Black Tennis Pros

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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DOHA, Qatar (AP) — Serena Williams bested big sister Venus again Sunday, winning 6-2, 7-6 (4) in the season-ending Sony Ericsson Championships final.


Serena broke twice in the first set and lost just seven points on serve in her last match of the year. She looked sharper than Venus in every facet of a match that featured few long rallies and little of the spectacular tennis the two have provided in some of their previous meetings.

Serena sealed the match with a crosscourt forehand winner, and celebrated calmly with a simple fist pump before hugging her sister at the net.

"It feels great," said Serena, who also won the WTA Tour's season-ending event in 2001. "I totally didn't expect to come here and win."

It was Serena's fourth straight win over her sister. She also beat Venus in the round-robin stage of the Doha tournament, the Wimbledon final and the semifinals in Miami this year. She leads their head-to-head record 13-10.

"Playing a final against Venus is really tough," Serena said. "Even though she wasn't really feeling great, she kept hitting every ball back."

Serena earned $1.55 million for the win after finishing the event undefeated. She also clinched the year-end No. 1 ranking earlier this week after Dinara Safina of Russia pulled out injured in her first match.

The tournament featured the eight top-ranked women in the world divided into two groups, with the semifinalsts decided by a round-robin stage.

Venus lost two of her three round-robin matches but still advanced. The defending champion looked tired after rallying for a three-set win over Jelena Jankovic on Saturday, and each of her other group matches went three sets.

She played with her left knee strapped while Serena had strapping on her left thigh.

"It was the end of the season, so I have no complaints," Venus said about her fitness level. "You have to show up and play no matter what. So that had nothing to do with it."

Serena, who advanced after U.S. Open finalist Caroline Wozniacki retired injured in the semifinals, held five of her last seven service games at love and lost just one point in each of the other two.

It was her third tournament win of the season after Wimbledon and the Australian Open.

"I haven't won a tournament that wasn't a Grand Slam in a while, so that was even more exciting," she said. "My losing streak in (other) tournaments in over."

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LONDON (AP) — Richard Gasquet escaped a lengthy doping ban Wednesday when the International Tennis Federation ruled that he inadvertently took cocaine.

The 23-year-old Frenchman, who was cleared to resume playing after completing a 2 1/2-month ban Wednesday, convinced an independent anti-doping tribunal that he ingested cocaine by kissing a woman he met at a nightclub in Miami.

The tribunal panel of three lawyers said Gasquet consumed no more than "a grain of salt" of the drug, and a long ban would be an injustice in a case which was "unusual to the point of being probably unique."

"We have found the player to be a person who is shy and reserved, honest and truthful, and a man of integrity and good character," the tribunal said in its ruling.

The ITF, which had sought a two-year ban under the terms of the World Anti-Doping Agency's code, was told to impose a retroactive ban of two months, 15 days. The ban ended Wednesday morning, clearing 32nd-ranked Gasquet to resume playing.

Gasquet tested positive in a urine sample in March after he pulled out of the Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida, with a shoulder injury.

After deciding to withdraw from the tournament he went to a nightclub with friends to see a French DJ perform at a Miami dance music festival, which the tribunal noted was "notoriously associated with use of illegal recreational drugs including cocaine."

Gasquet told the tribunal hearing held in London last month that he kissed a woman, identified in the ruling only as "Pamela."

The tribunal said it was likely she had consumed cocaine during the night, though it had no direct evidence.

Gasquet was "on the balance of probability, contaminated with cocaine by Pamela" and, therefore, not significantly at fault for the doping offense, the ruling said.

"We take into account that the amount of cocaine in the player's body was so small that if he had been tested only a few hours later, his test result would be likely to have been negative," the tribunal stated.

Gasquet also argued at the hearing that his positive test was given after he had pulled out of the Key Biscayne tournament. Cocaine is a banned drug for athletes in competition.

The tribunal said Gasquet's rights to practice his profession would be infringed by a one-year suspension, though it was required to find that a doping offense was committed.

It also noted that Gasquet would be banned for life if he tested positive for a banned drug a second time.

The ruling allowed the Frenchman to keep the ranking points and prize money he gained at tournaments in April.

The ITF provisionally suspended Gasquet when the test result was announced in May and he was forced to miss the French Open and Wimbledon. His ranking has since dropped nine places.

