KEY BISCAYNE '12: Venus, Serena, Azarenka Win!

Venus Williams won the 602nd match of her stellar career by defeating former #1 Ana Ivanovic, 6-7(4) 6-2 6-2 to reach the quarterfinals of the Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, which she has won 3 times and her sister Serena Williams has won 5 times. Venus is know only the 14th player in WTA history to reach the 600-win landmark, with an overall win-loss record of 602-147.

World #1 Victoria Azarenka staged an(other) epic comeback from 6-1 5-1 down against Dominique Cibulkova when she came back to extend her 2012 winning streak to 26 matches by gutting out the win 1-6 7-6(7) 7-5. Last year, Azarenka had come back to beat Cibulkova despite being down 6-3 3-1 down at this very same tournament!

Serena Williams rocketed a career high 20 aces in this rematch of the 2011 US Open women's final to defeat Samantha Stosur 7-5 6-3 despite being a break down in both sets.

In the quarterfinals, Serena will face former World #1 Caroline Wozniacki , while Venus will face World #5 Agnieska Radwanska and Azarenka will play Marion Bartoli. The last quarterfnal will feature Li Na versus Maria Sharapova.

Kvitova Wins WTA Championship, Clinches #2 Rank

Petra Kvitova put an exclamation point to her 2011 season by winning the WTA Tour Championship final match 7-5 4-6 6-3 against Victoria Azarenka in Istanbul and clinching the year end #2 spot in the WTA Tour rankings.

Kvitova won $1.75 million by winning every match she played against the world's top 8 players who qualified for the year-end championships, becoming the third player to win the title in her debut appearance (after Serena Williams in 2001 and Maria Sharapova in 2004). Last year at this time Kvitova was ranked #34 but that was before she went undefeated 18-0 in indoor match play and won the 2011 Wimbledon title. Kim Clijsters won last year's title over World #1 Caroline Wozniacki.

Azarenka won $775,000 and will end the year at a career high #3 but continues her elusive search for a major breakthrough title, never having reached a major final. She reached the final by defeating 2011 US Open champion Samantha Stosur and 2011 French Open champion Li Na but losing a dead-rubber 3-set battle with Marion Bartoli (who replaced Sharapova when she withdrew after losing her first two matches).

The championship match was one of the best of the year, with Kvitova starting by playing near-flawless, powerful tennis and rushing to a 5-0 lead in the first set, which she then squandered by losing the next 5 games through spraying errors and tough-minded playing by Azarenka. Kvitova was able to stop the errors and held the 11th game and was able to finally win the first set (on her 5th opportunity) 7-5. The second set was mainly not shown by ESPN, but clearly Azarenka stepped up her play and was able to squeeze out the set 6-4 on her first set point by with a backhand line-clipper winner. The first game of the third set was crucial. Kvitova served by went down 15-40, acing two breakpoints but was able to hold serve with some clutch serving and excellent movement. In the second game, Azarenka was ahead but managed to lose her serve and fell back 2-0. She never was in the position to take a lead for the rest of the match.

Wozniacki's fragile hold on the top spot should come to an end during the first quarter of 2012 as either Kvitova or Azarenka prove the superiority of "big babe" tennis.

US OPEN 2011: Venus Withdraws in 2nd Round!

Oh no!! Just minutes before she was scheduled to play her 2nd round match against 2011 Wimbledon semifinalist Sabine Lisicki (which I did not believe she would win) 7-time major champion Venus Williams, 31, withdrew from the tournament, claiming an "unspecified illness."

Venus had won her first round match relatively handily 6-3 6-4 no Monday night and looked sharp. Still, she has only played 11 matches all year long, and will fall out of the Top 100, since she reached the 2010 US Open semifinals and will fail to defend those ranking points. Already her sister Serena Williams, the favorite to win her 14th major in New York, has stated that she would probably continue playing even if Venus were to retire. She reiterated that neither sister has any plans to retire any time soon.

Earlier this year Venus Williams retired for the first time ever during a Grand Slam match, in the 3rd round in Australia versus Andrea Petkovic.

In other news, my pre-tournament pick for the women's final, Marion Bartoli, was upset by American teenager Christina McHale.

UPDATE 05:28PM EDT
Venus has released a statement which says that she has been disgnosed with Sjogren's Syndrome. ESPN has the deets:

"I enjoyed playing my first match here, and wish I could continue but right now I am unable to," Williams said in a statement released by the tournament. "I am thankful I finally have a diagnosis and am now focused on getting better and returning to the court soon."

According to the Sjogren's Syndrome Foundation website, the disease is a chronic autoimmune illness in which people's white blood cells attack their moisture-producing glands. Common symptoms include dry eyes and dry mouth. As many as 4 million Americans have the disease.

Williams arrived at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on Wednesday hours before her match was scheduled to begin and tried warming up by hitting balls.

When Williams left the site shortly before 5 p.m., wearing a white sweater and purple shorts, she was asked by reporters whether she would say anything. She smiled and waved and shook her head to indicate, "No," then climbed into the back of a tournament transportation car and rode away.

"All of us came with the full expectation she'd be playing today. She was geared up to play her match," said Williams' agent, Carlos Fleming.

"I just hope she's OK," Fleming added, "and I hope she's healthy and going to be fine."

Despite having won seven Grand Slam singles titles, Williams was unseeded at the U.S. Open because her ranking has fallen to 36th after a year of little action. Since reaching the semifinals at last year's U.S. Open, Williams has played only 11 matches, and the WTA projects that her ranking will slide out of the top 100.