Groth wins Guangzhou title

Jarmila Groth won her first tour title today. Groth defeated Alla Kudryavtseva 6-1, 6-4 to claim the Guangzhou International Women's Open championship. Groth was the top seed at the tournament.

Edina Gallovits and Sania Mirza won the doubles championship. They defeated Han Xin Yun and Liu Wanting 7-5, 6-3.

Matttek-Sands and Paszek to contend for Quebec City title

Qualifier Tamira Paszek advanced to the Bell Challenge final today, with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Christina McHale. In the final, she will play Bethanie Mattek-Sands, who defeated 3rd seed Lucie Safarova 6-2, 6-1. Mattek-Sands was the runner-up in 2008. Mattek-Sands and her partner, Barbora Zahlavova Strycova, are also in the doubles final.

In Guangzhou, 1st seed Jarmila Groth clinched her spot in the final by defeating Edina Gallovits 6-0, 6-1. Her opponent will be Alla Kudryavtseva, who defeated Zhang Shuai 6-0, 6-4.

Mirza out of Guangzhou

Sania Mirza's comeback was cut short today by Zhang Shuai, who defeated her 6-4, 1-6, 6-4 in the Guangzhou quarterfinals. Meanwhile, top seed Jarmila Groth advanced to the semifinals with a 6-0, 6-2 win over Maria Elena Camerin.

In the Quebec City quarterfinals, Bethanie Mattek-Sands defeated wild card Rebecca Marino 6-4, 7-5. Christina Mchale defeated qualifier Alexa Glatch, and qualifier Tamira Paszek defeated Sophie Arvidsson. Number 3 seed Lucie Safarova had to content with a challenge from Melanie Oudin, but Safarova came back from a 0-3 score in the final set to win the match, 4-6, 6-2, 6-4.

Top seed Bartoli upset in Quebec City

Rebecca Marino, who impressed spectators when she played her first-ever match against a top 50 player (Venus William) at the U.S. Open, took out number 1 seed Marion Bartoli in the second round of the Bell Challenge this evening. Wild card Marino, who hit numerous forehand winners and ten aces (three of them came in her first game), defeated Bartoli 6-3, 6-1. "I felt she could put the ball wherever she wanted to," Bartoli said, "and I had no chance to win the match with her playing like that."

Bethanie Mattek-Sands defeated 6th seed Julia Goerges, 5th seed Melanie Oudin defeated Anna Tatishvili, and 3rd seed Lucie Safarova defeated Johanna Larsson. Safarova is the highest seed still in the tournament.

In Guangzhou, Sania Mirza defeated 3rd seed Akgul Amanmuradova; the 5th, 7th and 8th seeds were all upset, also.

Peer is new Guangzhou champion

Shahar Peer, the 5th seed at the Guangzhou International Women's Open, defeated 8th seed Alberta Brianti, 6-3, 6-4 in the final today to win the 2009 championship. This is Peer's fourth Sony Ericsson WTA Tour title.

Olga Govortsova and Tatiana Poutchek won the doubles title, defeating Kimiko Date Krumm and Sun Tiantian, 3-6, 6-2, 10-8.

Peng retires in Guangzhou

3rd seed Peng Shuai retired with a right wrist injury in her semifinal match against Shahar Peer today in Guangzhou. Peer, the number 5 seed, will play Alberta Brianti in the final. Brianti, the 8th seed, defeated 7th seed Ayumi Morita.

The doubles final will feature the team of Kimiko Date Krumm and Sun Tiantian against the team of Olga Govortsova and Tatiana Poutchek.

Quarterfinals completed in Guangzhou and Quebec City

The four remaining seeds advanced today in Guangzhou:

8th seed Alberta Brianti def. Anastasija Sevastova, 6-4, 6-2
7th seed Ayumi Morita def. Olga Savchuk, 6-3, 6-4
3rd seed Peng Shuai def. Alexandra Panova, 6-2, 6-3
5th seed Shahar Peer def. Chan Yung-Jan, 6-3, 6-1

Meanwhile, at the Bell Challenge in Quebec City, 1st seed and defending champion Nadia Petrova retired against 5th seed Melinda Czink with a viral illness while Czink was leading, 7-6. Other seeds advanced:

3rd seed Aleksandra Wozniak def. Alla Kudryavtseva, 6-1, 6-1
4th seed Lucie Safarova def. wild card Bethanie Mattek-Sands, 6-3, 6-4
8th seed Julia Goerges def. Lilia Osterloh, 6-2, 6-4

Top seed out in Guangzhou

Anastasija Sevastova defeated number 1 seed Anabel Medina Garrigues today, 3-6, 6-3, 6-1, at the Guangzhou International Women's Open. Meanwhile, 3rd seed Peng Shuai advanced to the third round. Zheng Jie was seeded 2nd in the tournament, but withdrew because of a left wrist injury.

Srebotnik upset in Guangzhou

Katarina Srebotnik, the 4th seed at the Guangzhou International Women's Open, was upset in the first round today by Olga Savchuk, 3-6, 7-5, 6-2. Srebotnik has only recently returned to the tour after suffering two successive injuries.

Top seed Anabel Medina Garrigues defeated Kimiko Date-Krumm 6-1, 4-6, 6-4

Zvonareva wins in Guangzhou

Vera Zvonareva has won the Guangzhou International Women's Open, defeating Peng Shuai, 6-7, 6-0, 6-2.

As I have written before, I do not think a player of Zvonareva's caliber (I have my doubts about Zheng Jie, too) should be permitted to play in a small tournament like Guangzhou. However, there are no such restrictions, and Zvonreva now has another title.

Zvonareva and Peng to meet in Guangzhou final

Vera Zvonareva defeated Zheng Jie today, 6-3, 7-5, in a semifinal match I would like to have seen. Zvonareva's opponent in the final will be Peng Shuai, who defeated Camille Pin, 6-2, 6-1.

Pin ends Rus's run in Guangzhu

Camille Pin is one of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour's enigmas. She is a really good player who can give almost anyone a bad time, but she cannot serve. At all. I sometimes wonder how Pin would have done on the tour if she had even a passable serve. She can be a tough player.

She did well enough today to defeat Arantxa Rus, who has plenty to be proud of, getting to the quarterfinal round of a tour event. Tamira Paszek is out, too, defeated--not surprisingly--by Zheng Jie. Top seed Vera Zvonareva ran over Karin Knapp, and Peng Shuai defeated Jill Craybas.

Pin def. Rus, 6-3, 6-3
Zheng def. Paszek, 6-2, 6-1
Zvonareva def. Knapp, 6-1, 6-0
Peng def. Craybas, 6-4, 6-1

The Zvonareva-Zheng semifinal has the makings of a very fine match.

Rus takes out 5th-seeded Dulko

Arantxa Rus, departing the junior tour to try out her skills in Guangzhu, defeated number 5 seed Gisela Dulko today in the second round. Dulko is a member of that group of talented but inconsistent players who sometimes have trouble stringing victories together.

At any rate, Rus--who had already qualified to get into the tournament and defeated Yanina Wickmeyer in the first round--next faces Camille Pin.

Rus def. Dulko, 6-4, 6-4