The ruling can be appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport within three weeks.

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Not only did American Serena Williams lose in the first round of the Andalucia Tennis Experience in Marbella, Spain on Wednesday, she will also fall out of the World No. 1 spot come Monday, April 20; Russian Dinara Safina will take over. Serena lost to Klara Zakopalova of the Czech Republic 6-4, 3-6, 6-1.

Serena's left leg remained taped as it was in the Sony Ericsson Open Championship match on Saturday. Her movement appeared to be the same, and I can't imagine that the change of surface with very little practice helped. Although, had Serena been one hundred percent, she still would have had to contend with a very well prepared Zakopalova who was not having any trouble with the clay surface. Zakopalova's shots were nowhere near as powerful as Serena's, but her movement was better, and shot placement more accurate.

Afterwards Serena said, “I am very sad about my defeat, in every moment I wanted to play my best tennis, but due to my injury I could not perform better”.

Serena also stated that at no point had she regretted coming to the tournament and she profoundly regretted saying goodbye to her numerous fans in Spain.


Serena Williams Shopping In Marbella

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After a couple of weeks on the grind at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, Venus and Serena Williams got in some real play time at the beach.

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World No. 1 American Serena Williams gets major cool points from me for her efforts today.

With a heavily strapped left thigh, injured Serena did not default because of the injury that she appeared to have aggravated while playing sister Venus in the semifinals; she came out, competed as best she could and let the chips fall where they may. They fell in her defeat.

Belarusian Victoria Azarenka did what she should have done, take advantage of the fact that she had the World No. 1 player in a position of limited mobility - it's all in the game.

Azarenka placed shots far beyond Serena's restricted reach and attempted to move her around the rest of the time. That had to be Azarenka's game plan because Serena was definitely in no danger of losing based upon Azarenka's serve. Serena responded where she could, but in a lot of instances she simply allowed the balls to fly by.

Azarenka eventually "won" the match 6-3, 6-1.

Victoria Azarenka, Belarus, Serena Williams, USA

Seeing how badly Serena began to yield to her injured leg on Thursday, I didn't anticipate a vibrant Serena coming out for the final, so I wasn't disappointed. Hopefully she will heal soon.

Photos by Getty Images

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On Thursday evening American sisters Venus and Serena Williams provided scintillating rallies as the two battled for a slot in the Sony Ericsson Open Women's Final on Saturday, April 4.

Maintaining her World No. 1 status while securing her place in the championship match, Serena defeated World No. 6 Venus 6-4, 3-6, 6-3. The sisters now stand at an even 10-10 in their 20 meetings.


Of the sister's record Serena said, "I definitely knew about it. It's definitely good to even it up. I would love to be in the lead again."

While moderately entertaining, this match was filled with errors. Venus suffered six double faults and the biggest serving players in women's tennis served just above average (for them of course). Additionally, somewhere in the midst of the second set Serena began to have a slight limp, which by mid third set was very apparent. Nonetheless, she soldiered on and ran down every ball that came back across the net.

"Venus never gives up," said Serena. "She gets a lot of balls back and has a massive serve. Just when you get her down she gets an extra umph and plays extra hard. You can't lose focus at all, especially when you're up. You have to actually play better when you're in the lead."

"It was a well fought match," said Venus. "I definitely would have liked to get a few more points off my serve. I think my serve wasn't going as well as I wanted today. But she brought a lot have balls back and played tough. I did the best I could today. I'm just looking to do better always."

"I'm excited because I was thinking that I would love to remain No. 1, so obviously I was really excited about that," said Serena. "I mean, I think I was more happy about that than winning the match at the end."

Serena will meet Victoria Azarenka in the final. The two last played one another in January at the Australian Open at which time Azarenka retired. With regard to meeting Azarenka again Serena said, "She played me really, really tough in Australia. She was not feeling great, but I thought she did a pretty good job."

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KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. (AP) -- Venus and Serena Williams say they've seen little of each other the past week because of their busy schedules. That will change Thursday night, when they meet in the semifinals at the Sony Ericsson Open.

The 20th showdown between the sisters ensures a finalist from the family Saturday. The Williamses have won eight of the past 11 Key Biscayne titles.

"I believe we are the best in the world," Venus said. "I enjoy playing Serena because we challenge each other the most."

"I'm always going to be up for V, because she's playing really well and always playing me super tough," top-ranked Serena said.

