In an interview before the BGL BNP Paribas Luxembourg Open, the tournament where Ana Ivanovic reached the second round with a 7-6(2) 6-4 win over Virginie Razzano, but lost her following match to Anne Keothavong 6-3 6-2, the 23-year-old said that she was still troubled by the back injury which started bothering her in Beijing, but she would not skip the tournaments finishing the season, including the Tournament of Champions in Bali where she’s a wildcard entry and defending champion.

In the mentioned interview Ivanovic stated she would continue to play despite the inflammation in her back, which had probably been present for some time but became evident during the China Open. The Serb said she would exercise caution with the injury and we can assume she didn't change her mind about traveling to Bali after today's loss to the 93rd-ranked Keothavong.

Britain's Keothavong recorded her biggest victory in terms of opponent's ranking by beating the former world No.1 Ivanovic, currently world No.23. The peculiarity of their encounter, their first career meeting, was also that Ivanovic's new coach, Nigel Sears, used to coach Keothavong. The Brit was open about the situation:

It felt a little weird too seeing someone who has helped me so much with my tennis over the years sitting in the opposition's box.

Sears was also discussed in the mentioned interview. Ivanovic has been satisfied with their collaboration, and they are working on improving her game with more structure and consistence. Her goal in 2012 will be to get back to Top 10 and win another Grand Slam. (via Beyond the Baseline, photo: © Neal Trousdale)

Unseeded Roberta Vinci broke seed No.8 and just one spot higher ranked Julia Goerges early in both sets and won the final of the BGL BNP Paribas Luxembourg Open 6-3 6-4, despite Goerges’ eight aces.

The crucial match for the world No.45 Vinci was in the second round against Barbora Zahlavova Strycova, when Vinci was very close to losing, but won the third-set tiebreaker 7-2. Goerges was the one who upset seed No.4 Ana Ivanovic in the quarterfinals.

Vinci’s first two titles came on clay, in Bogota and Barcelona. Goerges has one WTA singles title, the 2010 Bad Gastein. (via WTA Tour)

Ana Ivanovic's career is constantly going up and down, with longer down periods though. The 2008 French Open champion's revival suffered another setback as she lost in the quarterfinals of the BGL BNP Paribas Luxembourg Open.

It was in exactly an hour that fourth-seeded Ivanovic lost 6-3 6-1 to eighth seed Julia Goerges, whom she defeated last week en route to the Generali Ladies Linz title.

Nevertheless, Ivanovic will enjoy the fact that in these two weeks she achieved her longest winning streak in straight set matches - with seven successive straight set victories. In addition, she is projected to move from No.26 to No.24 in the rankings. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)

The season-ending Sony Ericsson Championships in Doha have already lost two of the elite eighth singles qualifiers, Serena and Venus Williams, and two other, Jelena Jankovic and Elena Dementieva, are suffering fitness scares just a week before the $4.55 million tournament.

At the Kremlin Cup in Moscow, top seed Jankovic lost her opener to 268th-ranked Kazakh qualifier Zarina Diyas with a 6-1 6-2 score. The 2008 Kremlin Cup champion Jankovic complained of illness and difficult breathing and said she had been on antibiotics for about a week. In addition, Jankovic told the media she is soon to have a left eye surgery (she is just going to have something taken out from her eye).

The other tournament played this week is taking place in Luxembourg and it lost its top seed as well, as Dementieva retired ahead of her second round match against Polona Hercog. The reason for Dementieva’s withdrawal was an inflammation on her right foot.

All we and Doha can hope for is that the players recover in time and that the tournament doesn’t become the one of injured and tired stars. (photos: © Neal Trousdale)

Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland defeated German Sabine Lisicki 6-2 7-5 at the BGL Luxembourg Open to claim her first Sony Ericsson WTA Tour title in her first career final.

The 70th ranked Bacsinszky, unseeded in Luxembourg, wasn’t the favorite in the final. She was playing sixth seed Lisicki, ranked 42 places ahead of her in the rankings, who won Charleston and played Wimbledon quarterfinals this season.

In the semifinals, the 20-year-old Bacsinszky upset new member of the Top 20 Yanina Wickmayer.

Before this week's BGL Luxembourg Open, Bacsinszky's best career results on the Tour were four semifinals, two last year and two earlier this year.

Additional info: Bacsinszky launched her official website on Sunday. (photo: Ralf Reinecke)