WTA: June 9-15 2008 DFS Classic Birmingham, GBR Edgbaston Priory Club Tier III $200,000 56 players - outdoor: grass Live Scores - in popup window WTA .pdf: draws & OOP - notes pics: Yahoo!: BC - ED   WTA Birmingham: radar - forecast # 9 M Bartoli, # 16 N Vaidisova # 22 S Bammer, # 27 A Bondarenko Barcelona KIA Barcelona, ESP David Lloyd Club Turó Tier IV $145,000 32 players - outdoor: red clay Live Scores - in popup window WTA .pdf: draws & OOP pics: Yahoo! - WTA Barcelona: radar - forecast # 18 S Peer, # 23 M Kirilenko # 31 D Cibulkova, # 41 L Safarova

Tourney pages: Birmingham & Barcelona: 2007   Birmingham: 2006 - 2005 - 2004 - 2003 previous other tourney pages next Barcelona: #23 Maria Kirilenko 5'8" 127lb RH 2H-BH Birmingham: #57 Kateryna Bondarenko 5'9" 132lb RH 2H-BH

    Enkos!: On Sunday in Barcelona, Spain, in the final of the Barcelona KIA, 21-year-old 2nd-seeded # 23 Maria Kirilenko from Moscow, Russia, handily defeated a local resident, 25-year-old # 145 Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez of Spain, 6-0, 6-2 (Maria is shown after match point). Maria's prize is $22,900; Maria Jose's, $12,345. Maria also received another prize: the win raised her WTA singles ranking to # 19, the highest of her career.

    Maria and Maria Jose had played only once before, in an ITF tourney on red clay in Galatina, Italy, in 2003, when Maria Jose won, 6-3, 6-2.

    Maria said: "I played [Maria Jose] once when I was 18, and that time she beat me so easily with her slices, spins and drop shots. I'm more experienced now so I was able to adapt to her game. But she had a great week; she was injured for a while and is now on her way back, and she's playing really well. It's great she made her first final here...
    "Today I concentrated really well and kept any negative emotions inside. I played consistently and saw everything quite clearly. I feel great...
    "Now I'm off to 's-Hertogenbosch. I play my first match on Tuesday, so I'll have a day off now to recover from this week. I'm really focusing on Wimbledon and I hope I can get some good practice on grass this week." WTA story

    Maria is now 4-2 in WTA singles finals, she won her 3rd title in April in Estoril, Portugal. Maria has a 21-10 match record this year.
    Maria Jose was playing in her first WTA singles final, but she is no rookie. She has won 5 WTA doubles titles, and 12 singles and 22 doubles titles in ITF play. Her career-high ranking was # 69 in 2001. Maria Jose now has a 26-13 match record for 2008.

    In Birmingham, England on Sunday, in the final of the DFS Classic, 21-year-old 12th-seeded # 57 Kateryna Bondarenko from Kharkov, Ukraine, won her first WTA singles final by narrowly defeating 18-year-old # 98 Yanina Wickmayer from Deurne, Belgium, 7-6(7), 3-6, 7-6(4) (Kateryna is shown holding Birmingham's historic hardware, the Maude Watson Trophy). Kateryna's prize is $31,000; Yanina's, $16,000.

    Yanina suffered a knee injury in the 2nd set, but finished the match after an injury time out. Yanina said: "I have never felt that much pain on a tennis court before... I've never had a knee injury and we'll have to look at it now and see what it is, but I'm hoping to still play in 's-Hertogenbosch and of course Wimbledon." AP story - WTA story

    Kateryna said: "In the important points against Yanina I was just trying to make as few mistakes as possible. I was trying to move her around but she was still running very well, despite her injury. I'm hoping to do well at Wimbledon now, but I'm very focused on my next tournament in 's-Hertogenbosch."

    Kateryna and Yanina also had played only once before: in a Fed Cup match in early February, on red clay indoors, Yanina defeated Kateryna 7-6(5), 6-1.
    Kateryna had never reached a WTA singles semifinal before this week. She has won 2 WTA doubles titles with her sister Alona, including this year's Australian Open doubles title, plus 2 singles and 2 doubles titles in ITF play. Kateryna's match record in 2008 is now 12-12.
    Yanina had never reached a WTA singles quarterfinal before this week. She has won 8 singles and 7 doubles titles in ITF tourneys. Yanina's match record in 2008 is now 32-10, mostly in ITF play.

