Aravane Rezai won the biggest title of her career playing against Marion Bartoli in an all-French final of the Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions in Bali.

Of course, injuries where not avoided this time either, with top seed Bartoli retiring in tears because of a left quadriceps strain after losing the first set 7-5. Rezai had actually rallied from a set point down at 3-5 in the opening set.

"I'd prefer to win in a different way, but it's tennis, a lot of different things happen," said the 22-year-old Rezai after winning the showcase of the up-and-coming stars of women's tennis. (via Sony Ericsson WTA Tour)

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This is unbelievable, 20-year-old Yanina Wickmayer received a one-year suspension and it happened in the Belgian's breakthrough year in which she reached the US Open semifinals as an unseeded player, won her first two WTA Tour titles (Estoril and Linz) and cracked the Top 20.

The reason for the suspension: Wickmayer failed to report her whereabouts to anti-doping officials three times. However, the world No.18 denied any wrongdoing and is planning to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Wickmayer voluntarily withdrew from the ongoing Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions because of the punishment. (photo via Sony Ericsson WTA Tour)

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The field has been set for the inaugural Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions in Bali, a season-ending event featuring top ten highest-ranked players who have won an International tournament during the 2009 season but who are not competing at the Sony Ericsson Championships, which features the top eight singles players of the season.

LIST OF THE PLAYERS PARTICIPATING IN BALI

Direct Entrants
RANK (as of 10/26/09) / PLAYER / INTERNATIONAL TITLE/S WON
No.12 Marion Bartoli (Monterrey)
No.13 Samantha Stosur (Osaka)
No.19 Yanina Wickmayer (Estoril, Linz)
No.27 Anabel Medina Garrigues (Fes)
No.31 Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez (Bogota, Bastad)
No.32 Shahar Peer (Guangzhou, Tashkent)
No.39 Melinda Czink (Quebec City)
No.42 Agnes Szavay (Budapest)
No.44 Aravane Rezai (Strasbourg)
No.46 Magdalena Rybarikova (Birmingham)

Wildcards
No.25 Sabine Lisicki
No.100 Kimiko Date Krumm

The $600,000 Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions will take place November 4-8, 2009, and will feature an innovative 12-woman round robin singles format (four groups of three players). (source: Sony Ericsson WTA Tour)

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You all know about the Sony Ericsson Championships, the tournament which marks the end of the tennis year, where the world's Top 8 singles players and Top 4 doubles teams from the season compete for the prestigious title. A week ago, the WTA Tour announced a somewhat similar tournament, called the Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions, which will feature top Tour players who failed to qualify for the big thing, the Sony Ericsson Championships.

The highest-ranked ten players who have won at least one international event in singles during the season and who didn’t manage to qualify for the year-end Sony Ericsson Championships will play the tournament, along with two wildcards. They will compete in an innovative 12-woman round robin singles format (four groups of three players). Read more »

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Second seed Patty Schnyder ended a three-year title drought by beating Austrian Tamira Paszek 6-3 6-0 to win the Commonwealth Bank Tennis Classic.

The 29-year-old Schnyder earned her 11th Sony Ericsson WTA Tour singles title with her 500th career victory. The Swiss veteran had lost seven straight WTA finals since lifting her last trophy in Cincinnati three years ago.

The winner gave the 17-year-old Paszek full credit and tipped her as a future star. "She pushed me all the way," said Schnyder. "I had to do my best and move well."

The 94th-ranked Paszek, who reached the Bali final by upsetting top seed Daniela Hantuchova in the semis, as well as third and seventh seeds Flavia Fennetta and Sara Errani in earlier rounds, failed to win her second career title following success in Portoroz in 2006. (source: Bangkok Post, photo via Bali Classic)

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