Fifth seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova beat top seed Angelique Kerber in the final of the Monterrey Open and won the Mexican tournament for the third time. The Russian is now 15-0 in Monterrey, having won the title every time she entered: in 2010, 2011 and this year.

In the third set Pavlyuchenkova was leading 5-0 before Kerber got closer by winning two straight games, and then when Pavlyuchenkova was serving for the match at 5-2, Kerber won two more games. Eventually, Pavlyuchenkova closed it out 4-6 6-2 6-4.

Having won the $40,000 International-level trophy, the Russian has climbed from No.26 to No.20 in the WTA rankings. Kerber has remained world No.6. (source: Women Who Serve, photo: © Neal Trousdale)

When Timea Babos came to Bogota last week, she had just one WTA main draw win in her biography, but then she reached the semifinals of Bogota and the following week, at the Whirlpool Monterrey Open, the 18-year-old Hungarian went all the way to the title, not showing even the slightest intimidation in the final against 110th-ranked Alexandra Cadantu.

I was actually surprised because it was my first final and I wasn't nervous or tight. – Babos said.

The 107th-ranked Babos went through the final 6-4 6-4, without facing a break point or even a deuce in her service games. To reach the title match, Babos eliminated big names such as world No.36 Sara Errani, seeded second, and world No.48 Sorana Cirstea, seeded third at Monterrey.

Babos is now very excited about playing among the best, and after Acapulco, where she will play doubles, and a $100,000 in the Bahamas, she will head to three more WTA events.

It's all big tournaments from now. I can't wait! – exclaimed the highest-ranked Hungarian after Greta Arn.

The Monterrey victory propels Babos to No.68 in the rankings! (source: WTA Tour, photo: © Neal Trousdale)

Three top players, Petra Kvitova, Li Na, and Vera Zvonareva, have announced withdrawals for the $2,000,000 Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, while Serena Williams will skip the Whirlpool Monterrey Open.

World No.3 Kvitova announced on her Facebook page that she had pulled out of Dubai due to illness. The reason for Li's withdrawal is a low back injury, while Zvonareva continues to suffer from her left hip injury which caused her retirements at Pattaya and Doha.

Kaia Kanepi will also not play Dubai, due to a right shoulder injury, and Andrea Petkovic is staying away from the tennis courts because of a low back stress fracture.

You know that world No.1 Victoria Azarenka sustained an ankle injury in her Doha semifinal, and even though the ill effects were not noticeable en route to her title win, we'll see how her leg will react in Dubai.

As for the Monterrey Open, Serena Williams has pulled out due to the ankle she hurt during a recent practice. Nevertheless, Serena was capable of entertaining the Monterrey crowd with an on-water exhibition hitting with Gisela Dulko. (photos © Neal Trousdale, Monterrey Open)

Top seed Jelena Jankovic got off to a good start, but it was defending champion and second seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova that prevailed and won the Whirlpool Monterrey Open final 2-6 6-2 6-3. The International-level Mexican event is the tournament where the Russian first triumphed and now she's managed to retain her crown. Pavlyuchenkova also won the Istanbul Cup last year.

In the semifinals Pavlyuchenkova ended Gisela Dulko's Mexican winning streak. Dulko had won Acapulco and her quarterfinal win at the Monterrey Open was her eighth straight match win. Other players that the 19-ranked Pavlyuchenkova defeated at the 2011 Monterrey Open include Eleni Danilidou, Melanie Oudin and Greta Arn.

Jankovic was looking for her 13th career title and her first since last year's Indian Wells, but Pavlyuchenkova only improved her record against the Serb to 2-0. In addition, the sixth-ranked Jankovic now has a negative record in career finals (12-13), while Pavlyuchenkova kept her record in Monterrey perfect (10-0) and her win-loss record in career finals is now 3-0. (photo via Yahoo)

Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova claimed her maiden Sony Ericsson WTA Tour title by beating Slovakian second seed Daniela Hantuchova in the final of the Monterrey Open in Mexico.

The 18-year-old Pavlyuchenkova was forced to play both her semifinal and her title match in the same day, because of a rain delay. However, that didn’t stop the third seed from winning her first Tour final 1-6 6-1 6-0, defeating Hantuchova for the second time this season, after Dubai.

Prior to winning the Monterrey Open title, Pavlyuchenkova’s Indian Wells semifinal last year was her best result, where she upset Top 10 players Jelena Jankovic and Agnieszka Radwanska. By the way, Jankovic was top seed at the Monterrey Open and lost in the opening round.

Pavlyuchenkova has now risen from No.28 to No.25 in the rankings. (photo via Yahoo)