Black Tennis Pros

Frenchman and sixth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was defeated 6-2, 6-4 by the number three seed Finn Jarkko Niemenen during their semi-final match at the Adelaide International.

Nieminen seized his opportunities, winning three of his seven break points against Tsonga, who recorded five aces during the match.

In route to the semi-finals, Tsonga took out nasty Australian Lleyton Hewitt 6-4, 6-2 in the quarterfinal. (YES!)

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I have got to buy better New Year's Eve champagne!! I just realized that there is now an Australian Open Series!

After several passes there checking the current scores and dates for future tournaments, I finally realized that I was being taken to the same new and improved site. (Take a look here.) And after about four (shame) passes, I finally saw "series." I am definitely going to increase the cost of my imbibement next year!

I did notice their new squiggly olympic like insignia though, I guess I like it.

Venus Williams beat Russia's Maria Sharapova in straight sets 6-4, 6-3 Saturday to win the JB Group Classic exhibition in Hong Kong, a warmup for the upcoming Australian Open.

Both players holding serve comfortably in the early games, but the Russian faltered first. Serving at 4-5 in the first set, Sharapova sent a backhand into the net after a long rally and then missed another backhand to give the American a one-set lead.

World No. 5 Sharapova, a past winner at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open, was erratic in the second set.

Down 2-3, she double faulted and missed a forehand to give the reigning Wimbledon champ the crucial break.

Sharapova did save two match points in her final service game, but Williams held to love to take the match, closing out the game with a forehand winner.

World No. 8 Williams, a six-time Grand Slam winner, complained Friday of an unspecified injury but appeared unaffected Saturday.

The eight-woman field at the JB Group Classic also featured Serbia's Ana Ivanovic, Russia's Elena Dementieva, China's Peng Shuai, Russia's Anna Chakvetadze, Slovakia's Daniela Hantuchova and Denmark's Caroline Wozniacki.

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Venus Williams

Australian Open

American Venus Williams and Russia's Maria Sharapova have advanced to the finals of the JB Group Classic exhibition tennis tournament in Hong Kong.

Williams, a six-time Grand Slam tournament winner, beat Russia's Elena Dementieva in straight sets Friday, 6-3, 6-3. The American scored her sixth win over the Russian against only one loss all-time.

Sharapova scored a 6-4, 6-2 victory over compatriot Anna Chakvetadze. Both players lost their opening service games, but Sharapova took advantage of Chakvetadze's mistakes, and broke her compatriot in the fifth and seventh games of the second set.

Against Williams, Sharapova is 3-2, including three wins on hard courts. The matches were the semifinals for the Gold Group, made up of winners early in the tournament.

The silver group is for players who lost in the earlier rounds. There will be a JB Gold Group and a JB Silver Group champion.

The tournament is also one of several events that players are using to hone their skills before the first major of the year, the Australian Open, starts January 14th in Melbourne.

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Venus Williams

Australian Open

Venus Williams has voiced her support for former world number one Martina Hingis, who was handed a two-year ban for doping.

Hingis, who retired from the sport in November after revealing she had tested positive for cocaine at Wimbledon last year, had insisted she was "100% innocent".

But following an extensive investigation, the International Tennis Federation announced on Friday that they had found Hingis guilty of the offence.

Speaking after her semi-final victory over Elena Dementieva at the JB Group Classic in Hong Kong, Williams said: "I like Martina and I think she is a nice girl. I was shocked like everyone else.

"For me, personally, I give her the benefit of the doubt.

"There are hardly any doping cases in tennis and I think that in tennis it doesn't matter what you might take, it doesn't keep the ball in, it doesn't calm your nerves.

"I see where in track and field or other sports where it can help, but tennis is a sport where you need a lot of skill - there is no magic pill for that."

This the most creative Entrecard contest / sweepstakes to hit the scene. Based on a wildly popular format people have been playing for years!

This belongs in advertising because, amongst 16 chances to win up to 1500 EC multiple times (plus 10 chances for non-winners to split 4500 EC), you also get 2 backlinks to any site you want. So no one loses, but you can literally win up to 1500 EC 16 times.

It's for this weekend and it's really easy to play. The current game post is visible here. For those who are already Entrecard members, you can enter here.

