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Russian third seed, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, defeated compatriot Elena Vesnina 5-7, 7-5, 6-4 on Sunday to capture the WTA Istanbul Cup title in Istanbul, Turkey.

At 19-years-old, Pavlyuchenkova is ranked No. 24, the highest-ranked teenager in the world. It was her second career championship after Monterrey earlier this season.

Pavlyuchenkova did it the hard way, taking the victory after three hours and 10 minutes on the court in the final match, rallying from 0-4 in the second set and 1-3 in the third.

Vesnina, who celebrated her 24th birthday on Sunday, came into Istanbul on a seven-match losing streak, having not won a match on the Tour since Charleston in April.

Injuries have long been a part of the sports scene. Lately, however, injuries seem to be a plague on both the women’s and men’s side of the tennis court.

The WTA tried to address that problem last year, when after years of debate and struggle, the season was shortened by two weeks – that is, the offseason was shortened from seven to nine weeks before they had to start up again in 2010. The WTA also reduced the number of required events for the top players. These two changes were designed to do two things: 1) keep the biggest stars from getting injured, and 2) get them to face off against each other more often.

No. 7 ranked Elena Dementieva of Russia is seeded No. 1 for the $700,000 WTA Open GDF Suez being played in Paris, France, February 8-10, 2010. After a 1st round bye, Dementieva will take on Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia who was a 1st round winner over Iveta Benesova of the Czech Republic.

The top seeds include:

Justine Henin may well be back in full form after 15 months away from the tennis circuit. She is showing she still knows how to play as she works her way through the draw in the 2010 WTA Brisbane International tournament going on Jan. 4-10, 2010 in Brisbane, Australia.

Coming into the tournament unseeded, she faced a good challenge with the No. 2 seed, Nadia Petrova of Russia in the first round. Henin prevailed in a close match, 7-5, 7-5. She then took on unseeded 20 year-old Sesil Karatancheva of Bulgaria who had a two-year suspension for using drugs in 2005. Henin took her out 6-4, 6-3. In the Quarterfinals, Henin defeated 7th seed, Melinda Czink of Hungary in a very close 3-set match, 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (7-5).

Tennis cutie pie, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, made it into round three of the 2009 French Open. The 17-year-old from Russia ws doing well until she ran ino the world’s No. 1, Dinara Safina.

In round one, Pavlyuchenkova defeated No. 88 ranked, Raluca Olaru of Romaina, in straight sets, 6-3, 6-2. Round two went to a 2nd set tie-break, but Pavlyuchenkova again was the victor in straight sets over No. 70 ranked Julie Coin of France, 6-2, 7-6 (7-2).

The 3rd round proved to be too tough as Pavlyuchenkova was pitted against the current world’s No. 1, Dinara Safina. Pavlyuchenkova lost this match in straight sets, 2-6, 0-6.

Russian cutie pie, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, won her way into the semifinals of the WTA BNP Paribas Open played March 11-22, 2009 in Indian Wells, California USA, without dropping a set.

Round one brought Pavlyuchenkova up against No. 97 ranked Marta Domachowska of Poland. Pavlyuchenkova won the match easily 6-1, 6-3. Round 2 was a great win for Pavlyuchenkova, 6-4, 6-4, against the world No. 3 Jelena Jankovic of Serbia. The 3rd round was another 2-set win over No. 59 ranked Karin Knapp of Italy, 6-2, 6-4.

Russian cutie pie, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, made it through to the quarterfinals of the 2009 Moorilla Hobart International being played in Hobart, Australia. In that match, she lost in a close 3-set match to Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic, 6-1, 5-7, 3-6.

In reaching the quarterfinals, Pavlyuchenkova had wins over Olivia Rogowska, 6-3, 6-1, and Carla Suarex-Navarro of Spain, 6-4, 6-1.

That should be good preparation for Pavlyuchenkova’s first appearance in the Australian Open.

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova from Russia defeated Michaella Krajicek from the Netherlands for the championship of the ITF $100,000+H Bratislava 2008 on Sunday. Pavlyuchenkova made it look easy, winning the match 6-3, 6-1.

That’s the way it should have gone according to the numbers, No. 56 Pavlyuchenkova vs. No. 316 Krajicek. It’s nice to see the numbers work sometimes.

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, tennis cutie pie from Russia, has advanced to the Finals in the ITF $100,000+H Bratislava 2008 being played in Bratislava, Slovak Republic. The final will be played Nov.2.

Seeded No. 8, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova defeated the 6th seed, Monica Niculescu of Romania in the Semifinal match 6-2, 6-4.

Pavlyuchenkova will now face No. 316 ranked Michaella Krajicek of the Netherlands. Krajicek has no singles titles this year. No. 56 ranked Pavlyuchenkova has three ITF singles titles in 2008. Going by the numbers, Pavlyuchenkova should win this tournament. We’ll see if the numbers are correct!

Russian cutie pie, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova has advanced to the Semifinals of the $100,000+H ITF Bratislava 2008 tournament being played in Bratislava, Slovak Republic Oct 27-Nov. 2.

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova is seeded No. 8 in the tournament. All three matches so far have been 3-set matches, but Pavlyuchenkova has stayed tough and won all three.

In the first round, she defeated No. 66 ranked Lucie Safarova of the Czech Republic 6-1, 4-6, 6-3. In round two, she defeated fellow Russian, No. 82 ranked Elena Vesnina 3-6, 6-2, 6-1. In the Quarterfinals Pavlyuchenkova defeated No. 45 ranked Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic 6-4, 2-6, 7-6 (9-7).