TENNIS in DEPTH.

Serena Williams has revealed she has battled feelings of depression during her long injury lay-off that has seen her sidelined since claiming her 13th Grand Slam title at Wimbledon last July. The 29-year-old is recovering from an operation to remove a blood clot found in her lung a fortnight ago. Williams had developed a haematoma from a pulmonary embolism, stemming from an incident when she cut her foot on broken glass in a Munich restaurant last July. The American, who has slipped to world number 11 in her absence from the WTA Tour, is unlikely to return before the summer and admitted the time spent on the sidelines had taken an emotional toll.

“I definitely have not been happy,” Williams said. “Especially when I had that second (foot) surgery, I was definitely depressed. “I cried all the time. I was miserable to be around.” Williams said that a part of her lung had “died” from the pulmonary embolism and that she remained on blood thinning medication. She added that she is due to have further scans in three weeks to see if the clots are melting and with her health issues still not resolved is understandably coy about a possible return date.

“I don’t know what’s realistic. I really don’t know. I haven’t put a date on it yet,” she told USA Today. “I just want to make sure I can breathe when I’m out there.”

Williams is confident, however, that when she does return to the court she will be able to recapture the form that has made her arguably the best player of her generation. “I know how to play tennis. I’ve been doing it for a long time – longer than I can say. So I figure that will work out,” she added. “I always think I’m going to play again and I’m going to be faster, I’m going to be better, I’m going to be smarter, wiser.”

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The Canadian rising star’s run at Indian Wells came to an end Tuesday after a hard-fought 7-6 (7-1), 4-6, 6-4 loss to American teenager Ryan Harrison in third-round action. “I came out, gave it my best, he was playing well,” Raonic said. “He was doing a lot of good things. I thought I played well, and he was the better player today. “It wasn’t the greatest of matches, He put pressure on me, and I didn’t adjust to it the best today, and therefore he came out on top. He played really well, and he deserved to win.”

Raonic, who suffered from a back spasm in his second-round win over Mardy Fish on Sunday, battled for two hours 29 minutes and saved three break points before finally falling to Harrison. Raonic, ranked 37th in the world, saved a match point in the tenth game of the final set as he broke his 152nd-ranked opponent. He also salvaged two more potential match-winners for Harrison in the final game before the American boomed his 11th ace of the match for the win. Raonic, the 20 year old from Thornhill, Ont., who is known for his booming serve, had 17 aces.

“I played a pretty good second set. I played not a great start to the third, but I ended up playing a bit better there,” Raonic said. “I gave myself a chance, and that’s always what I’m trying to do out there.

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On Tuesday night  Roddick re-established order as he comfortably defeated the fourth-highest ranked American 7-5, 6-2 in 67 minutes. “It’s tough playing it because you know the pressure is on me when I play him,” said the top American. “That’s just the way it is, so sure, it is uneasy but I like it. One of the things that keeps me going is trying to maintain my place.” Roddick broke for a 6-5 lead in the first set and opened the second with another break. He finished the night by going 3 for 3 on his break point chances, while conceding just seven points on serve. “Going 3 for 3 on break points against him is not normal,” said Roddick. “I don’t think he played that well tonight. I think he felt a little uncomfortable. I was just trying to fight off returns and do what I could and put the ball in the courts. It was enough.”

Roddick, a finalist last year in Indian Wells, will next face Frenchman Richard Gasquet. The No. 18 seed advanced to the fourth round for a fourth time in Indian Wells as he eased past World No. 10 Jurgen Melzer 6-1, 6-3 in 61 minutes on Stadium 2.

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Of the four Russians to reach the fourth round in the women’s singles draw, Maria Sharapova was the only one to continue on to the quarter-finals after dismissing countrywoman Dinara Safina 6-2, 6-0 in 61 minutes. The two former WTA No. 1s were facing off for the first time since the 2008 French Open. Safina, who had dropped outside the Top 100 of the WTA Rankings coming into Indian Wells, had posted wins over two-time champion Daniela Hantuchova and No. 4 seed Samanatha Stosur en route to the fourth round. “You just go out there, and no matter who you’re playing, you have to expect your opponent to play great tennis,” said Sharapova. “This was one of the first tournaments that she’s starting to play a lot better and find her form. That’s dangerous, because she comes into a match, and confidence is a huge thing. You can come in and swing away. I just wanted to take care of business.”

Caroline Wozniacki was made to work for a place in the quarter-finals, rallying past Russian Alisa Kleybanova 2-6, 6-3, 6-1 in one hour and 55 minutes Tuesday in Indian Wells. Wozniacki made a slow start to the match, winning just four points on return and dropping serve twice, before gaining her footing. “It was a tough match,” admitted the top seed and 2010 finalist. “I think I made a little bit too many unforced errors in the beginning. She started well, she started aggressively, but I just couldn’t find my rhythm out there. “Then second set I just told myself I needed to move my feet a little bit more. I need to have a little bit more margin over the net and from the lines, and things started to go my way a little bit more and I started to play better.” Wozniacki advances to the BNP Paribas Open quarter-finals for a third straight year and will next confront a good friend, No. 8 seed Victoria Azarenka of Belarus. “We were competing together when we were both young, under 18s,” the 20-year-old Dane said. “One of our first tournaments we played on the WTA was in Memphis, and we played doubles together there. We made it to the finals.

