Tokyo champion Petrova falls in Beijing

After winning her biggest career title last week in Tokyo, 30-year-old Nadia Petrova assured us that big tennis goals are still ahead of her, but the following week she’s ran out of steam against home favorite Li Na at the China Open and lost 6-1 6-2 in the second round, her first loss to the Chinese in their seven meetings. Besides the tough opponent that Li is, fatigue and a slight leg injury took the better of Petrova.

Petrova’s Tokyo final opponent, seed No.3 Agnieszka Radwanska in Beijing, who was defending her title in Tokyo last week and is doing the same this week, advanced to the third round with a 6-2 6-3 win over Zhang Shuai.

Seeds No.1 Victoria Azarenka, No.5 Angelique Kerber, No.9 Marion Bartoli and No.10 Caroline Wozniacki all advanced, while No.8 Samantha Stosur lost to Julia Goerges 7-6(2) 4-6 7-5. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)

Flavia Pennetta joins Steffi Graf’s record

Last week at the China Open Flavia Pennetta defeated singles and doubles No.1s on the same dayCaroline Wozniacki and Liezel Huber – thus joining the legendary Steffi Graf as the only other player in history to achieve the feat.

In the Friday's Beijing singles quarterfinals, Pennetta upset top-ranked Wozniacki, and then, together with Gisela Dulko, beat the doubles team of Liezel Huber and Lisa Raymond in the semifinals.

Graf defeated the No.1-ranked player in singles and doubles by winning over Martina Navratilova in Berlin, in 1986, when Navratilova was on top of both the singles and doubles rankings.

Moreover, only five players in history managed to beat both the No.1s at the same tournament: Steffi Graf in 1986, Jana Novotna in 1996, Lindsay Davenport in 2008, Venus Williams in 2009, and now Flavia Pennetta. (source: WTA Tour, photo: sr_cranks)

China Open: Agnieszka Radwanska claims second straight Premier title

World No.12 Agnieszka Radwanska defeated Andrea Petkovic 7-5 0-6 6-4 in the final of the $4,500,000 China Open and extended her perfect record against the German to 5-0. It's Radwanska's second big title in two weeks, after last week's Tokyo event with the prize money of $2,050,000. And that's not all, during the US Open series, Radwanska won the Carlsbad tournament and played the semifinals of Toronto.

There were 15 service breaks in the match of 28 games. After winning the first set that lasted more than half of the match, Radwanska won only nine points in the second set and was bageled. The Pole came back in the decider, opening it with a break and later she was the one to have the decisive break for a 5-4 lead before serving out the victory. It should be pointed out, though, that Petkovic won more points in the match, 101 to Radwanska's 100.

To win her seventh career title and third this season, the 22-year-old Radwanska defeated Zheng Jie, Sofia Arvidsson, Ana Ivanovic, Flavia Pennetta, and in the end Andrea Petkovic, who was playing the greatest final of her career. Radwanska won an astonishing $775,500 and 1000 ranking points in Beijing, which will take her back to Top 10.

Radwanska has won 22 of her last 25 matches. (photo: Ralf Reinecke)

Andrea Petkovic, Agnieszka Radwanska to play for China Open title

Andrea Petkovic and Agnieszka Radwanska will face each other in the final of the China Open and it's not only a big moment in their careers because it's a Premier-level tournament, the winner of the match will return to No.10 in the rankings. Also, they are both contenders for the three remaining berths in the WTA championships draw in Istanbul.

The ninth-seeded Petkovic quickly defeated Monica Niculescu 6-2 6-0 and reached her biggest career final, but she far from underestimated her qualifier opponent, who had upset fourth seed Li Na in the first round.

"My opponent had a totally different style than all the other girls. I don't think I had a match like this the whole season," Petkovic said after taking all seven of Niculescu's service games. "So I prepared differently. I put my two coaches on the other side of the court and made them play slice all the time. So I think I was quite prepared for what was waiting for me here today."

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Caroline Wozniacki celebrates one year at No.1

Except for the week of February 13, 2011, when Kim Clijsters interrupted her reign, Caroline Wozniacki has occupied the top spot of the WTA rankings for a year now and during the China Open the Tour presented the Dane with a cake to celebrate the anniversary.

On October 11, 2010, Wozniacki overtook the No.1 position from Serena Williams and spent 18 successive weeks there, and after Kim Clijsters' brief interruption, Wozniacki has been on the top for her 33rd straight week. Overall, it's her 51st week which makes her the ninth in the history of No.1 ranking occupants.

Of active players only Serena Williams is ranked better in the list with 123 weeks spent as No.1, while Dinara Safina, Kim Clijsters, Jelena Jankovic, Maria Sharapova, Ana Ivanovic and Venus Williams are all below Wozniacki. (photo via Tennis Forum)


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