Week #29: Safina wins in Portoroz

Portoroz (SLO), International, $220,000
Final: Dinara Safina (RUS) def Sara Errani (ITA) 6/7 6/1 7/5

Bad Gastein (AUT), International, $220,000
Final: Andrea Petkovic (GER) def Raluca Olaru (ROM) 6/2 6/3

Holiday break

WTA hotties is taking a summer holiday break from July 25th to August 19th, when we will we back with everything around women's tennis and WTA players.

Hot news: Nathalie Dechy is pregnant, announces retirement

Source: AP via Yahoo! Sports

French tennis player Nathalie Dechy is retiring. The French tennis federation said in a statement Tuesday that the 30-year-old Dechy has decided to end her career as she is expecting a child and wants to devote her time to family life.

Dechy reached the Australian Open semifinals in 2005, but is currently ranked 88th. Dechy won the Gold Coast singles tournament in 2003 and two Grand Slam doubles titles at the U.S. Open—with Vera Zvonareva in 2006, and Dinara Safina in 2007. She also won mixed doubles at the French Open in 2007. Dechy played for France in the Fed Cup in singles and doubles from 2000 until this year.

Player of the week: Sybille Bammer

29 years old Austrian Sybille Bammer captured the 2nd WTA title of her career. After becoming a mother in 2001, Bammer has found her best tennis in her late career.
Bammer didn't have an easy start of the tournament, as in the 1st round against Tzevetana Pironkova she had to come back after losing the first set and overcome a thight second set decided in the tiebreak to win the match in the third by 7/5. After an easy victory over Kudryavtseva in the 2nd round, Bammer also had a very though match in the quarter-final against local player Lucie Hradecka, with all three sets decided by 7/5. This suffering in the early rounds was possitive for Bammer, who raised her level and defeated 3rd seed Iveta Benesova in the semi and 1st seed Francesca Schiavone in the final in straight sets.

WTA ranking as of 20-Jul-2009

No changes in WTA Top-10 as only minor tournaments were held this week. Palermo champion Flavia Pennetta moves 2 places up to #13, while Prague champion Sybille Bammer gains 9 spots up to #22. Prague runner-up Francesca Schiavone climbs from #30 to #25, while Palermo runner-up Sara Errani moves from #47 to #38. Greatest gainer in Top-100 is Prague semifinalist Timea Bacsinszky, who gets back into Top-100 climbing 18 places up to #84.

Cur	Prv	Name	Country	Rank pts.	Tours.
1	(1)	Dinara Safina	RUS	10521	19
2	(2)	Serena Williams	USA	8509	16
3	(3)	Venus Williams	USA	6617	16
4	(4)	Elena Dementieva	RUS	6591	21
5	(5)	Svetlana Kuznetsova	RUS	6071	19
6	(6)	Jelena Jankovic	SRB	5980	22
7	(7)	Vera Zvonareva	RUS	5400	24
8	(8)	Victoria Azarenka	BLR	5066	17
9	(9)	Caroline Wozniacki	DEN	4840	28
10	(10)	Nadia Petrova	RUS	3300	24

Week #29 preview: Portoroz, Bad Gastein

Portoroz (SLO), International, $220,000
WTA #1 Dinara Safina is the biggest star and favourite for the title in this International event in Slovenia. Spanish Anabel Medina, Estonian Kaia Kanepi, Italian Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci, Russian Vera Dushevina and Czech Lucia Safarova and Petra Kvitova are among the seeds and will try to upset Safina.

Bad Gastein (AUT), International, $220,000
WTA Tour goes to Austria in this International event. Local crowd will cheer for home favourite Sybille Bammer, champion last week in Prague. But she will have dangerous opponents such as Alize Cornet Anna-Lena Groenefeld, Iveta Benesova, Carla Suarez and last week runner-up in Prague Francesca Schiavone.

