Rybarikova defeats Kvitova to win Prague 100k tournament

Madrid champion Petra Kvitova skipped Rome in order to play the 100k ITF tournament in Prague. The bad news is that, during the week, she sustained a hip injury. She also lost the final to Memphis champion Magdalena Rybarikova, who defeated her 6-3, 6-4. Rybarikova was the 4th seed; Kvitova was the 1st.

Kvitova was to have played in the new Brussels tournament that starts tomorrow, but she is no longer in the draw.

Bartoli upset in 1st round in Barcelona

Marion Bartoli, who took a wild card into the Barcelona Ladies Open and became the top seed, was upset today in the opening round of the tournament. Memphis champion Magdalena Rybarikova defeated Bartoli 6-4, 6-1.

Marino goes to Memphis final

Rebecca Marino, seeded at a tournament for the first time, has made it to the final of the Cellular South Cup in Memphis. Marino, seeded 6th, defeated Evgeniya Rodina 6-7, 6-4, 6-1 in the semifinals. Also going to the final is Magdelena Rybarikova, who defeated Lucie Hradecka in the semifinals.

In the doubles semifinals, 2nd seeds Olga Govortsova and Alla Kudryavtseva defeated 3rd seeds Vania King and Michaella Krajicek. In the final, they will play 4th seeds Andra Hlavakova and Lucie Hradecka, who defeated Ksenia Pervak and Ipek Senoglu.

Li out of U.S. Open, Jankovic barely survives

Simona Halep served for the match today at 5-4 in the third set. She and her opponent, 4th seed Jelena Jankovic, played an error-filled mess of a match that Halep might have won had she been at a higher level of fitness and prepared to face the intense heat. But credit to JJ: When it came down to the end, something snapped into place, and she forced consecutive errors from her exhausted opponent to (finally) win 6-4, 4-6, 7-5. Halep was up 5-1 in the second set, and almost ran away with it, as Jankovic made a string of unforced errors. (During the third set, my mind wandered to that Australian Open first round in which Jankovic saved herself  at the last minute from an upset by Tamira Paszek.)

8th seed Li Na, a semifinalist at the Australian Open, did not fare as well. She was defeated 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 by 2009 quarterfinalist Kateryna Bondarenko, who took advantage of Li's run of unforced errors. Also going out were 26th seed Lucie Safarova (def. by Tamira Paszek), 30th seed Yaroslava Shvedova (def. by Lourdes Dominguez Lino), and Bronx challenger winner Anna Chakvetadze (def. by Urszula Radwanska).

Jarmila Groth took a set off of Maria Sharapova, but then went to pieces mentally. She double-faulted 14 times--an unfortunate trend among big servers on the tour. Sharapova defeated her 4-6, 6-3, 6-1.

The Coco Vandeweghe Watch is over. Vandewegh won one game against Sabine Lisicki, who is trying to put her game back together after experiencing a series of injuries and illnesses and a consequent loss of form and confidence.

The player who probably feels the worst today, though, is Magdalena Rybarikova. She believed that Aravane Rezai's last shot in a first set tiebreak was out, but it called good, and Rezai won the tiebreak 7-5. Rybarikova had the second set on her racquet at 6-5, but blew it with a forehand error. She then went down 0-5 in the tiebreak, and fought her way to 5-all. Rezai, the 18th seed, won that tiebreak 9-7.

As close as that contest was, however, I have to acknowledge the competition between John McEnroe and Chris Fowler over who can blather on the most while possessing the least amount of knowledge--not just about the women's tour, but even about U.S. Open procedures. ESPN, I have a deal for you: I'll do the job, and display a quarter of the ignorance for half the money. And I won't insult half of the players.

Miscellany

Billie Jean King says that Martina Hingis may return to the tour as a doubles player next year. Hingis is playing a full World Team Tennis season this summer.

Virginie Razzano has withdrawn from Wimbledon, citing an injured left foot, as well as a right thigh tear brought about by the foot injury. Razzano says that all the trouble started with a massage given to her by a tour trainer. The massage, which she said was painful, led to edema, and then matters became worse. Razzano has begun proceedings against the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, and is reportedly seeking damages.

Not to be missed: WTA Backspin's 2010 Clay Court Awards. 

Dinara Safina has lost her fifth match in row, going out in the first round in s'Hertogenbosch to Magdalena Rybarikova. Rybarikova won the match 6-7, 6-4, 6-4  on her sixth match point. Safina was seeded 2nd.

