Black Tennis Pros

The quarterfinal round of the Bank of the West Classic generated a rough day at the office for 2009 Wimbledon Champion Serena Williams.

Although Serena did seem a step or two off of her game, that wasn't her problem. A very focused and powerful Australian who goes by the name of Samantha Stosur was the issue.

After losing the first set, Serena managed to take the second from Stosur but never really seemed to have a solid grip on the match.

Of Stosur's play Serena said, "she had a lot of lucky shots; she's a good framer, but it's obviously all talent. She's mastered that."

"She played well and didn't do anything bad," Serena continued. She went for broke and struck all her balls as hard as she could. She never lets you get into a rhythm.

Of all of the WTA Tour players, I personally never saw Stosur with the potential for this level of effectiveness in singles. Stosur has quietly come up the sides and is a serious threat.

"It's one of the biggest, if not the biggest win of my career," Stosur said. "We don't always play our best tennis every single day. Maybe she didn't play her best and I played very well."

"At the end of the day you have to go out and play well," Stosur said. "I'd like to take it one more step. I'd love to make it to another final."

Impressive!

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The Legg Mason Tennis Classic presented by GEICO returns to the William H.G. FitzGerald Tennis Center in Rock Creek Park (16th & Kennedy Streets, NW), August 1-9, 2009, joining a new classification of elite events, the ATP World Tour 500’s, recognized as being among the top 20 men’s tournaments worldwide.

While we will have the pleasure of watching Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga compete, American James Blake has withdrawn with a foot injury and Frenchman Gael Monfils continues to ail from a wrist injury.

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At the Bank Of The West Classic in Stanford, California on Thursday, American sisters Venus and Serena Williams set up their quarterfinal matches with wins over Russian Alla Kudryavtseva and Hungary's Melinda Czink respectively.

Serena started the day with a 6-3, 7-6 (7) win over Melinda Czink. After looking strong in the first set, Williams trailed the entire second set until prevailing in the tiebreaker.

Subsequently, Venus cruised to a 6-1 win in the first set and looked to be in complete control midway through the second frame with a 5-3 lead. But Alla Kudryavtseva won back-to-back games to tie the set at 5-5 before Williams swiped the next two games for a 6-1, 7-5 triumph.

In Friday's quarterfinal matches Venus will go up against Russian Maria Sharapova, and Serena against Australian Samantha Stosur. I think the Serena/Samantha match will be the one to watch.

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American sisters Venus and Serena Williams continued to be the ire of their doubles team opponents. On Wednesday they brought the hammer and nine aces down on Latvia's Lisa Dekmeijere and American Julie Ditty in a 6-1, 6-0 defeat.

"I can't get a better partner," Serena said. "I just don't think so. She gets everything; she has a great volley, an incredible serve. It honestly doesn't get better than that."

Venus said the pair has a covert mission already in the works when it comes to doubles play.

"About a year ago we started to play more, trying to get ready for the Olympics," she said. "After that we kind of kept playing. We have this secret goal that I can't really talk about, but we have this goal, and once we started playing we started winning. You have to be in a little bit better shape and really healthy and willing to be a little more tired for your singles but it's a sacrifice we're willing to make."

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LOS ANGELES — Marat Safin, playing for the fourth time in three days, summoned enough energy to beat Ernests Gulbis 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the second round of the L.A. Tennis Open on Wednesday.

Safin, who played an exhibition match against Pete Sampras on Monday and beat Robby Ginepri the following night, also teamed with Igor Kunitsyn to win a first-round doubles match on Monday.

The win over Gulbis put the two-time Grand Slam champion into his first quarterfinal of the year and earned him at least a day off from singles play.

He will meet the winner of Wednesday night's match between Tommy Haas, the top seed and two-time event champion, and Jesse Levine on Friday.

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STANFORD, Calif. — "Shhhh," hushed Serena Williams when asked about the rankings system in women's tennis that seems askew with public perception. "They already think I'm No. 1."

The computer, however, says otherwise.

Despite winning three of the last four majors, No. 2 Williams sits behind Dinara Safina of Russia by a substantial 1,742 points. Safina supplanted Williams atop the rankings in April but has never won a Grand Slam title.

That rankings dissonance continued to spark debate at the Bank of the West Classic here as Williams geared up for her first event since winning a third Wimbledon title.

"The only thing that gets under my skin is that everyone keeps talking about it and so now people know that I'm not No. 1," laughed Williams, who opened her summer hardcourt campaign Tuesday night with a 6-3, 7-6 (8-6) victory against Li Na of China.

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