Azarenka saved four match points to battle past No. 9 Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(3) after three hours and four minutes. The 21 year old will be looking to reach the Indian Wells semi-finals for a second time.

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Kim Clijsters pulled out of the Indian Wells WTA tournament on Tuesday because of a lingering shoulder problem, conceding her fourth-round match to Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli 3-6 3-1. Although the Belgian world number two had won the opening set on the hardcourt surface, she summoned her trainer for treatment on her shoulder when trailing 1-2 in the second and withdrew one game later. Clijsters has been taking pain killers to cope with a pinched shoulder since before she won her fourth grand slam title at the Australian Open in January.

“I had treatment on it while I was off, and it felt fine,” Clijsters told reporters after beating Italy’s Sara Errani 6-3 2-6 6-4 in the third round at Indian Wells on Sunday. “When I’m not training it feels fine but as I got into hitting a little bit more again, it slowly just flared up a little bit.” Asked how concerned she was by her shoulder, Clijsters replied: “On hard courts I know that I am able to control it. I’m concerned for what’s coming up next, and that’s the claycourt season.” The 27-year-old Belgian said she had been taking medication for her shoulder since before the Australian Open. “Nothing seriously, just like an Advil here and there, a painkiller,” said Clijsters. “With those higher shots against the opponent today, I just feel it more … pinching a little bit more when I have to do that kick serve and when I have to reach that right arm up higher with the forehand.”

Bartoli, the 15th seed, advances to the last eight at Indian Wells where she will face 19th-seeded Ana Ivanovic

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Ana Ivanovic ousted Jelena Jankovic 6-4, 6-2 in an all-Serbian showdown between former BNP Paribas Open champions and WTA World No. 1s on Tuesday at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.

Ivanovic earned the only break of the first set in the opening game and broke again to start the second set. Though Jankovic got back on serve at 2-all, Ivanovic won the final four games to oust the defending champion.

“It was a tough match,” said Jankovic, who fell to a 3-7 record against Ivanovic. “Ana played really well. She was really on her game today. I had a lot of opportunities, a lot of break points. Especially that first set, every game on her serve I almost had a lot of break points, and I managed to convert only one, which was in the second.

“I felt like my game was not really there. I wasn’t really doing the right things out there, and she was really on her game. She was the better player.”

Ivanovic is through to the BNP Paribas Open quarter-finals for a fourth time in six appearances. She won the title in 2008 (d. Kuznetsova) and came just short of the title defense the following year (l. to Zvonareva).

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Dinara Safina knocked out fourth-seeded Australian Samanatha Stosur 7-6(2), 6-4 in one hour and 56 minutes. Safina committed 16 doubles faults, but countered losing her serve three times by breaking Stosur four times from 11 opportunities. “I still managed to win a match, so that’s a good thing,” said Safina. “Apart from that, I still stayed tough mentally. I said, ‘okay, it’s not my day on serving, but it might be on the baseline.’” The former WTA No. 1 had come into the week ranked No. 108, and admitted following her second round win over two-time champion Daniela Hantuchova on Saturday that she’d briefly contemplated retirement earlier this season. “Definitely it’s a nice feeling to get it back,” she said. “It’s been a while since I [had] these feelings, after winning the match that you really can smile and you can enjoy the win. Many things have happened, so I want to just enjoy the moment.”

Maria Sharapova lost her opening service game Monday afternoon at the BNP Paribas Open, but quickly regrouped to defeat No. 20 seed Aravane Rezai of France 6-2, 6-2. “I started like I didn’t have my cup of coffee or something, didn’t have my peeps around, so that was disappointing,” she said. “I got it together.” Sharapova, who spent nearly three hours on court in her opening match against Spaniard Anabel Medina Garrigues, rolled through six straight games to win the first set and broke Rezai two more times in the second to close out the win in one hour and 13 minutes.

No. 18 seed Nadia Petrova was the fourth Russian woman to win in third-round action Monday, ousting the last American standing, 18-year-old wild card Christina McHale, 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 in two hours and four minutes. Petrova will play China’s Peng Shuai for a place in the quarter-finals. The 36th-ranked Peng needed two hours to get past Czech qualifier Lucie Hradecka 6-3, 4-6, 7-5.

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Robin Soderling became the highest seeded casualty at the Indian Wells Masters when he was upset 7-6(8) 6-4 by Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber in the third round. Fourth-seeded Soderling, the hottest player on the ATP Tour this year with three titles to his name, appeared to struggle with an ankle injury before being eliminated in a match lasting one hour 37 minutes. The Swede lost the opening set tiebreaker 10-8 and was then broken by Kohlschreiber in the decisive 10th game of the second set to suffer just his second loss in 21 matches this year. Kohlschreiber, seeded 32nd, has always proven a handful for the Swede, who has now lost four of their five career meetings.

The premature departure of Soderling followed the early exits by fifth seed Andy Murray of Britain, sixth-seeded Spaniard David Ferrer and defending champion Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia in the second round on Saturday.

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