“We didn’t announce Maria (had entered) because we knew she wasn’t going to play, and we didn’t want to disappoint the fans (again),” Family Circle Cup General Manager Bob Moran told the Charleston Post and Courier. “Sharapova officially withdrew on Friday…We knew she never had any intention of playing this year.”

Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka play singles then doubles today at Indian Wells.

Notes: (1) Dementieva opens against Peng, and (3) Wickmayer against the Osaka finalist Schnyder; wildcards went to Dementieva, Russian Yulia Putintseva, Luxembourg’s Mandy Minella, and France’s Virginie Razzano; in last year’s final Francesca Schiavone defeated Olga Govortsova.

The development was that Montreal’s star power suddenly began to dip with all the pull-outs, and Lapierre came back to Ivanovic with the wildcard offer — which she promptly told him, in so many words, to stick up his ass.

The sadly-slowing American drumbeat goes on this week at the Western & Southern Financial Group Women’s Open. World No. 1 Serena Williams is sidelined with a cut foot, and elder sister Venus is out with a tweaked knee. No Americans are seeded, and only one American, Melanie Oudin, got directly into the main draw via her ranking (barely).

Loaded non-seeded field with former No. 1s Ivanovic and Safina, and former No. 2 Kuznetsova unseeded; first-round match-ups of interest are (6) Bartoli vs. Hantuchova, (7) Peer vs. (WC) Ivanovic, (8) Wickmayer vs. Kuznetsova, and potential second-round match-ups after seeded byes (1) Jankovic vs. Rezai and Stosur vs. Azarenka or Oudin

Wow, two unseeded former No. 1s in Henin and Ivanovic; lots o’ first-round meetings of interest…

The WTA Tour announced there annual award winners.

Justine Henin moved within six sets of returning to Grand Slam glory.

“I think we set the bar for pretty high for ourselves for the rest of the year but obviously it’s a great tournament to start off the year and a great match, so I couldn’t be happier with myself, but I would also like to congratulate Justine,” Clijsters told the crowd afterwards. “This is the first tournament that she’s back and she’s really played at a really high level.” Clijsters donated her $37,000 winner’s check to the Royal Brisbane Hospital children’s wing, which she visited before the tournament began.