Who can stop Serena Williams from capturing her second French Open crown is the question on everyone’s lips when it comes to the women’s draw. Such is the American’s dominance over her major rivals that her relative lack of success at this particular major underlined by a shocking first round exit last year, is largely being ignored. So can Sharapova defend her crown or can Azarenka overcome her pitfalls on the clay? Or will a darkhorse in the form of Kvitova, Li Na or Stosur come through for a fairytale finish? Let’s examine these scenarios by digging deep into the draw using that well known approach - bracketology

There was a sense of inevitability in the air on Saturday at the WTA Championships in Istanbul as Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams booked a spot opposite each other in Sunday's Grand Finale. Williams, arguably one of the greatest women's tennis players of all time, demolished an exhausted Agnieszka Radwanska for the loss of just 3 games, while Sharapova dropped twice as many to world no.1 Victoria Azarenka in a match that was a bit closer than the one-sided scoreline suggests.

Serena Williams is not just the greatest tennis player of her generation, but perhaps may even be the greatest of all time. She gave ample demonstration of her hitting prowess, demolishing world no.4 Agnieszka Radwanska 6-2, 6-1 in a match that barely lasted an hour.

The list of seeds for the first Grand Slam of the year, the Australian Open at Melbourne Park were announced today, and as has been the case in recent times the Big 4 continue to tow the line set by the ATP and WTA Tours. Gone are the days when seeds were announced at the discretion of the organizers forcing crazed fans to look at the lists in all eagerness wondering what numbers their favourites were assigned.

While the current system eliminates both vagueness and partiality, it also removes any sense of mystery surrounding the game. Imagine if the Australian Open organizers had been adventurous enough to hand former champion Justine Henin a top 16 seeding on the grounds that she is more than likely to make the second week. Shudder the thought!

WTA trumps the ATP!!
The ATP for a few years now, thanks to the exploits of its twin leads - Roger Federer & Rafael Nadal, with useful acts from its supporting cast has clearly been in the ascendancy leaving the WTA tour in its wake. But for the first time in a long time, the women's draw finally pulled off an act to arguably surpass what was dished out on the men's side. The feel good story of Clijsters, Carol

Third seed Rafael Nadal put to rest any rumours about weak knees and abdomen strains by coming through a competitive four set encounter with French upstart Gael Monfils with flying colours. Monfils engaged Nadal in some exceptionally long rallies and out hit Nadal for a set and a half before a 31 shot rally towards the business-end of the second set left the 13th seed gasping for air and eventually falling flat in a battle of the fittest.

In a high entertaining opening set, it was Monfils who struck first blood, as the sheer athleticism of the young Frenchman saw him take an early 3-1 lead. Monfils served for the set at 5-3, only for Nadal to race to a 0-40 lead, eventually taking his second breakpoint to

Are you looking at the sports news today and scratching your head trying to figure out if you know these surviving women in the US Open? If there is anyone in the world who predicted these 8 women would make the quarterfinals of the Open, I just hope I am facebook/orkut/myspace friends with them, because they are sure to win a lottery sometime in the future.

But let's pause for a moment, take a deep breath and reanalyze the women's field. We absolutely have to begin with Oudin. The clearest dividing line between those that win at the slams and those that don't is mental toughness. At the tender age of 17, Melanie has already proven that this is a quality that she possesses in abundance. The serve and th

It was a day when the clock was turned back and memories were rekindled. The last time Kim Clijsters faced off againstVenus Williams, Bush was still president, the Aussies still ruled the cricketing world and Marat Safin was yet to take his Himalayan trek. On that day, back in 2005, Clijsters beat Venus enroute to her first and so far only major. Since then their careers and lives took widely varying routes. While Venus added a pair of Wimbledons to her tally of slams, Clijsters elected to retire, have a kid and adopt a normal family life. But on the 6th of September, 2009, 4 years on, it was as if nothing had changed. Clijsters was once