Former world number one Kim Clijsters couldn't have marked her comeback to tennis better – the mother of a year-and-a-half old girl upset world No.13 Marion Bartoli 6-4 6-3 in the first round of the Western & Southern Financial Group Women's Open in Cincinnati.

"To have won my first match feels really good," said Clijsters, 26, who hadn't played competitively for two years. "I surprised myself a little with the way I started and then I kept fighting and trying to stay focused. I felt good out there."

Clijsters lost just five points on her way to a 4-0 lead in the first set. Bartoli then levelled before the Belgian took two more successive games to win the opening set. In the second set, Clijsters had saved two break points in the third game, before breaking Bartoli's serve in the following game for a 3-1 lead. Clijsters then held her nerve to defeat Bartoli, the titlist at this month's Bank of the West Classic, and advance to the second round where she'll face Patty Schnyder.

Additional info: Eleventh seed Ana Ivanovic recovered from losing the first set to beat world No.61 Melanie Oudin (the famous eliminator of Jelena Jankovic at this year's Wimbledon) 2-6 6-1 6-1 and reach the second round, while ninth seed Victoria Azarenka beat Kaia Kanepi 6-3 7-6(2). (photo via Life.com)

As announced a few days ago, tennis has again found a completely new place to be played on – Kim Clijsters and Elena Dementieva played a match in the middle of a fountain.

A special tennis court was located in an extraordinary place – inside a fountain set against the "Eiffel Tower" at the Kings Island entrance.

Former world number one Kim Clijsters commented on the new experience:

I never thought that my comeback would start with a match in the middle of a fountain! I couldn’t be happier playing a tennis match with Elena in the fountains of Kings Island and sharing my excitement of being back on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour with the tennis fans of Ohio at the Western & Southern Financial Group event.

Previous innovative Sony Ericsson stunts included playing tennis on water, on car rooftops in Miami, in a metro station in Madrid, on a desert island, and on the terrace of Villa Miani in Rome. And yet again, I have no idea what innovative location could be next. (source: On the Baseline)

It’s official: Kim Clijsters will again play on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour. Her return from retirement is planned for the US hardcourt season.

The former world No.1 has asked for Cincinnati, Toronto and US Open wildcards. According to the plans, the tennis player who retired in May 2007 will make her comeback on August 10, at the Cincinnati Open.

"When I started preparing for the Wimbledon game with Steffi Graf I felt this drive. I wanted a new challenge. This is just for fun for now to see if I can do it," said the 25-year-old Clijsters, the winner of 34 singles titles.

"I don't need to be number one again. I have done that and I don't need to do it again. I am just going to see how things evolve."

After retiring from tennis, Clijsters married basketball player Brian Lynch and gave birth to daughter Jada. (source: Reuters, photo: Stephane Martinache)

Second seed Nadia Petrova beat unseeded Nathalie Dechy 6-2 6-1 at the Western & Southern Financial Group Women's Open in Cincinnati to win her first title in 18 months and eighth career title.

Petrova also won doubles at the Cincinnati Open with fellow Russian Maria Kirilenko. They defeated top seeds Su-Wei Hsieh and Yaroslava Shvedova 6-3 4-6 10-8.

Petrova broke Dechy three times in both sets and produced one of her most consistent performances of late.

The 29-year-old Dechy, who won her sole WTA title in 2003 at Gold Coast, upset three players to reach the finals at the Cincinnati Open — the Frenchwoman beat No.4 seed Katarina Srebotnik in the second round, No.6 Aleksandra Wozniak in the quarterfinals and No.5 compatriot Amelie Mauresmo in the semifinals.

The 26-year-old Petrova had lost her last three finals coming into the championship match at the Western & Southern Financial Group Women's Open. She was a runner-up last year at Amelia Island, Los Angeles and Eastbourne. (photo via Yahoo)

On Sunday, Anna Chakvetadze won the Western & Southern Financial Group Women's Open in Cincinnati, Ohio, with a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Akiko Morigami. The Russian needed less than an hour to beat Morigami, the finalist in Cincinnati for the second time (in 2005 she lost to Patty Schnyder).

After winning the third title this year, previous two being Hobart and 's-Hertogenbosch, Chakvetadze improved to 5-0 lifetime in finals and raised to career-high ranking of No.7.

Next tournament for the 20-year-old Russian is the Bank of the West Classic, a Tier II event in Stanford, where she’s seeded at the top. Like all of the top four seeds, Chakvetadze will receive an opening-round bye, before facing the victor in the match between American wildcard, Amber Liu and Greek No.1 Eleni Daniilidou.