Eastbourne defending champion Caroline Wozniacki plays Aravane Rezai in the first round of the tournament this week.

Riske advances to quarterfinals in Birmingham

Before she came to Birmingham, Alison Riske had never won a match in a Sony Ericsson WTA Tour main draw. As of today, with her defeat of Anna Chakvetadze, Riske has advanced into the quarterfinals of the AEGON Classic in Birmingham. Riske, a qualifier, upset 9th seed Aleksandra Wozniak yesterday, and today, she defeated Chakvetadze 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 in the third round.

Riske's next opponent will be 3rd seed Yanina Wickmayer, who defeated Tammy Tanasugarn today.

Defending champion Magdalena Rybarikova, seeded 10th at the tournament, was upset today in the third round by qualifier Sesil Karatantcheva. Karatantcheva's 6-2, 6-7, 6-2 victory books her a spot against three-time Birmingham champion Maria Sharapova in the quarterfinals.

Czink and Rybarikova out of Estoril Open in 1st round

5th seed Melinda Czink and 6th seed Magdalena Rybarikova were both upset today at the Estoril Open. Stephanie Voegele defeated Czink 6-4, 6-3, and Jarmila Groth defeated Rybarikova, also 6-4, 6-3.

Also leaving in the first round was Alize Cornet, who lost to Michelle Larcher De Brito in a match that lasted almost 2 hours and 47 minutes. De Brito emerged the victor, 6-3, 4-6, 6-3. Cornet hit nine aces, but had a lot of trouble with her second serve. Larcher De Brito double-faulted nine times, which is characteristic of her. This was probably a frustrating event to watch. Cornet once had such promise, and Larcher De Brito was considered a star on the rise. To her credit, Larcher De Brito is a very good ball-striker who finds a lot of angles, but the double faults and the sometimes wild hitting get her into trouble. She's still quite young, though, and has time to clean up those problems.

Rybarikova and Groenefeld both upset in Bad Gastein

6th seed Magdalena Rybarikova and 7th seed Anna-Lena Groenefeld were upset in the Bad Gastein quarterfinals today, by Ioana Raluca Olaru and Andrea Petkovic, respectively. Olaru, however, along with her partner Mariya Koryttseva, (number 4 seeds) was upset by Tatjana Malek and Petkovic in their semifinal doubles match.

Joining Olaru and Petkovic in the semifinals will be 1st seed Alize Cornet and Yaroslava Shvedova.

The last four women standing in Portoroz are top seed Dinara Safina, Alberta Brianti, Stefanie Voegele, and 5th seed Sara Errani.

Birmingham champion, Ordina Open champion, Ordina Open finalist, and Eastbourne semifinalist all out in 1st round of Wimbledon

The glory was as brief as the grass season for four of that season's top stars in 2009, as they fell in the first round of Wimbledon. Eastbourne semifinalist Aleksandra Wozniak was defeated by clay specialist and Italian tour veteran Francesca Schiavone, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4. The young Birmingham champion, Magdalena Rybarikova, also went out, defeated by Italian clay expert Roberta Vinci. Also going out was Ordina Open finalist Yanina Wickmayer, who lost to Elena Vesnina, 6-1, 6-1.

The big shock, at least for me, was the defeat of Ordina Open champion Tammy Tanasugarn. Tanasugarn saved three match points, but ultimately lost to Arantxa Parra Santonja, 6-4, 6-4. Parra Santonja hit seven aces, as well as almost twice as many winners as Tanasugarn, who never saw a break point. Last year, grass specialist Tanasugarn made it the quarterfinals of Wimbledon for the first time, after having reached the round of 16 six times.

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.

Mirza to play Zvonareva in Pattaya Open

Anyone who reads this blog regularly knows that I do not like it when highly-ranked players enter smaller tournaments, unless they are coming back from injury layoffs. The top seed in Pattaya City is Vera Zvonareva, who is ranked number 5 in the world. Caroline Wozniacki, number 12 in the world, was there, too, but she was upset in the quarterfinals by Magdalena Rybarikova. I wish those two had not entered, but they did. The argument in favor of their being there is that other players have to stretch in order to beat them, and I understand that.

Rybarikova stretched, but lost in the semifinals to Sania Mirza, 6-4, 5-7, 6-1. Zvonareva defeated Shahar Peer in the semifinals, 6-1, 6-4, so now it is down to Zvonareva and Mirza. Mirza has had her share of problems--political and physical--and it is good to see her in a final. She will have her hands full with Zvonareva, however.