Second seed Elena Dementieva suffered her third loss in five matches of the European clay season, falling to Bulgarian qualifier Tsvetana Pironkova at the Polsat Warsaw Open. Maria Sharapova’s warm-up for the French Open is doing good, as the Russian lost only three games to advance at the Internationaux de Strasbourg, another tournament played this week.

Dementieva lost her second-round match at the Premier-level event to the world No.100 Pironkova 7-5 4-6 6-4 after almost three hours of play. The Russian was twice a break up in the deciding set, but didn’t manage to use that advantage to the full and handed Pironkova her fourth Top 10 win.

Sharapova was made to work in her first match at the International-level event in Strasbourg, but the top seed had a straightforward victory in the second round, defeating qualifier Dia Evtimova 6-3 6-0. Sharapova’s opponent in the quarterfinals will be world No.81 Julia Goerges, who upset No.6 seed Sybille Bammer 6-1 7-6(6). (photo: Stephane Martinache)

A little more than a week ago, at the Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open, Maria Sharapova lost the first match of her return from elbow injury. The Russian's her next appearance, which was today at the Strasbourg International, brought the Russian a much needed victory, and her first one since March and Indian Wells.

The top-seeded Sharapova fought for two hours and 14 minutes to defeat world No.67 Regina Kulikova 6-3 3-6 6-1 and advance to the second round of the $220,000 event in France.

"Regina has a similar game to mine – big first serve, hits pretty big and attacks. I played well enough to win. It was a high-quality match, especially for a first round," said three-time Grand Slam champion Sharapova, who is hoping to use the Strasbourg tournament to tune up for the French Open. (source: BBC, photo: Stephane Martinache)

France’s Aravane Rezai won her first Sony Ericsson WTA Tour singles title at the Internationaux de Strasbourg, defeating world No.84 Lucie Hradecka of the Czech Republic 7-6(2) 6-1.

Both Rezai and Hradecka were unseeded, and both only dropped one set each en route to the final.

The 75th-ranked Rezai rallied from 5-3 down in the opening set and even saved two set points down 6-5 to push it to a tiebreak, where she prevailed easily, 7-2. Rezai’s serve was broken right away at the beginning of the second set, but since then she won six consecutive games to win her first title in her third singles final.

The 22-year-old Rezai has become the first French player to win the singles title in Strasbourg, as well as the lowest ranked player to win the tournament. (source: Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, photo: Getty Images via Yahoo)

Top seed Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain, who was aiming for her fourth Strasbourg title and third consecutive there, pulled out from the claycourt event due to a lower back injury.

Medina Garrigues lost the first set 6-4 to Kristina Barrois of Germany, and then withdrew from that second-round match. (photo via Sony Ericsson WTA Tour)

Spain’s Anabel Medina Garrigues won her third title at the Internationaux de Strasbourg beating Slovenia’s Katarina Srebotnik 4-6 7-6 (4) 6-0.

Sixth-seeded Medina Garrigues faced eight break points in the first set, and fifth-seeded Srebotnik broke her twice to take early control. In the second set, both players lost serve three times, but Medina Garrigues was better in the tiebreaker. The Spaniard then absolutely dominated in the deciding set.

Medina Garrigues has eight career titles. The one she won on Saturday in Strasbourg is her first since winning that same tournament last year. (source: ESPN, photo via Yahoo)