London  - Adam S Helfant, a former employee of the sports gear giant Nike, is the new boss of global men's tennis, the ATP confirmed Monday.

Helfant, 44, "will begin his role with the ATP immediately and will be based in London," the ATP said in a statement.

The appointment of Helfant, marks the end of the controversial three-year term of South African Etienne de Villiers, who led the ATP in opposition to key players like Swiss former world number one Roger Federer and his successor, Spaniard Rafael Nadal.

Sydney - Dinara Safina carried momentum from last week's Hopman Cup final into her start at the Medibank International on Monday with a 6-2, 6-1 opening defeat of Romanian Sorana Cirstea.

Safina, who lost the teams final in Perth alongside her brother Marat Safin to Slovakia, dropped the first game against 18-year-old Cirstea but then opened up her firepower to sweep to victory.

"When I'm playing my best I know I can beat everybody," said the winner, who next takes on compatriot Vera Dushevina, who crushed Aussie wild card Emelyn Starr 6-0, 6-1.

Sydney  - Top seed Serena Williams flirted with disaster before finally emerging from a lengthy sulk to survive 6-3, 6-7 (4-7), 7-5 against Australian Samantha Stosur in the opening round of the Medibank International on Sunday.

Stosur, ranked 51 and with the home crowd in her corner, had a horror day, sending over double-faults on two of her four match points while leading 5-4 in the final set.

Melbourne  - Andy Murray heads to Melbourne for the Australian Open on the back of his fifth victory over Roger Federer in seven career ATP matches against the Swiss.

In addition, Britain's fast-rising player has also stopped Rafael Nadal - and Federer - at the Abu Dhabi exhibition a week ago before beating Andy Roddick on Saturday to win the Doha ATP trophy for the second year in succession.

2009 is shaping up as the best chance in decades for British men to break a Grand Slam title drought stretching back to Fred Perry in 1936 at Wimbledon.

Sydney, Jan. 10 : Yugoslavian tennis star Ana Ivanovic has said that when she comes on court, her Scorpio instincts take over, and she becomes extremely competitive.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, 21-year-old Ivanovic, who is otherwise beautiful and good natured, besides being UNICEF''S national ambassador to Serbia, is extremely intense when on a tennis court.

"I think when I''m on the court I become with a killer instinct, a real Scorpio . When I''m very motivated and when I have to compete I change a little bit, I become very competitive," the paper quoted her, as saying.

Is the intense focus puzzling for her?

According to Ivanovic: "It''s very different."

Here’s good news for the Indian tennis fans. Continuing his great touch, India's Somdev Devvarman defeated fourth seeded Ivo Karlovic of Croatia 7-6(4) 6-4 and storm into the semifinals of the Chennai Open ATP Tour tennis tournament here.

Playing before the home crowd, Somdev, who earlier crushed former world no.1 and two-time champion here Carlos Moya, played his heart out to win the quarterfinal match in 86 minutes. With this win, he became the only second Indian after Leander Paes to figure in the semifinals of the 14-year old prestigious event.