The Olympus US Open Series standings indicate that Kim Clijsters leads the table with most points and she has been the hottest player this summer. With a victory over Maria Sharapova, Clijsters claimed the masters title in Cincinnati. At the following masters event in Canada, the Rogers Cup, she also reached the quarterfinals. However, with a thigh injury during this loss, Clijsters struggled, which may prevent her from competing at the U.S. Open. If the Belgian mom will not be able to defend her U.S. Open title, it will be unfortunate.

Caroline Wozniacki is the second best player this summer, as she won two tournaments, based on the Olympus Series points. Early in August, Wozniacki captured the title in her native Denmark, and then came to America and won the Rogers Cup in Montreal, Canada. In fact, on the same day, Wozniacki had to play the semifinal and final match, because of rain delays at this masters event. It looks like the last year’s performance can be replicated by the young talented Dane and reach the U.S. Open final once again.

The withdrawal of Serena Williams is the biggest headline on the women’s side of this year’s U.S. Open. The world number 1 is still recovering from a brutal cut that she suffered in July and she will not be able to compete in New York City.

At the U.S. Open, the swinging Russians pose plenty of threats. some great hard court tennis can be played by Vera Zvonareva, Victoria Azarenka (Belarus actually), Svetlana Kuznetsova and Elena Dementieva. Three-time grand slam champion Maria Sharapova is also another Russian threat. This summer she reached two finals.

Last week in three sets over Maria Sharapova, Clijsters won at Cincinnati and she had to outlast American Bethanie Mattek-Sands the night before.

Clijsters said, “I was playing an opponent who could not miss a shot, while today Kanepi was missing a lot, especially since her strengths are usually her serve and her backhand. I really felt that I had opportunities once I was in a rally with her, and she was either going to make a mistake or I could really try to make her move.

It’s always nice to win a tournament and gradually feel your level improve and also to have matches like [Mattek-Sands] and in Cincinnati — to be behind and fight back and win,” she said.

Clijsters will face Vera Zvonareva. Zvonareva Agnes Szavay of Hungary 6-3, 6-3 and she is the eighth seed from Russia.

Svetlana Kuznetsova rallied for 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 victory and she is headed for the quarterfinals of the Rogers Cup at Uniprix Stadium. after getting thrashed in the second set, she made a good comeback.

So during the break what did she do?

Kuznetsova said, “I take a vodka shot, no? No, nothing like that. … I just go to the locker room, change all my clothes, eat a banana and I go back. It’s very simple. It was 6-1, but almost every game was deuce, so it was pretty hard. I took a break and it worked.”

The win put 11th-seeded Kuznetsova against Zheng Jie of China into a quarterfinal Friday. Zheng Jie upset fourth-seeded Elena Dementieva 7-6 (3), 6-4.

When talking about the favorites for the 2010 U.S. Open, the main focus is on the top four players; Nadal, Federer, Djokovic, and Murray. Andy Roddick, who dropped out of the top 10 and was diagnosed with mono, is unfortunately a long shot at this year’s Open. Defending Champion Del Potro is also out of the conversation, because he has been struggling with injuries all season long and hasn’t played much.

Andy Murray is the current leader of the men’s 2010 U.S. Open Olympus Series, after claiming the Rogers Cup in Toronto, Canada by defeating Roger Federer. Surprisingly, Murray earned a straight set victory of over the greatest player of all time. There is a good chance that Federer may get this rematch at the U.S. Open final.

The Olympus Series standings can be misleading, because Nadal, Federer, and Djokovic arrived at the Rogers Cup without playing any matches since Wimbledon. Djokovic lost to Federer in the Semifinals, while Nadal lost to Murray in the other semifinal. The top four players proved that they are the true candidates for claiming major tournaments during the hard court season, starting with the Masters Series.

There are only two tournaments remaining for the men, the masters at Cincinnati and the Pilot Pen Open in New Haven, Connecticut. Once again, the top four men are the heavy favorites to get to the late stages of the final masters series of the hard court season.

Traditionally, the top players have skipped the Pilot Pen Open, and rather arrived early at the U.S. Open grounds to start preparing for the grand slam. A week of practice should give Nadal, Federer, Djokovic, and Murray plenty of preparation. Nadal, who is ranked number 1, is still seeking the only Grand Slam he hasn’t claimed yet.

Several top 10 ten players including sports betting stars, Jelena Jankovic, Samantha Stosur, and Vera Zvonareva will be featured in the 2010 Mercury Insurance Open. Including Flavia Pennetta, Victoria Azarenka, and Svetlana Kuznetsova, there will be eight players too, who are ranked between 10-20 in the world. So to win this tournament, who exactly are the favorites? It is tough to predict.

In the Mercury Insurance Open, the truth is that players who are currently competing at the Bank of the West Classic in Stanford will carry plenty of momentum. Interestingly, in Stanford, Maria Sharapova and Elena Dementieva are both currently playing but have not committed to playing in Carlsbad.

