Black Tennis Pros

In a repeat of last year's final, James Blake once again prevails over Jarkko Nieminen of Finland. It was a tight first set today, and Nieminen came out the victor. But in the end Blake defeated the man from Finland 6-7 (1-7), 6-4, 6-2.

"I don't know what it is about Stockholm, it seems to bring out the best in me," said top seed and world no. 7 Blake. "I'm so happy to stay undefeated."

Though Blake lost the first set, he managed to gain control as he broke Nieminen for 5-4 in the second set, squaring the finely- balanced contest a game later as he served it out.

Blake hit the ground running in the third set and did not look back. He served 10 aces and saved 6 of 7 break points.

Blake will face off against Swede Thomas Johansson, the last home survivor who fired 10 aces of his own to eliminate Mario Ancic 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (7-3).

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!

The swift and powerful racquet of American Venus Williams blazed by Frenchwoman Camille Pin so fast that she could only hold 2 games out of 14 played. Venus body slammed Camille 6-1, 6-1 at the Bangkok Open today.

"The score looked easy but it was not. Every time I hit good shots she hit back," Williams said. "I tried not to make easy errors and make my shots." What a modest woman.

Interestingly, Camille Pin had a good serving day. She had a service rate of 87% to Venus's 58%. But it was obviously the only thing that she did right, and it was nowhere near good enough against the world no. 8 player.

Next potential victim for Venus? Flavia Penetta of Italy.

"What can I say about her, she's a great player, a champion," Pennetta said. "It's going to be a tough match," she added.

Guard your grill Flavia!

James Blake claimed his 12th straight win at the Stockholm Open today and set up a re-run of last year's final with Jarkko Nieminen in a Friday quarter-final.

Sixth seed Nieminen, twice a losing finalist at the iconic Kungligahallen, built a century ago by royalty, struck first with a 6-0, 6-4 thrashing of Australian Peter Luczak in Thursday's second round.

Blake then comfortably tamed the huge serve of FrankDancevic 6-3, 6-2 a day after the 22-year-old Canadian bomber had struck 35 aces in his previous win. The top seed, who now stands 12-0 at the venue, broke for 5-3 on the way to claiming the opening set, then repeated twice in the second to advance in less than an hour.

Nieminen lost the 2006 final to the event's reigning perfectionist with Blake boasting titles in 2005 and 2006.

Blake, ranked seventh and chasing a place in the year-end finals next month at Shanghai, is coming off a hot summer where he won 20 of 24 matches. But he needs to keep winning in Stockholm to improve his chances for a spot in the eight-man wrapup event.

I've come to know some very kind people since I began blogging. But definitely among the top is Lisa C at Lisa C Writes. She is definitely someone who should have received this award. She chose to award it to me and it has truly made my day. Thank you Lisa C!

This award was originally created by Cristy over at Writer's Reviews. She created this award with these words in mind, The Thoughtful Blogger Award: "For those who answer blog comments, emails, and make their visitors feel at home on their blogs. For the people who take others feelings into consideration before speaking out and who are kind and courteous. Also for all of those bloggers who spend so much of their time helping others bloggers design, improve, and fix their sites. This award is for those generous bloggers who think of others".

I've recently met some very thoughtful bloggers, they are:

Renny at RennyBA's Terella
Manchild at When Least Expected
Parisukat at Parisukat.com
Celena at Strictly Fab Style
AJ at Over Analyze It - Let's Break This Down

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.

After a rain delay prevented American Venus Williams from completing her 6-2, 4-1 first round match against Denmark's Caroline Wozniacki, Venus came out today rockin' an outfit from her 'EleVen' line and wrapped up that match 6-2, 6-2.

A little later in the day Venus played her second round match against the home player Tamarine Tanasugarn of Bangkok, Thailand, and quickly dismissed her 6-4, 6-1 in a 74 minute match.

"She played aggressive and went for her shots trying to do the best for the fans. But I t take control of the match and I'm happy that I closed her out,"ried to said Williams.

Frenchwoman Camille Pin is up next, "guard your grill Camille, Venus is on a mission!"

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.