Jankovic changes clothes on court

Jankovic, in the match versus Bartoli, changed her "tiny" undergarment from the black to the white one.

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Who are they?

There are two strange people attending Wimbledon 2008 tennis matches. Two mysterious, man and woman, covering their face by a rubber mask appeared around SW19 area.

The mask has small holes near eye and nose area, so they can breathe and see normally.

They come and enjoy the match quietly and seriously. We currently can't determine who they are and the purpose of their disguise.

People think that they are performing art, or this is some advertisement strategy, or some V.I.Ps want to watch tennis matches but don't want to reveal themselves.

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Wimbledon 2008 Women Semi Finals

Elena Dementieva (RUS)[5] vs Venus Williams (USA)[7]
Jie Zheng (CHN) vs Serena Williams (USA)[6]

There has been an awesome inevitability about the progress of the Williams sisters, Venus and Serena, towards Saturday's women's final. Thursday marks the last chance for the odds to be upset and for a repeat of the 2002 and 2003 "family" finals to be avoided.

So let us examine the prospects of the two ladies whose task it is to attempt to turn back the Williams tsunami: Russia's Elena Dementieva and Zheng Jie of China.

First, Dementieva. This will be her first semi-final in a decade of Wimbledons and on previous form it represents another chance for the 26-year-old - who has swapped Moscow for the tax-free life of Monte Carlo - to live up to her label of the "nearly" lady. This is her 39th Grand Slam and she has yet to win one.

The air of New York appears to suit the Dementieva game most of all: she has had two semi-finals and one final appearance at the US Open, while she also reached the final at Roland Garros in 2004.

Surely, you would think, just one small push would be enough to see Dementieva seize a Slam. And yet, and yet. Tuesday's quarter-final against Nadia Petrova was a classic example of what most ails the 26-year-old Dementieva - a chronic inability to finish off an opponent the way the Williamses do. That, plus a serve that is, to say the least, a touch short of oomph.

This year has been a good one for her, with a ninth career title picked up in Dubai and a return to the top 10. But her difficulties against Venus are starkly revealed in the statistics. Only two of their previous seven matches have resulted in a Russian win and in both of her victories, Dementieva squeaked home in a third-set tie-break, whereas four of the five Williams wins have come in straight sets.

At 5ft 4in, Zheng is the lesser half of the Little and Large semi-final. Lesser in achievement as well as stature, but still a fine athlete with a never-say-die attitude.

The people at the All England Club who dish out wild cards had an inspiration in awarding one to Zheng. It came on the strength of her 2006 doubles win here, a memorable achievement that was followed by a nearly blank 2007 season because of ankle surgery in which her ranking disappeared off the radar.

The fashion in which Zheng saw off her previous five opponents, particularly the top-seeded Ana Ivanovic, was a revelation. She has become the first Chinese, man or woman, to reach a Grand Slam semi-final, winning 10 sets and dropping just one. And everyone's heart went out to her when she announced the dedication of her prize money to the Chinese earthquake disaster relief fund.

Zheng shares a record with Monica Seles as the only other wild card to reach a Grand Slam semi-final, Seles’ coming at the 1995 US Open when she was on her way back after her 1993 stabbing in Hamburg. Should Zheng defeat Serena, she would be Wimbledon's first unseeded finalist.

And so we come to Venus and Serena, who have ruled Wimbledon's roost virtually unchallenged since the start of the century. The kids from Compton, California have transformed women's tennis and, sensibly, now just zero in on the biggest prizes in it, particularly here in London.

Venus, the defending champion, has won Wimbledon four times and Serena twice. Serena's wins came in 2002 and 2003 against her big sister. In only two summers since the millennium, has a Williams not been Wimbledon's champion. It is an extraordinary statistic, oft-repeated in these columns and deservedly so.

The fact that they are seeded sixth and seventh bothers them not a bit. Both have aimed their rackets and their ambitions at finals day on Centre Court from the beginning of the year.

Serena has enjoyed a more successful 2008, with a 30-3 win-loss record, compared to Venus' 19-7. Serena has won six more Grand Slams to add to her brace of Wimbledons, whereas Venus' Wimbledon quadruple is boosted only by a couple of US Opens.

Serena has won all four Slams at least once. Venus has yet to triumph in Australia or Paris but you get the strong impression it doesn't bother her unduly. Another Wimbledon will do very nicely, thanks, until she heads for home in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, to resume her alternative career, fashion design.

Whether the culmination of Thursday's events will be another all Williams final we shall not know until the end of the day. The pundits say so, but Dementieva and Zheng may yet decree otherwise.

_____________________

Written by Ronald Atkin

source: http://www.wimbledon.org/en_GB/news/articles/2008-07-02/200807021215021394609.html

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Wimbledon 2008 4th round: As good as it gets

- Federer dumps out Hewitt: Roger Federer came out on top in the battle of the Wimbledon champions by trumping Lleyton Hewitt 7-6 6-2 6-4 to reach the quarter-finals.

