Former world No.5 Anna Chakvetadze had lost her opening matches on her three previous appearance at the Kremlin Cup, but this time the Muscovite thrilled the home fans with a 6-4 6-2 upset of third seed Li Na in the first round. Despite the low percentage of points won on first serve in the first set, Chakvetadze had a good conversion of break points (3 out of 4). Chakvetadze's serve improved in the second set, not allowing Li a single break opportunity, and she powered into the round two.

The 68th-ranked Chakvetadze won the Kremlin Cup in 2006, when she played fellow Russian Nadia Petrova in the final.

There was another notable upset in the early stage of the $1,000,000 Kremlin Cup and was also executed by an unseeded local favorite. Elena Vesnina defeated fifth seed Flavia Pennetta 6-4 2-6 6-2. The 55th-ranked Vesnina got the first break of the match in the sixth game, and although Pennetta broke back immediately it was the lower-ranked Vesnina who won the opening set. Pennetta was better in the following set, but in the decider Vesnina established a 4-1 lead and didn’t look back to seal victory.

Vesnina has been playing the Kremlin Cup every year since 2003 and lost in the first round four times, including the previous two years. (photo: chascow)

Italy’s Flavia Pennetta and Argentina’s Gisela Dulko earned their first appearance in the season-ending WTA Championships by virtue of their great doubles results this season which include five doubles titles (Miami, Stuttgart, Rome, Bastad. Montreal), quarterfinals or better at all four Grand Slams, and a 40-8 win-loss record as a team.

They are the first doubles team to have qualified for the prestigious and generous ($4.45 million) tournament which will take place in Doha from October 26 to 31. Check out the ranking of the other doubles teams in the Race to the Sony Ericsson Championships. (photo: sr_cranks)

Flavia Pennetta eliminated second seed Samantha Stosur from the Mercury Insurance Open and reached the semifinals with a 6-4 6-3 victory. All the top three seeds are out of the tournament now: Jelena Jankovic, Samantha Stosur and Vera Zvonareva.

The world No. 15 Pennetta has never lost to Stosur in their three career meetings, but it’s her first Top 10 victory since last year’s US Open. Stosur is ranked fifth.

During the quarterfinal of the Mercury Insurance Open, Stosur hit no aces and served five double faults, compared to Pennetta’s eight aces and only one double fault. Also, Pennetta had 19 winners and Stosur 12.

The Italian’s opponent in the semis will be Svetlana Kuznetsova. The Russian ended the hopes of qualifier Coco Vandeweghe, who upset third seed Vera Zvonareva in the second round. Kuznetsova beat Vandeweghe 7-5 6-2. (photo by John Bolan)

Estonian Kaia Kanepi won her first Sony Ericsson WTA Tour singles title by defeating defending champion and top seed Flavia Pennetta 6-4 6-3 in the final of the XXIII SNAI Open – Internazionali Femminili di Tennis di Palermo.

The wold No.38 Kanepi, seeded fifth in Palermo, had two runner-up finishes in the past: one in the Hasselt final against Kim Clijsters in 2006, and one in 2008 against Caroline Wozniacki in Tokyo. Pennetta’s score in career finals is 9-11 now and 7-7 on clay.

Today in Palermo Kanepi scored her first victory over Pennetta on clay, and they are now 3-3 in head-to-head meetings.

Prior to Palermo, Kanepi had three quarterfinal appearances this season, including one at Wimbledon where she lost to Petra Kvitova. (photo: Stephane Martinache)

Wimbledon is just days away and the annual party celebrating the tournament was held at the Roof Gardens in West London's Kensington last night. As usual, the WTA players gave their best to look good and glamorous, and oh well, as usual, their success was sporadic.

Let's start with the bright examples. Venus Williams and Maria Sharapova were spot on. Their dresses are perfect fits and just right for the occasion.

