Black Tennis Pros

2012 Olympics Women's Doubles Gold Medalists USA's Venus and Serena Williams

Russians Nadia Petrova and Maria Kirilenko, Americans Venus and Serena Williams, and  Lucie Hradecka, and Andrea Hlavackoa of the Czech Republic Photos by Getty Images

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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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In round one of doubles action at the Australian Open today, a capacity crowd watched American powerhouse sisters Venus and Serena Williams very easily dispatch the Russian team of Svetlana Kuznetsova and Nadia Petrova. In just over an hour the Williams sisters defeated them 6-3, 6-1.

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Bummer!

Just as the Jelena Jankovic vs. Vera Zvonareva match was wrapping up and I was all tuned in and ready for Serena Williams vs. Elena Dementieva, the commentator reports that Nadia Petrova will be playing Dementieva because of Serena withdrawing.

After being taken to the woodshed by big sis Venus on Thursday, I was aching to see Serena do what she does best, beat the odds. I expected to see her come out firing on all cylinders today, whizzing high powered serves by Dementieva's head.

In her press conference Serena said, "I felt I didn’t serve well, I had a lot of double faults. Looking back I think maybe that’s why I was doing it because I didn’t feel it at the time."

“I think I might have been over-compensating, but the moment I got home I did feel pain. When I woke up around 2pm I was still in pain just getting out of bed.”

"When I practiced I was in pain when I played the groundstrokes so I didn't want to risk it."

Oh well, hope she feels better soon.



On another note, from this day forward I shall no longer think of Vera "crying game" Zvonereva. After today's effort I shall think of Vera "got game" Zvonareva.

What a hustler!

Zvonareva hit the courts today and proved that she has serious metal. She wasn't dependent upon luck or mistakes from Jankovic to win the match and the White Group. Zvonareva blasted back from losing the first set and took it to the World No. 1 in very impressive style.

I had somewhat written Zvonareva off a couple of years ago, but she renewed my faith in her game today. Good to see her in such good form...work it out Zvonareva!

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