Australian Hewitt, the only men's winner in the draw other than five-times champion Federer, kept the Swiss on his toes during a tight first set.

The 27-year-old Hewitt, struggling with a hip injury, had hoped to profit from some inside information since his coach Tony Roche had been in Federer's camp until 13 months ago.

But his challenge fizzled after an engaging first set in which he traded an assortment of bewitching volleys and groundstrokes with the Swiss maestro.

Neither player earned a break point during the opening set, but as he has done many times in the past, Federer saved his best arsenal for the tie break.

The vocal Australian contingent of fans tried to lift their man but soon fell silent as Hewitt fell 4-0 behind in the second set.

Two games later, the Australian earned his first break point of the match, only to be thwarted by a ferocious kicking serve.

He stretched the top seed to break points in three successive games but the outcome was the same each time - Federer would come up with the big serves to wipe out any hopes of a Hewitt fightback.

In the third set the Australian slipped behind the baseline and ended up on his knees to surrender his serve and hand Federer a 2-1 advantage.

That was enough for Federer to close out the match and remain on course for a modern-era record of six successive men's titles.

By reaching the quarter-finals without dropping a set in this year's event, the Swiss not only grabbed a 12th successive win over the Australian but also ensured he would keep the world number one ranking when the new list is published next Monday.

- Federer will face another in the next round when he comes up against Croatia's Mario Ancic , the last man to beat the top seed on turf in the first round here in 2002.

Ancic came from two sets down to beat Fernando Verdasco 3-6 4-6 6-3 6-4 13-11 in a marathon encounter.

Unseeded Croat Ancic, 24, a semi-finalist in 2004, has now reached the quarter-finals three times but missed the tournament last year and was out for nearly six months with glandular fever.

Ancic looked down and out when Verdasco, the number 22 seed, led two sets to one and 4-1 in the fourth, only to fight his way back into a match that lasted three hours and 48 minutes on Court 11.

Ancic, who had beaten Verdasco's fifth-seeded compatriot David Ferrer in the previous round, settled the match after breaking his opponent in the 13th game of the deciding set.

Verdasco saved the first two of three match points before succumbing to an ace.

- Rafael Nadal survived an early scare when he needed treatment to his right calf before beating Mikhail Youznhy 6-3 6-3 6-1.

The second seed, 1-0 up after serving first, slipped and landed badly on his right leg chasing a crosscourt shot and needed a time-out for treatment on the side of court one.

However, it proved a blip and the Spaniard crushed an opponent he needed five sets to overcome at the same stage of Wimbledon a year ago. He next meets Briton Andy Murray in the last eight.

The Russian, seeded 17th, had won the last of their previous 10 meetings by a remarkable 6-0 6-1 in the final at Chennai in January. Their tally is now 7-4 to Nadal.

- Mercurial Russian Marat Safin, his temper in check and his talent to the fore, fought his way into the quarter-finals 6-4 6-3 5-7 6-1 against Swiss 13th seed Stanislas Wawrinka.

The twice Grand Slam winner, who had already knocked out Serbian number three seed Novak Djokovic, won the first nine points of the first set before Wawrinka stopped the rot with an ace and fought back to level the match at 4-4.

But then he lost his serve and Safin, who has so often let his volatile temperament get the better of him, held his for a 1-0 lead.

Safin, who was recording his best Wimbledon result since reaching the quarter-finals in 2001, twice broke Wawrinka in the second set which he won comfortably.

Safin, never a great fan of grass, let slip his advantage in the third set with a lapse of concentration.

But the lanky former world number one then firmly re-established control, swiftly dismissing Wawrinka 6-1 in the fourth set.

- Spaniard Feliciano Lopez saved three match points before outlasting Cypriot number 10 seed Marcos Baghdatis 5-7 6-2 3-6 7-6 8-6.

The 26-year-old left-hander, seeded 31, was staring defeat in the face when serving at 4-5 0-40 down in the final set but saved all three match points, the final one with an ace, to hold.

He then broke Baghdatis, a semi-finalist here two years ago, to seize the initiative and confidently served out for victory.

Lopez, a Wimbledon quarter-finalist in 2005, his best result at a Grand Slam, now takes on Russian Marat Safin

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Never on Sunday: A review of first week of Wimbledon 2008

The first week of Wimbledon 2008 has passed, and it proved to be one of the most exciting weeks in Wimbledon history with a lot of surprises, thrill and excitement. Many seeds survived, many seeds packed. Satisfactory and disappointment co-exist. This review will highlight some important moments of the most prestige tennis tournament in the world.
The outcome of the men's draw promised a showdown of Federer vs. Djokovic and Roddick vs. Nadal. The first and second seeds survived, however, their predicted opponents had already packed their luggage. Let's see how the draw has played down.

