On the Baseline Tennis News

Venus Williams won her second straight title on Saturday after beating Flavia Pennetta in Acapulco.

Top seed Venus Williams will play second seed Flavia Pennetta in the women’s singles final in Bogota.

Maria Sharapova has been noticeably absent from the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour for the past six months as fans eagerly anticipate her return at Indian Wells or Miami.

Can Maria rebound back to her old form? Tell us in today’s edition of Open Forum Friday who you think will be her toughest competition.

Venus Williams, Flavia Pennetta, Iveta Benesova and Barbora Zahlavova Strycova have reached the semifinals in Acapulco.

Top seed Venus Williams escaped another close third set match on Wednesday. Williams outlasted Greta Arn 6-3, 6-7(3), 6-4 to reach the quarterfinals.

Aces

Caroline Wozniacki and Victoria Azarenka have signed up to compete at the Family Circle Cup. (Count On News 2)

Eight-time former champion Lindsay Davenport will return to Indian Wells next month.

Instead of headlining the competition in the desert, Davenport will take her place in the broadcast booth at the BNP Paribas Open.

Anna Kournikova? Is she back?

Fans were buzzing when she arrived at Boston University’s Agganis Arena on Valentine’s weekend, with her bag of racquets in tow.

Top seed Venus Williams needed three sets on Tuesday to get past Nuria Llagostera Vives in her opening match in Acapulco.

Two former WTA Tour world number one stars will be among the first to play under Wimbledon’s new roof.

The AELTC announced today that a star line-up of Andre Agassi, Stefanie Graf, Kim Clijsters and Tim Henman will become the first to play tennis under the new Centre Court roof in May.

Qualifying top seed Agnes Szavay lost in the final round on Monday and failed to reach the main draw in Acapulco.

Aces

Sony Ericsson WTA Tour players Cara Black and Liezel Huber recently celebrated their 30th birthdays. (Sony Ericsson WTA Tour)

Venus Williams returned to the Top 5 for the first time since August 2003 after winning her 40th Tour singles title at the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships.

Venus Williams, Flavia Pennetta, Carla Suarez Navarro and Iveta Benesova are the top four seeds at the $220,000 clay court tournament in Acapulco.

Jelena Jankovic ascended to the top of the tennis crop in 2008, yet not without her critics.

Among them was Swiss maestro Roger Federer, who condemned the WTA rankings system for crowning an ‘unworthy’ champion.