She advanced first Wednesday, overcoming a dismal start to beat unseeded Na Li 4-6, 7-6 (1), 6-2. Five hours later she was joined in the semis by No. 5-seeded Venus, who beat No. 26 Iveta Benesova 6-1, 6-4.

Venus leads the Williams family rivalry 10-9. She has won the past two meetings and has a 2-1 advantage at Key Biscayne.

"Playing her, it's like I have to automatically be on a different level, because she's already playing on a different level," Serena said. "Her balls are harder and her serve is way bigger. And it's super fun to hit these serves that are like 120 mph. It's frustrating but at the same time fun."

If Venus wins, she'll knock her kid sister out of the top ranking. Serena must reach the final to keep No. 2 Dinara Safina from overtaking her.

Venus has three titles in the tournament, but the most recent came in 2001. Serena seeks her sixth Key Biscayne title, which would break the record she shares with Steffi Graf.

The bid nearly ended against Li, who raced to a 5-0 lead while Serena looked lethargic in the 80-degree sunshine. Several times she declined to chase shots that seemed within reach.

"Wake up!" one spectator shouted.

"Maybe I was tired, but that's still not an excuse really," Serena said. "I definitely wasn't moving my feet at all. I just wasn't doing anything that made a lot of sense at all."

Midway through the first set, Richard Williams left his seat in the stands and positioned himself courtside near the baseline. He's the sisters' coach as well as their dad, and while he said little, he lifted Serena's spirits.

"I just felt like he was there really supporting, and I felt the support more when he was up close as opposed to in the stands," she said. "I just felt like I could take it up to another level."

She did, moving better and punctuating her shots with more emphatic grunts as the match slowly swung her way. There were no service breaks in the second set, but the unseeded Li failed to convert six break-point chances. The last came at 5-all, and Serena erased it with a service winner.

Li made things easy for Serena in the tiebreak by committing six unforced errors. As the third set began to slip away from Li, she vented her frustration by slamming a ball against the backstop on the far end of the court.

"I gave her the tiebreak," Li said. "I couldn't focus in the final set. After she won the second set, I didn't think I had a chance."

Li double-faulted on break point to fall behind 2-1, part of a stretch where Serena won 16 points in a row en route to a 5-1 lead. Serena closed out the victory with a service winner.

"The whole match is still an F," she said. "I'm glad to have gotten through."

Venus' victory was more straightforward, although she had a brief lapse in the second set when she fell behind 3-love. Smacking serves at up to 120 mph, she hit eight aces and won 21 of 26 first-serve points.

"I rely on my serve a lot -- sometimes too much," Venus said.

She's 15-1 this year, while Serena is 20-2 and won her 10th Grand Slam title in January at the Australian Open. Venus has been the more consistent Williams in the past week, while Serena managed the curious feat of reaching the semifinals despite losing five consecutive games three times in her past two matches.

"I need to be more consistent in my play," Serena said. "I don't have to be out there going three sets. That's what I think it tells me more than anything."

She improved her record at Key Biscayne to 51-5, with one loss since 2001 -- to her sister.

Photos by Getty Images

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Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was unable to continue the dominance that he has recently had over Serbian Novak Djokovic at the Sony Ericsson Open on Wednesday. Prior to this match Tsonga had a 4-1 control over their meetings.

Tsonga, who hasn't looked his best throughout this tournament, played an error filled game that presented a number of break opportunities to Djokovic. Djokovic capitalized on one of those opportunities and went on to take the first set.

Tsonga attempted to elevate his game in the second set, but to no real advantage. Djokovic won the match 6-3, 6-4.

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Don't tell me Serena doesn't take her tennis career seriously!

Three successive days of play may place wear and tear on the body, but not on the iron will of Americans Venus and Serena Williams. The sisters walked away winners on Monday, as well as quarterfinalists at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami.

Up first was Venus against Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska, the two battled it out for over two hours. Radwanska was able to take advantage of Venus getting a slow start and took the first set. As she has done time and time again, Venus pulled it together and took the next two sets, defeating Radwanska 4-6, 6-1, 6-4.

Post match Venus said, "Every now and then everybody has those kinds of matches. I was hitting really well in the practice. Came out, and things weren't going the way I imagined they would, but that's tennis.

"I just had a lot of errors. Seemed like when I had the winner it became an error. On days like that, you just kind of have to let the errors go behind you and still continue to play aggressively and not pull back. Fortunately I've had experiences like that before, and thankfully I know how to get through it."

Venus will next face Iveta Benesova of the Czech Republic.

Venus Williams, USA

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On Sunday Frenchman Gael Monfils and Russian Marat Safin played the best match of the Sony Ericsson Open thus far hands down. Okay, of all the matches I've seen - which has been most.

Monfils and Safin took fans through damn near every emotion possible - joy, pain, anger, elation, anticipation, and on and on and on. I was so glad when it was over, I couldn't take any more.

To achieve the victory Monfils rallied from 2-5 down in the third set, and saved two match points on his way to a win that concluded the only way that it could have... in a tiebreak. Fortunately for Monfils and very unfortunately for Safin, Safin's serve went way south during the tiebreak.

After nearly three hours Monfils defeated Safin 5-7, 7-5, 7-6(3).

Of his performance, Monfils said, “It wasn't a good match for me today, I played very badly. I mean, I just survived. I never give up on the court. I had luck because he missed two shots on his match point, but purely tennistically [sic] it was very empty today. Nothing. Maybe I have a good serve sometime.”

And you drove those of us watching nuts!! But congratulation nonetheless.

Next up for Monfils is American Andy Roddick in the round of 16.

Marat Safin, Russia

Photos by Getty Images

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American James Blake played a very competitive match and hit some of his usual amazing shots against Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic at the Sony Ericsson Open on Sunday, but it wasn't enough.

At the end of the impressive shot-making contest, Tomas Berdych walked away with the win defeating Blake 6-4, 6-7(3), 6-3.

I have other thoughts on the matter, but the picture says it all.

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Sunday was neither a day of rest or salvation for top players Dinara Safina, Ana Ivanovic, Vera Zvonareva or Nadia Petrova. Each player was knocked out in the third round of the Sony Ericsson Open.

Americans Venus and Serena Williams did not fall victim to the Sunday blues of the other ladies. Both Venus and Serena displayed convincing wins as they moved into the round of 16.

German Anna-Lena Groenefeld fell in straight sets to Venus 7-5, 6-3, and China's Shuai Peng did likewise to Serena 7-5, 6-2.


Up next for Venus is Poland's Agnieszka Radwanska and Serena will play China's Jie Zheng.





In a fairly routine victory, Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga knocked out American qualifier Robert Kendrick 7-5, 6-4.

Tsonga will confront fellow Frenchman Gilles Simon in the round of 16.

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American sisters Venus and Serena Williams opened their bid for the Sony Ericsson Open title with victories over Israeli Shahar Peer and American Alexa Glatch.

Serena is currently tied with German Steffi Graff as a five-time title holder of the Sony Ericsson Open tournament. Should she defend her title, she would set a record at six.

As expected, Serena's match with Glatch posed little difficulty. In just over an hour she took the match 6-2, 6-3.

“I think Alexa played well today. I thought she had a really good game to watch, a really different game. You don't see that type of tennis being played too much, since a few years, or several years. I think she has a really good game. She's really young, so she has a bright future.

“I think I played okay. I definitely think I could have played better. But just a little jitters going out there, the first round no one wants to go out.”

Later on big sister Venus hit the courts and had to work a bit before she got into her stride, Peer initially went up 3-0.

Post match Venus said, "At that point I'm thinking I've got to get started. It was only one break, and I haven't played in almost four weeks, so just a little bit of a slow start. But I always felt confident."

Venus and Serena are on opposite sides of the draw, but in the same half, which sets up the possibility of them meeting in the semifinals.

Of that potential meeting Venus said, "she's obviously a great player and if I can beat her, then that means I'm on top of the game, so I hope we can meet in the semifinals."

Photos by Getty Images

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The always heavily gunned Frenchman Gael Monfils pulled out a well contested match against American qualifier Michael Russell at the Sony Ericsson Open on Friday. Monfils rode nine aces, along with six double faults, to a 6-2, 6-7 (5-7), 6-3 victory.

Fellow Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga made quick work of his opponent Argentine Agustin Calleri. In just under an hour Tsonga defeated Calleri 6-1, 6-1.

Keeping the numbers even in just over an hour, American James Blake defeated Frenchman Julien Benneteau 6-4, 6-4.

