Week #29: Wozniak gets a surprising victory in Stanford

Aleksandra Wozniak became the first Canadian since 1988 to win a Sony Ericsson WTA Tour singles title, beating Marion Bartoli for the Tier II Bank of the West Classic crown. Wozniak, who had to go through the qualification due to her low ranking, won 8 matches in a row to capture her first WTA title. In the semis, Wozniak was benefited by the retirement of 1st seed and top favourite Serena Williams. Also remarkable was the performance of 1993-born Michelle Larcher de Brito who won 4 consecutive matches in straight sets, including a victory over former Top-30 Gisela Dulko, and progressed to the 2nd round as a qualifier. There she was defeated by WTA #5 Serena Williams, but managed to win the first set.
In Bad Gastein, Austria, Pauline Parmentier captured the 2nd title of her career in another tournament plenty of surprises. Parmentier upsetted 1sd seed Agnes Szavay in the semis and defeated surprising runner-up Lucie Hradecka in the final. Hradecka, who was ranked at #237, won 7 matches in a row to reach the final going through the qualy. 2nd seed and last week champion in Budapest, Alize Cornet, retired in her 1st round match due to illness. Last week runner-up in Palermo, Russian Mariya Koryttseva, showed again her good form and reached the semifinals losing to Hradecka.

Stanford (USA), Tier II, $600,000
Final: Aleksandra Wozniak (CAN) def Marion Bartoli (FRA) 7/5 6/3

Bad Gastein (AUT), Tier III, $175,000
Final: Pauline Parmentier (FRA) def Lucie Hradecka (CZE) 6/4 6/4