    Also on Sunday, in the Liverpool International exhibition tournament, 17-year-old # 34 Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark (residence: Monte Carlo, Monaco), defeated the 2007 Liverpool champ, 23-year-old # 61 Ashley Harkleroad from Wesley Chapel, Florida, 4-6, 6-4, (10-5). And in a "legends" match at Liverpool on Friday, 1997 Wimbledon champ Martina Hingis defeated 1998 Wimbledon champ Jana Novotna, 6-3, 6-4.

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    A New York Times story describing Barcelona in 1893 has been added to the newly-updated Spain News and Links page.

WTA SCOREBOARD: Birmingham & Barcelona s=seed, #=rank, *=upset, LL=lucky loser ranks are for the previous week How do players get into the "draw"? DFS Classic,  Birmingham, England   tourney time:        = GMT +1 hour        = US EDT +5 hours        = US PDT +8 hours England News - UK News Weather Forecast | Weather Maps | Weather Radar     Birmingham: The main draw for Birmingham has 16 seeds, with 8 1st-round byes. There are 8 qualifiers and 4 wild cards in the main draw. Qualifying finals are on Sunday.   click for broader view   Edgbaston Priory Club Latitude: 52.458128 Longitude: -1.91263 goto link for World Wind DFS Classic venue address: The Edgbaston Priory Club, Sir Harrys Road, Birmingham, England 2008: On Saturday, June 7, at Birmingham, player rep Naomi Cavaday, WTA rep Donna Kelso, and tourney ref Denise Parnell attended to the main draw... On Monday, Sorana Cirstea put on a tennis clinic in Birmingham... On Wednesday night, way out west at the Liverpool exhibition tourney, Caroline Wozniacki, Olga Savchuk, and others exhibited their musical skills...

Birmingham, 1st Round, Mon-Tues 11am loser's prize: $580; points: 1 *#133 q Yaroslava Shvedova RUS d #50 s10 Akgul Amanmuradova UZB 6-3, 6-1 Mon #51 s11 Casey Dellacqua AUS d #100 Julie Ditty USA 7-6(3), 6-2 Tue #57 s12 Kateryna Bondarenko UKR d #96 Anne Keothavong RUS 6-3, 6-2 Tue Kateryna lining up a backhand drive, and Anne swatting one #58 s13 Aravane Rezai FRA d #395 q Amanda Elliott GBR 6-3, 2-6, 7-6(6) Mon *#196 wc Naomi Cavaday GBR d #62 s14 Jill Craybas USA 6-0, 6-4 Mon #66 s15 Ekaterina Makarova RUS d #144 wc Elena Baltacha GBR 7-5, 7-6(1) Mon *#72 Camille Pin FRA d #67 s16 Anastasia Rodionova RUS(AUS) 7-5, 7-6(2) Tue #71 s17 Aiko Nakamura JPN d #93 Tzipora Obziler ISR 7-5, 6-3 Mon #73 Marta Domachowska POL d #162 q Margit Ruutel EST 6-4, 6-4 Tue #75 Tamarine Tanasugarn THA d #86 Monica Niculescu ROU 6-3, 6-4 Mon #74 Virginia Ruano Pascual ESP d #156 sr  Milagros Sequera 6-3, 6(3)-7, 6-1 Tue #77 Petra Cetkovska CZE d #104 Meng Yuan CHN 6-2, 6-1 Tue #78 Sorana Cirstea ROU d #109 Ayumi Morita JPN 6-2, 6-0 Mon #80 Marina Erakovic NZL d #95 Stephanie Dubois CAN 6-4, 6-4 Tue *#149 q Samantha Stosur AUS d #83 Sabine Lisicki GER 6-3, 6-4 Tue *#155 q Sunitha Rao IND d #87 Petra Kvitova CZE 7-6(8), 6-4 Mon #88 Nathalie Dechy FRA d #117 Severine Bremond FRA 7-5, 6-2 Tue Nathalie delivering a forehand, and Severine driving a backhand *#134 q Tatiana Poutchek BLR d #90 Ioana Raluca Olaru ROU 6-0, 7-6(6) Mon #94 Angelique Kerber GER d #116 Olga Puchkova RUS 6-4, 6-3 Mon #98 Yanina Wickmayer BEL d #207 q Youlia Fedossova FRA 6-1, 6-4 Mon *#112 Katie O'Brien GBR d #102 Alla Kudryavtseva RUS 6-0, 3-6, 7-6(2) Mon #106 Bethanie Mattek USA d #195 q Jarmila Gajdosova SVK 7-6(1), 6-2 Mon *#126 LL Melinda Czink HUN d #113 Vania King USA 6-2, 7-6(4) Tue #153 wc Melanie South GBR d #324 wc Anna Fitzpatrick GBR 6-4, 6-4 Mon

