Venus, Serena in Olympics QF

Two time Olympics gold medal winner Venus Williams will meet
the home favorite Li Na in the QF of the Beijing Olympics women's
tennis event. Venus beat Victoria Azarenka of Belarus 6-3, 6-2, while
Li Na, the first Chinese women to break into the top 20 WTA rankings
two years ago, got the better of Estonia's Kaia Kanepi in three sets,
4-6, 6-2, 6-0.

In another match, Venus' sister Serena Williams survived a real fright
by French teenager Alize Cornet, before eventually prevailing 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

Federer Avenges Athens Defeat

Roger Federer had avenged his defeat in Athens 2004 by thrashing
his then conqueror, Tomas Berdych, in straight sets, 6-3. 7-6, in the
Beijing Olympics tennis event. By this win, he had entered the last
eight, which also features his nemesis Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.

Roger Federer to face Tomas Berdych in Third Round

Roger Federer will meet Czech Tomas Berdych, his tormentor
in Athens Olympics four years ago, in a third round match of the
Olympics tennis event today. When both met in the second round
of the Athens Olympics , Berdych upstaged his much fancied
opponent and heavily tipped favorite in three sets, stunning the tennis world.
Lets wait and see if Fedex could halt history from repeating itself this time!

Nadal, Djokovic Advances

Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic continued their march
toward the Olympic honors by beating Australian Lleyton Hewitt
and Rainer Schuettler respectively in their second round matches.
While Nadal rolled past Hewitt in straight sets, 6-1, 6-2, Djokovic
did the same to his German opponent with a 6-4, 6-2 victory.

Nadal will now lock horns with Russian Igor Andreev, while
Djokovic have to battle it out with the wily 13th seed Mikhail Youzhny
for a place in the next round.

Andy Murray's Olympic Sojourn Ends

World no.6 Andy Murray's Olympic journey ends rather abruptly,
when he bowed out in the first round of the Olympics tennis event
to lesser known Lu Yen-Hsun of Chinese Taipei in straight sets, 7-6, 6-4.
While Murray failed to live up to his reputation, his 77th ranked opponent
played nearly flawless tennis, sticking to his strengths and cutting down
on unforced errors, something Murray had in plenty.

Jankovic is new Women's world no.1

Jelena Jankovic is the new women's world no.1 player. She had switched
places with the current French Open champion and world no.1 Ana Ivanovic.

Jankovic had actually got at least four chances in the past two months to
ascend to the top spot. But she squandered them all, losing to low ranked
opponents in the earlier rounds of those tournaments.

Jelena is competing in the Olympic women's tennis event, while Ana had
withdrawn due to a nagging thumb injury.

Ivo Karlovic and Ivan Ljubicic Out of Olympics

Croatians Ivo Karlovic and Ivan Ljubicic withdrew from Olympics
yesterday. The 14th seed Karlovic, who was seen as a major threat
to Roger Federer's route to the finals, is suffering from an upset
stomach, while Ljubicic had not given the exact reason for his withdrawal.

Karlovic is replaced by China's Yu Xinyuan, who will meet Tomas
Berdych of the Czech Republic in the first round. On the other hand,
Ljubicic's withdrawal opens the door to Devin Mullings of the Bahamas.

With just a day to go for the start of the tennis event, ITF had no time
to call in two of the players from the alternate list, and hence settled
for Yu Xinyuan, who is from the host country, and Devin, who is already
here in Beijing as a doublesparticipant representing Bahamas.