Black Tennis Pros

Back to making history...@SerenaWilliams continues to build on her record over active WTA players. pic.twitter.com/GaZW2e0AlN

— Tennis Channel (@TennisChannel) February 19, 2019

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Wow, wow, and just wow.  World No. 1 Serena Williams has nothing left to prove, yet she continues to prove over and over again that she is indeed the undisputed queen of the courts.

The 33-year-old Williams entered the Rod Laver Arena along with her championship-match-opponent, Russian Maria Sharapova, appearing as confident as she has been throughout this tournament ~ all in the midst of suffering with a cold.

Serena is self possessed at this time of her career in a way that she has not been in earlier years. She is a truly incredible athlete to watch as she continues to mature in the sport that she has virtually owned for such a long time now.

In winning her 19th Grand Slam singles title, she defeated Sharapova 6-3, 7-6(5) for the 16th consecutive time.

The legendary tennis star is incredible to watch as she simply will not bow down to age, new talent, or even illness. The lady is simply poetry in motion.

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Heather Watson of Great Britain against Na Li of China on day one of the 2012 US Open at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.

Two months after becoming the first British woman for 10 years to reach the third round at Wimbledon, Heather Watson lasted just 81 minutes on the first day of the US Open here yesterday.

The 20-year-old from Guernsey, who was overpowered 6-2, 6-3 by China's Li Na, held on until mid-afternoon thanks only to a lengthy rain delay.

If Watson took advantage of a favourable draw at the All England Club – her first two opponents were both ranked outside the world's top 50 –fortune was not on her side here. Li, the world No 8, has been the outstanding player on the north American hard-court circuit this summer, reaching the final at Montreal and then winning at Cincinnati to secure her first title since last year's French Open.

She had too much firepower for Watson, who never looked like threatening the 30-year-old Chinese in the way she had troubled Maria Sharapova last year, when the Briton went within six points of causing one of the shocks of the tournament. Striking the ball beautifully from the back of the court, Li cracked 28 winners to Watson's 10 and broke serve five times.

At least it will not be the end of the tournament for Watson, who is playing doubles here with New Zealand's Marina Erakovic. They have won two doubles titles together this summer, in Stanford and Dallas.

"I'm happy with how I played," Watson said afterwards. "I even feel I played better today than I did last year against Maria. I don't think it was Maria's best match last year, but today Li Na was on another level. She was hitting winners off balls I wouldn't think you could hit winners off, hitting lots of lines. She had a really high first-serve percentage and she just played better tennis. She played like a Grand Slam champion."

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Maria Sharapova, RUS

Heather Watson made Arthur Ashe Stadium her stage as she pushed third seed Maria Sharapova all the way in an enthralling first-round match at the US Open.

The 19-year-old from Guernsey led by a set and a break early in the second set and kept battling with the 2006 champion right up until Sharapova clinched a 3-6 7-5 6-3 victory after two hours and 34 minutes. It was Watson's first appearance in the main draw at the US Open, two years after she won the junior title.

She said: "I had a lot of fun. It's what I want to do. I want to be out there on the big courts playing the top players. It was a really great match, very competitive. We played some really great tennis. I had my chances in the second set. You have to create the opportunity but also execute, and I was probably a bit too defensive on those important points."

Watson added: "But I always believed I could win. There's no point in my going out there if I don't believe that I can win.

"I just wanted to make every ball, make her play every ball, and just fight. Because Maria's a fighter. She's never going to give up. That's what makes her a champion. That's why she's won this tournament before.

"I absolutely loved the atmosphere. I thought everyone was going to be supporting Maria. She's won here before. She's been number one in the world. I had a lot of support. I heard some people calling me Cinderella, all sorts of stuff. And just when they were chanting my name, I kind of got the goosebumps. I thought, 'Stay calm, focus on the match.'"

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MIAMI (Reuters) - World number one Serena Williams has pulled out of next week's Sony Ericsson Open due to a knee injury, organizers said on Friday.

The American's withdrawal is another blow to the tournament after former Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova and world number two Dinara Safina had already pulled out.

Williams has won the Key Biscayne event five times.

Venus Williams and Svetlana Kuznetsova headline the women's field while the men's top three -- Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Rafa Nadal are joined by American Andy Roddick and defending champion Andy Murray.

The men's competition will be without fifth-ranked Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina due to a wrist injury.

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HONG KONG — American champion Venus Williams beat teenaged Danish sensation Caroline Wozniacki in a Hong Kong exhibition match Thursday which was shortened to one set because of rain.

