The blue Madrid Open was already heating up while the week’s touraments were coming to a close – Kaia Kanepi saved two match points in the Estoril Open final before defeating Carla Suarez Navarro 3-6 7-6(6) 6-4, and Sara Errani beat Elena Vesnina 7-5 6-4 for the Budapest crown.

After the Australian part of the season, during which Kanepi won the Brisbane International, the Estonian was on the sidelines with a right shoulder injury for a month and a half and only now did she get back into the rhythm in Estoril, where as the sixth seed, she took out seed No.4 Petra Cetkovska and top seed Roberta Vinci en route to the final with unseeded Suarez Navarro, who was close to winning her first WTA title when leading 6-3 5-3 and then having two match points in the tiebreak. Even in the third set Suarez Navarro had a lead, 4-2, but Kanepi worked her way back again to win the most intriguing final of her life.

In Budapest, Sara Errani earned her third straight claycourt title and 15th consecutive match win by beating Elena Vesnina, who considerably assisted Errani’s cruise through the tournament by eliminating seeds No.2, No.6 and No.5, namely, Ksenia Pervak, Petra Martic and Marina Erakovic. In the title match, Vesnina was up 5-3 in the first set, but Errani then won seven games in a row and not long after the match. (via WTA Tour, photos: Neal Trousdale)

For the second time this year Italian Sara Errani won both the singles and doubles titles at the same event – in Acapulco in February and now in Barcelona. Moreover, this is the fourth year in a row that an Italian player has won the Barcelona Ladies Open, after Roberta Vinci in 2009 and 2011, and Francesca Schiavone in 2010.

In singles, the seventh-seeded Errani defeated third seed Dominika Cibulkova 6-2 6-2 in the final, while in doubles, alongside Roberta Vinci, she won an all-Italian doubles final with a 6-0 6-2 victory over Flavia Pennetta and Francesca Schiavone. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)

In the first all-Italian final since 2010, third seed Sara Errani overcame second seed Flavia Pennetta 5-7 7-6(2) 6-0 to win the Abierto Mexicano TELCEL title, and shortly afterwards, paired with Roberta Vinci, she went on to claim the doubles trophy as well.

Pennetta was playing her seventh straight Acapulco final. She won the close first set, but in the tiebreak of the second set she made many mistakes and a lot of running, aggressive play and tense moments wore off Pennetta and she lost the third set without winning a single game, while Errani lost only three points on her serve.

After clinching the singles title, Errani took the courts for the doubles final. Her pair was Roberta Vinci, the tournament’s top seed in singles, whom Errani eliminated in the semifinals. The top-seeded Italians needed just 51 minutes to defeat Spain’s Lourdes Dominguez Lino and Arantxa Parra Santonja 6-2 6-1.

The Acapulco singles title is the third WTA title in Errani’s career, after Palermo and Portoroz in 2008. In doubles, it’s Errani’s tenth title and seventh with Vinci. (source: WTA Tour, photo: © Neal Trousdale)

When I posted those wonderful childhood photos of Samantha Stosur last week, reader VarmozaLinda contacted me on Twitter and referred me to super cute pictures of Italian world No.40 Sara Errani.

Can little Sara be any sweeter? Look at that face and hair, the vintage dress and socks, and not to mention the wooden racquet that Sara's father Giorgio made for his 3-year-old.

A few years later, for the first day of school, Errani was again amazingly adorable. Read more »

Eighth seed Sara Errani of Italy won her second consecutive title by defeating fourth seed Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain 6-3 6-3 in the Banka Koper Slovenia Open final.

The 21-year-old Errani won her first WTA Tour title in Palermo earlier this month, and has now won 10 matches in a row.

Half of the games in the Slovenia Open final were breaks — Errani converted six of ten break points, and Medina Garrigues three out of nine.

In Portoroz world No.56 Errani upset top seed Maria Kirilenko in the quarterfinals and third seed Caroline Wozniacki in the semis. (source: ESPN, photo via Yahoo)