TENNIS in DEPTH.

Laura Robson progressed to the main draw of the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo with an impressive 2-6 6-2 6-4 win over Romania’s Simona Halep.

The 16-year-old Londoner, who beat world number 57 Anastasija Sevastova in the previous round, broke to take the match in the tenth game of the decider.

Robson made up a deficit of 127 ranking places on world number 100 Halep.

British number one Elena Baltacha suffered a 6-0 6-7 (5-7) 6-3 defeat to world number 106 Greta Arn of Hungary.

The Scot is ranked 56 places above world number 106 Arn, but had succumbed to the Hungarian in both their previous meetings, most recently in qualifying in Rome earlier this season.

World number 41 Jarmila Groth also failed to make her way into the tournament proper after 18-year-old Coco Vandeweghe of the United States won their encounter 6-4 7-6 (7-2).

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Serena Williams on Saturday pulled out of next month’s WTA China Open as she continues to recover from recent surgery on her right foot.

The American cut her foot on broken glass at a Hamburg restaurant shortly after winning her fourth Wimbledon crown in July and has not played since.

She had already announced that she would not take part in next week’s Pan Pacific Open in Japan.

‘While I have continued to make progress in the recovery of my foot injury, unfortunately I am still not ready to compete at the upcoming Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo and China Open in Beijing,’ Williams said in a statement.

‘These are both fantastic events with loyal fans that I hope to be able to compete in next season.

‘In the meantime, I am focused on my rehab program and remain optimistic to return to competition this season.’

The $US4.5 million ($A4.75 million) China Open gets underway in Beijing on October 2.

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Ana Ivanovic takes on Russian nemesis Alisa Kleybanova in the first round of the Toray Pan Pacific Open, which begins in Tokyo on Sunday. The clash between the pair will be their fourth encounter this year, with Kleybanova holding a 2-1 head-to-head advantage. However, Ana won their most recent meeting in July, when she beat Kleybanova 6-3, 6-2 during the Bank of the West Classic in Stanford.

If Ana beats the world No.28 she will face either Yanina Wickmayer from Belgium or 11th seed Marion Bartoli in round two. Eighth seed Victoria Azarenka is a possible third round adversary, while Samantha Stosur or former world No. 1 Dinara Safina could await in the quarter finals.

Top seed Caroline Wozniacki and sixth seed Agnieszka Radwanska are potential semi-final opponents.

The bottom half of the draw includes Wimbledon and US Open finalist Vera Zvonareva, third seed Jelena Jankovic, French Open champion Francesca Schiavone, seventh seed Elena Dementieva and 12th seed Maria Sharapova, all of whom Ana cannot face until the final.

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Albert Montanes stepped up his bid for a third title of the year by reaching the semi-finals of the BCR Open Romania in Bucharest.

The 29-year-old has already won tournaments in Stuttgart and Estoril – where he beat Roger Federer in the semi-finals – and has reached a career-high in the world rankings after climbing to 22nd.

As top seed at the clay-court event in Bucharest, he was given a scare by Frenchman Jeremy Chardy today but overcame a wobble in the second set to win 6-3 1-6 6-3.

Awaiting Montanes in the last four is another stiff test in the shape of fourth seed Juan Ignacio Chela, the 31-year-old Argentinian who beat Bjorn Phau of Germany 6-3 6-3 today.

Third seed Potito Starace went out of the tournament despite going close to a straight-sets win over Spain’s Marcel Granollers.

Italian Starace led by a set and the second went to a tie-break, however Granollers clung on and finished a 3-6 7-6 (9/7) 6-4 winner.

Granollers goes on to face another Spaniard, Pablo Andujar, who beat Uruguayan Pablo Cuevas 6-4 6-4.

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Anna Kournikova just returned from Costa Rica where she was to play in the second exhibition match for the Agassi Sampras Tour.