In the first small section of the draw involving the Mighty Federer, there are many tough players such as Hrbaty, Soderling, Hewitt, Bolelli and Gonzalez. However, rounds by rounds, he walks pass each opponent in style. In the first three rounds, he committed only 7 rare breakpoints where his opponents convert twice. His toughest test so far will come in fourth round, where he meets Hewitt, the last tennis player before Federer to capture the title, back to 2002. After that, Federer has produced a great run to capture 5 consecutive Wimbledon titles (from 2003 to 2007). He is heading for his six title here.

Lleyton Hewitt, after his first tough round against R. Hasse where he won in five sets, has found his form back, winning the next two matches in straigh sets. The next match against Federer will bring back memories, sweet and sour. Hewitt was always the favourite in their match ups before 2003 when he captured 7 victories out of 9 matches. The coin flipped after that, with Federer to win 11 times later. In an interview two years ago, when Federer was asked who is his favorite choice for an exhibition match, he said Hewitt and explained that Hewitt's style suits his game.

Fernando Gonzalez is one of the seeds that suffered early exit. In his second round again rising Italian Bolelli, he lost in 4 tight sets.

Silently and effectively, Verdasco beat Kohlschreiber, O. Rochus and Berdych to book a place in the fourth round against Mario Ancic, unseeded player, who defeated David Ferrer in third round. The fact that Ancic was not seeded does not reflect enough his quality but bad luck. He struggled with mono and injuries and could not put his impact on court. He is also the last player to beat Federer on grass (Wimbledon 2002).

The biggest disappointment of the tournament comes from Djokovic, the third seed. He lost in straight sets against Safin, who has gained his form lately. No more psychologic talk from the Serbian to boost his confidence and to eliminate the aura of Federer, something he has been doing since 2007. Now he can spend this free time to work on his fitness, again. Wawrinka still proves the great form of late that earn him a place in top ten ranking. He will meet Safin in 4th round match.

Marcos Baghdatis is finding the form that used to take him to the final of Australian Open in 2006. He booked a place in the 4th round with Feliciano Lopez. I still remember Lopez with a great game to break Federer's serve and take the first set in their match at US Open 2007.

The other side of the draw sees another shocking, but predictable loss of Roddick against Serbian Tipsarevic in 2nd round. Tiprasevic is known as a consitent player with great forehand and backhand. Roddick, according to me, is a player relying heavily on his first serve. His forehand and backhand are average. Not like other elite players, once the serve does not work, they still have backup plans with forehand, backhand, volley...

In the third quarter of the draw, no seed survived, while in the fourth quarter, French talent Gasquet will meet England favourite Murray, and Nadal will meet Youzhny. Nadal is the only 2008 Grandslam champion that remains in competition. In both men's and women's draws, Djokovic (Australian Open), Sharapova (Australian Open) and Ivanovic (French Open) had suffered early losses.

My prediction for the quarter finals:
Federer vs. Verdasco
Safin vs. Baghdatis
Tipsarevic vs. Clement
Murray vs. Nadal

Semis:
Federer vs. Safin
Tipsarevic vs. Nadal

Finals:
Federer vs. Nadal

Champion: Federer

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Wimbledon Day 5: Seeds in, seeds out

Roger Federer lost the first game of the match on serve. On some consecutive service games he looked vulnerable and committed some break points. His forehand did not work perfectly today throughout the match. However, he kept cool at important points. He won in three. He is heading to the fourth round match up with Hewitt, who won over the uprising Italian Bolelli in three sets.

The coin flipped the other face to Ana Ivanovic. She was not lucky today. No net cord help anymore. After defending two match points in the previous match with Dechy, she could not hold it today. A shocked defeat. Will she loose her no. 1 ranking?

Safin goes through. Once he's on a roll, he's a dangerous player. This two time Grand slam champion will meet "the other Swiss" Wawrinka in 4th round.

Verdasco proved he's not a clay but all court player. On his way to 4th round, he defeated Kohlshreiber, Rochus and Berdych.

Serena Williams won over Mauresmo in two sets, who pulled out of double event (wt Kuznetsova) before the match.

Silently, the not-up-to-expectation Vaidisova goes through to 4th round to meet Chakvetadze, where she can prove her credentials.

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Massive upset: Sharapova packed!

After Djorkovic lost to Safin yesterday, today we see another big upset. Sharapova is overwhelmed by a magnificent performance of Alla Kudryavtseva. Wimbledon 2008 contains a lot of surprises.
Who is Alla Kudryavtseva?

Photo Courtesy of JP Sena/AELTC

This 21 years old girl doesn't have a fast serve. Her serve is as slow as Dementieva's. But her forehand and backhand are as dangerous as Dementieva's.

On that fateful day, Alla tirelessly returned all the balls back to under-par Sharapova, flat and deep. On an off day, Sharapova could not bring out her A-game and committed many errors. Normally when facing a weak server like Alla, she would have put all the return serve in corner with pace. However, most of her returns were near Alla or did not threaten her.

