Welcome Back to the Top 2!

Because Kim Clijsters retired from Rogers Cup, Vera Zvonareva is back at number 2 in the world!

Congratulations!!!

Because Clijsters withdrew from Cincinnati, Zvonareva has a good chance at being the number 2 seed at the US Open as well. In order to do this, she will need to get to the round of 16. Basically, she needs to win one match to keep ahead of Clijsters. That doesn't seem very hard. She'll face Ekaterina Makarova in her first match.

Rogers Cup Wednesday Preview

Wednesday at the Rogers Cup in Toronto, Canada brings us some great second round action. We'll be seeing most of the top seeds, and we'll be seeing certain players for the first time since Wimbledon. Read on for the Wednesday preview!

Kim Clijsters Retires

I've been really busy as of late, so I'll mainly be posting small tidbits when I have an ounce of spare time.

Kim Clijsters was leading Zheng Jie 6-3 1-2 when she retired from her first match since her loss at the UNICEF Open to Romina Oprandi in June. Clijsters cited pain in her abdominal muscle as the reason for her retirement. Sadly, this means that 899 points will drop off her ranking. (She won Cincinnati last year which happened during the same week.) Vera Zvonareva will have a good shot at taking the number 2 ranking back. It also means that we will not be seeing the much anticipated Clijsters-Serena third round match up that we were all anticipating.

However, Serena Williams may not even make it to the next round. She will be facing Julia Goerges who snapped her four match losing streak and defeating Jelena Jankovic in two easy sets, 6-1 6-3.

Other top players have faltered at the Rogers Cup as well. Svetlana Kuznetsova lost to Simona Halep yesterday in three sets, and Marion Bartoli was beaten in two sets by Galina Voskoboeva. Dominika Cibulkova was forced to retire from her match earlier today. Although there hasn't been any information on why she retired, my guess is that it has to do with her injury that caused her to pull out of Stanford.

San Diego Preview

The Mercury Insurance Open at San Diego is a 56 entrant premier level event. The winner of the tournament will receive 111,000 dollars and 470 ranking points. The draw came out last night, and it didn't disappoint. Although Kim Clijsters, Petra Kvitova and Svetlana Kuznetsova withdrew, there are still some big names coming to the Mercury Insurance Open. The top seed at San Diego will be Vera Zvonareva, the third ranked player in the world.

Read on for my analysis of the contenders for the title and for some possible matchups.

Week in Review I

This week had the first hardcourt tournament of the summer. The tournament was at Baku and is also the last tournament before the US Open series starts. Read on to see what happened this week.

Midweek Update- Baku

This week, the only WTA tournament is an international tournament held in Baku. The field was highlighted by Vera Zvonareva and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. So far, there have been some interesting stories.

US Open Series Preview

The US Open Series is a series of five premier events for both genders. The WTA US Open series begins next week with Stanford and ends with New Haven. The two biggest events of the US Open Series are at Cincinnati and Toronto. Although the US Open Series is a great way to warm up for the US Open in late August, there is another bonus to doing well here- the top three finishers in the US Open series will win an extra million dollars in prize money if they win the US Open.

Baku Preview

The international tournament at Baku signals the start of the second hard court season which will last until the end of the year. This is the only WTA event going on next week, and it is the last tournament before the US Open Series starts.

Elena Dementieva Wedding Photos

Today, Elena Dementieva and Maxim Afinogenov got married. Some notable names at the wedding were tennis stars, Dinara Safina, Maria Kirilenko, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Vera Zvonareva. Although one would expect Maria Kirilenko and her boyfriend Igor Andreev to be the next tennis stars to get married, Vera Dushevina caught the bouquet. Alla Kudryavtseva was kind enough to post pics from the wedding on her twitter so that us fans could see what the wedding was like. Pictures after the jump!

Wimbledon Day 5 Previews

Feliciano Lopez vs Andy Roddick [8]
Roddick will really need his serve to be on. He has been relying on it to get through matches. (But then again, why should we be surprised?) His backhand is still kind of crappy since he doesn't always make the best decisions with it. (Namely slicing when he's on the offensive)
Lopez is a lefty which means that his serve will be going to the Roddick backhand. He is also good at net. Like Roddick, he prefers his forehand to his backhand. He often slices his backhand, and even when he doesn't, it isn't that great.
Although I'd say that both have a chance at winning, Roddick will come out the victor in three or four sets.

