TENNIS in DEPTH.

Samantha Stosur avenged her French Open finals loss to Francesca Schiavone at the WTA Championships – Doha 2010 on Tuesday, beating the Italian in straight sets, 64 64. Stosur, the No.5 seed, had a slow start to the match, falling behind 4-0, winning three points in those four games; but she rebounded in a big way against the No.4-seeded Schiavone, breaking at love in the fifth game and winning six in a row to take the first set. The two stayed on serve until 4-all in the second set, when Stosur broke again then served it out.

Both Stosur and Schiavone had been to the WTA Championships before but in doubles, Stosur even winning it two years in a row with Lisa Raymond (2005 and 2006). Stosur and Schiavone had the two best winning percentages on clay this year and fittingly met in the French Open final, the first time either had made it to a Grand Slam final. It was Schiavone who prevailed on the day in straight sets, becoming the first Italian ever to win a Grand Slam title.

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Serena and Venus had both the courage and the sportsmanship to decline their invitations to the WTA year ending Doha Championships, but neither Jelena Jankovic nor Elena Dementieva showed similar professionalism. Both are under the weather, and both would have served the game better to have stayed home. The fans at the matches and the TV audience deserve to see competitive tennis by the world’s best players, and today did not live up to their expectations. Li Na and Shahar Peer are ready and willing to step in to provide solid competion if called upon. In tomorow’s match we shall see whether KimClijsters is fit and ready, or is just in Doha to fulfill her obligation to the WTA.

Vera Zvonareva got her WTA Championships campaign off to a winning start with a 6-3 6-0 victory over Jelena Jankovic. The sixth-ranked Serbian has been troubled by a sinus problem in the past week and was clearly out of sorts at the season-ending tournament in Doha. It remains to be seen whether the former world number one will be able to fulfil her remaining matches against Kim Clijsters and Victoria Azarenka in the White Group, while Zvonareva will be pleased with the result of her first outing in the round-robin format.

In Tueday’s second match, top seed Caroline Wozniacki crushed seventh seed Elena Dementieva of Russia 6-1 6-1 in the Maroon Group. “I’m really happy, for me to pull this one through was really nice,” said Wozniacki after the match.

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Rafa Nadal took part today in the Pro-Am tournament prior to the Castelló Masters Costa Azahar at the ‘Campo del Mediterráneo’ Club in Borriol, teaming up with close friends Sergio Garcia, Marc López and Tomeu Salva.

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Australian tennis ace Lleyton Hewitt has welcomed the birth of his third child, a yet-to-be named baby girl, saying he is “elated” at the addition to his family. Hewitt said his actress wife Bec gave birth on Tuesday, in a posting on his official website, delivering a sister to Mia, 4, and one-year-old Cruz.

“Bec, Mia, Cruz and I welcomed a beautiful baby girl into our family last Tuesday,” Hewitt wrote late Saturday on his site. “Mum and baby are great! Dad, big sister and brother elated.” Hewitt said the baby’s name would be announced later in the week.

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Caroline Wozniacki will face French Open champion Francesca Schiavone in the group stages of the season-ending WTA Championships. Top seed Wozniacki has been placed in the Maroon Group for the Doha event which gets under way on Tuesday. Sam Stosur, beaten in the French Open final by Schiavone, and Elena Dementieva complete the group.

The White Group is headlined by US Open champion Kim Clijsters. She will face Wimbledon runner-up Vera Zvonareva, who she beat in the final in New York last month, Jelena Jankovic and Victoria Azarenka, winner of the Kremlin Cup in Moscow on Sunday. The top two in each group will progress to the semi-finals.

Defending champion Serena Williams and her sister Venus both qualified for the US$4.55million tournament but withdrew due to injuries.

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Roger Federer won the If Stockholm Open on Sunday to equal Pete Sampras’ tally of 64 ATP Tour titles. Federer beat Florian Mayer 6-4 6-3 to achieve the feat. Despite 77 per cent of Mayer’s first serves finding the service box, the German was picked off when Federer raised his game, the Swiss clinching victory after just 64 minutes. Having drawn level with Sampras, Federer now has only Jimmy Connors (109), Ivan Lendl (94) and John McEnroe (77) ahead of him on the all-time list of Open era title winners.

Viktor Troicki claimed his first ATP Tour title with a comeback win over fourth seed Marcos Baghdatis at the Kremlin Cup in Moscow. Troicki had lost his previous two finals and the 43rd-ranked Serb had to call on all his fighting qualities to claim his breakthrough success 3-6 6-4 6-3. Troicki had lost his only previous meeting with Baghdatis and looked set to lose again when he was broken in the sixth game of an opening set he went on to drop. But the 24-year-old battled back and levelled the contest with a single break in the second before opening up a 4-1 lead in the decider. Baghdatis saved the first match point before Troicki claimed the title with a forehand winner.

“Marcos was playing very good in the first set,” said Troicki. “But then I started playing better and better and in the end I won my first title. It feels unbelievable.”

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Victoria Azarenka secured her second WTA Tour title of the year with a straight-sets victory over Maria Kirilenko in the Kremlin Cup final. Kirilenko had dropped only nine games in her four previous matches at the tournament but was overpowered by the second seed, who won 6-3 6-4 in Moscow on Sunday. Azarenka broke Kirilenko’s serve three times in the first set as a string of unforced errors cost the sixth seed dear. However, the 23-year-old Russian hit back at the start of the second set, surging into a 4-0 lead and seeming almost certain to take the match into a decider. But the Belarusian then came alive again, reeling off six consecutive games and eventually securing the title after Kirilenko had saved two match points.

“It was really tough to win the second set as Maria started pretty good, dominating the play completely,” Azarenka said. “I tried hard to stay in the match fighting for every point and it paid off … I’m really happy to win here on my third attempt.” Azaranka, who won at Stanford earlier in the year, had already secured a spot in the upcoming WTA Championships in Doha by reaching the last eight of the Kremlin Cup.

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