This victory is a boost for Alla, especially when she lost to Venus Williams previous year in a match that she almost won.

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Nadal won over Gulbis in four

Nadal, 2nd seed, survived early scare to fight back and grasped the match in four comfortably. Ernests “The Swan” Gulbis would have made things different if he did not make some critical errors in key moments. However, he's still 19 years old and developing. We will see a lot from him in the future.

Next round (3rd round), Nadal will face the resurging German Kiefer. If things go fine with Nadal and Youzhny, a 4th round match-up between these two players promises an exit for Nadal. Well, not exactly, but Youzhny has a little advantage against Nadal on hard court and with a little more determination, he can turn that hard court advantage to grass.

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Wimbledon 2008 Seeds dropped

The No. 3 seed is out! Incredible scenes! In straight sets as well! (Excuse all the exclamation marks but let’s be honest, they are justified!) Marat is a double Grand Slam winner (US 2000, Aus 2005) but I don’t think many people expected that. This is the first time in six Grand Slams that Nole hasn’t made the semis at least. Yeah, this Nole landed on earth again.

Who else:
Ferrero (like a famous chocolate brand) is out. Fatty Nalbandian (7th) was out also. Oh nobody mentions Davydenko (4th). He was defeated by B. Becker. Maybe he knows his limitation by spending his last week playing a CLAY tournament AFTER the French Open. By the way, who is B. Becker? He was the last man to defeat A. Agassi (at US Open 2006)

Philipp Kohlschreiber (Germany) lost 0-3 against Verdasco, first round. This is a big blow for Philipp, as he was the finalist in Germany last week (l. to Federer)

Next match to watch (tomorrow): R. Nadal vs E. Gulbis. This guy was a phenomena at this year French Open. Hope that he will make Nadal eat grass.

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Federer swiftly into stride

Monday, 23 June 2008

Written by Ronald Atkin

Roger Federer provided a masterly response on Centre Court today to those who have expressed doubts about his recent form. The Wimbledon champion, chasing his sixth consecutive title at The Championships, opened his defence in rousing fashion, defeating the Slovak Dominik Hrbaty 6-3, 6-2, 6-2 in one hour 19 minutes.

So much was Federer in command, particularly on his own serve, that he never faced a break point, and some of his classically executed winners were up to even his own demanding standards.



This was the Swiss's 36th win on the grass of Wimbledon and 60th in succession when his victories in Halle, Germany are included. Having received a warm and sunny welcome when he took to the court at 1pm, Federer basked in a rousing ovation at the end. The delighted Federer acknowleged the cheers, hurling his wrist bands into the crowd.

The 30-year-old Hrbaty put up a much better fight than might have been expected from someone who got into Wimbledon with a protected ranking of 70 after several months out because of two elbow operations, and who has won only one match on the ATP Tour this year.

He was also able to celebrate extravagantly the shot of the match. Left flat-footed in the first set by a Federer lob and unable to get to the ball for an approved return, Hrbaty struck it back between his legs for a clean winner down the line, astonishing Federer.

One of only three players to hold a winning record against Federer - he came into this match with a 2-0 lead - Hrbaty never looked like extending that advantage. Federer, hitting with power and accuracy from the start, won the first 11 points and was 4-1 ahead after just 10 minutes.

From that moment Hrbaty made a much better battle of the first set, even holding his serve to love on one occasion. Even so, Federer had the first set wrapped up in 25 minutes, and followed up a service break at the start of the second set by opening up a 4-0 lead. Hrbaty fought off a break point that would have put the defending champion 5-0 ahead but the second set was Federer's in 29 minutes.

There were cheers for Hrbaty, whose finest Grand Slam performance was a Roland Garros semi-final in 1999, when he held serve to open the third set, the first time he had led in the match. Perhaps this served to remind Federer that matches have been lost from two sets up in the past. At any rate he began to unveil his full range of strokes, allied to excellent movement on the fresh, new surface and, hard though Hrbaty fought, the Swiss knocked off five games in succession.

There was a heart-warming moment when, at the changeover before Federer prepared to serve for the match, Hrbaty broke all the conventions by going to sit alongside his opponent for a chat. If he was asking Federer to go easy, it did no good. The final game was won to love and Federer was impressively embarked on the defence of his crown.

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ATP Ends Round Robin Experiment

The ATP Board has voted to end the experimentation with round robin formats on the ATP tour, it was announced today. The remaining events who had initially volunteered for the round robin format will now revert to the original knock out competition.

The ATP had begun testing several versions of the format at lower level events this year following initial research that indicated it could be a measure to provide significant growth to the game.

The research showed it was popular among casual fans because it gave them more opportunity to see their local and favorite players than in a traditional knockout format. The format also had the added benefit of allowing tournaments to showcase their marquee players deeper into the tournament week and made TV scheduling of matches easier and more promotable.