Victoria Azarenka [4] vs Daniela Hantuchova [25]
The much awaited match between Azarenka and Hantuchova-both retired last week at Eastbourne, but I think that they both retired for preventative reasons and to get more rest.
It's definitely a winnable match for both women. They are both pretty good ballstrikers. I'm not really sure who will win though. It all depends on who shows up. If Hantuchova comes to Center Court tomorrow, then Azarenka will go on to the fourth round. However, if Danielle Anotoxfa comes to play, then I'd say Vika is doomed.

Tsevetana Pironkova [32] vs Vera Zvonareva [2]
This is a rematch of last year's semifinal where Zvonareva took the match 3-6 6-3 6-2. Both have good serves in terms of placement, and both have good backhands. However, Pironkova's forehand is quite weak. She hasn't been doing well this year, but she does tend to bring it all at Wimbledon. I'm going to go with Zvonareva on this one though.

Wimbledon Womens Predictions for the tournament

Although Wimbledon is already well underway, I'm going to post my predictions for the WTA.

Quarterfinalists:
Wozniacki-Although she isn't the greatest player on grass (or at all, but that's for another post all together) she has a good draw with her two biggest threats coming in the fourth round with Cibulkova and Goerges, two women who hit the ball quite hard and have both beaten her this year.

Sharapova-Since the only threat that she has in her draw is Peng, she should get to the quarterfinals with ease.

Li-Although she has a tough second round match with Lisicki, she is still an amazing ball striker. However, Roland Garros champions tend not to fare well at Wimbledon a few weeks later.

Serena-Even though she's been out for eleven months, she is still Serena. She has a tough customer in Bartoli in the fourth round, but if she can shake the rust in her game, she should be fine.

Petkovic-I gotta be honest. I had Makarova getting to the quarters in this relatively weak eighth of the draw on the grounds that she won Eastbourne in 2010 and has a good game for grass. But she lost to McHale in the first round, so I'm going with Andrea Petkovic who has been in the quarterfinals of both majors this year.

Azarenka-Azarenka has a good shot at reaching the quarterfinals in a major if she can stay healthy. The one person who can stop her is Daniella Hantuchova, otherwise known as Danielle Anotoxfa. She got to the finals of Birmingham defeating Ana Ivanovic and Venus Williams before losing to Sabine Lisicki. If she doesn't choke, she can definitely beat Azarenka in the third round.

Kvitova-Kvitova is a great player who hits the ball very hard and very deep. She got to the semifinals of Wimbledon last year before falling to Serena. There isn't really anyone who can beat her in this eighth than herself.

Zvonareva-This final eighth of the draw is probably one of the strongest with Venus Williams, Vera Zvonareva and Tsvetana Pironkova. Interesting matches will be a rematch of last year's Wimbledon semifinal coming in the third round and a match between the winner of that one and Venus Williams. I'd say that Zvonareva has the edge to get to the quarters on the grounds of Venus's lack of match play.

Semifinalists:

Sharapova-If she can minimize her double faults and her unforced errors, she'll be a force to be reckoned with. She has defeated Wozniacki in the past, and on grass, she'll have an even bigger advantage.

Serena-This was a really tough one to predict, but I think that Serena will have shaken off her rust by the quarterfinals and will prove to be too tough a challenge for Li. However, I think that the winner of this match has a great shot at winning the whole thing.

Azarenka-If she can get past her third round match against Hantuchova, she has a great shot at reaching her maiden semifinal.

Kvitova-She is such a great ballstriker that whoever she faces will have quite a lot of trouble dealing with her.

Finalists:

Serena-It's Serena... on grass... She has such mental toughness and can even overpower Sharapova. She beat her last year at Wimbledon as well.

Kvitova-She can beat anyone in the third quarter of the draw with ease.

Winner:

Serena-Although Kvitova can definitely challenge Serena in almost every aspect of her game, Serena is a 13 time grand slam champion and knows how deal with that pressure. However, as seen in last year's semifinal, Kvitova can put pressure on Serena, and if she can deal with the pressure, she might be the next winner of the Venus Rosewater Dish.