TENNIS in DEPTH.

While Caroline Wozniacki was serving 12 aces, Jelena Dokic was serving 10 double faults, hardly the formula for winning for Dokic. But she fought hard after losing the first set 6-3, and forced the match into a 3rd set by winning 7-5 in the second. But the double faults were her undoing as she lost 6-2 in the third set.

Marion Bartoli(12) had the distinction of being the first seeded player to lose as she went down 6-2, 6-4 to Anastasiya Yakimova. But she was not alone as #19 Almagro lost to Taylor Dent 2-6, 6-2, 7-6, followed by Rod Soderling(23) who lost to US qualifier Kendrick. Marcos Baghdatis also lost, going down 3-6, 6-2, 2-6 to Paul Henri Mathieu.

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Fourth seed Elena Dementieva survived a scare from wild card Anastasia Pivovarova to prevail 6-0, 3-6, 6-3 in an all-Russian second round clash at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami on Friday.

In a match featuring 13 breaks of serve, Dementieva converted eight of 19 break point opportunities to secure victory over her 172nd-ranked compatriot in one hour and 51 minutes – avoiding a repeat of the second round upset she suffered in Indian Wells two weeks ago (l. to Cetkovska). The 27-year-old is making her ninth main draw appearance at the Sony Ericsson Open and was the runner-up to Serena Williams in 2004.

The Monte-Carlo resident has enjoyed strong results on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour in 2009 and has a 22-4 match record. She captured back-to-back titles at the start of the year in Auckland (d. Vesnina) and Sydney (d. Safina), was runner-up in Paris (l. to Mauresmo) and reached the semifinals at the Australian Open (l. to S. Williams).

Italian 15th seed Flavia Pennetta defeated doubles partner Maria Kirilenko of Russia 6-4, 7-5 to secure her place in the third round. Pennetta and Kirilenko are the eighth seeds in the Sony Ericsson Open doubles event and reached the semifinals together in Indian Wells last week. The 27-year-old Pennetta has not advanced past the third round in four previous main draw appearances at the Sony Ericsson Open, and will look to do so for the first time when she takes on either Magdalena Rybarikova or No. 20 seed Amelie Mauresmo.

Czech Nicole Vaidisova was in devastating form as she accounted for No. 28 seed Alona Bondarenko 6-1, 6-0. World No. 71 Vaidisova, who reached a career-high No. 7 in the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Rankings on May 14, 2007, was a quarterfinalist in Miami in 2007 (l. to S. Williams). She goes on to face either No. 8 seed Svetlana Kuznetsova or Tamira Paszek.

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Ana Ivanovic was named Humanitarian of the Year during the 2008 Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Player Awards ceremony in Miami. The 21-year-old is recognised for her charitable efforts as a UNICEF National Ambassador for Serbia, as well as her generous personality.

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Tennis Australia has confirmed it wants its Davis Cup match against India moved out of the southern city of Chennai in May due to security concerns.

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Former No. 1-ranked player Kim Clijsters announced her return to the tennis circuit Thursday after two years in retirement.

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Yesteday’s win by Jelena Dokic may not propell her into the forefront of the Women’s tour, but it was a significant step forward for her. Her opponent, Edina Gallovits is ranked 14 spots higher than Jelena, and is considered to be an up and coming future star on the rise. Coupled with her fine showing by winning 6-3, 7-6, Jelena proved that her training is paying off. Next up is Carline Wozniacki, a player just outside the top ten who is young and also on the rise.

Who is Gallovits?…..

Romanian tennis clay court specialist Edina Gallovits first cracked the top 100 in 2007 and has remained there ever since.

Gallovits achieved a career-high ranking of No.54 in April 2008 and now stands at No.66 in the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour rankings.

In January she equalled her best Grand Slam performance by reaching the second round at the Aussie Open and has been enjoying a successful season since then.

At the start of the year Gallovits reached the quarter-final in Auckland, defeating No.3 seed Anabel Medina Garrigues en route. Following that she reached the semi-final at Bogota, eventually losing out to Argentine Gisela Dulko.

The Romanian star has since then had two first round losses at Acapulco and Monterrey, but was evidently motivated by these two losses at the BNP Paribas Open at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden where she overcame Russian world No.37 Maria Kirilenko 3-6, 7-5, 7-5.

Gallovits was extremely successful as a junior reaching a career-high world ranking of No.7, in addition to making the final of the prestigious Orange Bowl Championships.

The 23 year-old started playing tennis aged four with her sports mad parents; her mother is a handball coach while her father is a sports teacher.

Edina

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She

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Is tennis ace Maria Sharapova’s absence from the tennis circuit due to romance not injury?

The 6ft 2in former Wimbledon champion and world number one no longer obeys her father Yuri and is devoting all her attention to a mystery man.

This is what is claimed by Dzhamal Chakvetadze, father of another Russian tennis player Anna Chakvetadze.

“Maria’s mind is just not set on tennis these days, it’s all set on love,” he told a Moscow newspaper. “I talked to her father Yuri several days ago.

“He’s upset. He’s lost all his influence on his daughter. Maria doesn’t listen to him any more. She is in the middle of a love affair and doesn’t need anyone except for this guy. I understand Yuri’s feelings very well since I have my own daughter of about the same age.”

Last year Sharapova, 21, was linked to American Charlie Ebersol, son of Dick Ebersol, US TV channel NBC Sport’s chairman and president. The dude in these pictures is not Ebersol, but he does appear to be about 6′ 6″ tall, who ever he is.

Sharapova missed the Australian Open apparently due to the recurrence of a shoulder injury. She was also absent from Russia’s national team clash against China at the weekend.

Russian tennis captain Shamil Tarpischev says: “She’ll be back when she wants to.”

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