Birmingham, 2nd Round, Tue-Wed 11am loser's prize: $1,125 US; points: 10 *#77 Petra Cetkovska CZE d #9 s1 Marion Bartoli FRA 5-7, 6-4, 6-0 Wed Petra following a forehand, and Marion's backhand     Petra's ranking is up to # 52 this week after a good French Open, but the previous week's rankings, which were used to seed the draws, are usually used on these pages. Petra won 2 consecutive ITF tourneys prior to the French Open, then reached the 4th round at Roland Garros before losing to eventual champ Ana Ivanovic. She has won 14 of her last 15 matches, and is now 24-13 for the year. #16 s3 Nicole Vaidisova CZE d #88 Nathalie Dechy FRA 6-1, 6-3 Wed Nicole driving a forehand     The win ended a 5-match losing streak. Nicole, who had not won a match since late February in Dubai, raised her match record to 12-9 for the year. *#153 wc Melanie South GBR d #22 s4 Sybille Bammer AUT 6-3, 7-5 Tue #27 s5 Alona Bondarenko UKR d #74 Virginia Ruano Pascual ESP 7-6(4), 3-6, 7-5 Wed *#80 Marina Erakovic NZL d #32 s6 Sania Mirza IND 6-3, 6-0 Wed *#126 LL Melinda Czink HUN d #37 s7 Olga Govortsova BLR 6-3, 7-6(6) Wed #44 s8 Michaella Krajicek NED d #134 q Tatiana Poutchek BLR 6-2, 6-1 Tue Michaella's forehand drive *#75 Tamarine Tanasugarn THA d #46 s9 Tamira Paszek AUT 6-1, 6-0 Tue Tammy driving a forehand, and Tamira looking to slice a backhand *#98 Yanina Wickmayer BEL d #51 s11 Casey Dellacqua AUS 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 Wed #57 s12 Kateryna Bondarenko UKR d #149 q Samantha Stosur AUS 6-3, 6-2 Wed *#106 Bethanie Mattek USA d #58 s13 Aravane Rezai FRA 6-1, 6-4 Tue #66 s15 Ekaterina Makarova RUS d #94 Angelique Kerber GER 6(3)-7, 7-5, 7-5 Tue #71 s17 Aiko Nakamura JPN d #78 Sorana Cirstea ROU 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 Wed Aiko lining up a backhand (she uses the 2-handed forehand grip on both sides), and Sorana's forehand drive #72 Camille Pin FRA d #73 Marta Domachowska POL 6-4, 6-2 Wed *#133 q Yaroslava Shvedova RUS d #112 Katie O'Brien GBR 7-5, 1-6, 7-5 Wed #155 q Sunitha Rao IND d #196 wc Naomi Cavaday GBR 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 Wed

Birmingham, 3rd Round, Thu 11am WTA story loser's prize: $2,180 US; points: 20 play was completed after rain delayed start #16 s3 Nicole Vaidisova CZE d #66 s15 Ekaterina Makarova RUS 6(5)-7, 6-2, 6-4 Ekaterina following a lefty forehand, and Nicole driving a backhand #27 s5 Alona Bondarenko UKR d #155 q Sunitha Rao IND 3-6, 7-5, 6-1 Alona's forehand drive, and Sunitha's backhand *#98 Yanina Wickmayer BEL d #44 s8 Michaella Krajicek NED 6-3, 6-4 Yanina following a forehand #57 s12 Kateryna Bondarenko UKR d #126 LL Melinda Czink HUN 4-6, 6-4, 7-5 Kateryna's forehand drive *#77 Petra Cetkovska CZE d #72 Camille Pin FRA 6-4, 6(5)-7, 6-3 Petra about to slice a backhand, and Camille following a backhand drive *#106 Bethanie Mattek USA d #75 Tamarine Tanasugarn THA 6-4, 6-2 *#153 wc Melanie South GBR d #71 s17 Aiko Nakamura JPN 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 Melanie driving her 1-handed forehand, and Aiko's 2-handed version #80 Marina Erakovic NZL d #133 q Yaroslava Shvedova RUS 6-3, 7-5