However, the carefully monitored testing at the five test case events this year raised a number of concerns and weaknesses that were not apparent from desk research. Firstly, the 32 hybrid format caused confusion; second, resolving who would progress from the round robin stage with 3 men groups was often complicated; and third, sections of the media had difficulty in reporting round robin and consequently fans not at the event had difficultly in following early results. Finally, and significantly, no format or rule could address the overwhelming player concern that their destiny was not in their own hands as a result of dead matches or withdrawals.

The ATP Board considered all the research and analysis gathered during the experiment both from outside research agencies and tournament volunteers and concluded while there was a considerable amount of encouraging data, in the end the negatives outweighed the positives.

“The ATP is determined to be fact based, and not opinion led. We’re committed to a philosophy of ‘do it, try it, fix it or lose it,’ with initiatives that could grow our sport,” said ATP Chairman and President Etienne de Villiers. “We take all stakeholders into account, especially our players and tournaments, when we make decisions but will always have a fan focus.”

“It was a good experiment and we learned a lot from it. Some experiments will work and others won’t, but we will keep trying to find new and better ways of growing the appeal of men’s professional tennis,” de Villiers said.

More info

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Federer Overcomes Defending Champion Nalbandian

ATP World No. 1 Roger Federer beat defending champion David Nalbandian 3-6, 6-1, 6-1 in the opening match of the red group to avenge his loss to the Argentine in last year’s Tennis Masters Cup Shanghai final.

Nalbandian, currenly ranked No. 7 in the INDESIT ATP Rankings, broke the Federer serve in the first set before the Swiss regained his composure.

"I had to make him hit some errors - he wasn't doing that at the beginning," Federer said. "A couple of years ago I wouldn't have known what to do."

Nalbandian blamed a weak first serve for his loss but said of Federer: "He has all the shots. I mean, he can make any shot from anywhere."

Federer won 15 straight points in the third set cruising to a 5-0 lead before Nalbandian finally held serve.

The Swiss, who captured the Tennis Masters Cup title in Houston in 2003 and 2004, has now won eight of the pair’s last nine meetings.

They contested the opening round robin match at Shanghai in 2005, which Federer won in three sets before losing a dramatic five-set final against Nalbandian.

(ATP Tennis)

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Official Tennis Masters Cup Shanghai 2006 Player Portraits

Click the links below for the high resolution images of the Official Tennis Masters Cup Shanghai Player Portraits. Media may use these images free of charge, courtesy of ATP. Please credit Quentin Shih.

Link

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Justine Rises To Challenge, Wins Season-Ending Honors

MADRID, Spain - Eight women arrived in Madrid in a fight for season-ending honor. Justine Henin-Hardenne was arguably the least-prepared, having missed the entire fall Sony Ericsson WTA Tour season with a right knee injury; but she stayed true to her reputation as one of the grittiest competitors in the history of the game and rose above the all-star field, clinching her return to No.1 with a semifinal triumph over Maria Sharapova on Saturday, then capturing her first Sony Ericsson Championships title with a resonant 64 63 victory over Amélie Mauresmo, whom she had lost to in the round robin, on Sunday.

Henin-Hardenne was by and large the aggressor against Mauresmo, crushing her big groundstrokes and serves into the corners and, in particular, dominating play on her opponent's serve. She won over half the points on the Frenchwoman's delivery and had break points in eight of those 10 games, converting six times. A double fault on match point handed the Belgian her first season-ending title.

"I was close to winning our match two days ago, but it wasn't good enough at the end of the second set," said Henin-Hardenne, who lost 46 76(3) 62 to Mauresmo in the round robin. "So from the first point to the end today I decided to put more pressure. I played amazing at the end. I had a lot of motivation and that's what I missed in my last match against Amélie on Friday. So that was the difference."

"No excuses; she just played better than me today," Mauresmo said. "She took the opportunities when she had them, and I felt I didn't serve so well, and wasn't so effective on the forehand side when I was going to the net. But that's just the way it is. And, as I said throughout the week, I didn't expect to be here today, and maybe with the energy I gave every match, today I didn't have enough."

Henin-Hardenne was 2-1 in the round robin portion of the event, beginning with a 62 67(5) 61 win over Martina Hingis (a match that went to three sets despite her having led 5-2 in the second) and a 64 64 victory over Nadia Petrova, before the aforementioned loss to Mauresmo. In the semis she continued to blossom into top form, holding off a late charge from Sharapova to reach the final, 62 76(5).

The win over Sharapova secured for her a return to the No.1 ranking, a place she held for 45 non-consecutive weeks between 2003 and 2004. This year will be her second time finishing No.1, after 2003.

"I've been very consistent, very solid," said Henin-Hardenne of her year. "I can only be happy. I can look back and say in my Wimbledon and US Open finals, I was not at my best but I'm not going to think too much about that. I'm just going to keep everything that went well, and say it's been the best year of my career.

