Dulko & Pennetta upset in 1st round in San Diego

Gisela Dulko and Flavia Pennetta, seeded number 1 at the Mercury Insurance Open, were upset this evening in the opening round by Natalie Grandin and Abigail Spears. Grandin and Spears defeated the top team 6-2, 6-4. The Dulko/Pennetta team had second serve difficulties throughout the match, while Grandin and Spears maintained first and second serve win percentages of 72 and 54, respectively.

Black & Huber out of Miami in 1st round

The unseeded team of Nathalie Grandin and Abigail Spears has upset top seeds Cara Black and Liezel Huber in the first round of the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami. Grandin and Spears were a mini-break down in the super-tiebreak, but held on, and won the match 3-6, 6-4, 10-7.

Rybarikova upsets Li for Birmingham title

Magdalena Rybarikova won her first Sony Ericsson WTA title today. The Birmingham 13th seed defeated 4th seed Li Na 6-0, 7-6. Rybarikova, who is ranked number 58 in the world, was the junior Wimbledon finalist in 2006.

Defending champions Cara Black and Liezel Huber took the doubles title, defeating Raquel Kops-Jones and Abigail Spears 6-1, 6-4.

Li and Rybarikova to compete for AEGON Classic title

In today's Birmingham semifinals, 4th seed Li Na defeated Maria Sharapova 6-4, 6-4, and 13th seed Magdalena Rybarikova defeated Sania Mirza 3-6, 6-0, 6-3.

Kateryna Bondarenko won the tournament last year.

In doubles, 4th seeds Raquel Kops-Jones and Abigail Spears defeated Francesca Schiavone and Roberta Vinci 6-1, 7-6, and top seeds and defending champions Cara Black and Liezel Huber defeated number 3 seeds Chuang Chia-Jung and Sania Mirza, 7-5, 6-3.

Wickmeyer wins the Estoril Open

Depending on how you want to look at it, it's been either a terrible or a very good two weeks for Ekaterina Makarova. Losing in the Fes final to Anabel Medina Garrigues last week, today she lost in the Estoril final, to Yanina Wickmeyer. Wickmayer claimed her first tour title by defeating Makarova 7-5, 6-2. On her way to the final, the 6th seed defeated Petra Kvitova, Olga Govortsova and Sorana Cirstea, and received a retirement from Shahar Peer.

The 2009 doubles champions are Raquel Kops-Jones and Abigail Spears, who defeated Sharon Fichman and Katalin Morosi, 2-6, 6-3, 10-5. It is their first tour doubles title as a team.