Safina wins Slovenia Open

It took her almost three hours, but world number 1 Dinara Safina got past defending champion Sara Errani to win the Slovenia Open today. Safina defeated relentless baseliner Errani 7-6, 6-1, 7-5.

It could have gone the other way. Errani served for the match at 5-4 in the third set, but was broken. Throughout the match, the Italian got most of her first serves in, but lost most of those points. She did much better with her second serve, however, and got a little help from Safina, who double-faulted nine times.

Safina now moves on, in early August, to Los Angeles, where she is the defending champion. Safina was also the winner of last year's U.S. Series.

Cornet advances to 3rd round in Bad Gastein

It shouldn't be news that the number 1 seed has made it to the third round of a tournament, but the way things have been going for Alize Cornet lately, it is indeed worth noting that she has gotten through two rounds.

Not so for 3rd and 4th seeds Sybille Bammer and Iveta Benesova. Bammer was upset by Ioana Raluca Olaru, and Benesova retired with a left thigh injury in her match against Andrea Petkovic. Benesova and her doubles partner, Barbora Zahlavova Strycova were forced to give their opponents a walkover because of Benesova's injury.

In Portoroz, Camille Pin upset 8th seed Petra Kvitova, and the number 1-seeded team of Vera Dushevina and Galina Voskoboeva were upset by Olga Govortsova and Sesil Karatantcheva.

A day of upsets

4th seed Roberta Vinci, 6th seed Lucie Safarova and 7th seed Vera Dushevina were all upset today at the Slovenia Open. They were defeated by Rossana de los Rios, Stephanie Voegele and Maria Elena Camerin, all of whom are unseeded. The 4th-seeded doubles team of Barrois and Garbin was also upset--by the team of Pin and Zakopalova.

In Bad Gastein, the only upset was of number 9 seed Shahar Peer, who was defeated by Yaroslava Shvedova.

Medina Garrigues out in first round of Slovenia Open

Number 2 seed Anabel Medina Garrigues lost her first round today at the Slovenia Open in Portoroz. Medina Garrigues was upset by qualifier Vesna Manasieva, 6-3, 1-6, 7-5. The match lasted two hours and 48 minutes.

Kanepi upset in Portoroz

Third seed Kaia Kanepi made a first round exit at the Slovenia Open today. She was defeated by Olga Govortsova, 6-1, 6-2. Kanepi continues to have problems in a year in which she should be moving up in the rankings.

Both the first and second qualifying seeds--Kristina Kucova and Angelique Kerber--were eliminated in the last round of qualifying in Portoroz today.

Slovenia qualifying: good news, bad news

The bad news is that top qualifying seed, Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, has been knocked out in the final round of qualifying. The good news is that she was defeated by Elena Bovina.

It has been so long since we have seen Bovina where she belongs--in the top 20. Perhaps this will be a good tournament for her.

Kirilenko wins in Kolkata; Golovin wins in Portoroz

Maria Kirilenko won the Sunfeast Open in Kolkata today, defeating Mariya Koryttseva, 6-0, 6-2. This is Kirilenko's second career title.

Meanwhile, Tatiana Golovin defeated the hometown player, Katarina Srebotnik, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, to win the Slovenia Open in Portoroz. This is Golovin's second career title, also.

Dulko getting back in form

Gisela Dulko, who--like so many other players--has had injury problems that have caused her ranking to go down, has been making a pretty good showing lately. Not the most mentally tough player on tour, Dulko nevertheless has talent, and her game is especially impressive because she is so small (as professional tennis players go). Today, she defeated Slovenia Open number 2 seed Sybille Bammer, 7-6, 1-6, 6-1, in Portoroz. Bammer is one tough player, and this is a good win for Dulko. Last month, Dulko won her second career singles title at the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Classic in Forest Hills, reaching her third final of the year.

This past April, Dulko came within a hair of taking out Ana Ivanovic in the second round of the Family Circle Cup, but appeared to lose her nerve toward the end of the third set.