For the upcoming Mercury Insurance Open, Samantha Stosur, who is seeded first at Stanford, appears to be in great shape, where she will be seeded second behind Jelena Jankovic. Stosur since her early loss at Wimbledon has not played any tournaments, but she looks forward to playing her best on the American hard courts. Jankovic is not necessarily the heavy favorite to win the Mercury Insurance Open, despite being the first seed. In fact, in her second round match in Slovenia she retired, which was also on hard courts, last week.

Number 6 seed Janko Tipsarevic and number 5 seed Ernests Gulbis both won their first round matches in straight sets, on Monday July 26. Rainer Schuettler, veteran German won his opening match as Horacio Zeballos, his opponent walked away with an injury. Xavier Malisse was taken out by Israeli Dudi Sela 6-1 4-6 6-3.

Travis Parrott and Dusan Vemic were defeated by the duo of Arnaud Clement and Johnathan Erlich, on the double’s side. Somdev Devvarman, Tim Smyczek, Ilija Bozoljac and wild card American Steve Johnson were the winners who were featured in the final qualifying matches, on the opening day.

With some great matches from the Americans, the singles and doubles, action at Los Angeles continued on Tuesday July 27. Against Kristof Vliegen and Ilja Bozoljac, Robby Ginepri and Ryan Sweeting were victorious, respectively. Over Leonardo Mayer, James Blake had a solid win 6-1 6-4. Gabashvilli was taken out by American qualifier Smyczeck 6-2 6-3. At Atlanta last week, Kevin Anderson of South Africa, who reached the semifinals, won his first round match 6-3 6-2 over Ilya Marchenko. Steve Johnson was defeated by Indian Somdev Devvarman 6-4 6-4, in the battle between two qualifiers.

From first round matches, Top seeds Murray, Baghdatis, Querrey and Lopez were excused and got byes into the second round.

Annacone is the former coach of Pete Sampras. He is now the head coach of men’s tennis for Britain’s Lawn Tennis Association and he has also coached Tim Henman and Marat Safin.

Federer said on his website, “I’ve been looking to add someone to my team, and I’ve decided to spend some days with Paul Annacone. As Paul winds down his responsibilities working for the Lawn Tennis Association, we will explore our relationship through this test period. Paul will work alongside my existing team, and I am excited to learn from his experiences.”

In the ATP rankings, in the past two months Federer has slipped to No. 3, the first time since November 2003 he has been that low. He is behind No. 2 Novak Djokovic and No. 1 Rafael Nadal.

Federer has gone without a coach for extended stretches, although he has worked with coaches Tony Roche, Darren Cahill and Jose Higueras.
Beginning Aug. 9 in Toronto, he is scheduled to play his first tournament since Wimbledon. Before heading to the U.S. Open, Federer plans to play in Cincinnati the following week, and he may be accompanied by Annacone.

Federer’s agent, Tony Godsick, said, “They will take the necessary time to see if the relationship can work. I would assume that Paul, if he can work it in with his remaining responsibilities and schedule with the LTA, will join Roger for some of his upcoming summer hard court events in North America.”

In January, Federer’s most recent title came at the Australian Open. It was his 16th Grand Slam championship. When he lost in the quarterfinals at the French Open, his record streak of reaching the semifinals at 23 consecutive major tournaments ended.

Following seven consecutive appearances in the final, at Wimbledon, Federer also lost in the quarterfinals.

Earlier this year, Federer topped the rankings but after the French Open, he was overtaken by Nadal. He was one week shy of tying Sampras’ career record of 286 total weeks at No. 1.

Isner said, “I was able to play well when I needed to early in the second set, and the crowd would pump me up when I’d get down 15-40. I just didn’t want to let them down. I didn’t want to lose my first match here.”

After winning a three-day, 183-game match at Wimbledon last month, Isner became a household tennis name. In career final-set tiebreaks, he improved to 16-5.

Isner added, “With Gio as my opponent, he’s probably one of the last guys I want to play. First match back [against] a big-serving left-hander, he’s not going to give you much rhythm. So that was a little bit working against me, but I just told myself to compete.”

On Friday night, Michael Russell will face Isner in the quarterfinals so make sure you place your Atlanta Tennis Championships bets early to get the best lines.

In an earlier match, Taylor Dent beat No. 4 seed Horacio Zeballos 4-6, 6-2, 6-0, to advance to his first ATP Tour quarterfinal since Tokyo in October 2005. In 20 matches this year, the victory was his seventh. Dent will face No. 6 seed Mardy Fish. Fish defeated Robby Ginepri 6-1, 7-5.

In tiebreaks this year, Isner, now a tour-best 23-12, improved to 25-15 overall in 2010. On the ATP Tour, he is ranked No. 19 and the second-leading American behind Andy Roddick, Atlanta’s top seed.

Isner pushed his 2010 total to 705 with 33, the tour’s leader in aces. By taking the final three points, he won the second-set tiebreak, the last coming on Muller’s long volley. Against the serve of Muller, Isner struggled all night.

