In 1885 Richard Hodgson's report on Theosophical Phenomena expressed the opinion that the founder of the Theosophical Society, Helena Petrova Blavatsky, was " neither the mouthpiece of hidden seers, nor ... a mere vulgar adventuress ; we think she has achieved title to permanent remembrance as one of the most accomplished, ingenious and interesting imposters in history ".

Mauresmo's next tournament was the Open Gaz de France, where she lost in the semifinals to Nadia Petrova, 7 – 5, 4 – 6, 6 – 7 ( 7 ), after Mauresmo led 4 – 1 in the final set and had a match point in the tiebreak.

This was Mauresmo's third loss in the last four matches with Petrova.

In September, she was unsuccessful in her defence of her US Open title, losing to Nadia Petrova in the fourth round.

The Polkaroo costume as seen above and on the original series was handmade in Toronto, Ontario by Tanya Petrova, a relatively unknown artist who made brief appearances on numerous television shows from Mr Dressup to The Steve Allen Show in the late 1960s to early 1970s.

Petrova was born in Moscow.

Petrova was ranked World No. 76 going into the 2003 French Open.

Petrova faced World No. 2 Kim Clijsters and despite having a set point in the first set, Petrova was beaton in straight sets 7 – 5, 6 – 1.

At the 2003 Wimbledon Championships, Petrova was seeded 29th and made it to the third round before losing to Venus Williams 6 – 1, 6 – 2.

Petrova was seeded 19th at the 2003 US Open and defeated 14th seed Amanda Coetzer 6 – 0, 6 – 1 in the third round.

At the Australian Open, Petrova was seeded 6th and defeated Sophie Ferguson, Martina Müller, Maria Elena Camerin and Elena Vesnina on her way to her first quarterfinal at the Australian Open.

However, Petrova was defeated in the first round of the French Open by Akiko Morigami 6 – 2, 6 – 2.

At the US Open, Petrova was upset in the third round by Tatiana Golovin.

At the US Open, Petrova was seeded seventh but lost to Ágnes Szávay 6 – 4, 6 – 4.

At the Open Gaz de France in Paris, Petrova was the defending champion and seeded 5th but lost in the first round to Kateryna Bondarenko 7 – 6 ( 4 ), 3 – 6, 6 – 4.

Petrova was once again defeated by Kirilenko in the first round of Rome, but this time in three sets, 3 – 6, 7 – 5, 6 – 4.

At Wimbledon, Petrova was the number 21 seed and was on the right track after wins over Olga Govortsova 6 – 4, 6 – 4 and Mara Santangelo 6 – 4, 7 – 5.

This was also the first time that Petrova had reached a Grand Slam quarterfinal since the 2006 Australian Open.

This time though, Petrova was victorious, coming back from a set down to win 1 – 6, 6 – 2, 6 – 1.

Petrova was in good form heading into the final Grand Slam Tournament of the year at the US Open.

Petrova was seeded 19th and beat Olivia Sanchez 6 – 2, 6 – 4 in the first round and Hsieh Su-wei 6 – 4, 6 – 2 in round two.

Petrova was ousted 4 – 6, 6 – 4, 6 – 3 by the 16th seed Flavia Pennetta in the third round.

At the 2008 Toray Pan Pacific Open, Petrova was unseeded but beat two top – ten players, Ana Ivanovic, the second seed 6 – 1, 1 – 6, 6 – 2 in the second round and Agnieszka Radwańska 6 – 3, 6 – 0 to reach the semifinals, where she lost 6 – 1, 6 – 0 to Dinara Safina, the eventual champion.

Seeded second in singles, she advanced past the third round at this tournament for the first time since 2006 before losing to Nadia Petrova in the round of 16.

Her last title in women's doubles came on August 21, 2006, at the Tier I Rogers Cup in Montreal, Canada, where she partnered Nadia Petrova.

She also fell in the second round at the Wimbledon Championships to Nadia Petrova.

On 11 July, a congress at Petrova Niva near Malko Tarnovo set the date of 23 July for the uprising, then deferred it a bit more to 2 August.

The delegates at Petrova Niva congress.

Petrova reached her second WTA final at Gold Coast, losing once again to Ai Sugiyama 1 – 6, 6 – 1, 6 – 4.

Petrova finally won her first title at the Generali Ladies Linz held in Linz, Austria.

Nadia Petrova at the 2007 Australian Open.

Petrova retired in her first – round match at the 2008 Qatar Total Open against Anabel Medina Garrigues due to an upset stomach while trailing 2 – 6, 2 – 1.

In the fourth round she faced unseeded Alla Kudrayatseva who just came off a win over 3rd seed Maria Sharapova ; Petrova won 6 – 1, 6 – 4 to reach her second quarterfinal at Wimbledon.

Bouncing back from a first-round defeat at Stanford to Dominika Cibulková, Petrova reached the quarterfinals at Los Angeles, defeating 5th seed Vera Zvonareva 6 – 4, 7 – 5 en route before losing to Jelena Janković 7 – 5, 6 – 4.

Nadia Petrova at the 2008 US Open ( tennis ) | 2008 U. S. Open

Petrova bounced back to good form at the 2008 Commonwealth Bank Tennis Classic.

Petrova started 2009 playing at the 2009 Medibank International Sydney where she was seeded seventh.

Petrova was seeded tenth at the Australian Open in Melbourne.

Petrova fell in the second round at Charleston to Melinda Czink in three sets 3 – 6, 6 – 4, 7 – 5.

Nadia Petrova at the 2009 French Open.

Petrova was seeded eleventh at the 2009 French Open in Paris where she reached the semi-finals in 2003 and 2005.

Petrova began her 2009 US Open Series campaign at Stanford where she was seeded 5th.

Nadia Petrova at the 2009 US Open ( tennis ) | 2009 US Open.