Roberta Vinci beats Jelena Dokic to win Unicef Open

Roberta Vinci edged Jelena Dokic 6-7(7) 6-3 7-5 in the final of two 28-year-olds on the grass of the Unicef Open.

The 30th-ranked Vinci is now an impressive 5-1 in WTA career finals. Her previous four titles have been Barcelona in 2009 and 2011, Luxembourg and Bogota.

En route to the trophy Vinci pulled of upsets of third-seeded Yanina Wickmayer and fifth-seeded Dominika Cibulkova. The former world No.4 Dokic also caused an upset, in the second round against Flavia Pennetta. (photo via Unicef Open)

Dokic better than Pennetta at Unicef Open

Jelena Dokic made Flavia Pennetta the sole seeded player to lose on Wednesday at the Unicef Open. The 59th-ranked Australian defeated the fourth-seeded Pennetta 6-3 6-4 for the second straight-set victory at the tournament (in the first round she beat Alla Kudryavtseva 6-0 6-4).

The former world No.4 Dokic is not a stranger to grass. She played the semifinals of Wimbledon in 2000 and she won on the grass of Birmingham in 2002. In the quarterfinals of the Unicef Open Dokic will meet Johanna Larsson, who is ranked 71st.

It is Dokic’s third quarterfinal of the season, including her title run in Kuala Lumpur, and her third highest-ranked win this year (in Paris she defeated world No.20 Nadia Petrova and No.5 Francesca Schiavone in the first round of Kuala Lumpur). (photo: © Neal Trousdale)

Clijsters loses to No.81 Oprandi + injures ankle

Second-ranked Kim Clijsters' failed to receive much attention with Serena and Venus Williams returning to the competition this week, but here it is, the Belgian surprisingly lost in the second round of her home tournament, the Unicef Open. Her conqueror – Italian world No.81 Romina Oprandi, who is now celebrating her greatest career achievement. Final score: 7-6(5) 6-3.

Not only has Clijsters lost, but in the first set she appeared to have injured right ankle. The former world No.1 will undergo some tests to see how her ankle is doing, and now even her participation at Wimbledon is in doubt. Remember, only weeks ago Clijsters was healing her right ankle injury sustained at a wedding?

At the French Open, her first tournament after the recovery from the injury, Clijsters was also upset in the second round, by Arantxa Rus, ranked outside Top 100. (photo: krissaconnection)

Justine Henin wins Wimbledon tune-up event in the Netherlands

Justine HeninThe best thing in the second part of Justine Henin’s career would be a Wimbledon title and even though her coach Carlos Rodriguez doesn’t believe, or at least publicly, that she is capable of winning the grass court Grand Slam just yet, the Belgian former world No.1 is on a very good way to "complete" her career.

The top-seeded Henin defeated Germany's seventh seed Andrea Petkovic 3-6 6-3 6-4 in the final of the Unicef Open played on grass. She needed three sets to win the last match of the event and rallied from 3-0 in the decider, but a win is a win and I see no reason for Henin not to go all the way to winning her first Wimbledon title.

The Unicef Open title is Henin’s second since ending her retirement in January and her 43rd career title. (photo: Ralf Reinecke)

Andrea Petkovic beats Ana Ivanovic in second round of Unicef Open

Ana Ivanovic

Former world No.1 Ana Ivanovic won in three sets in the first round of the $220,000 Unicef Open against Sofia Arvidsson 4-6 6-0 6-1, but then fell in the next round already, to seventh seed Andrea Petkovic. After losing the first set, the world No.45 Ivanovic took the second set in a tie-break, but won only one game in the decider to let Petkovic advance with a 6-4 6-7(4) 6-1 victory.

Although the outcome of this match can’t be called an upset, we still perceive Ivanovic as a top player, despite her constant losses. However, there is one favorable circumstance – Ivanovic could soon have a soul mate in Dinara Safina who seems to be rapidly approaching just as huge a slump. (photo: sr_cranks)

Henin cruises, two-time defending champ Tanasugarn loses at Unicef Open

Tamarine Tanasugarn

Top seed Justine Henin was an easy opening-round winner at the Unicef Open, formerly known as Ordina Open, while twice defending champion Tamarine Tanasugarn lost in the first round of the tournament where she won two of her three WTA titles.

