Notes: Top-seeded Hot Sauce opens against American wildcard Rajeev Ram, to face the winner of Karlovic vs. Ryan Sweeting…Jamaican-turned-German Dustin Brown starts against “The” Donald Young, and (4) Malisse vs. Raonic…Verdasco is 5-0 career in San Jose, last year beating Andy Roddick in the final…Verdasco (2010) and Hewitt (2002) only returning champions in the field…No player has ever won three straight San Jose titles, but winning two in a row: Andy Murray, Andy Roddick, Mark Philippoussis, Pete Sampras, John McEnroe.

“I made a lot of mistakes in the first set and in the beginning of the second set, but after I saved match point I thought, ‘Okay, now’s your chance,'” Li said. “It’s tough playing against her. She’s running — I felt some of my shots were winners but every time she got the ball back. It’s tough for everyone to play against.”

Who will win the Roger Federer v. Novak Djokovic men’s semifinal?

“I felt a little bit tired and heavy out there today, but I fought well and stayed really focused, and tried not to lose too much energy on getting frustrated and things like that,” Clijsters said. “Everything has to be better. The serving, the returning, the unforced errors… everything. But I’m in the semifinals and I don’t feel I’ve played my best tennis, so that’s a good thing.”

Things went pretty much according to plan on the women’s side Monday at the Australian Open.

“I thought it was over at 4-love,” Tomic said. “Just shows how much he can come back. Against these guys, especially in the Top 10, you can’t afford to lose concentration. That’s the important part. Physically-wise he’s a machine…”

“I was leading I think 4-1 and had everything under my control,” Jankovic lamented. “I was playing pretty well. But then I just had some loose errors and she played as well some good points. And little by little, you know, she was getting her momentum, and I started completely going down…It was a bad day for me…It’s the beginning of the season, only my third match of the year. I’m still rusty. I just have to get match tough again and play right in the important times of the match. At the end, my opponent took her opportunities and was the better one.”

The list of floaters almost as impressive as the seed list; tough openers include Kirilenko vs. Cibulkova (winner to face (1) Wozniacki), (5) Schiavone vs. Kleybanova (winner to likely face Hantuchova), possible (3) Clijsters vs. Petrova 2nd rd., former world No. 2 Kuznetova vs. (WC) Dokic, winner to face (4) Stosur vs. Wickmayer winner, (6) Jankovic vs. Rezai, and (2) Zvonareva vs. winner of Pennetta vs. qualifier; 7 of the Top 10 players present in Sydney; Elena Dementieva (now retired) beat Serena Williams (now injured) in the 2010 final…Clijsters (2007, ’03) is the lone returning champ in the field, in addition to the 2008-05 runner-ups Kuznetsova (2008), Jankovic (2007), Schiavone (2006), and Stosur (2005); 11 former No. 1 players have won the Sydney title.

Caroline Wozniacki clinched the 2010 No. 1 ranking.

Caroline Wozniacki had a chance to lock-up the year-end No. 1 ranking Wednesday but came up short.

The WTA Championships begin Tuesday, who’ll win?

Former No. 1 Tommy Muster returns at 43 years old!; interesting opening-round matches include (1) Melzer after a bye potentially facing (WC) Blake, and (5) Gulbis vs. Muster…

Novak Djokovic is again hitting his stride at the end of the tennis calendar.

Rain has moved both men’s and women’s finals to Monday in Beijing.

Kuznetsova is the defending champ, and Wozniacki could take over the No. 1 spot on the WTA Rankings this week with a deep run. Wozniacki is 0-6 career against the Williams sisters. The only four Top 20 players missing are the Williams sisters, Clijsters and Justine Henin.