Black Tennis Pros

American James Blake came back to defeat Australian Chris Guccione 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 Friday night at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, following a special Salute to Heroes ceremony featuring The National 9/11 Flag flown at Ground Zero.

Blake dropped the opening set, but quickly regrouped to take a 2-0 lead in the second. He broke Guccione two more times in the third set to clinch the victory in one hour and 35 minutes.

The win ensured a blockbuster second-round clash between Blake and top American Andy Roddick, both past finalists at the year’s first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament. It will be the 11th meeting between the pair (Roddick leads 7-3).

The 31-year-old Blake entered this year’s BNP Paribas Open with his lowest ranking since his 2000 desert debut, having dropped to No. 158 after an injury-plagued season in 2010. Meanwhile, World No. 8 Roddick has won seven straight matches, clinching his 30th ATP World Tour title in Memphis and leading the U.S. into the Davis Cup quarter-finals.

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American Donald Young earned his first win at an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament in three years as he came back to defeat Italian Potito Starace 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 in just under two hours on Thursday at the BNP Paribas Open.

The 21 year old fought off nine of 12 break points faced on serve, while delivering on four of his six opportunities against the 47th-ranked Starace.

Young, currently at No. 143 in the South African Airways 2011 ATP Rankings, reached the third round at this tournament in 2008 with wins over Bobby Reynolds and Feliciano Lopez before falling to Rafael Nadal. He next faces World No. 5 Andy Murray.

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Wild card Sloane Stephens defeated qualifier Jamie Hampton 6-2, 6-4 in an-American match Thursday at the BNP Paribas Open to set up a second-round clash with WTA No. 1 and returning finalist Caroline Wozniacki.

The 17-year-old Stephens achieved her career-best win on her tour-level debut here last year, when she came through the qualifying rounds and defeated a 67th-ranked Lucie Hradecka before falling to No. 12 Vera Zvonareva. This will her first win against a player ranked in the Top 10 of the WTA Rankings.

Hampton, the lone American among the 12 qualifiers, was looking for her first win in her sixth tour-level main draw appearance.

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In her first interview since suffering a pulmonary embolism, Serena Williams spoke with Matt Lauer on Today

"Every day is better and better. I'm not doing much. I really haven't left the house recently."

She recalled that on Feb. 18, she "had a lot of swelling in my leg, which really is a tell-tale sign of an embolism, and I could not breathe." She just thought she "wasn't fit," but went to the emergency room.

Doctors at first,couldn't find anything, she said. But then one ordered a CAT scan of her lungs. "That's when they found several blood clots. They told me they had to check me in immediately or it wasn't going to be a good result."

A week later, she walked the red carpets at Oscar parties. "I had been through so much. I really was kind of low on energy," she said, but wanted to "do something to get my spirits up. I wasn't doing so well mentally. ... I was feeling terrible." So she went out. And wound up in the hospital the next day, Feb. 28, because of a large hematoma in her stomach. A hematoma is a gathering of blood underneath the skin, Lauer explained.

"I'm on blood thinner injections. I inject myself twice a day," she said. "I apparently must have hit something, ... so what started out as a golf ball ended up being the size of a grapefruit." At the hospital she was told it couldn't be drained; it had to be surgically removed.

Did this all stem from her initial foot problem after stepping on glass last year? She said, "Yes, and not moving and doing as much as I normally do and flying back and forth a lot."

What are doctors telling her now? "I'm just taking it one day at a time. My lungs are fairly healthy and I'm on the road to recovering." She said she's still hoping to return to tennis this summer. "I want to come back and be able to do well."

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American Donald Young defeated the Czech Republic's Rudolph Siwy 6-2, 7-5(5) in the final round of qualifying today to earn entry into the main draw of the BNP Paribas Open Indian Wells, California.

Good luck the rest of the way Donald!

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The talents of American superstar Venus Williams know no bounds! Venus was recently captured participating in a Karaoke contest on a Carnival Cruise in the Caribbean hosted by the band "311."

Recently on Twitter Venus tweeted, "Been singin Karaoke around the world for years,Thailand, Japan, Korea,USA...hope this can prepare me for the biggest challenge ever...@311."

It appears that two of her sisters joined the singing tennis star for a seriously rocking performance... steps and all!

Go Venus!

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MIAMI, Fla. (www.sonyericssonopen.com) – The 2011 Sony Ericsson Open announced its wildcard entries and this year it features former World No. 4 James Blake and former World No. 1 Dinara Safina. A total of five wildcard slots were granted to the men’s draw and also include Jack Sock, Ryan Harrison, Milos Raonic, and Bernard Tomic. While six were given on the women’s side which feature Heather Watson, Sorana Cirstea, Sabine Lisicki, Madison Keys, and Coco Vandeweghe.

Women’s main draw begins on Tuesday, March 22, while the men’s main draw kicks off the following day on Wednesday, March 23. The qualifying rounds will be held Monday and Tuesday, March 21 and 22.

Tickets to the 2011 Sony Ericsson Open are on sale now and can be purchased by phone (305-442-3367) or via internet at www.sonyericssonopen.com. An electrifying two weeks of tennis conclude with the women’s final on Saturday, April 2 and the men’s final on Sunday, April 3.

Blake will make his return to Miami, hoping to improve on his career-best quarterfinal showings in 2006 and 2008. Safina made her last appearance on the purple courts in 2009 as the No. 2 seeded player advancing to the third round. She recorded her career-best finish in 2008 when she advanced to the quarterfinals.

Blake, always a fan favorite, earned his first ATP win in 2002 becoming the fourth African American to win an ATP title in the Open Era. In 2005, Blake grabbed the national spotlight at the U.S. Open when he played a thrilling five-set match in the quarter finals against his idol, Andre Agassi. From there, Blake’s career blossomed tremendously as he reached his career-high of No. 4 in the world in 2006 becoming the first African American to crack the top-10 since his role model, Arthur Ashe.

Safina made her professional debut in 2002. The Russian star recorded a breakout season in 2008 winning a career-best four singles titles. In 2008, she was awarded the WTA Most Improved Player, and was the first player in history to defeat three reigning World No. 1s in the same season (Justine Henin, Maria Sharapova, and Jelena Jankovic). Safina reached a career-high rank of No. 1 in the world in 2009, and joined her brother Marat Safin as the first brother-sister combo to both achieve World No. 1 rankings.

In addition to Blake and Safina the tournament wildcards include many of the Tour’s next generation of tennis stars.

Men’s Main Draw Wildcards
James Blake
Jack Sock
Ryan Harrison
Milos Raonic
Bernard Tomic

Men’s Qualifying Wildcards
Gastao Elias
Filip Krajinovic

Women’s Main Draw Wildcards
Dinara Safina
Heather Watson
Madison Keys
Sabine Lisicki
Coco Vandeweghe
Sorana Cirstea

Women’s Qualifying Draw Wildcards
Michelle Larcher de Brito
Lauren Davis
Carina Witthoeft
Aleksandra Wozniak
Beatrice Capra
Sloane Stevens

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