Justine Henin defeated Angelique Kerber 6-4 6-2 and will play Roberta Vinci in the next round. It’s Henin’s first match on grass in three years. The $220,000 Unicef Open is the last tuneup for Wimbledon, the only major Henin still hasn’t won. Her win-loss record on grass is 46-10 now.

Twice defending champion Tamarine Tanasugarn won the first set, but lost to Australian qualifier Anastasia Rodionova 1-6 7-6(5) 6-3. The Thai Tanasugarn beat Yanina Wickmayer in the 2009 final, while two years ago she beat Dinara Safina, who has also exited too early this time. (photo: pfctdayelise)

Dinara Safina to enter Wimbledon with five straight losses

Dinara Safina and Zeljko Krajan

The grasscourt Grand Slam is just days away and former world No.1 Dinara Safina is not going there with much confidence. The Russian, now ranked outside the Top 20, at No.21, who was a semifinalist at Wimbledon last year, has lost five successive matches: second round in Stuttgart to Shahar Peer, and then opening matches to Alexandra Dulgheru in Rome, Klara Zakopalova in Madrid, Kimiko Date Krumm at the French Open and the one yesterday on the grass of the Unicef Open to Magdalena Rybarikova.

World No.45 Rybarikova had entered the match at the Unicef Open with a 0-2 record against Safina, but the Slovakian converted five of her 11 break chances, compared to Safina’s three of 11, and edged the second seed 6-7(4) 6-4 6-4 in the first round. Safina could find consolation in the fact that Rybarikova's sole Tour title came on grass, in Birmingham.

Additional info: Safina’s former coach Zeljko Krajan is now coaching Slovakia’s Dominika Cibulkova, who beat 16-year-old Brit Laura Robson 6-3 6-4 to advance to the Unicef Open second round. (photo: chascow)

Tamarine Tanasugarn wins Ordina Open title

Tamarine Tanasugarn wins Ordina Open title

Unseeded Tamarine Tanasugarn and unseeded Yanina Wickmayer, with a 13-year age gap between them, competed in the Ordina Open final and the 32-year-old Tanasugarn won the match 6-3 7-5.

The world No. 42 Tanasugarn has won her second straight Ordina Open title, and her third career title. Last year in the Ordina Open final the Thai beat present-day No.1 Dinara Safina, whom she defeated 7-5 7-5 in the semifinals this year and scored her first win over a reigning world No.1.

Tanasugarn has earned $37,000 by winning the grasscourt tournament, while Wickmayer received $19,000. (photo via Ordina Open)

Tamarine Tanasugarn defeats Dinara Safina for Ordina Open title

Tamarine Tanasugarn with her Ordina Open trophyThai qualifier Tamarine Tanasugarn beat Roland Garros runner-up Dinara Safina of Russia 7-5 6-3 to take the Ordina Open trophy.

It is Tanasugarn’s second WTA title, the first one since winning Hyderabad in 2003. In today's Ordina Open final the world No.85 survived a break in the opening set, and won a difficult second set in which she saved eight break points.

"One day you play really good, the next day — I just was not myself on the court," said Safina, ranked 9th in the world.

"(Tanasugarn) plays very different, she has some unbelievable angles and just made me go crazy in the mind." (source: Reuters, photo via Yahoo)

Jankovic could have done without Ordina Open

It’s great that Jankovic is ambitious and determined, and I really enjoy watching her play, but I’m worried that she competes in too many tournaments — that might take a toll on her body.

In my opinion, she really didn’t need to take part in the Ordina Open. After winning Birmingham, she rushed to play in the Netherlands, instead of training and saving energy for Wimbledon, the major tennis event of the year.

And there, at the Ordina Open, she had that tiring final against Chakvetadze on Saturday – only two days before the start of the grass-court Grand Slam. The match against Chakvetadze lasted the whole day, due to many rain suspensions. The rain made the court slippery – a perfect place to get injured!

Should Jankovic have saved herself at least a bit for Wimbledon? Look at Sharapova for example – she played at the DFS Classis, but skipped the Ordina Open, and is getting ready for Wimbledon. To me this is much more reasonable.

But who knows. Maybe Jankovic feels that her body is perfectly fine with her playing that many matches. After all, she knows it better than me.


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