TENNIS in DEPTH.

Still showing the effects of the shoulder surgery she had nine months ago, Maria Sharapova at least has her vocal cords in shape.

The one-time top-ranked women’s tennis player brought her B-game as well as her famous squeals to Stanford on Monday night as the Bank of the West Classic opened. In her first appearance in the event, she struggled to a 6-4, 6-7 (6), 6-1 victory over Japan’s Ai Sugiyama, who had won just six of 20 prior matches this year.

A three-time Grand Slam champion, the 6-foot-2 Russian looked as if she hasn’t completely rid her game of the rust developed from a long layoff following surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff in her right shoulder in October.

“I had a pretty slow start and thought it was a good effort to get back in the first set,” she said. “I had chances to close out the match and didn’t. In the third set, I didn’t do too many things wrong.” She said she felt fine. “I could have gone for a few sets more,” she said.

At the ripe old age of 22, Sharapova is attempting a comeback. She says she’s 100 percent, but on Monday night she didn’t look it. She trailed 4-1 before rallying to win the first set, but blew two match points before losing the second. As temperatures dropped, she donned a jacket during the third set and won it handily.

The Russian star, who won Wimbledon at 17 and signed a major modeling contract soon thereafter, could quit tennis today and not worry where her next salad is coming from. Forbes magazine last year named her the highest-earning female athlete at $26 million per year. She has homes in Bradenton, Fla., and Los Angeles.

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Second seed Philipp Kohlschreiber was a surprise casualty in the first round of the Allianz Suisse Open on Monday.

The in-form German was crushed 6-4 6-0 by Victor Crivoi in Gstaad as the Romanian set up a meeting with Teimuraz Gabashvili.

Crivoi broke serve in the opening game and never relinquished the lead. That break proved enough to take the first set and he then raced through the second to win in just 64 minutes.

Seventh seed Feliciano Lopez also bowed out, although his 6-4 6-7 (4-7) 6-3 loss to fellow Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez was less of a surprise given his penchant for faster surfaces.

Third seed Igor Andreev had no such problems, seeing off Diego Junqueira 7-5 6-4 in his opener. Andreev, twice a finalist here, will now play Jan Hernych, another winner on Monday.

Local hero Stanislas Wawrinka is the top seed in Gstaad. he gets his campaign under way on Tuesday against qualifier Federico Del Bonis.

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With one of the most spectacular backdrops of any ATP World Tour tournaments, the Allianz Suisse Open in Gstaad is situated in south-western Switzerland, near the border with France. Swiss hero Roger Federer was presented with a cow during a homecoming celebration in 2003 after winning his first Wimbledon title. Federer fell in the final that year to Jiri Novak but won the title in 2004.

There will be a new Swiss Open champion this year, as the defending champion is otherwise engaged. He is learning a variety of new techniques in the art of diaper changing, and is unavailable to come out and play with his friends.

Stanislas Wawrinka is the #1 seed, and he may continue the tradition of having a Swiss as the champion of this hometown tournament played in one of the most picturesque locales on the ATP tour.

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The 2009  LA Tennis Open, presented by Farmers Insurance Group will feature a 28-player singles draw and a 16-team doubles competition. In its 83rd year, the landmark Southern California ATP tournament is the longest running annual professional sporting event in Los Angeles, and offers total player compensation in excess of $1 million.

For the second straight week a tournament hyped as part of the US Open series has failed to attract any players in the top 20. Tommy Haas at #20 is the number one seed, and on paper he should have a relatively easy time with the draw. Neither Del Potro, the defending champion, nor Andy Roddick a perenial fixture here has chosen to participate. If the tournament highlight is the ‘Milenium’ match between Safin and Sampras, then the tournament committee needs to rethink their program!

 Proceeds from the LA Tennis Open, held in conjunction with UCLA, benefit the grassroots programs of the non-profit Southern California Tennis Association (SCTA) and UCLA. The SCTA offers programs, leagues, and tournaments involving 300,000 juniors and 50,000 adults and seniors.

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All eyes in Canada are waiting  to see if Roger Federer shows up for the Montreal Masters and in what kind of mood and form Rafael Nadal, whom he has replaced as the world No.1 will be on his return to the tour after missing the grass court season with tendinitis in both knees. Eugene Lapierre, the tournament director is hopeful, saying “I think most people figure we won’t have Federer here, but until he tells us directly, we’ll think there’s still a chance. We are delighted that Rafa has confirmed that he is going to play.”

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Over in Thailand, things are really stirring. No hint yet of a formal comeback for Paradorn Srichaphan, who was at Wimbledon this year on a flying visit, though wouldn’t it be nice to see this eternally cheerful competitor back in the ranks? No, it is the celebration of one of their female players that is taking the nation by storm.

David Lloyd, the former Great Britain Davis Cup captain, couldn’t believe his eyes a couple of weeks ago when he boarded a flight to Bangkok, the Thai capital, on business. Finding himself upgraded to first class, Lloyd found himself across the aisle from a young girl in a track suit who looked particularly sporty and he wondered who on earth it could be. Within a couple of hours of take off, the pilot emerged from the cockpit brandishing a birthday cake (no candles) and the crew gathered round to applaud the presentation to said girl.

It wasn’t until the plane landed and at least a thousand people, plus almost as many digital cameras and TV crews, mobbed the girl and Lloyd discovered it was 18-year-old Noppawan Lertcheewakarn, the Wimbledon JUNIOR singles and doubles champion. “It was astonishing, I don’t think I’d ever seen anything like it,” he said. “The reaction of the Thai people to a girl winning the Wimbledon junior championship was incredible. Good luck to them.

Courtesy Neil Harmon   The Times.

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It didn’t come easily, but world No.1 Dinara Safina won her third Sony Ericsson WTA Tour title of the year on Sunday, defeating Sara Errani in a nail-biter for the Banka Koper Slovenia Open in Portoroz.

Safina, who had won her first two titles of the year at Premier-level events in Rome and Madrid during the clay court season, had solid scorelines in her first four matches at the International-level Banka Koper Slovenia Open, her grand total of games lost in eight straight sets being 17.

The top-seeded Russian was certainly pushed to the limit in the final by an in-form Errani, the fifth seed, who toughed out a 76-minute opening set and even served for the match at 5-4 in the third before finally going down to the world’s best player in seven minutes shy of three hours, 67(5) 61 75.

Safina improved to 12-11 in Tour singles finals, including 3-4 in 2009. She is the second this year to win three Tour singles titles, after Victoria Azarenka (who has two International titles and one Premier title to her name this season).

Errani was playing her second straight Tour final, having finished runner-up to Flavia Pennetta at Palermo a week ago. The Italian was looking for her very first Top 10 win; she was also trying to become the fourth woman from her country ever to upset a reigning world No.1, following Tathiana Garbin, Francesca Schiavone (who has done it twice) and Pennetta.

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Robby Ginepri returned to the winner’s circle at the site of his last ATP World Tour triumph, defeating No. 3 seed Sam Querrey 6-2, 6-4 in an all-American final Sunday at the Indianapolis Tennis Championships presented by Lilly to capture his third title.

Ginepri collected $80,000 and 250 South African Airways 2009 ATP Rankings points with the victory at the ATP World Tour 250 tennis tournament. He also assumed the lead in the Olympus US Open Series Bonus Challenge standings following the first week of the North American summer hard-court circuit.

“This tournament is very special for me. Having won twice here is an amazing feeling,” said Ginepri. “When I won here in 2005 I was about in the same position, around No. 100. This one has to be more special as I really never expected it.”

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