Black Tennis Pros

The cutie in the red dress is indeed Asia Muhammed. The soon to be 18 year old high school senior hails from Las Vegas, Nevada.

Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who defeated Russian Dmitry Tursunov 7-6(6), 6-2 in one hour and 29 minutes, will face World No. 1 Rafael Nadal in the ABN AMRO quarterfinals in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Nadal has a 2-1 record against Tsonga, and prevailed in a 7-5 third set in their last meeting in March at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tennis tournament in Indian Wells.

Tsonga has now reached the quarter-finals in all five of his ATP-level appearances this season, and has a 14-2 record. The World No. 13 won his third ATP World Tour title last week in Johannesburg (defeating Chardy).

He will face fellow Frenchman Julien Benneteau. In another all-French match, Marc Gicquel defeated Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-4, 6-3.

"It's interesting that French players have done so well in Rotterdam in recent years," Monfils said. "We like it here."

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PARIS (AP) — Top-ranked Serena Williams showed no signs of the illness which kept her bedridden last week as she ousted Karolina Sprem 6-1, 6-2 to reach the Open GDF Suez quarterfinals on Thursday.

Williams, after winning the Australian Open, didn't practice until Monday, and was relieved to get through the first round of the indoor tournament she's won twice.

Her second-round match was easier, as Williams took less than an hour to beat the Croatian qualifier, converting her first match point with a forehand return winner down the line.

Next up will be French qualifier Emilie Loit, whom Williams hasn't met in six years.

"She's a lefty, she uses a lot of spins and slices," Williams said about Loit. "She's a very experienced player and tricky."

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Serena Williams joined the chorus of top tennis players who believe the new anti-doping measures on athletes are too strong, she called the rules implemented by the International Tennis Federation as “over the top.”

“It’s very invasive,” she said. “Basically, they show up at your house on any day.

Under the new rules, athletes must specify one hour each day when and where they can be located for testing. They also must tell anti-doping authorities where they will be over the next three months, but they can update this by e-mail or phone message.

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On Thursday No. 3 seed James Blake again used a strong serve to polish off another opponent, setting up an intriguing quarterfinal against fellow American Sam Querrey.

The most noteworthy moment of Blake's 6-4, 6-3 victory over Florent Serra came near the end, when then Frenchman got under Blake's skin by moving around while the American served. The two exchanged words and stares when the match ended. "He was doing whatever he could to win," Blake said. "Sometimes that resorts to a little gamesmanship and things we used to do as juniors. He's too good for that."

Since it's all A-Rod, all the time, it was practically inevitable that Venus Williams was asked by the New York Post to weigh in on the controversy during a conference call this morning.

"Once again, I'm not cool, so I don’t know much about the controversy with him," she said. "I haven't read anything. I am aware of something going on."

The question was re-framed, and put in terms of tennis, as to whether this sort of explosive news and subsequent admission would cast suspicion on other sports.

"Umm, you know, I think tennis is a completely different sport," she said, adding that being the strongest player isn't necessarily the determining factor in tennis.

The third-seeded Blake needed only 50 minutes to dispatch Spadea 6-3, 6-4, a convincing win that had to feel good given Spadea's autobiography.

In 2006, Spadea published a book in which he criticized Blake for questionable character because he allegedly "trash-talked" during a match. Spadea also chastised Blake for stealing ladies' attentions at a party.

The world's No. 11 player had 13 aces to two double faults, won 83 percent of his first serves and was never broken, pleasing the night session's 4,956 fans at HP Pavilion. It was a dominating effort considering Blake was forced to pull out of Monday's scheduled exhibition against Pete Sampras because of a strained back.

"I feel bad for the other players, because I've been monopolizing the trainer's time," Blake said. "It's done wonders for me."

Other than loads of heating cream under his shirt, there was little indication that Blake was ailing. He dived on the hard surface for a volley and broke Spadea's serve in the fourth game of the first set and the first game of the second.

Blake served well and worked mostly from the baseline, using aggressive forehands that were deep and flat to advance to the second round to play France's Florent Serra (No. 57).

Spadea, the oldest player (34 years, 7 months) in the tournament, had no answers. Credited with overcoming the longest losing streak (21 matches) in the history of professional tennis, Spadea looked more like that slumping player than the one who rose to No. 18 in the world in 2005.

"He's been on tour for so long and has lost a little bit of mobility, so he knows he has to go after his shots and take chances if he's going to win," Blake said. "That's a good way of adapting for a player that is getting up there in years."

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Serena Williams, who last weekend claimed her 10th major title by winning the Australian Open, will return to Washington this summer to play for the city's World TeamTennis franchise, the Washington Kastles.

And Venus Williams will also visit Washington to face the Kastles as the marquee player for the Philadelphia Freedoms.

Serena's selection as the top pick in the marquee player draft was announced yesterday, and it represents a coup for team owner Mark Ein, who brought the franchise to town last summer.

Other top names visiting Washington this summer include John McEnroe and Anna Kournikova.

As the Kastles' featured player, Serena, currently ranked No. 1 in the world, will play one home match and three on the road. She won't be on the roster when Venus visits the Kastles, so the sisters won't face each other in Washington.

The 2009 season runs July 2-26. Dates of the Kastles' home matches will be announced in February.