away, yet she continues to play each ball as if that awful serve did not just happen. She seems to be a very friendly young woman and always has a lovely smile on her face. This woman is as tough as they come, especially in light of that rotten serve.

Today was Elena's first win over Serena and her first major title at home in Russia. Congratulations Elena!

Serena did not look sharp at all today, I don't know if something was wrong, or if it was just a rough day at the office. Whatever it was, she made it to the finals and had a good week. She's already locked up a place in the year-end championships and has plenty of time to bone up.

Keep your head up Serena, your next win is probably only a set away.

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Elena Dementieva Kremlin Cup

American Serena Williams turned the beat around on Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova with a 7-6(2), 6-1 win .

Serena put early pressure on the No. 2-ranked Kuznetsova, breaking her in the third game of the first set. But Kuznetsova leveled at 4-4 after Williams netted an easy forehand on the third break point.

Williams dominated the tiebreaker, going up 3-0 and 6-1 before clinching the first set.

The No. 7-ranked Williams then broke Kuznetsova in the second and fifth games of the second set to win in 1 hour, 28 minutes.

Williams has not dropped a set on the way to her third final this season. The eight-time Grand Slam champion is playing in Moscow for the first time in a decade.

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Svetlana Kuznetsova

Frenchmen Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Sebastien Grosjean fought Russians Marat Safin and Dmitry Tursunov to the bitter end, but to no avail. Safin and Tursunov took the prize at 7-6(5), 6-4.

The two teams duked it out in short order, the match was over in 94 minutes.

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Jo-Wilfried Tsonga
ATP Masters Series Madrid Kremlin Cup Doubles

American Serena Williams showed Nicole Vaidisova of the Czech Republic where the exit is in Moscow, on the strings of her racquet!

Just moments ago Serena defeated Nicole 6-4, 7-6(7). The world no. 7 and that mighty serve of hers pounded Nicole with 11 aces. As you can see by the score, Nicole didn't go politely. She was dead in there with Serena toe-to-toe until the very end, there are only a few points between them. Nonetheless, Serena walks away with the win and a ticket to the semifinals.

Awaiting Serena in the semifinals is Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova.

"Tomorrow it will be a tough match," Kuznetsova said of her first Kremlin Cup semifinal match. "Williams is improving her form and is tough at the end of the season."

You've got your work cut out for you Serena!

Earlier today American Serena Williams advanced to the quarterfinals of the Kremlin Cup by beating Tatiana Perebiynis of the Ukraine 7-5, 6-4.

Perebiynis saved three match points before Williams won with a powerful backhand.

"I don't I think I've played up to my standards today but I was glad to get through," Williams said.

The French doubles team of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Sebastien Grojean are making noise at the Kremlin Cup. The duo defeated the team of Daniel Nestor of Canada and Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia 5-7, 6-4, 11-9. They moved into the quarterfinals where they will meet the Russian team of Marat Safin and Dmitry Tursunov.

Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga fell to a man seeking to defend his title, Russian Nikolay Davydenko. The top seed has been paying attention to Tsonga, and it paid off. Davydenko took Tsongo out 7-6(0), 6-2.

After trading breaks early in the first set, the defending champion won the tiebreaker without his French opponent scoring a point. Fourth-ranked Davydenko twice broke Tsonga in the second set to close the indoor carpet match.

"I was preparing myself for his style of playing, however, he was not playing this way, making life much easier for me today."




Tsonga And Grosjean Prevail In Doubles

Tsonga may have been bounced out of the singles, but he and fellow Frenchman Sebastien Grosjean defeated the German team of Philipp Kohlschreiber and Michael Berrer 6-3, 5-7, 10-4.

Round 1 - Singles

James Blake, USA vs Jonas Borkman, SWE
















Round 1 - Singles

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, FRA, vs Nikolay Davydenko, RUS

Round 1 - Doubles

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, FRA and Sebastien Grosjean, FRA
vs
Michael Berrer, GER and Philipp Kolschreiber, GER