The third round of the 2009 U.S. Open has nearly finished amidst the surprisingly welcoming weather at New York’s National Tennis Center. So far, there haven’t been many surprises. The top 16-ranked men all advanced rather seamlessly. Serena and Venus have had an easy time as well. Unfortunately, they are in the same draw and will likely meet in the semis. The other top female players are, as always, playing below their rank, as upsets and narrow victories are happening left and right.

This has been a topsy-turvy U.S. Open for the women: No. 8 Victoria Azarenka’s 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 loss to No. 26 Francesca Schiavone on Friday came a day after No. 4 Elena Dementieva and No. 5 Jelena Jankovic were upset. All told, 11 of the 20 highest-seeded women are gone, and the third round is only halfway done.

No. 1 Dinara Safina made it to Saturday’s third round, but barely. She needed more than 4 1/2 hours to get through two three-set victories.

The best men have faced no such problems: No. 3 Rafael Nadal’s 6-0, 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory Friday night in the last match of Day 5 means the men seeded 1-16 all reached the third round at a Grand Slam tournament for the first time in the 41-year Open era.

Once again, the lovely Ana Ivanovic failed to perform well in a Grand Slam, losing to Kateryna Bondarenko in the first round. Maria Sharapova, however, has advanced to third round and is currently in the third set against American Melanie Oudin. It would be great to see the former No. 1-ranked star face Serena or Venus in the finals.

In the fourth all-Williams final at Wimbledon, Serena beat her sister Venus Williams 7-6 (3), 6-2 on Saturday for her third title and 11th Grand Slam championship.

Venus was trying to win her third straight Wimbledon, but was denied by her sister.

Venus Williams advanced to the quarterfinals at Wimbledon when opponent Ana Ivanovic retired Monday one game into the second set.

Second-seeded Serena Williams also advanced with a 6-3, 6-1 win over Daniela Hantuchova, losing just two points on her first serve and breaking Hantuchova five times to complete the win in 56 minutes.

But what we’re wondering is…who’s hotter?

(Gratuitous photos and poll after the jump.)

Venus

Serena

At 27 years of age, Serena Williams has seen more success than all the players on the WTA Tour combined. She has won nine singles Grand Slams and, after yesterday’s championship victory, eight doubles Grand Slams with her sister Venus. She’s been on the Tour so long that a distinctive pattern has emerged particular to the Australian Open: if it’s an odd-numbered year, Serena will win the tournament. She’s previously claimed the title in Melbourne in 2003, 2005, and 2007. Despite playing doubles and having to endure the sweltering heat, Serena has played well in every match and shown no signs of fatigue.

Her opponent is Dinara Safina, an aggressive Russian with a powerful forehand, an endless supply of energy, and an outspoken dedication to winning. It’s fun to watch her at press conferences as it almost pains her to play the sweetheart. Safina has never won a Grand Slam, though this is supposed to be her breakout year. But that’s a bunch of bunk — just about every player on the WTA Tour is supposedly having their breakout year. There’s such parity that nearly every player ranked in the top 10 will surpass world #1 Jelena Jankovic after this tournament. (Jankovic failed to make it past the fourth round.) Safina is the obvious underdog. She’s lost her last two matches to Serena in straight sets. If she were playing anybody other than Serena, I’d say she had this one in the bag.

Live coverage of the women’s finals will air early tomorrow morning (Saturday) on ESPN2 at 3:30 AM ET. It will then be replayed on Saturday at 9 AM ET and 8 PM ET on the same network.

The top-ranked men advance

Of the top ten-seeded men in the tournament, only David Nalbandian failed to advance, losing to unknown Yen-Hsun Lu in the second round. The others, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Jo-Wilfried Tsongo, Gilles Simon, Andy Roddick, Juan Martin del Potro, and James Blake have all made easy work of their competition. Really, things won’t get interesting until the Quarter Finals.

Venus Williams and Ana Ivanovic are eliminated

It must be said that both matches in which they lost have been the most exciting matches of the tournament. Unseeded 20 year-old Carla Suarez Navarro, in only her fourth Grand Slam main draw appearance, defeated Venus Williams in the second round. It was an amazing match and both women gave it their all. Navarro, however, was able to consistently return Venus’ 192 mph serve and never seemed to tire. Williams was on the defensive during the final set and Navarro’s fine shot placement carried her to victory. The crowd congratulated the awestruck youngster with a standing ovation. Suarez has since advanced to the Fourth Round where she will face twenty-first-seeded Anabel Medina Garrigues.

It was less than a surprise and more of a disappointment to watch Ana Ivanovic fall to twenty-ninth-seeded Alisa Kleybanova. For those who follow tennis, it’s perplexing that Ivanovic is ranked fifth in the world judging by the way she played yesterday. Strictly speaking, the Serbian lost because she couldn’t find her serve. It was painful to watch Ivanovic toss the ball five feet away from herself. She double faulted more than a few times and rarely was able to hold serve. All in all, the three-setter was intense, but undeniably sloppy. While Ivanovic made 50 unforced errors, Kleybanova committed 44, 24 of which came in the opening set alone. It’s time for Ana to take a break and try to get herself into the mindset that helped her win the French Open in 2008.