Week #28: Titles for Pennetta and Bammer

Italian crowd enjoyed an all-Italian final in Palermo, with Italian #1 and 1st seed Flavia Pennetta defeating young Sara Errani. Pennetta didn't drop a set throughout the tournament and her game was improving as the tournament progressed, dropping just two games in the semifinal against fellow Italian Tathiana Garbin and three games in the final. Anna-Lena Groenefeld, who upsetted 2nd seed Patty Schnyder, completed the semis.

In Prague, Austrian veteran Sybille Bammer captured the 2nd WTA title in her career. The final featured the two top seeds, with 2nd seed Bammer upsetting 1st seed Francesca Schiavone, both players 29 years old. Swiss Timea Bacsinszky was the surprise of the tournament reaching the semifinal as a qualifier after upsetting 4th seed Carla Suarez in the quarters, along with young Wild-Card Zarina Diyas who reached the quarter-final. 3rd seed Iveta Benesova completed the semis.

Palermo (ITA), International, $220,000
Final: Flavia Pennetta def Sara Errani 6/1 6/2

Prague (CZE), International, $220,000
Final: Sybille Bammer def Francesca Schiavone 7/6 6/2

Player of the week: Maria Jose Martinez

26 years old Spanish player Maria Jose Martinez was a very promising young player back in 2001, but lack of confidence and personal problems kept her away from the Tour for a few years. In 2006 she came back to the Tour and since then she has kept a constant progression reaching her peak this season, when she has captured two WTA titles in Bogota and last week in Bastad.


Unseeded Martinez upsetted 4th seed Kaia Kanepi in the 1st round and defeated Angeline Kerber in the 2nd round, both in straight sets, to get a place in the quarter-final. There she had to face fellow Spanish and clay specialist Carla Suarez. Suarez won the first set but with her serve&volley gamestyle, Martinez managed to come back and win the match in the third set. After defeating Gisela Dulko in the semifinal, Martinez had to face a major challenge in the final, as her opponent was 1st seed and Top-10 Caroline Wozniacki. But as she did throughout the week, Martinez showed a very solid game and held her nerves to win the title by a close 7/5 6/4.


With this victory, Martinez climbed from #54 to #42 in the WTA ranking, but she will surely get higher as she had few points to defend for the rest of the season.

WTA ranking as of 13-Jul-2009

No changes in WTA Top-10 as only minor tournaments were held this week. Budapest runner-up Patty Schnyder gets back to Top-20 climbing 2 places up to #19, while champion Agnes Szavay moves from #37 to #27. Bastad champion Maria Jose Martinez gains 12 places from #54 to #42. ITF 100,000 Biarritz champion Julia Goerges climbs 19 spots up to #92, although greatest gainer in Top-100 is Budapest semifinalist Edina Gallovits, who gains 21 places to get back into Top-100 at #93.

Cur	Prv	Name	Country	Rank pts.	Tours.
1	(1)	Dinara Safina	RUS	10521	19
2	(2)	Serena Williams	USA	8758	17
3	(3)	Venus Williams	USA	6617	16
4	(4)	Elena Dementieva	RUS	6591	21
5	(5)	Svetlana Kuznetsova	RUS	6071	19
6	(6)	Jelena Jankovic	SRB	5980	22
7	(7)	Vera Zvonareva	RUS	5400	24
8	(8)	Victoria Azarenka	BLR	5066	17
9	(9)	Caroline Wozniacki	DEN	4840	29
10	(10)	Nadia Petrova	RUS	3300	25

Week #28 preview: Palermo, Prague

Palermo (ITA), International, $220,000
WTA #15 Flavia Pennetta and WTA #21 Patty Schnyder lead the field in this International tournament. Young talents Alize Cornet and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Bastad champion Maria Jose Martinez and Argentinian Gisela Dulko are also among the favourites, while local players such as Sara Errani, Tathiana Garbin or Roberta Vinci should be also taken into account.