"I can't say I was 100 percent this week but it was amazing what happened for me in the last few days."

Mauresmo, semifinalists look back at their seasons

Despite the dismay of surrendering her season-ending title and the No.1 ranking, Mauresmo still has a lot to be proud of when looking back at her 2006 season.

"It's tough, because the disappointment is here right after the match. But, later on, I'm sure I'll look back on my season thinking I would have signed for it any time if somebody would have told me, before January, that I was going to get two Grand Slam titles and be in the final here again. That's why you play tennis, to have these big matches, even if sometimes you lose; but it makes you stronger.

"What I look forward to now is resting a bit and getting ready for '07 - because once you've tasted these emotions, these big moments, you want to have more."

Others who left lasting impressions in Madrid were Sharapova, the only woman who was 3-0 in round robin play going into the semis; Kim Clijsters, who went 2-1 in the round robin portion before dropping a three set semifinal to Mauresmo; Nadia Petrova, who notched a win over Mauresmo in the round robin; and, last but certainly not least, Martina Hingis, who pushed both eventual finalists to three sets in round robin play, narrowly missing out on a semifinal berth.

Sharapova was part an historic three-woman race for year-end No.1, alongside Mauresmo and Henin-Hardenne, but needed to win the title and have the Belgian fall before the final. The Russian finishes with her highest year-ending ranking of No.2, and also extended her win streak to 19 before seeing it end in the semis.

"I've had an amazing year. When you lose it's always disappointing, but at the end of the day I have a month and a half off. I'm happy with the way I've been playing lately, and I hope I can improve and take that into next year."

Clijsters was in her second week back from injury, having hurt her wrist during her opening round in Montréal. She was forced to miss her US Open title defense.

"I've had a really good week here. I'll take the positives with me to Australia. It's always nice to end the year when you're playing well I guess. But it's been frustrating. There've been times where I wanted to stop but especially after the injury in Montréal. I didn't know how much I had left of trying to get back."

But the week truly belonged to Henin-Hardenne, who silenced all nay-sayers with her return from injury and profound victories over several of her closest rivals.

"I didn't know if I'd be healthy to play the whole tournament, play five matches at this level in six days; it was a challenge, I didn't know what to expect, and then I come, I win. I finish No.1. What more can I ask for? I'm just so happy right now.

"I don't want to think about next year. I want to enjoy the moment. Life goes by too fast, and if I start thinking about what's going to happen next year I think I'll miss very important emotions right now."

SonyEricsson WTA Tour

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Masters Cup Berth Showdown Culminates in Paris

Russian Nikolay Davydenko fifth singles player to qualify for Shanghai
Seven players, including defending Paris champion Berdych, vie for final three spots.
The tightly contested Race to the Tennis Masters Cup comes down to the wire this week at the BNP Paribas Masters, the ninth ATP Masters Series event of the season. Paris provides the sole stage for three more players to earn a spot in the prestigious circuit finale in Shanghai.
Russian Nikolay Davydenko, No. 5 in the INDESIT ATP 2006 Race, secured his second consecutive qualification in the Tennis Masters Cup on Sunday. Davydenko is assured of his circuit finale berth as four players cannot surpass him in the Race standings at the BNP Paribas Masters. This week’s winner will add 100 Race points to his 2006 total ahead of the Tennis Masters Cup to be held at Shanghai’s Qi Zhong Stadium from November 12-19.
The 25-year-old Davydenko reached the semifinals in his Tennis Masters Cup debut last year, going a perfect 3-0 in round robin action before falling to eventual champion David Nalbandian, who currently stands at No. 6 in the Race standings with 439 points. Davydenko joins Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Ivan Ljubicic and Andy Roddick as players who have already qualified for the Tennis Masters Cup.
Chilean Fernando Gonzalez and Croat Mario Ancic, respectively No. 9 and No. 10 in the INDESIT ATP 2006 Race, take their heated Tennis Masters Cup pursuit to Paris this week, and are seeded to face off in a third round meeting that will end one contender’s Shanghai bid. The two have split their previous four encounters, with Ancic claiming the last two.Gonzalez moved to within eight points of No. 8 Tommy Robredo in the Race standings and nine points of No. 7 James Blake following his appearance in the Davidoff Swiss Indoors Basel final on Sunday, his third consecutive runner-up finish. The Chilean has added 122 Race points to his season total over the past three weeks, putting him within reach of his second appearance in Shanghai. Last year, Gonzalez went 1-1 in round robin action as an alternate.
Meanwhile, the 22-year-old Ancic moved ahead of Marcos Baghdatis (out of Paris with an injury, and therefore out of contention for a Tennis Masters Cup berth) to No. 10 in the Race standings and closed the gap on the final Shanghai spot to 23 points by winning the St. Petersburg Open title. Ancic will earn 25 points should he advance to the Paris quarterfinals. He said: "I am still in the race to qualify for Shanghai's Masters Cup, and next week it is all going to be decided. I am sure it will be an exciting week."