Serbian and Bosnian fans clash after Novak Djokovic/Amer Delic match

Last year at the Australian Open, Serbian and Croatian fans attacked each other with flagpoles, bottles, and boots. This year, the Balkan rivalry consisted of Serbians and Bosnians. After Serbian Novak Djokovic’s victory over Bosnian-American Amer Delic, fans from both nations pelted each other with chairs.

A streaker stalls a Williams sisters doubles match

Although this article claims the gentleman was out there for only 14 seconds, broadcaster Patrick McEnroe has him at nearly a minute. While Serena and Venus laughed bashfully during the incident, tournament officials aren’t taking this lightly. In 1993, a man stabbed Monica Seles on court during a match in Hamburg, Germany. Still, it looks like this guy was just having a good time.

Coverage of Day 7 will air at 7 PM ET and 12:30 AM ET on ESPN2.

The first Grand Slam of the ATP and WTA seasons, the Australian Open, kicked off today. Though Melbourne is 19 hours ahead of New York, ESPN, ESPN2, and ESPN360.com will alternate broadcasting the live coverage during its two-week run.

The Men’s Draw
by Thomas Conroy

The first of tennis’ four Grand Slam tournaments – the Australian Open — will take place over the next two weeks. New players on the tour will try to make a name for themselves by performing well in Melbourne. We also have some carry-over questions that might be answered by the end of the tournament: How dominant will Roger Federer be this season? Can Rafeal Nadal handle the pressure of being the #1 player week-after-week for an entire season? Has Andy Murray’s game matured enough to gain a Grand Slam title this season? Is Andy Roddick at the crossroads in his tennis career?

Federer played the majority of the tour last year with mononucleosis, and could never regain his strength until dominating the U.S. Open competition for a Grand Slam victory last September. But some skeptics feel that at the age of 27, Federer’s reign in the sport is over, supplanted by Nadal’s incredible 2008 season. Some even say that Federer’s net game was exposed for good after his subpar play last season.

The upcoming tour season will be different for Nadal than in years past, as he will not only be the favorite of his beloved French Open on the red clay but he’ll also be favored at the Australian, Wimbledon, and U.S. Open. It could become a physically and mentally draining season for Nadal, as every player will bring their A game to try to beat the top player in the world.

Murray is the wild card. He has only been twice beyond the fourth round in a Grand Slam tournament; his best performance was a runner-up finish last year at the U.S. Open, losing to Federer. He will have to control his combustible temper to win a Grand Slam title, though it should be noted that Murray has come into the 2009 season in better shape. He now realizes that stamina in a match is every bit as important as his blistering forehand shot.

Roddick has also come into the season with a couple new wrinkles: he is in better shape and, more importantly, has a new personal coach. He brought in Larry Stefanski (who helped Fernando Gonzalez to reach the Australian Open final in 2007) to replace legendary Jimmy Connors and Stefanski’s main job is to calm Roddick’s demeanor on the court. The thought of a lighter, faster Roddick reacting better on volleys has some thinking that he can go deep in Melbourne this week. His singles title at the 2003 U.S. Open seems like a long, long time ago.

It will be a tough draw for Federer, as he could face former #1 player Carlos Moya in the second round, 2005 Aussie Open champion Marat Safin in the third round, and last year’s Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic in a semi-final match-up. Nadal and Murray are on course to meet in the semis on the other side of the draw.

The Women’s Draw
by Christopher Glotfelty

For the top-ranked women in tennis, this tournament has more riding on it than last year. With 2000 points awarded to the winner, a new #1 player could emerge.

Last year, Maria Sharapova defeated Ana Ivanovic in straight sets to win her third Grand Slam. Unfortunately, shoulder injuries would plague Sharapova the rest of year and, due to that absence, she would continue to fall in the rankings. Still sidelined, Sharapova will miss this tournament along with Lindsay Davenport, who is having her second child.

Nevertheless, the competition remains fierce. Jelena Jankovic, while the #1 ranked player on the Tour, has yet to win a Grand Slam. Second-ranked Serena Williams, third-ranked Dinara Safina, and fourth-ranked Elena Dementieva are all less than 2000 points behind Jankovic. As a result, if Jankovic fails to make it to make it the quarterfinals, one of these women would claim the #1 position if they were to win the tournament. That’s how evenly matched the WTA is.

Given the amount of young talent on the court, Venus and Serena are already living legends. To put it in perspective, Serena has already won nine singles Grand Slams, three at the Australian Open. Her sister Venus has won seven, and though she’s never won at the Australian Open, she’s finished runner-up twice.

The other favorites (Jankovic, Safina, Dementieva, Ivanovic) have only one Grand Slam between them, with Ivanovic winning at last year’s French Open. The Williams sisters don’t have anything to prove, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see one of them in the finals against either Jankovic or Safina.

- SPORTSbyBROOKS has the transcript of Vince McMahon’s closed door testimony to Congress. The back-and-forth gets pretty contentious and it’s a funny (but long) read.

- MLIVE says that Antonio McDyess passed on a lot of money — like, $8 million — to re-sign with the Pistons.

- DEADSPIN announces its 2008 Sports Human of the Year, complete with a video recap of 2008.

- BLACK SPORTS ONLINE has some pictures and video of Serena Williams posing in skimpy attire.

- Sure, Cardinals fans were just as shocked as we were that the team will be hosting the NFC Championship game, but that didn’t stop it from selling out in six minutes, according to THE BIZ OF FOOTBALL.