Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland clinched the International Women's Open title at Eastbourne defeating Nadia Petrova 6-4 6-7 (11) 6-4 in today’s final.

Fourth-seeded Radwanska took the first set, but didn’t convert three match points in the second set and Petrova leveled on her fourth set point. The final set was also close, but the 19-year-old Radwanska secured the decisive break at 5-4 and served out for victory.

Winning her third title of the year, after Pattaya and Istanbul, world No.11 Radwanska joins Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova as the only players to have won three titles in 2008. (source: BBC, photo via Yahoo)

Hungarian Agnes Szavay, ranked 31st in the world, defeated seventh-seeded Nadia Petrova of Russia 6-4 6-4 to reach the fourth round of the 2007 US Open.

Petrova had treatment for a left hip injury late in the first set but she was outplayed by Szavay, who is celebrating her biggest success at a Grand Slam so far.

The 18-year-old Hungarian caught the attention of the tennis audience last week when she played in the final of the Pilot Pen Tennis presented by Schick in New Haven. Unfortunately, she had to retire from that match due to a back injury.

At the US Open, Agnes Szavay will next face world No.50 Julia Vakulenko of Ukraine.

Third seed Ana Ivanovic clinched her second title of the year beating fourth seed Nadia Petrova in the final of the East West Bank Classic in Los Angeles. The Serb won 7-5 6-4 to continue the form that took her to the French Open final and Wimbledon semis this year.

Ivanovic’s powerful serve and impressive forehand were on display once again. Petrova was stunned: "She just rips it off without thinking. Sometimes I think she has no idea where it's going to go but, compared to other players, it's by far the best forehand out there." And remember what Jelena Jankovic said about Ana’s serve after their semifinal match? Read more »

World No.5 Ana Ivanovic extended her head-to-head superiority over Jelena Jankovic to 4-1 defeating her 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 in an all-Serbian semifinal at the East West Bank Classic.

The Ivanovic vs. Jankovic match was a real thriller in which Ana showed her fighting spirit, and off course, her powerful serve, shooting 12 aces. I think that the best thing about Ana is that she plays point by point, which enables her to recover when she’s losing. In the Saturday’s semifinal, the 19-year-old fought off two match points, and came back from near-defeat on numerous other occasions throughout the match. She was as fantastic as in the Wimbledon quarterfinals against Nicole Vaidisova. Congratulations! Read more »

The first known semifinalist of the Eastbourne International grass-court tournament was the defending champion Justine Henin, who crushed fifth-seeded Nicole Vaidisova 6-2 6-2.

I had expected much more from this match. Vaidisova serves well, so I thought the match would be much more undecided, but her serve had let her down, and she had no other weapons to use against the Belgian top seed. Within the first 20 minutes Vaidisova was 5-0 down, having held only one game point.

In the second quarterfinal match eight-seeded Marion Bartoli defeated fourth-seeded Elena Dementieva 6-1 6-0. This is Bartoli’s second consecutive win over the Russian, the previous one having been in this month’s Roland Garros. Furthermore, the Frenchwoman is now even with Dementieva on grass, 1-1.

FIRST SEMIFINAL: Henin vs. Bartoli >> So far, they’ve played only once, and that was four years ago. Henin defeated Bartoli on the hard-courts of Toronto. But in this case, the stats are not necessary; it’s clear who the favorite in this match is. Read more »