Prague (CZE), International, $220,000
No top-25 players are drawn in this International event in Prague. Italian Francesca Schiavone, Austrian Sybille Bammer, Spanish Carla Suarez and Ukranian Alona Bondarenko are among the favourites, although local players such as Iveta Benesova, Petra Kvitova, Lucie Hradecka and Nicole Vaidisova will count on the crowd support.

Week #27: Martinez and Szavay win in Bastad and Budapest

Spanish Maria Jose Martinez ruined Caroline Wozniacki's birthday defeating her in the final of the Swedish Open in Bastad. This was 2nd WTA title for Martinez this season, after her victory in Bogota, while this was 6th final this season for 1st seed Wozniacki. Martinez upsetted 4th seed Kaia Kanepi and 7th seed Carla Suarez on her way to the semifinals, where she defeated Argentinian Gisela Dulko, who is in great form lately and had also a great tournament upsetting 5th seed Sorana Cirstea and 2nd seed Dominika Cibulkova. 3rd seed Flavia Pennetta completed the semis

In Budapest, Hungarian crowd was delighted with the victory of home favourite Agnes Szavay, who won the first WTA title in her career. In the final, 4th seed Szavay had to come back from a set down to overcome 1st seed Patty Schnyder. Romanian Edina Gallovits was a surprising semifinalist after upsetting 3rd seed Sybille Bammer, while 6th seed Alona Bondarenko completed the semis.

Bastad (SWE), International, $220,000
Final: Maria Jose Martinez (ESP) def Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) 7/5 6/4

Budapest (HUN), International, $220,000
Final: Agnes Szavay (HUN) def Patty Schnyder (SWI) 2/6 6/4 6/2

Hot gossip: Is Ana Ivanovic dating golfer Adam Scott?

As you can read in Women's Tennis Blog, Ana Ivanovic was spotted accompanying golfer Adam Scott in the Scottish Open last week. Furthermore, Adam was also seen supporting Ana in Wimbledon two weeks ago, and both were already watched together in the Australian Open early in the year. A new relationship going on? No official confirmation yet.

Player of the week: Serena Williams

Serena Williams captured her 3rd Wimbledon title and 11th Grand Slam title last week. Furthermore she also got her 9th Grand Slam doubles title along with her sister Venus.

Serena enjoyed an easy way to the quarter-finals defeating Silva, Groth, Vinci and Hantuchova in straight sets, dropping no more than 7 games on each match. Upcoming youngster and WTA #8 Victoria Azarenka was the first serious opponent she was facing, with the Belarusian looking revenge after having to retire in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open when she was leading Williams. And this time was easier for Serena, who defeated Azarenka by 6/2 6/3. Semifinal match against Elena Dementieva was a much tougher task. Dementieva had already defeated Williams in a few of their last meetings, including the Olympic Games semifinals last year. Both players are great fighters and the match was a real battle between them, with Serena winning by 8/6 in the third set after almost three hours and one match point saved.


In the final Serena had to face her sister Venus in the 8th Grand Slam final between them. Venus was the big favourite considering her great perfomance on grass with 5 Wimbledon titles, the last one last year defeating Serena in the final. And moreover considering her perfect way to the final, dropping no more than 5 games on each match, including an impressive 6/1 6/0 win over WTA #1 Dinara Safina in the semis, in contrast to the suffering of Serena with Dementieva. But maybe due this fact, Serena was more competitive and focused than sister Venus, and showing her best forehand took the match and the title by 7/6(3) and 6/2.

Although the official rankings still count Serena as #2, everyone around tennis know that, being the current title holder of US Open, Australian Open and Wimbledon, she is the best player in the world.

