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)