New Lifestyle Sports: Vera Zvonareva

MOSCOW: World number three Vera Zvonareva will lead Russia in this month’s Fed Cup semi-final against Italy, the Russian tennis federation (RTF) said on Tuesday.
Zvonareva will be joined by 14th-ranked Svetlana Kuznetsova, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (21) and Ekaterina Makarova (39) for the April 16-17 tie in Moscow, the RTF said on its website (www.tennis-russia.ru).

Zvonareva replaces former world number one Maria Sharapova, who looked sluggish in Russia’s 3-2 quarter-final home win over France in February when she lost her first singles match and was replaced for the reverse rubber the following day.

Russian Vera Zvonareva overcame a whipping desert wind on Sunday to dethrone Ana Ivanovic at the Indian Wells Masters, overcoming the frustrated holder 7-6 (7-5), 6-2 for the title

The match was played in desert gusts which sent sand through the air and made holding serve a challenge. A total of 19 break points were up for grabs in the unpredictable conditions. There was only one ace served in the two-hour battle.

The Moscow semi-final will be played at a specially-built indoor court laid on top of an ice rink at the 14,000-seat Khodynka arena.

Zvonareva was rewarded with her best year-end ranking position, finishing No. 11 in the world. In August, she reached her career high of No. 9. Due to several withdrawals, Zvonareva was able to compete at the WTA Tour Championships, an event reserved for the top 8 players in the world. She was unable to win a match and exited at the round robin stage.quarterfinals against Slovenia. Russia won 5–0 but lost to Russia 3–2 in the semifinals. In doubles, she reached her first WTA final at Moscow with Myskina. She ended 2003 ranked No. 13 in the world.
Her debut for the Russian Fed Cup team Zvonareva began 2008 with a run to the final of the Tier IV Moorilla International, where she had to pull out of the final against Eleni Daniilidou due to an ankle injury, which forced her to retire in her first round at the Australian Open against Ai Sugiyama, trailing 3–6, 1–1. However she played very well in Qatar and has reached the semifinals of the Tier I tournament, beating Dinara Safina and Sybille Bammer on her way there. She defeated Li Na in the semifinals of the Qatar Total Open to reach the final against World No. 5 and 4th seed Maria Sharapova, where Zvonareva was defeated 6–1, 2–6, 6–0 in a rollercoaster finale to the first Tier I event of the year. In March and April, Zvonareva continued her good form at further Tier I tournaments. Participating in the Pacific Life Open at Indian Wells; she reached the quarterfinals before losing to eventual champion Ana Ivanovi? 6–1, 6–4. Two weeks later she progressed to the semifinals of the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami. Her bid to reach a third final of the year was thwarted by fourth seed Jelena Jankovi? 6–1, 6–4. Two weeks later she reached her third final and second Tier I final of the year. En route to the finals, she defeated Jelena Jankovic and Elena Dementieva. This was the first time in her career that she defeated two top 10 players in the same tournament. In the final she lost to 5th seed Serena Williams 6-4, 3-6, 6-3. On May 4, 2008, Vera Zvonareva, 23, won her first WTA title in nearly 2 years. She was a 7-6 (7-2), 6-2 winner against third seed Victoria Azarenka of Belarus in the ECM Prague Open for her 6th title and first since Cincinnati in 2006.was in the World Groupzvonareva.jpgZvonareva started to compete on the ITF Circuit in 1999, debuting at an ITF tournament in Tbilisi, Georgia. She qualified for the main draw there. The next year, she won an ITF event in Moscow, Russia without dropping a set, despite being unranked. The event is just the second event she has played in her career. She made her WTA-level debut at Tier I Moscow, beating 148th-ranked Elena Bovina before losing to eleventh-ranked Anna Kournikova in the second round. In 2001, she failed to qualify for WTA events in Miami and Moscow, but reached a semifinal in the ITF Circuit. During this time, she also showed her adeptness in juniors' competition by winning the Orange Bowl under-18s event.

2002 was Zvonareva's first season in which she started to play more WTA-level events. She won her second ITF Circuit title in Naples, Florida, and then reached her first singles final on the WTA Tour at Palermo, losing to Mariana Díaz-Oliva in three sets. She also achieved semifinal finishes in Warsaw, Sopot plus a quarterfinal finish in Bol. Zvonareva qualified for her Grand Slam debut at Roland Garros, where she reached the fourth round, stretching eventual champion Serena Williams to three sets. At the US Open, she stretched seventh-ranked Kim Clijsters of Belgium to the limit, losing 1–6, 7–5, 6–4 in the third round. She broke the Top 100 after Roland Garros, then the Top 50 after the US Open.

Zvonareva was surprisingly beaten by Ekaterina Makarova at Devonshire Park that was followed by a swift exit at Wimbledon to Tamarine Tanasugarn.

Although Zvonerava made no mistake when it came down to grasping her Olympic opportunity, which she seized with aplomb to grab bronze on her debut and make it an all Russian medal parade. She faced China's Na Li for the bronze, aware that Li had already claimed the scalps of Svetlana Kuznetsova and Venus Williams before bowing out in the semi-finals to Dinara Safina.

Vera Igorevna Zvonareva (Russian: Вера Игоревна Звонарёва, pronounced [ˈvʲɛrə zvənɐˈrʲɔvə] was born September 7, 1984) is a professional tennis player from Russia. She was introduced to tennis at the age of six and turned professional in 2000. She has reached a career high ranking of World No. 2 and is currently ranked World No. 3 by the WTA.Zvonareva has won ten WTA Tour singles titles and reached the finals of the 2008 WTA Tour Championships, 2010 Wimbledon Championships and 2010 US Open. She also was a bronze medalist at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

The millions of tennis fans might be eagerly waiting to enjoy each and every moment of the exciting match of Vera Zvonareva v Victoria Azarenka in WTA Miami Sony Ericsson Open 2011 today. The exciting and enchanting match, WTA Miami Sony Ericsson Open match can be watched live on your PC or Laptop Screen through just clicking anyone of the DIRECT SATELLITE TV links given below. Enjoy the taste of tennis and beauty of tennis players. Just click here and stay with your favorite tennis stars.

Zvonareva had a breakthrough season in 2003. She won the title in Bol, beating Conchita Martínez Granados in the final, and reaching three other semifinals (including Tier II Linz). At Roland Garros, she defeated third-ranked Venus Williams in the fourth round for her best career victory so far, but fell in the quarters to Nadia Petrova. Before beating Williams, she defeated tenth-ranked Anastasia Myskina in Berlin for her first Top 10 win. After her Roland Garros showing, she broke the Top 20. Out of seven Tier I events she contested, six ended in the quarterfinals.

Zvonareva won the first Grand Slam title of her career, winning the mixed doubles competition at the US Open. She won one singles title, in Memphis; and reached the final of two other events in the U.S, Cincinnati and Philadelphia, losing to top ten players Lindsay Davenport and Amélie Mauresmo respectively. She produced a remarkable comeback at the Memphis event, playing against home favourite Lisa Raymond, after having been down 5–2 in the third set and saving three match points. She was able to take the next five games and emerged the victor, 4–6, 6–4, 7–5. In addition to this, she reached the semifinal stage of three elite Tier I tournaments in Rome, San Diego, and Montreal. She lost in San Diego to fellow Russian Anastasia Myskina, in a match that featured a final set tie-break that finished 17–15.