The three gentlemen advanced to the third round where Monfils will face Russian Marat Safin, Tsonga will oppose American Robert Kendrick and Blake's opponent will be Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic.

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CORRECTION: This is NOT Russian Dinara Safina. While the photo houses have it labeled as such, the very sharp eye of Facebook friend Molly James correctly identified the photo as Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland.


Whoaaaaa!

I usually upload these photos, publish the post and that's that. However, an entire day later I am still looking at Russian Dinara Safina. When I originally posted the photos I was reluctant to put her name under the picture because I didn't think that it was her.

This young lady totally morphed into a glamazon! Her glam squad deserves every nickle. She even made sure not to have the "sock feet" that a number of other ladies neglected to address, and you all know who you are.

Very impressive - kudos Safina!

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KEY BISCAYNE - MARCH 24: Fernando Gonzalez (C), Jo-Wilfred Tsonga (L) and Nenad Zimonjic (R) feed the dolphins at the Miami Seaquarium prior to the Sony Ericsson Open on March 24, 2009 in Key Biscayne, Florida.

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WTA

SINGLES

Round 1

Serena Williams, USA vs. BYE

Venus Williams, USA vs. BYE


Round 2

Serena Williams, USA defeated (WC) Alexa Glatch, USA
6-2, 6-3

Venus Williams, USA defeated Shahar Peer, ISR
6-3, 6-3


Round 3

Serena Williams, USA defeated Shuai Peng, CHN
7-5, 6-2

Venus Williams, USA defeated Anna-Lena Groenefeld, GER
7-5, 6-3


Round 4

Serena Williams, USA defeated Jie Zheng, CHN
7-5, 5-7, 6-3

Venus Williams, USA defeated Agnieska Radwanska, POL
4-6, 6-1, 6-4


Quarterfinal Round

Serena Williams, USA defeated Na Li, CHN
4-6, 7-6(1), 6-2

Venus Williams defeated Iveta Benesova, CZE
6-1, 6-4


Semifinal Round

Serena Williams, USA defeated Venus Williams, USA
6-4, 3-6, 6-3


Championship Round

Serena Williams, USA defeated by Victoria Azarenka, BEL
3-6, 1-6



DOUBLES

Round 1

Sloane Stephens, USA and Christina McHale, USA
defeated by
Bethanie Mattek-Sands, USA and Nadia Petrova, RUS
2-6, 6-2, [10/2]

Raquel Kops-Jones, USA and Abigail Spears, USA
defeated
Klaudia Jans, POL and Alicja Rosolska, POL
6-4, 6-4


Round 2

Raquel Kops-Jones and Abigail Spears, USA
defeated
Alona Bondarenko, UKR and Kateryna Bondarenko, UKR
6-4, 6-4


Quarterfinal Round

Racquel Kops-Jones, USA and Abigail Spears, USA
defeated by
Kveta Peschke, CZE and Lisa Raymond, USA
6-3, 6-2



ATP

SINGLES

Round 1

Gael Monfils, FRA vs. BYE

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, FRA vs. BYE

James Blake, USA vs. BYE


Round 2

Gael Monfils, FRA defeated Michael Russell
6-2, 6-7(5), 6-3

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, FRA defeated Agustin Calleri, ARG
6-1, 6-1

James Blake, USA defeated Julien Benneteau, FRA
6-4, 6-4


Round 3

Gael Monfils, FRA defeated Marat Safin, RUS
5-7, 7-5, 7-6(3)

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, FRA defeated Robert Kendrick, USA
7-5, 6-4

James Blake, USA defeated by Tomas Berdych, CZE
4-6, 7-6(3), 3-6


Round 4

Gael Monfils, FRA defeated by Andy Roddick, USA
6-7(2), 4-6

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, FRA defeated Gilles Simon, FRA
6-7(4), 6-3, 6-2


Quarterfinal Round

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, FRA defeated by Novak Djokovic, SER
3-6, 4-6

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MIAMI - MARCH 23: American Venus Williams and Andy Murray of Great Britain play a game of traffic tennis on Ocean Drive prior to the Sony Ericsson Open on March 23, 2009 in Miami, Florida.

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ATP SINGLES - QUALIFYING

Round 1

Donald Young, USA defeated by Robert Kendrick, USA
2-6, 4-6

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