Williams, 29, got off to a slow start, trailing the 19-year-old Wozniacki 3-1 before a series of aces and blistering groundstrokes helped her pull ahead, winning the set 6-4.

Williams, a seven time Grand Slam winner, said she was happy with her performance against the Dane, who is ranked fourth in the world.

"I felt pretty good playing against such a competitive player," Williams told reporters.

"She plays so well."

The American struggled for much of 2009, losing her Wimbledon crown to sister Serena and then crashing out of the Beijing Open in October.

Earlier Thursday, Belarussian Victoria Azarenka, 20, beat Argentine Gisela Dulko, 24, by a 6-1 margin.


The Hong Kong tournament features four teams with three players each -- representing Russia, Europe, the Americas and Asia Pacific -- in singles and mixed doubles play. The tournament wraps up Saturday.

On Wednesday, former world number one Russian Maria Sharapova pulled off a comeback win against China's Zheng Jie 6-7, 6-4, 6-2, while Russia's Vera Zvonareva easily overpowered Japanese newcomer Ayumi Morita, beating her 6-2, 6-2 in just over an hour.

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I love the way American Venus Williams nearly takes Russian Maria Sharapova's head off at the Bank of the West Classic Friday night, then waves as if she's a delicate flower in a beauty pageant.

Venus stepped onto the Stanford, California court with her eye on the ball and didn't take it off until she had picked Sharapova apart in a straight sets 6-2, 6-2 win.

Can you spell s-m-a-c-k-d-o-w-n Maria? Wow!

One of the more interesting aspects to me was the pre-match hype of a showdown. Have those who thought that it would be such seen Sharapova play lately?

I had no idea that Venus would come out and clean girlies clock like that, but I definitely didn't see Sharapova taking Venus out.

Post match Venus said, "I enjoy playing against Maria, one of my favorite matchups. Her game matches up well for my game."

"I thought I could have played a little more consistently, but I guess I can't complain too much," Venus said.

"She did many things better than I did today," Sharapova said. "She was just aggressive the whole way through."

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WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — Defending champion Serena Williams and four other past winners, including her sister Venus and wild-card entry Kim Clijsters, are in the provisional women's field for the U.S. Open.

Ninety-nine of the top 100 women in the current WTA rankings received direct entry Thursday into the hard-court Grand Slam tournament, played Aug. 31 to Sept. 13 in New York. The one missing is No. 88 Nathalie Dechy of France, who announced her retirement this week.

Serena Williams will be bidding for her fourth U.S. Open championship and third major title of 2009, after those at the Australian Open in January and Wimbledon this month. She owns 11 Grand Slam singles titles overall, most among active players.

Clijsters will be playing at Flushing Meadows for the first time since winning her only major title at the 2005 U.S. Open. She is making a comeback after retiring in 2007.

She asked the U.S. Tennis Association for a wild card and was granted one. To prepare for the U.S. Open, the 26-year-old Belgian — who is married and has a daughter — will be playing in WTA hard-courts events at Cincinnati and Toronto.

The other past U.S. Open champions in the field are Venus Williams (2000-01), Svetlana Kuznetsova (2004) and Maria Sharapova (2006). Other Grand Slam singles title winners in the field are Amelie Mauresmo and Ana Ivanovic.

Kuznetsova also won this year's French Open, beating No. 1-ranked Dinara Safina in the final.

Safina is atop the list of 104 direct entries. They'll be joined in the 128-player field by the eight women (including Clijsters) who receive wild cards and the 16 who will earn berths in Aug. 25-28 qualifying.

The provisional men's field was announced Wednesday, led by five-time defending champion Roger Federer.

The winners of the U.S. Open men's and women's singles title will each receive a record $1.6 million.

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MIAMI - MARCH 25: Sony Ericsson Open players and others arrive on the red carpet of the Liv Nightclub at the Fountainbleu Hotel in Miami, Florida.

Rafael Nadal, Spain

Serena Williams, USA

Agnieszka Radwanska, Poland

Producer Wyclef Jean

Jelena Jankovic, Serbia

Vania King, USA

Novak Djokovic, Serbia

Bethanie Mattek-Sands, USA

Dominika Cibulkova, Slovakia

Maria Sharapova, Russia

Actress Megan Goode and football player Thomas Jones

Mary-Joe Fernandez, U. S. Fed Cup Captain

Caroline Wozniacki, Denmark

Fernando Verdasco, Spain

Singer Santigold

Ryan Sweeting, Bahamas

Photos by
Marc Serota/Getty Images for Sony Ericsson
WireImage

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Actor Daniel Sunjata

Photos WireImage

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