Week #24: Kateryna Bondarenko gets the title in Birmingham, Kirilenko wins in Barcelona

In Birmingham, Ukranian Kateryna Bondarenko got her first WTA singles title ever. 12th seed Bondarenko, who hadn't even reached the semis in any WTA event, was the only seed remaining in the semis of a tournament plenty of upsets where the top seeds suffered early defeats. Bondarenko didn't need to beat any Top 50 player to take the title (WTA #52 Petra Cetkovska was the highest ranked player she beated), although she had to fight to the limit to defeat promising Belgian Yanina Wickmayer in a very though match that was decided in the third set tie-break. New Zealand young talent Marina Erakovic and American Bethanie Mattek completed the semis.
In Barcelona, Russian Maria Kirilenko confirmed her improvement on clay and captured her 2nd title of the season amongst Estoril, also on clay. Kirilenko took advance of an easy draw and dropped only one set, in the 2nd round against Roland Garros quarter-finalist Carla Suarez, WTA #49, who was the highest ranked player she faced. In the final, Kirilenko demolished surprising finalist Maria Jose Martinez, WTA 140, who got into the Main Draw with a Wild Card and progressed to the final defeating Wozniak, 5th seed Parmentier, 4th seed Safarova and fellow Spanish Nuria Llagostera. 1st seed Shahar Peer was upsetted in the 1st round by Llagostera, as 3rd seed Dominika Cibulkova, who retired due to abdominal pain.

Birmingham (GBR), Tier III, $200,000
Final: Kateryna Bondarenko (UKR) def Yanina Wickmayer (BEL) 7/6 3/6 7/6

Barcelona (ESP), Tier IV, $145,000
Final: Maria Kirilenko (RUS) def Maria Jose Martinez (ESP) 6/0 6/2