WTA ranking as of 6-Jul-2009

Despite being the champion of 3 of the 4 last Grand Slams (US Open, Australian Open and wimbledon), Serena Williams is unable to reach WTA #1 and Dinara Safina even extends her lead after her semifinalist place at Wimbledon. Surprisingly there are no changes in Top-10. Virginie Razzano breaks into the Top-20 for the first time, moving from #23 to a career-high ranking at #17. Surprising quarter-finalists Sabine Lisicki and Francesca Schiavone climb 15 places up to #26 and #28 respectively. Good climbs also for Tatjana Malek (21 places to #80) and Polona Hercog (24 places to #89), although greatest gainer in Top-100 is young American Melanie Oudin, who gains 54 places to break into Top-100 and peak at #70 after progressing to Wimbledon Last-16 round as a qualifier upsetting Jelena Jankovic on her way.

Cur	Prv	Name	Country	Rank pts.	Tours.
1	(1)	Dinara Safina	RUS	10521	19
2	(2)	Serena Williams	USA	8758	17
3	(3)	Venus Williams	USA	6617	16
4	(4)	Elena Dementieva	RUS	6591	21
5	(5)	Svetlana Kuznetsova	RUS	6071	19
6	(6)	Jelena Jankovic	SRB	5980	22
7	(7)	Vera Zvonareva	RUS	5400	24
8	(8)	Victoria Azarenka	BLR	5066	17
9	(9)	Caroline Wozniacki	DEN	4780	28
10	(10)	Nadia Petrova	RUS	3300	25

Week #27 preview: Bastad, Budapest

Bastad (SWE), International, $220,000
The Swedish tournament presents one of the most interesting draws among the International level tournaments, headed by Danish WTA #9 Caroline Wozniacki. WTA #13 Dominika Cibulkova and WTA #15 Flavia Pennetta are the other top favourites, but the strong field is completed with other players to watch out such as Sorana Cirstea, Carla Suarez, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Gisela Dulko, Maria Kirilenko and Maria Jose Martinez.

Budapest (HUN), International, $220,000
Veteran Patty Schnyder and young clay specialist Alize Cornet are the top seeds in this International tournament, although local favourite Agnes Szavay will count on the crowd support and is also candidate for the title. Upcoming Russian Alisa Kleybanova and Ukranian beauty Alona Bondarenko are also among the favourites.

Week #25-26: Serena Williams gets revenge on sister Venus in Wimbledon

Serena Williams captured her 3rd Wimbledon title and 11th Grand Slam title and got revenge on sister Venus who defeated her in last year's final. This was the 8th Grand Slam final between the Williams sisters and the 2nd Grand Slam title for Serena this season, after the Australian Open. The semifinals featured WTA Top-4 players, with WTA #1 Dinara Safina being trashed by Venus 6/1 6/0. On the other semifinal Serena and WTA #4 Elena Dementieva played the best match of the tournament, which was decided by 8/6 in the third set after almost three hours of thrill and a match point wasted by Dementieva.

Upcoming youngsters Victoria Azarenka, Agnieszka Radwanska, Sabine Lisicki and Italian veteran Francesca Schiavone completed the quarter-finals. Unseeded Lisicki was one of the surprises of the tournament after defeating 32nd seed Anna Chakvetadze, 5th seed Svetlana Kuznetsova and 9th seed Caroline Wozniacki on her way to the quarter-final. Dissapointment performances by Kuznetsova, 6th seed Jelena Jankovic and 7th seed Vera Zvonareva, who couldn't go further than 3rd round, and specially by Maria Sharapova, who was given a seed status by Wimbledon organizers despite her current ranking and was upsetted in the 2nd round by Gisela Dulko.

In the doubles event, Williams sisters domination continued and they added another Grand Slam title to their list. In the final, the American defeated Samantha Stosur and Rennae Stubbs from Australia.

Wimbledon (GBR), Grand Slam, £4,275,000
Singles final: Serena Williams (USA) def Venus Williams (USA) 7/6 6/2
Doubles final: S.Williams/V.Williams(USA) def S.Stosur/R.Stubbs(AUS) 7/6 6/4
Mixed doubles final: A.L.Groenefeld/M.Knowles def C.Black/L.Paes 7/5 6/3