Defending champion Serena Williams looked like a pop star and I'm sure this profile picture will stay remembered for a while. Dinara Safina was having one of her better appearances, although I'm convinced this is not the best she can offer. Read more »

Thanks to our reader Jacob we have information about the most probable fashion choices of Nike and adidas for their players and the upcoming Wimbledon.

Maria Sharapova will wear the Striking Lawn Dress. The Russian is apparently still in the mood for layers and elegant dresses. Personally, I preferred her other phases, but I can’t say her recent designs have been bad. The straps of this white Wimbledon dress are crossing at the back.

Much more appealing to me is the dress that Ana Ivanovic and Flavia Pennetta will most probably wear – adidas’ Women's adilibria Dress. Again, at first glance it looks more sporty and simple than Sharapova's Nike, and I prefer the cleaner lines. This dress is also available in pink, and looks even better than the white version. (source: ProTennis)

Grand Slams are the places where tennis players want to look their best and sponsors want to use the opportunity of huge publicity to market their products. Let's have a look at what women's tennis stars are sporting during one such event, Roland Garros 2010 in Paris.

Venus Williams raised many eyebrows by her lingerie-like black dress. But the dress raises all the eyebrows when in action!

Sorana Cirstea lost on Day one to Svetlana Kuznetsova, but her adidas dress can win all the awards, if you asked me. Just like Ana Ivanovic's.

Bethanie Mattek-Sands is wearing her cool tube socks and looks sporty. Well, Venus took Bethanie's role of ball boy distractor. Caroline Wozniacki, nice dress but nothing new, really nothing. Read more »

World No.16 Flavia Pennetta of Italy has played 19 finals on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour and has today won her ninth one by defeating Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain 6-2 4-6 6-3 at the Andalucia Tennis Experience in Marbella.

Suarez Navaro lost the last year’s final at the Andalucia Tennis Experience to Serbia’s Jelena Jankovic, and this year the eighth-seeded Spaniard also failed to succeed in making that last step, although she was the first one to take a set from the second-seeded Pennetta on the red clay of Marbella this year.

The 28-year-old Pennetta, the losing finalist in Auckland in January, earned $37,000 by taking the Andalucia Tennis Experience trophy, while Suarez Navarro received $19,000 for her spot in the finals, which can be of little comfort since she will still have to wait for her first WTA Tour singles title. (photo: sr_cranks)

Eighth seed Carla Suarez Navarro will have a shot at winning her first Sony Ericsson WTA Tour singles title in the clay-court final of the Andalucia Tennis Experience against second seed Flavia Pennetta.

Last year Suarez Navarro played her first WTA Tour final at the same tournament, in her home country of Spain, and this season she has repeated the success by overcoming fifth-seeded compatriot Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez in the semifinals, 2-6 6-3 6-2. Suarez Navarro clawed back from 6-2 3-1 down by winning five straight games before cruising through the third set.

Italian Flavia Pennetta also played a compatriot in the semifinals, world No.43 Sara Errani, and defeated her in just seconds less than an hour with the score 6-1 6-1. Besides winning just two service games, Errani had game points only in two other games.

Suarez Navarro and Pennetta are tied in their head-to-head at 1-1. Pennetta, however, is much more experienced in finals, having played 18 so far. (photo:  © Neal Trousdale)

Italy followed up their 2-0 score on Saturday with two more victories on Sunday to beat the United States 4-0 in the Fed Cup final and claim their second Fed Cup title.

On Saturday Italian Flavia Pennetta beat American Alexa Glatch 6-3 6-1, and Francesca Schiavone overcame Melanie Oudin 7-6(2) 6-2. The decisive victory came on Sunday when Pennetta earned an insurmountable 3-0 lead by defeating Oudin 7-5 6-2 in front of home crowd on the clay courts of the Circolo del Tennis Rocco Polimeni.

The doubles rubber was played, and even the world No.1 in doubles Liezel Huber couldn't help the Unites States win at least one match. Huber and Vania King lost to Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci 4-6 6-3 11-9.

Italy had also won Fed Cup title in 2006. (photo via Fed Cup)