Week #21 preview: Istambul, Strasbourg

Istambul (TUR), Tier III, $200,000
Elena Dementieva will try to defend her title in Istambul, while young Agnieszka Radwanska will try to keep on climbing in the rankings and veteran Nadia Petrova will try to get her best tennis back. But beware of Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova, quarter-finalist last week in Rome, and teen Romanian Sorana Cirstea.

Strasbourg (FRA), Tier III, $175,000
Marion Bartoli will be the top seed in Strasbourg, where there will be a good fight for the title with a lot of candidates, including Alona Bondarenko, Virginie Razzano, Katerina Srebotnik and clay specialists Flavia Pennetta and Anabel Medina.