Two WTA events were played this week and two good friends clinched titles: Caroline Wozniacki at the Family Circle Cup in Charleston and Victoria Azarenka at the Andalucia Tennis Experience in Marbella.

The world No.1 Wozniacki survived a string of tough matches to reach the final for a chance to win her first Charleston title in three appearances (one of which was a runner-up finish in 2009 and last year’s hurtful injury retirement in the semifinals). On her first tournament on clay this year, Wozniacki survived Barbora Zahlavova Strycova in the third round after two tiebreaks, and followed it with another thriller, in the quarterfinals against Yanina Wickmayer. The Dane avoided an upset in the semis against Jelena Jankovic, beating the Serb 6-4 6-4, and in the title match she didn’t face much threat against surprise finalist Elena Vesnina and won 6-2 6-3.

Wozniacki has now added Charleston to her Dubai and Indian Wells 2011 titles. Her number of WTA titles now totals 15. As for the 56th-ranked Vesnina, the week will stay as a bright point in her career, she recorded upsets of Bethanie Mattek Sands, Julia Goerges, Peng Shuai, and most importantly, her first Top 5 win against Samantha Stosur. 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)

Belorussian Victoria Azarenka, No.1 seed at the Andalucia Tennis Experience in Marbella, had to retire from the tournament at the quarterfinal stage because of a left thigh injury.

The world No.9 Azarenka had a 4-0 lead in the quarterfinal against fifth seed Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez of Spain when she started feeling pain. Despite receiving treatment courtside, Azarenka retired from the match just minutes after the massage of her leg.

Martinez Sanchez, ranked 28th, has now reached the semifinals, where she will face eighth-seeded compatriot Carla Suarez Navarro. (photo:  © Neal Trousdale)

Kim Clijsters’ first appearance in a clay-court tournament in three years and her first one since coming back to the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour wasn’t successful.

The former world No.1, who is back in the Top 10 as of this week, flew over the Atlantic Ocean to the Andalucia Tennis Experience in Marbella fresh off her last week’s victory at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami. However, the third-seeded Belgian quickly ended her successful ways by falling to 258th-ranked Spanish qualifier Beatriz Garcia Vidagany 7-5 4-6 6-4 in the second round.

Clijsters, a wildcard at the event in southern Spain, had survived a three-setter in the first round against Romanian Alexandra Dulgheru.

The 21-year-old Garcia Vidagany is making her WTA Tour main draw debut. Her first Tour-level victory came against world No.87 Kristina Barrois in the first round of the Andalucia Tennis Experience and she quickly followed her first Top 100 win with a Top 10 win. (photo: sr_cranks)

Second seed Jelena Jankovic beat fifth seed Carla Suarez Navarro 6-3 3-6 6-3 in the final of the inaugural Andalucia Tennis Experience to win her first Sony Ericsson WTA Tour title of the season.

The world No.4 was coming off a very disappointing start to the season, but the title on the red clay of Marbella is a beautiful ending of the return-to-form week for Jankovic. The Serb cruised through her first two matches at the Andalucia Tennis Experience, and then won three straight marathons to take the trophy.

Jankovic claimed her 10th career singles WTA title, and fifth on clay. (source: Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, photo via Andalucia Tennis Experience)

World No.4 Jelena Jankovic reached her first final of the season with a 7-5 6-2 victory over Spain’s Anabel Medina Garrigues at the Andalucia Tennis Experience in Marbella.

The second-seeded Jankovic will try to win her first title since October, when she plays fifth seed Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain on Sunday. Suarez Navarro defeated Sorana Cirstea of Romania 6-2 6-7(5) 6-2 in the semifinals.

The 20-year-old Suarez Navarro, who will play her first WTA singles final on Sunday, became well-known after upsetting Venus Williams at the Australian Open.

Jankovic is leading their head-to-heads 2-0, beating Suarez Navarro in straight sets at the French Open and Wimbledon in 2008. The Spaniard has won only nine games against the Serb so far. (photo: Ralf Reinecke)

Second seed Jelena Jankovic is continuing to progress at the Andalucia Tennis Championships. The Serbian world number four defeated Italy’s Roberta Vinci 3-6 6-3 7-6(6) in the quarterfinals.

Both players struggled to hold serve, there were ten breaks throughout the match. The 67th-ranked Vinci saved three match points in the 10th game of the third set and another in the tiebreak before Jankovic sealed the win at the fifth attempt, taking the tiebreak 8-6.

Jankovic will next play fourth seed Anabel Medina Garrigues for a place in Sunday’s final. (source: Reuters, photo: Ralf Reinecke)

Second seed Jelena Jankovic reached the quarterfinals of the Andalucia Tennis Experience with a 6-3 6-0 victory over Tunisia's Selima Sfar, ranked 181th in the world. Unfortunately, any win of JJ has become news of late, and we sure need to celebrate it.

Jankovic is by far the highest-ranked player left in the tournament after Serena Williams lost in the first round to Klara Zakopalova. By the way, the 95th-ranked Zakopalova progressed further, beating Renata Voracova in the second round.

The world No.4 Jankovic will play Italy's Roberta Vinci for a place in the semifinals. (source: Reuters, photo: Ralf Reinecke)

Still injured world No.1 Serena Williams suffered a 6-4 3-6 6-1 first-round defeat to Klara Zakopalova of the Czech Republic, ranked 95th, at the Andalucia Tennis Championships in Marbella, Spain.

The top seed lost her opening clay-court match this year, clearly not recovered from a thigh problem that affected her performance at the Sony Ericsson Open last week, where she lost to Victoria Azarenka in the final.

"I was trying to play my best tennis but the injury prevented me from reaching my top level," said Williams, who wore heavy strapping on her left thigh.

The 26-year-old Zakopalova broke Williams as much as seven times in their encounter at the Andalucia Tennis Championships, while before Zakopalova had never won a set against the American. (source: Reuters India, photos: Ralf Reinecke)