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Red-hot Federer beats Gonzalez for 11th title of '06

BASEL, Switzerland (AP) -- Roger Federer beat Fernando Gonzalez 6-3, 6-2, 7-6 (3) Sunday to win his fourth straight title and 11th of the year at the Swiss Indoors.
The top-ranked Federer hit a forehand return for a winner on the first point of the third-set tiebreaker and cruised from there to win his hometown tournament for the first time in seven attempts.
Federer overpowered the defending champion, hitting 14 aces and breaking Gonzalez's serve three times.
"It is indeed magnificent," Federer said the event he used to work as a ball boy. "Different countries, different titles, they all have a different meaning. Winning Basel, my home tournament, it's one of those moments I'll never forget."
The final was a rematch of last week's Madrid Masters final, also won by Federer in three sets.

Federer had twice previously reached the final in Basel, but lost to Thomas Enqvist in 2000 and to Tim Henman a year later. He did not play the last two years because of injuries.
Federer said he would decide Monday whether he felt ready to compete in next week's Paris Masters. If he skips that event, he would not play until next month's Masters Cup in Shanghai.

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Gasquet Grabs Third ATP Title of Season

Fourth seed Richard Gasquet dropped just six points on serve in a crushing 6-3, 6-1 victory over unseeded fellow Frenchman Marc Gicquel in the Lyon final Sunday. It was the first all-French final since 2004 in Metz, when Gasquet fell to Jerome Haehnel.
Gasquet saved the lone break point he faced while converting four of 10 break point opportunities on Gicquel's serve.
En route to the final Gasquet had to rally from a set down in both the quartefinals and semifinals, first defeating fifth seed Robin Soderling 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 and then 2000 Lyon champion Arnaud Clement 6-7(6), 6-4, 6-1.
The 20-year-old finished the week with a 33-21 match record in 2006, surpassing his 31-11 season in 2005. Gasquet has put together a strong 26-8 run since mid-June, rebounding from a 7-13 start. However, despite today's win he is not in contention to qualify for Tennis Masters Cup Shanghai.
Gasquet's other titles in 2006 came at Nottingham in June (d. Bjorkman) and Gstaad in July (d. Lopez). Additionally, he was runner-up to Federer at the ATP Masters Series event in Toronto in August. Gasquet and Federer are the only ATP players to have reached finals on all four surfaces this year: hard courts, clay, grass and indoor carpet.
Gicquel, 29, was playing in the first final of his career. He is the oldest first-time finalist this year. Gicquel is having the best year of his career by far, with a record of 17-11. Before 2006 he had a career ATP mark of 5

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Federer Sets Up Repeat Of Madrid Final

Basel-born ATP World No. 1 Roger Federer survived a test against Paradorn Srichaphan of Thailand, with a 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(5) victory, to reach his third final in seven visits to the Davidoff Swiss Indoors.
Federer, who was runner-up in 2000 (l. to Enqvist) and 2001 (l. to Henman), will look to extend his perfect 8-0 career record against defending champion Fernando Gonzalez on Sunday.

Last week Federer beat Gonzalez in the final of Mutua Madrilena Masters Madrid.
Gonzalez, who knocked out Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland 6-4, 6-4 in the semifinals, now stands just eight points behind No. 8 Tommy Robredo in the INDESIT ATP 2006 Race.

The Chilean could jump to No. 7 with the Basel title, to further his chances of claiming one of the four remaining berths available for Tennis Masters Cup Shanghai next month.
Gonzalez has won 24 of his last 30 matches. The 26-year-old advances to his third straight final (also Vienna, Madrid) in as many weeks. He has a 49-20 ATP match record in 2006.

Federer’s fourth career win over Srichaphan helped extend his ATP match record to 86-5 this season. The 25-year-old Swiss is also riding a 23-match winning streak.

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Ancic to Play Defending Champion Johansson in Final

Third-seeded Croat Mario Ancic will meet defending champion and 1997 winner Thomas Johansson of Sweden (pictured) in the final of the St. Petersburg Open on Sunday. Ancic has previously beaten Johansson in the 2004 Milan semifinals
Ancic knocked out 18-year-old Latvian wild card Ernest Gulbis 6-2, 6-3 in one hour and 34 minutes. Ancic hit five aces and three double faults, winning 31 of 41 points on first serve. He saved all six break points he faced.
This week, Gulbis became the first player in 65 ATP tournaments this year to reach the semifinals in his very first event.Ancic adds 13 points to his INDESIT ATP 2006 Race total, to join Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis with 372 points. However, Baghdatis remains at No. 10 as a result of earning more mandatory ATP points this year.

