Petra Kvitova is the one taking Caroline Wozniacki's throne at the $637,000 New Haven Open at Yale. In the final against Maria Kirilenko (against whom Wozniacki retired in the previous round), after saving set points in both sets, Kvitova won the title that used to be Wozniacki's in the past four years.

Six service breaks in the first set led it to a marathon tiebreak in which Kvitova fended off her first set point and after working her way to victory in the first set, the Czech fell 2-5 in the second set and Kirileko again earned a set point. However, Kvitova had no room for discouragement and won all the remaining games to win the match 7-6(9) 7-5.

After a first-round bye, the second-seeded Kvitova defeated Nicole Gibbs, then eighth seed Lucie Safarova, fourth-seed Sara Errani in the semifinals, and finally the seventh-seeded Maria Kirilenko.

Just 12 days ago Kvitova won the $2,168,400 Rogers Cup, then reached the semifinals of the 2,168,400 Western & Southern Open, thus becoming the US Open Series winner, and then went on to win New Haven – notice, all the three are Premier-level tournaments. At the US Open Kvitova is seeded fifth and Polona Hercog is her first opponent. (photo: Ralf Reinecke)

When doctors assured her that her right knee injury wouldn't be aggravated by further play, Caroline Wozniacki decided to enter her semifinal against Maria Kirilenko and try to crawl to her fifth-straight New Haven title. However, the 20-0 winning streak was over after the first set, when the Dane, trailing 5-7, realized she had to retire due to the injury she picked up in the second set of her quarterfinal against Dominika Cibulkova.

Wozniacki, confident of her health for the upcoming US Open, tweeted:

Some treatment and ice and I should be all good for the Open next week!

Despite the unlucky circumstances, the New Haven Open will always remain a special tournament for Wozniacki. Plus, last year in New Haven she kissed her boyfriend Rory McIlory in front of the world for the first time.

In the title match, Kirilenko will face Petra Kvitova and will try to repeat the recent Olympic performance, where she beat the Czech 7-6(3) 6-3 in the quarterfinals.

Elsewhere, at the Texas Tennis Open, Roberta Vinci defeated Jelena Jankovic 7-5 6-3 in the final and earned her seventh career title. Serving at 5-4 30-15 in the first set, there was a close call which didn't go Jankovic's way and, as things often end up with JJ, she lost her nerve and eventually the entire match. En route to the $220,000 title, before Jankovic the third-seeded Vinci double bageled Bojana Jovanovski in the semis, while against Chanelle Scheepers, Polona Hercog and Hsieh Su-Wei she also didn't drop a set. (photos: sr_cranks, © Neal Trousdale)

Third seed and four-time defending champion Caroline Wozniacki advanced to the semifinals of the New Haven Open at Yale with a 6-2 6-1 victory over sixth seed Dominika Cibulkova, but the Dane's future at her perfect tournament could be affected by a sharp pain in her right knee that troubled her during the quarterfinal.

However, Wozniacki was not the only one affected by the injury, Cibulkova was also distracted by it, especially by Wozniacki calling the physio during Cibulkova's service game:

I was paying too much attention to her. When you ask for a physio like this, I was serving, it was my game, it was during the game, it doesn’t happen often. When you do it, it has to be serious. You really either cannot move or you cannot continue or something like that.

Should Wozniacki give up the chance to become only the fourth WTA to win five consecutive titles at a single tournament in order to save herself for the US Open? There still are no news on her decision, but she did say that risking a long-term injury is not an option. Read more »

Since the Birmingham final in mid June, Jelena Jankovic lost openers in five of six tournaments and this week she's fallen from No.18 to No.34 in the rankings, her lowest ranking in six years. Whether that was a wake-up call or not, at the ongoing Texas Tennis Open, the former world No.1 has won three matches in a row and is now in the semifinals. The tournament is not big, but still, the victories count, and in her last match Jankovic defeated Sorana Cirstea 6-2 6-1, to whom she had lost both their previous encounters in three sets.

Next for the second-seeded Jankovic is first-time WTA semifinalist Casey Dellacqua. The other semifinal pair at the Texas Tennis Open is Jankovic's fellow Serbian Bojana Jovanovski vs. third seed Roberta Vinci.

At the New Haven Open, quarterfinals are set and four-time defending champion and third seed Caroline Wozniacki is in there, awaiting sixth seed Dominika Cibulkova, who ended Andrea Petkovic's comeback tournament in the second round. Wozniacki is now on a 19-0 winning streak at New Haven and if she wins the title again she will become just the fourth WTA player ever to win a title five years in a row, joining big names Chris Evert, Steffi Graf and Martina Navratilova, who achieved the feat at three different tournaments!

Other New Haven quarterfinal pairs are: Olga Govortsova (the only unseeded player in the final eight) vs. Maria Kirilenko [7], Marion Bartoli [5] vs. Sara Errani [4] and Lucie Safarova [8] vs. Petra Kvitova [2]. (photos: sr_cranks)

Hardcourt season didn't have a warm welcome in cards for Agnieszka Radwanska. The abrupt switch from grass took its toll on the Pole's body and now she's retired from her New Haven opener with a right shoulder injury. Radwanska, who was top seed at the New Haven Open, is hoping that resting will recover her by Monday and the US Open.

I've been struggling with my shoulder for a couple of weeks now, pretty much since the start of the hardcourt season two weeks ago. I think maybe the change of surface and balls since coming from the Olympics was just too much, and I've played a lot this year as well.

Olga Govortsova won the first seven games of the second-round encounter with Radwanska, and at 6-0 2-1 down the world No.2 retired. (source: WTA Tour, photo: Ralf Reinecke)