Russia’s tennis boss Shamil Tarpischev has announced his team  for the upcoming Fed Cup final tie against Spain. Though traditionally Russia has the best selection pool when it comes to Fed Cup, it seems Russia’s captain had to be satisfied with a second-string team. World number 4 Svetlana Kuznetsova will lead the team comprised of world number 10 and Beijing bronze medalist Vera Zvonareva, 56th-ranked Ekaterina Makarova and number 71 Elena Vesnina.

Elena Dementieva, and Dinara Safina are somewhat exhausted after their recent sucesses in Olympics and US Open, Anna Chakvetadze can’t find her form after the horrific robbery attack, and Maria Sharapova is out with a shoulder injury.

“This is the best team we could assemble at the moment. Dementieva and Safina have a real chance to become world number one so we have to give them a break,” Tarpischev said.

Russians dominate.

WTA Top 10 Rankings (August 25, 2008)

1. Ana Ivanovic - Serbia - 3612

2. Jelena Jankovic - Serbia - 3515

3. Serena Williams - United States - 3341

4. Svetlana Kuznetsova - Russia - 3181

5. Maria Sharapova - Russia - 3131

6. Elena Dementieva - Russia - 3070

7. Dinara Safina - Russia - 3047

8. Venus Williams - United States - 2586

9. Anna Chakvetadze - Russia - 2230

10. Vera Zvonareva - Russia - 2117

Russian third see Svetlana Kuznetsova was upset by China’s world No 43 Li Na in straight sets in the first round of the Beijing Olympics.

World number four Svetlana Kuznetsova will lead Russia’s Fed Cup team in next month’s semi-final against the United States in Moscow.

“We had an agreement with Kuznetsova and Sharapova that one of them would play against Israel and the other against the US,” Tarpishchev said. “Sharapova had already played in Tel Aviv, so now it’s Kuznetsova’s turn. It was sort of a trade-off because both of them have very busy schedules.

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In an interview with RBK TV Russia’s tennis boss Shamil Tarpischev has said that he has almost finalized the list of the Russian players for the upcoming Beijing Olympics. There are four spots available for Russia. Maria Sharapova, Svetlana Kuznetsova, and Anna Chakvetadze are confirmed participants. For the last spot, Tarpischev said he still needed to make a decision between Elena Dementieva and Vera Zvonareva. As for the men’s side, things are more complicated. Since there are five players equally qualifying for the four available tickets– Nikolay Davydenko, Mikail Youzhny, Dmitry Tursunov, and Marat Safin. June 8th is the deadline for the submission of the final participants’ list.

Eighth seeded Russian Elena Dementieva came a set down to beat the third-seeded Ana Ivanovic of Serbia, 5-7, 6-3, 6-3 in quarterfinal action at the $1.5 million Dubai Tennis Championships. However, the major upset of the day was Number one see Justine Henin’s loss to unseeded Italian Francesca Schiavone 7-6 (7-3) and 7-6 (7-4). Svetlana Kuznetsova also reached the semi-finals after beating France’s Amelie Mauresmo and will play fourth-seeded Serb Jelena Jankovic who had an “easy” victory when sixth seed Anna Chakvetadze retired with an injury after losing the first set. 

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has congratulated Maria Sharapova for winning her third grand slam–the Australian Open title, reports Interfax news agency quoting Russian president’s press secretary Aleksey Gromov. Here is my beef with Putin. I remember somewhere (don’t remember where) reading Svetlana Kuznetsova’s interview, where she mentioned how she felt somewhat “left-out” when Putin didn’t call to congratulate her after winning the US Open in 2004. Earlier that year, Putin called to congratulate Maria Sharapova for Wimbledon, Anastasia Myskina for Roland Garros, but somehow things apparently got hectic for Mr Putin right around the time when Sveta won her title.

C’mon Putin. Pick up the phone and call to congratulate Kuzy! It is never too late…for Mother Russia!

We have officially reached to the point where Russian players start eliminating each other at Australian Open.

First Elena Vesnina was crashed out of the event by fellow Russian Maria Sharapova 3-6, 0-6. The winner of the next all-Russian match was Maria Kirilenko. She successfully eliminated sixth-seeded Anna Chakvetadze.

More Russian duels are on the way. Maria Sharapova faces another tough Russian on the fourth round namely eleventh-seeded Elena Dementieva. They have encountered on nine different occasions, with seven victories for Sharapova. In another all-Russian duel, big hitting Nadia Petrova meets Ekaterina Makarova.

On the men’s side, Nikolay Davydenko will play with Mikhail Youzhny.

“I was not playing against her I was playing against me,” said world No. 2 Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova after crashing out of Australian Open in the third round to rising Polish star Agnieska Radwanska. Kuzy couldn’t take even a set. She lost in straight sets 6-3 6-4 to the number 29 seed.

Fans might remember the Polish teenager’s name. This is not the first time she has upset a Russian top player at a Grand Slam. In last year’s US Open, she defeated Maria Sharapova in the third round. That victory has obviously given her some great confidence. Radwanska next meets the winner of Nadia Petrova ad Ekaterian Makarova match.

(Photo: Russia Today)

21 players from Russia have entered the Australian Open for men’s and women’s singles matches. 17 of them have advanced to the second round.

The first round results of the Russian players:

Women’s Singles Winners:

(5) Maria Sharapova (RUS) d. Jelena Kostanic Tosic (CRO) 6-4 6-3

(11) Elena Dementieva (RUS) d. Tzipora Obziler (ISR) 6-2 6-2 Read more »