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ATP Outlines Round Robin Format Trials for 2007

* Thirteen ATP tournaments selected for round robin testing

* Three formats to be monitored to determine benefits for fans, broadcasters, others

* Sunday Starts also will be featured at several of the selected tournaments

The ATP announced today that it will test three different round robin formats at select circuit events in 2007. Round robin format is one of a series of on-court enhancements for 2007 outlined during the US Open to improve the tournament experience for players, tennis fans, broadcasters and event promoters.

Round robin—where players are placed into groups or pools, and the top player in each group then moves on to the knockout phase of the tournament—increases spectators’ chances of seeing their favorite stars, as one loss in a round-robin pool does not automatically eliminate a player, and also improves scheduling for broadcasters and tournament promotion. Round robin has been a staple of the Tennis Masters Cup circuit finale and ARAG ATP World Team Championship but not utilized at any other ATP tournament. The 13 tournaments chosen subject to final approval by the ATP will be held on different surfaces in different countries throughout the 2007 season, starting the first week in Adelaide, Australia.

“Our research with fans, tournaments and media indicate a preference for round robin,” said Etienne de Villiers, ATP Executive Chairman & President. “We are committed to grow the appeal of the sport and get more fans to sample and enjoy. We are going to test different formats and see which ones we will introduce and into what type of event for 2008. It is the 'do it, try it, fix it' approach. I recognise some players and media are opposed or indifferent. But we will diligently build our research based on the results and do what's best for the fans. You live or die by your what your consumer does, not by what critics say or feel.”

ATP World No. 2 Rafael Nadal said: “I have said it at our meetings with Etienne, I think this is a great idea. Finally we really move forward and we do something really good for our sport. This will be good for our tournaments, for us the players and especially for fans and television since they will be able to have and see their favorite players more than once for sure.”

The ATP will conduct its one-year trial testing the three following formats:

· A 24-player round robin draw consisting of 8 groups of 3 players. Each player will then play two guaranteed matches in the round robin stage. The winner from each group will advance to the knockout round (quarterfinals), and then will play out the tournament per a traditional single-elimination format.

· A 32-player round robin draw consisting of a 16-player “play-off” with the 8 winners joining 16 other players to make up the 8 groups of 3 players. Each player will then play two guaranteed matches in the round robin stage. The winner from each group will advance to the knockout round (quarterfinals), and then will play out the tournament per a traditional single-elimination format.

· A 48-player round robin draw consisting of 16 groups of 3 players. Each player will then play two guaranteed matches in the round robin stage. The winner from each group will advance to the knockout round (round of 16), and then will play out the tournament per a traditional single-elimination format.

Many of the tournaments will be held over eight days and will begin not on the traditional Monday but on Sunday, when ATP tournaments will feature singles and doubles matches, pro-ams, charity events and family activities as part of the ATP’s plan to transform men’s professional tennis into an integrated entertainment business based on what makes sense to fans, players, tournaments and media.

Additionally, two ATP Masters Series tournaments have been chosen to utilize a Sunday Start program in 2007 (though ATP Masters Series will not test the round robin format). Those two Masters events are the Masters Series Monte-Carlo (April 15-22, 2007) and Rogers Masters in Montreal (August 5-12, 2007).

The 13 tournaments testing round robin in 2007, subject to final ATP and tournament agreement, will be (listed chronologically):

· Next Generation Adelaide International; Adelaide, Australia; 32-player round robin; hard court outdoors
· Movistar Open; Viña del Mar, Chile; 24-player round robin; clay court outdoors
· Delray Beach International Tennis Championships; Delray Beach, Florida; 32-player round robin; hard court outdoors
· Copa Telmex; Buenos Aires, Argentina; 32-player round robin; clay court outdoors
· Tennis Channel Open; Las Vegas, Nevada; 32-player round robin; hard court outdoors
· Estoril Open; Estoril, Portugal; 32-player round robin; clay court outdoors
· The Stella Artois Championships; London, United Kingdom; 48-player round robin; grass court outdoors
· Catella Swedish Open; Båstad, Sweden; 32-player round robin; clay court outdoors
· Campbell’s Hall of Fame Tennis Championships; Newport, Rhode Island; 24-player round robin; grass court outdoors
· RCA Championships; Indianapolis, Indiana; 32-player round robin; hard court outdoors
· ATP Studena Croatia Open, Umag, Croatia; 32-player round robin; clay court outdoors
· Legg Mason Tennis Classic; Washington, D.C.; 48-player round robin; hard court outdoors
· If Stockholm Open; Stockholm, Sweden; 32-player round robin; hard court indoors

"This is a great day for tennis," said Mark Baron, tournament director of the Delray Beach International Tennis Championships. "It's exciting for Delray Beach to open the 2007 tennis season in the United States by rolling out this new round robin format. We have been discussing creative ways to make our sport even more exciting and this format delivers a chance to test some of those ideas. Our fans are the big winners because they'll have the opportunity to see our marquee players at least twice. The round robin portion of the tournament will be exciting to follow as players jockey for positions into the quarterfinals."

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