In three career matches, Russell’s 1-6, 6-2, 7-5 victory over Rainer Schuettler was his first over the German, their first since September 2001 in Hong Kong.

On Thursday, second seed, Aravane Rezai of France, won her seventh straight match against Mariano Duque Marino of Colombia with a 7-6 (3), 6-3, in the Palermo Open second round.

When Rezai won the Bastad title last weekend, she solidified her place in the top 20 and it was her second of the year and fourth of her career. Romina Oprandi of Italy, wild card entrant, who reached her first quarterfinal since 2006 by defeating Masa Zec Peskiric of Slovenia 6-4, 7-5 and she might be meeting Rezai soon. Qualifier Mirjana Lucic of Croatia was beaten by third seeded Sara Errani of Italy 6-0, 7-6 (4). Ioana Raluca Olaru of Romania was comfortably beaten by fifth-seeded Kaia Kanepi of Estonia 6-1, 6-2.

In the second round of the Palermo Open, Renata Voracova of the Czech Republic was beaten by top-seeded Flavia Pennetta of Italy in straight sets. To join Jill Craybas and Julia Goerges in the third round, the defending champion defeated Voracova 6-0, 6-3.Bulgaria’s Tsvetana Pironkova was beaten by fourth-seeded Craybas of the United States, 2-6, 6-2, 6-2.

Eighth-seeded Goerges of Germany ousted Italy’s Corinna Dentoni and earned her second win6-4, 6-3.Spanish qualifier Nuria Llagostera Vives upset ninth-seeded Alberta Brianti of Italy 7-6 (6), 6-2, on Wednesday. Fourth-seeded Tzvetana Pironkova and fifth-seeded Kaia Kanepi won in straight sets to advance into the second round of the Palermo Open.

Bulgaria’s Pironkova beat Anna Floris of Italy 6-4, 7-6 at the clay-court tournament at the Country Time Club Viale dell’Olimpo stadium, while Estonia’s Kanepi beat Rossana De Los Rios of Paraguay 7-5, 6-4. Jill Craybas of the United States was pushed by Uzbekistan’s Akgul Amanmuradova before winning 7-6, 7-5, and Mariana Duque Marino of Colombia defeated Slovakia’s Zuzana Kucova 6-4, 6-0.

Last year’s winner and Davis Cup betting favorite, Spain was eliminated in a surprising 5-0 sweep by the underdog French team. The first three matches were very close, but the French managed to play some great tennis and secure a spot in the World Group semifinals. On the first day, Gael Monfils defeated David Ferrer in five sets, and then Michael Llodra upset Fernando Versaco in four sets. The next day, Llodra teamed up with Julien Benneteau to win the doubles match in four sets against the lefty duo of Feliciano Lopez and Verdasco. This was the first time in nearly 80 years that France defeated Spain in Davis Cup.

In the tie between Argentina and Russia, David Nalbandian was the hero of this clash. Nalbandian won his first rubber against Nikolay Davydenko, and then won the fifth deciding rubber against Mikhail Youzhny. Both victories were in straight sets, and the home Russian crowd didn’t affect Nalbandian’s focus. Argentina won the tie 3-2 and will face France in the semifinal.

The clash between Serbia and Croatia had a lot of tension, mainly because of the historic political problems between the two neighbors. However, Serbian star Novak Djokovic led his team to a 4-1 victory against the Croats. Tipsarevic and Zimonjic also deserve credit for this win at Split, Croatia.

In the last Davis Cup quarterfinal, the Czechs quietly defeated Chile 4-1. Chile’s home advantage didn’t help at all. Also, Fernando Gonzalez’s absence hurt the Chilean team. Ivo Minar, Jan Hajek, and Lukas Dlouhy helped the Czech team advanced to the semifinal against Serbia.

Quarterfinal loss at 2010 Wimbledon, following seven consecutive appearances in the final, dropped the 16-time Grand Slam champion by one spot.

He trails No. 1 Rafael Nadal and new No. 2 Novak Djokovic.

Federer was overtaken in the rankings by Nadal on June 7, after the French Open, although he was No. 1 earlier this season.

While Federer lost in the quarterfinals at Roland Garros, Nadal won his fifth title there, too. Of tying Pete Sampras’ career record of 286 total weeks at No. 1 that left Federer one week shy.

A year after missing the tournament because of bad knees, Nadal’s second title at Wimbledon, increased his lead atop the rankings. Runner-up Tomas Berdych, who upset Federer at the All England Club, by reaching his first Grand Slam final, climbed from 13th to a career-high No. 8.

To six-time champion Federer, Andy Roddick, who lost the 2009 Wimbledon title match, dropped two spots to No. 9 after losing in the fourth round. Yen-hsun Lu of Taiwan, the man who beat him, leaped 40 spots to No. 42.

Wimbledon women’s champion Serena Williams remains at No. 1, like Nadal. Venus, her older sister, dropped from No. 2 to No. 4. With Caroline Wozniacki third, Jelena Jankovic moved to second.

Vera Zvonareva’s run to her first major final allowed her to rise from No. 21 to No. 9.