The 2007 Wimbledon finalist Marion Bartoli won her sixth career title and her first on grass on Saturday against last year's Wimbledon semifinalist Petra Kvitova at the AEGON International in Eastbourne. En route to the big trophy Bartoli overcame Lucie Safarova's match point in the first round, windy conditions at the tournament, a groin strain and the fact that she played both her semifinal and the final on the same day.

The sixth-seeded Bartoli reached the final with a clinical 6-3 6-1 victory over Samantha Stosur. The match against fifth-seeded Kvitova was a tough affair, although Bartoli looked to be cruising when the score was 6-1 3-1. Final result: 6-1 4-6 7-5.

Bartoli has had notable results in the past weeks: in Strasbourg she was runner-up to Andrea Petkovic (Bartoli retired in the final) and at the French Open she played the semifinals which she lost to Francesca Schiavone. The Frenchwoman has won 13 of her last 15 matches. (photo via AEGON International)

Roland Garros 2011 has been awaited as a big occasion for world No.1 Caroline Wozniacki to win her maiden Grand Slam, or as a venue where Kim Clijsters will reassert the dominance of the "old generation", or maybe as an unexpected place for Maria Sharapova to remind us what she's made of. Let's not forget defending champion Francesca Schiavone and an always-lurking possibility of an emergence of a lesser known player or new player in the limelight such as Petra Kvitova and Julia Goerges.

Top seed Caroline Wozniacki will play Kimiko Date Krumm in the first round, and then has possible matches against Daniela Hantuchova and the 2009 French Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova. In the quarterfinals the Dane could face last year's runner-up Samantha Stosur. But let's not overlook that world No.18 Julia Goerges, who largely owes her fame to the two recent victories over Wozniacki, is in the same quarter of the draw.

Third seed Vera Zvonareva is in the second quarter, as well as defending champion Francesca Schiavone, who failed to impress in the clay lead-up to the French Open but this week in Brussels she reached the semifinals where she lost to Wozniacki. The Italian's first opponent will be Melanie Oudin. Jelena Jankovic, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Flavia Pennetta, Alisa Kleybanova and Nadia Petrova are also in this quarter. Read more »

Petra Kvitova won the Madrid Open and cracked the Top 10, but in the lead-up for the French Open she chose a $100000 ITF Challenger in Prague instead of the Premier-level event in Rome. Kvitova reached the final of the tournament in her home Czech Republic and lost it to Slovakian world No.61 Magdalena Rybarikova 6-3 6-4, but the really bad thing is that she sustained a hip injury during the week.

I still don't know how serious it is, but she looked all happy at the trophy ceremony and the WTA's official website doesn't even mention the injury. However, Kvitova was supposed to play the Brussels Ladies Open and is not in the draw any more.

A very nice thing about Kvitova's participation at the ITF event in Prague is that she chose to play there out of loyalty for the people who had supported her since the juniors.

Talking about injuries and troubles lurking the 2011 French Open, Serena Williams’ withdrawal was soon followed by her sister Venus'. Kim Clijsters is still marked as doubtful for the French Open, although I believe she will play. If she happens to skip it, she will start preparing for grass court season and play at the Unicef Open in the Netherlands. (source: Women Who Serve, photo: sr_cranks)

This time last year Petra Kvitova was ranked lower than No.60, while this week at the Mutua Madrid Open the Czech not only earned the introduction to the Top 10 but also her biggest career title by beating Victoria Azarenka in the final of the $4,500,000 Premier-level tournament. Kvitova now has four WTA titles to her name, and three of them came this year (Brisbane, Paris and now Madrid).

In the first set against fourth-seeded Azarenka, Kvitova had a point for a 4-0 lead, but Azarenka came back to level at 3-3. The set slowly progressed to a tiebreak and Kvitova was decisive then. The world No.18 Kvitova started the second set with a break and just like in the first set that advantage did not last and Azarenka leveled at 3-3. The match stayed uncertain until the end, especially when Azarenka saved a match point at 5-3 and held her serve. However, in what was to be the last game of the match, Kvitova was dominant and she stormed to her first Premier title without losing a point in the final game. Score: 7-6(3) 6-4.

Azarenka can console herself with the fact that she will become the highest ranked representative of her country ever, climbing to No.4 in the WTA rankings, and she had a great success in doubles at the Mutua Madrid Open, as together with Maria Kirilenko she beat the Top 3-seeded teams one after another en route to the title. (photo: Stephane Martinache)

World No.18 Petra Kvitova, one of the players deserving special attention at the upcoming French Open, convincingly defeated second seed Vera Zvonareva in the third round of the $4.5 million Mutua Madrid Open.

Russia's Zvonareva scored two aces to Kvitova’s none, and had a better first serve percentage, but it was Kvitova who won more points, both on her first and second serves (20% better than Zvonareva on the second serve), and also, Kvitova saved seven of eight break points, while Zvonareva saved just two of six. Final score 6-1 6-4.

It was a bad day for many Russians at the Madrid Open. Dinara Safina fell to Julia Goerges 6-4 4-6 6-4 in the second round and Alisa Kleybanova fell to Roberta Vinci 6-2 6-2. Let’s see what Maria Sharapova will do against Dominika Cibulkova, their match is currently in progress.

Seventh seed Jelena Jankovic lost to Lucie Safarova 6-4 4-6 7-5, also in the second round, while sixth seed Li Na scored a 6-1 6-4 victory over Iveta Benesova. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)

Both Daniela Hantuchova and Petra Kvitova, who won last week's tournaments of Pattaya and Paris, were defeated in the first round of the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships.

Kvitova may have beaten current world No.1 Kim Clijsters just two days ago, but she felt slow and tired in her first round in the United Arab Emirates and lost to qualifier Ayumi Morita 7-6(2) 7-6(3). Having won the Brisbane and Paris tournaments in 2011, Kvitova has today suffered only her second loss of the season in which she ascended 20 spots in the rankings. The Czech is currently at a career-high of No.14.

Hantuchova was also feeling physically exhausted, so much that at moments she couldn't keep track of the score. Former world No.5 Anna Chakvetadze, whose days of tennis glory are growing distant, made it to the second round of Dubai with a 6-1 6-3 victory over Hantuchova. It's Chakvetadze's second first-round win in four attempts this season.

Besides the 14th-seeded Kvitova, the only other seed to lose on Tuesday was No.13 seed Ana Ivanovic, who is now enjoying the benefits of being coachless. Patty Schnyder defeated Ivanovic 4-6 7-6(2) 6-2. Another Serb also lost in three sets in the first round, wildcard Bojana Jovanovski to Yanina Wickmayer, 7-5 3-6 6-2. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)

Tomorrow-to-be-number-one Kim Clijsters is vulnerable just like every other player on the WTA Tour, and Petra Kvitova proved that by beating the Belgian 6-4 6-3 in the final of the Open GDF Suez in Paris.

The Paris title is Kvitova’s third, but it is her biggest one and of course, her biggest match victory so far. However, the fourth-seeded Kvitova had closer matches earlier in the tournament – the left-handed Czech barely made it to the quarterfinals, having been a match point down against Barbora Zahlavova Strycova (final score: 6-4 6-7(6) 7-6(9)), and then Yanina Wickmayer had a 5-3 lead in the third set before Kvitova reached the semis.

Clijsters will enjoy her regained No.1 ranking anyway, for the first time since 2006, while world No.18 Kvitova can enjoy her great victory and already the second title this season, after the Brisbane International. (via WTA Tour)