Cirstea takes Stosur out in 1st round at Australian Open

Unseeded No. 59 ranked Sorana Cirstea of Romania pulled off a big shocker over No. 6 seed Samantha Stosur of Australia with a straight sets win, 7-6 (7-2), 6-3 in the first round of the Australian Open at Melbourne Park.

It took only 91 minutes for the Romanian to pull off the huge upset at Stosur’s home Grand Slam. It was the earliest exit for Stosur at the Australian Open since 2005, and continues her miserable showing at Melbourne. In 10 visits, the 27-year-old Stosur has managed just 14 wins and she’s only twice progressed beyond the third round.

Patty Schnyder retires from tennis

Switzerland’s Patty Schnyder is calling it quits after a 17-year career which started in 2003 and brought her 11 titles and 59 Grand Slam appearances.

The 32-year-old, currently ranked No. 55, made her first majors appearance at Roland Garros in 1996, and appropriately chose her 16th successive French Open to announce her retirement decision.

“It’s time to close this chapter of my tennis career. It’s very emotional,” said a tearful Schnyder at a news conference. “I had always wanted to win a Grand Slam title, but that will have to remain a dream.”

Wozniacki, Schiavone, Radwanska and Pennetta among upsets at the 2010 AEGON International

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!

Dementieva Seeded No 1 at WTA Open GDF Suez

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: