World number five Venus Williams continued her hot streak, this time at the Madison Square Garden, when she won the Billie Jean Cup in the BNP Paribas Showdown by beating US open 2009 champion Kim Clijsters 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 in the final.

Williams was fresh from defending two titles in Dubai and Mexico prior to her appearance in New York. It can be remembered that she lost the final at the Madison Square Garden a year ago to her younger sister Serena Williams. However, the world number one has pulled out of the competition due to leg injury.

“On the way here, I kept thinking, “I’m going to see Serena in New York,” the champion said.

Czech Republic’s Nicole Vaidisova, a former top ten player and two-time Grand Slam semifinalist, has been granted a wildcard entry at the Cellular South Cup which takes place in Memphis later this month.

The 20-year old joins Russia’s Maria Sharapova and American teen Melanie Oudin in the player field.

The Cellular South Cup, together with the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships (an ATP event) begins on February 12 and ends on the 21st. In the men’s event, James Blake, Lleyton Hewitt, Fernando Verdasco and Andy Roddick have signed up to participate.

Vaidisova reached a career-high world ranking of number 7 three years ago. Her dismal performance last year saw her ranking plummet to 187th. The slump has been attributed to a recurring wrist injury.

World number one Serena Williams successfully defended her Australian Open title on Saturday after she defeated returning former top-ranked player Justine Henin of Belgium 6-4, 3-6, 6-2.

The win means that Williams has just tied Billie Jean King with 12th Grand Slam singles championship overall. This is also the American’s fifth Australian Open title.

“Billie, we are tied. So I’ve reached my goal,” Williams said during the trophy presentation.

Henin attempted to emulate countrywoman Kim Clijsters feat of clinching a Grand Slam title since returning from retirement. Clijsters won the US Open title last year which was just her third tournament from comeback.

Third-ranked Novak Djokovic seemed headed to the semifinals of this year’s Australian Open before he started losing momentum due to sickness which eventually led to a heartbreaking loss.

The Serbian lost the marathon five-set semifinal match against Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 67 76 61 36 16. This is a reversal of their Australian Open final match two years ago where it was Djokovic who got the trophy.

Djokovic took a medical timeout in the beginning of the fourth set. He dropped a service game and was seen clutching at his stomach and seemed struggling to breath.

Tsonga went on to take the set and the deciding set to set up a blockbuster semifinal match against top-seed Roger Federer.

World number one Roger Federer cruised to his 23rd consecutive Grand Slam semifinal after beating Russia’s Nikolay Davydenko in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open. This effectively snapped Davydenko’s 13-match win streak which included title wins at the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals in November and season-opening Qatar Open earlier this month.

The final score: -6, 6-3, 6-0, 7-5

“It’s incredible looking back on how many years that is now, you know, I’m able to deliver at Grand Slam play, especially this year,” Federer said.

“Looking at the draw with Hewitt in the fourth round and Davydenko in the quarters, who has been on fire the last weeks and even today, you know, we saw big signs of it,” he added.

Up next for the top-ranked player is France’s Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who ousted world number three Novak Djokovic in a five-set thriller on Wednesday night.

The Williams sisters had opposing fates at the women’s singles quarterfinals of this year’s Australian Open. Venus Williams failed to close out the match in the second set against China’s Li Na despite serving for the win to lose 26 76 75. Meanwhile, younger sister Serena made a major comeback to clinch the victory against Victoria Azarenka of Belarus 46 76 62.

Serena Williams, the defending champion, said that she already consoled herself that she’s still in the doubles competition after being down 0-4 in the second set.

“I’m surprised. I didn’t expect to win when I was down 0-4. I was like, ‘Oh well, at least I’m still in doubles,”’ the world’s top-ranked player said.

“I was actually thinking—it wasn’t a champion’s thought—if I lose today and I don’t win in doubles, I guess I can catch a flight on Friday,” she added.

Li’s victory over older sister Venus gave China two players in the semifinals of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time.

The lineup of the semifinal matches would be: Serena Williams vs Na Li; Justine Henin vs Jie Zheng.

World number six Nikolay Davydenko is currently making waves in the men’s circuit after winning the year-end ATP World Tour finals last year and the Qatar Open earlier this month. In both of those tournaments, he had defeated reigning world number one Roger Federer.

This time, the pair will meet for the fifteenth time at the Australian Open quarterfinals and the question looms: Can Davydenko make it three wins in a row against the mighty Swiss?

Watch the Roger Federer vs Nikolay Davydenko Australian Open 2010 Quarterfinals Live Video Streaming Match Coverage HERE.

Andy Roddick crashed out of the Australian Open quarterfinals after losing a five sets marathon match against Marin Cilic of Croatia. The score:  76 63 36 26 63.

At the end of the first set, Roddick took a medical time out because he’s been experiencing pain on his right shoulder. He’s been given additional treatments during changeovers as a preventive measure.

The American bravely fought despite being down two sets to level the match at two sets all. However, the fifth set belonged to Cilic who broke the American’s serve twice to progress to the semifinals.

Justine Henin advanced to the semifinals of the Australian Open after the former world number one dispatched Nadia Petrova of Russia 76 75 in a tight quarterfinal match.

The Belgian returned from a 20-month long retirement and has produced great results since her comeback. She finished runner up at a warmup tournament. The Australian Open is her second event since her comeback.

The match seemed headed to a third set showdown when Petrova led 3-0 in the second set. However, Henin regrouped and won the seven of the next nine games.

Petrova has beaten US Open 2009 champion Kim Clijsters and 2009 French Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova on her way to the quarterfinals.

Roger Federer reached his 23rd consecutive Grand Slam quarterfinal on Monday after beating Australia’s Lleyton Hewitt in straight sets at the Australian Open.

The capacity crowd at the Rod Laver Arena were left stunned with the Swiss’ demolition of the local favorite. Federer won 62 63 64 in less than two hours. This served as Federer’s 15th straight victory over the Australian former world number one.

There was great anticipation on this match since Hewitt reached the fourth round without dropping a set, a sign that he could put up a solid fight against the world number one. However, there was simply nothing he can do, scrapping on for every point since losing the first set.

In the women’s side, world number one Serena Williams ousted local bet Samantha Stosur 64 62 to reach the quarterfinals.

China’s Li Na produced another big upset in the Australian Open after she eliminated Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark 64 63 to join compatriot Zheng Jie in the quarterfinals of the first Grand Slam event of the year. This is the first time that two Chinese players have made it this far in the tournament on the same Slam event.

Li had the upper hand in the error-prone first set where both players struggled to hold serve. In the second set, Li raced to a 2-0 lead and never gave her opponent a chance to catch up.

Li Na’s next opponent will be sixth-seeded Venus Williams of the United States. Williams ousted Francesca Schiavone of Italy in an earlier match. The winner will progress to the semifinals.

Andy Murray of Britain cruised into the quarterfinals of the Australian Open after beating John Isner of the United States 7-6 (4), 6-3, 6-2.

This served as Isner’s first loss in nine games. The big-serving American won five matches to win the Auckland title and the first three matches in Melbourne.

Murray’s next opponent could be defending champion Rafael Nadal of Spain. In order to make this possible, Nadal has to overcome Ivo Karlovic of Croatia.

In the women’s side, China’s Jie Zheng got the first quarterfinal berth after beating Alona Bondarenko of Ukraine.