I've already entered and plan to enter again, so hurry if you don't want all of the squares taken up before you get your shot!

Serbia put up a brave fight, but Serena Williams and Mardy Fish have powered the United States to its fifth Hyundai Hopman Cup victory to continue its dominance in the 20-year-old ITF mixed teams championship at Perth’s Burswood Dome.

The USA didn’t win until the ninth staging of the tournament, but has now won five times, including four in the past six years. Williams previously was victorious in 2003 with James Blake, while it was Fish’s first win in his second appearance.

Credit must be given to the top seeds Serbia, who continued to fight despite Jankovic being restricted due to a strained muscle at the top of her right hamstring.

Djokovic had an outstanding week in Perth, needing to make up for Jankovic being unable to finish three of her singles matches. Djokovic ended up undefeated in his singles, with the final the only loss in the mixed doubles for the pair of world No. 3s.

The USA was handed the advantage when Jankovic was unable to play the women’s singles, but Djokovic ensured the mixed doubles would decide the winner by beating Fish in a gruelling three-set battle.

After a fast start, Serbia couldn’t match it with two accomplished doubles players, with the Americans wrapping up the win 7-6 (5), 6-2.

Already exhausted from his mammoth performance the previous two days, Djokovic had to endure a two and a half hour marathon with Fish to send the final into a deciding mixed doubles rubber. Djokovic won 6-2, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (4).

Djokovic had succeeded in the past two ties winning his singles and being dominant in the doubles to see Serbia into the final after Jankovic withdrew through injury in her match on each occasion.

He again started tremendously in the men’s singles that unusually kicked off final proceedings against Fish.

The American had been dominant on serve all week, but Djokovic broke his opening service again, and once more in the opening set to claim it 6-2.

Fish was able to break Djokovic’s serve twice in the second set, but on both occasions the Serb broke straight back to keep things even.

However, Djokovic had a chance to break Fish again with the score at 5-4 and win the match, but couldn’t and the set went to a tie-break.

Fish was right on top and had no trouble sending the match into a third set by winning the tie-break seven points to four.

Djokovic was showing understandable signs of fatigue during the second and third sets, but he managed to hang in against a much fresher Fish and force the third to a deciding tie-break.

Djokovic managed to power through despite appearing exhausted, winning seven points to four to keep his country alive and a chance to win its first Hyundai Hopman Cup.

The Serbians made a brilliant start to the mixed doubles and looked capable of upsetting Williams and Fish by racing to a 4-1 lead. The USA then won the next three games to level the set, though, and it went to a tie-break.

Williams and Fish claimed it seven points to five to win the set in 52 minutes and hold a crucial advantage over Serbia with Jankovic on one leg.

The Americans quickly wrapped up the second set 6-2 and Williams and Fish were ecstatic to be crowned Hyundai Hopman Cup XX champions.
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Mardy Fish

American Venus Williams crushed her Chinese opponent Peng Shuai in straight sets here Thursday, showing she is in prime form ahead of the Australian Open.

Despite not having played a competitive game since October, the American world number eight was able to outmanoeuvre Peng at every turn in her opening game at the JB Group Classic tournament, triumphing 6-1, 6-2.

Peng, ranked 45 in the world, was unable to match Williams' athleticism and power with any consistency, crumbling to a 64-minute defeat.

Williams said she was delighted with her performance, despite the self-imposed long lay-off, during which time she graduated from design college.

"I haven't been out there in a long time, and I had to fight for every point," she told reporters after the match.

"But I felt like all the things I have practised really paid off," she added.

The fifth and sixth games of the match proved crucial, as the six-time Grand Slam singles champion started to crank up her powerful serve and lethal backhand.

Peng was up 40-15 in the fifth on her own serve, but was unable to make the lead pay as Williams, 27, ran her round the court with some line-hugging backhands, forcing an error on the last point to take a 4-1 lead.

In the next game, Peng fought back from a 40-0 deficit to take it to deuce, but Williams was able to up her game again, piling pressure on the Chinese 21-year-old and forcing her to push a backhand long.

Venus will now face either Elena Dementieva, after the Russian outfought Serbian Ana Ivanovic in the closest game of the tournament so far.

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Venus Williams

Australian Open