Archive for:

Ekaterina Makarova of Russia won the women’s final against Victoria Azarenka of Belarus at the 2010 WTA AEGON International held in Eastbourne, England June 14-19. Ekaterina won the match in straights sets, 7-6(5), 6-4.

Ekaterina is ranked No. 103, and was a qualifier, while Victoria was also unseeded but ranked much higher at No. 15.

Ekaterina defeated #10 Flavia Pennetta, #13 Nadia Petrova, #19 Svetlana Kuznetsova, and #7 Samantha Stosur on her way to the final, making this by far the best week of her career. She did not lose a set along the way.

Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark was among the early upsets at the 2010 WTA AEGON International being played June 14-20 in Eastbourne, England. The No. 1 seed was defeated in the 1st round by Aravane Rezai of France 6-4, 1-6, 6-3.

The Wimbledon warmup claimed other top seeds in the 1st round, including No. 2 seed and 2010 French Open champion, Francesca Schiavone of Italy who was eliminated by Sorana Cirstea of Romania 7-5, 6-3.

It appears the warmup is getting the unseeded players more warmed up than the top seeds. It could be an interesting Wimbledon. Warm up your TV sets by Monday, because here we go!

No. 11 seed, Maria Sharapova of Russia, was sent packing after the first round of the 2010 WTA Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open being played in Madrid, Spain this week by No. 30 ranked Lucie Safarova. It was a straight sets match for 23-year-old Safarova from the Czech Republic.

It is the first time these two have met on court. Sharapova undoubtedly didn’t like this introduction.

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:

Just two months ago, Belgium’s Yanina Wickmayer wasn’t going to be able to play tennis all year. Now she is into round 3 of the 2010 Australian Open after downing No. 12 ranked Flavia Pennetta in straight sets.

Wickmayer grabbed the momentum in the first-set tiebreaker, winning the tiebreaker easily 7-2. She then broke Pennetta 3 times in the second set for a 7-6(7-2), 6-1 win which took only 87 minutes.

Day one of the 2010 Australian Open went pretty much according to plan with only one major upset. No. 58 ranked Maria Kirilenko upset No. 14 seed, Maria Sharapova, in a long 3-set match, 7-6(7-4), 3-6, 6-4. Kirilenko is seen here being congratulated by Sharapova after their match.

All other seeded players playing the first day advanced to the second round, including No. 15 seed, Kim Clijsters, who is one of the favorites to win the tournament after winning the U.S. Open last year in her first Grand Slam appearance after coming out of retirement.