“This was my first trip to Costa Rica so I was really excited to see a small bit of the country and meet some of the locals. I flew in the night before the match which was so nice because I had time to settle in, relax a little and have a great sushi dinner at the hotel.

First up on Saturday was media, I did a press conference with Pete followed by some one on one interviews.”

Jelena Jankovic just returned from Portugal, and was reunited with her boyfriend.

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Nadia Petrova swept past Kirsten Flipkens to seal her place in the semi-finals of the Korea Open in Seoul.

The top-seeded Russian cruised to a 6-2 6-1 success over her Belgian opponent on Friday.

Petrova broke serve five times on her way to victory in just over an hour.

Alisa Kleybanova, the fifth seed, was an equally comprehensive winner, seeing off fellow Russian Ekaterina Makarova 6-1 6-2.

Kleybanova will now play Agnes Szavay, who made it three seeds in the last four as the eighth-seeded Hungarian saw off Japan’s Kimiko Date Krumm 6-2 6-7 (3/7) 6-3.

Klara Zakopalova, of the Czech Republic, was a 7-5 6-3 winner over wildcard and former world number one Dinara Safina in the other last-eight tie.

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Ivan Ljubicic suffered a shock defeat to Xavier Malisse in round two of the Open de Moselle in Metz.

The third seed was routed 7-5 6-2 inside 80 minutes despite raining down 12 aces on his Belgian opponent. Ljubicic made just 50% of first serves and was broken three times as he became the notable scalp of the day.

Top seed Marin Cilic had no such problems, dispatching Lukas Lacko in straight sets – although both were closely-fought affairs.

A late break, the only one of the match, earned Ljubicic’s compatriot the first set and he prevailed in a second-set tie-break to round out at 7-5 7-6 (7/3) win.

Eighth seed Gilles Simon also advanced after beating Holland’s Igor Sijsling in three sets.

The Frenchman powered through the opener and, though Sijsling held his nerve in a second-set tie-break to delay the inevitable, he completed a 6-1 6-7 (5/7) 6-3 win in an hour and 53 minutes.

In the day’s other matches, Jarkko Nieminen beat Kristof Vliegen 6-4 6-1 and Mischa Zverev saw off Nicolas Mahut 6-4 6-2.

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“Marat is fine, but he’s not really my coach. He’s in Moscow. Until yesterday, he’s been working with me for a week. So it was really nice for me because he’s never been a coach. He’s pretty tough. I really enjoyed so much and he really put so much desire and heart. From my side I was little bit surprised but he really enjoyed”

 ”In New Haven just before US Open. Kirilenko then played better than me. The good thing in tennis is that every week there is a tournament. So I realized what I did wrong that day and I just tried to do this time better. And it did work for me today.

 For me, it was a big test in the US Open series because I played all the tournaments. And it was fine. It’s better. Sometimes it a little bit more stiff, sometimes a little bit better. Overall I can do everything. Thank God it’s a good sign. As to the posture, It can be your opinion, but I don’t feel any difference.”

“Obviously this year is almost finished. For me, like I said yesterday, it’s tournaments where I want to play best and get my shape and tennis back. I want to feel better that I can start the next year hopefully healthy and play the whole year. Hope to finish the year at least with a good feeling that I had a chance to compete.  Well, today I think I served better than yesterday. Day by day, one day something is working better, and the next day… Every day is different. I’m trying to get out the best I can in a day. Today my serves worked well. That’s the advantage. Maybe next day it’s not going to work. I have to find other keys to win the match. This is the game. You always have to find something that works better today.”

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 It’s always nice when you come to the tournament and you have maybe a group of fans supporting you. At the end of the day we’re playing for them. We want that they together enjoy with us. We win, we say thanks to them. Sometimes you can be losing the match but if you feel somebody’s supporting you, it doesn’t let you down. Because of those supporters you try to find solutions. “OK, I’ll try to play for them.” You always try to give your 100% from your side. Without them, we don’t exist.

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