Birmingham, QFs, Fri 11am WTA story loser's prize: $4,230 US; points: 35 *#106 Bethanie Mattek USA d #16 s3 Nicole Vaidisova CZE 6-3, 6-0     Bethanie said: "I know [Nicole] hasn't had a lot of wins recently, so I really just wanted to make her play every point, and on my end stay aggressive. I was standing pretty close to the baseline and putting pressure on her, so even when I wasn't hitting it as hard as she was, she was forced into some mistakes. I came out with a game plan and I'm happy it worked today."     Nicole said: "I think Bethanie played a great match, but I didn't. It has been a good week, though. I think I just played a better player today than the ones I played earlier in the week, and I wasn't able to have the same result." *#80 Marina Erakovic NZL d #27 s5 Alona Bondarenko UKR 6-4, 7-5     Marina said: "It was a tough day today, but I think it was the best match I've played so far this week. It was up and down for us both, but I was able to win the crucial games. Tomorrow I'll be playing her sister [Kateryna], and I know her well from the juniors, so it'll be another tough match." #57 s12 Kateryna Bondarenko UKR d #77 Petra Cetkovska CZE 7-6(3), 6-2 Kateryna after reaching for a backhand, and Petra driving a forehand #98 Yanina Wickmayer BEL d #153 wc Melanie South GBR 6-4, 6-3 Melanie's forehand drive, and Yanina's backhand     Yanina said: "I had a lot of obstacles to overcome today: it's my first tournament on my own as my dad had to go home sick, and it was the first time on Centre Court here. I had a crowd that wasn't cheering for me; I dealt with it well.."

Birmingham, SFs, Sat noon WTA story loser's prize: $8,220 US; points: 65 #57 s12 Kateryna Bondarenko UKR d #80 Marina Erakovic NZL 6-3, 6-2 Kateryna driving a forehand, Marina's backhand, and Kateryna after reaching her first WTA singles final     Marina had defeated Kateryna's sister Alona in the quarterfinals. Kateryna said: "I'm always sad when [Alona] loses, but that's tennis, one day you win and one day you lose. I wasn't really thinking of revenge, but I guess that's what happened today.     "But it's always nice to play here. It's easier for me to play on grass, because if you serve well you have a better chance to win, and I've been serving well." #98 Yanina Wickmayer BEL d #106 Bethanie Mattek USA 7-5, 7-6(2) Bethanie and Yanina driving forehands     Yanina said: "I've been playing better every day; [grass] is a special surface, and the more you play on it the better you get.     "I pulled back a little bit when I was ahead and [Bethanie] played aggressively to get back into it. We've had matches like this before. She can come back from behind by playing like this, but I know when things get close I just have to hang in there to close it out."

Birmingham, Final, Sun 1pm loser's prize: $16,000 US; points: 100 winner's prize: $31,000 US; points: 140 #57 s12 Kateryna Bondarenko UKR d #98 Yanina Wickmayer BEL 7-6(7), 3-6, 7-6(4) Yanina driving a forehand, Kateryna driving a backhand, and after winning her first WTA singles title

Birmingham, Doubles Final, Sun cC m5 loser's prize: $4,760 winner's prize: $9,250 cdr2 s1 Cara Black & Liezel Huber d cdr174 Virginia Ruano Pascual & Severine Bremond 6-2, 6-1 Liezel (28th WTA doubles title) & Cara (40th WTA doubles title) Birmingham, Qualifying Finals, Sun Jun 8 losers' prizes: q1 $155 1pt; q2 $300 3pts; qualifier 4 points *#207 Youlia Fedossova FRA d #126 Melinda Czink HUN 6-3, 6-3 #133 Yaroslava Shvedova RUS d #178 Rika Fujiwara JPN 6-3, 6-3 #134 Tatiana Poutchek BLR d #170 Monique Adamczak AUS 6-3, 7-5 #149 Samantha Stosur AUS d #174 Regina Kulikova RUS 7-6(6), 4-6, 7-6(4) #155 Sunitha Rao IND d #175 Chanelle Scheepers RSA 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(4) #162 Margit Ruutel EST d #648 Naomi Broady GBR 6-4, 6(5)-7, 6-2 *#195 Jarmila Gajdosova SVK d #173 Raquel Kops-Jones USA 6-1, 6-4 *#395 Amanda Elliott GBR d #273 Brenda Schultz-McCarthy NED 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 Birmingham, Withdrawals #3 Jelena Jankovic SRB right forearm tendonitis #12 Vera Zvonareva RUS illness #14 s2 Dinara Safina RUS low back injury #15 Agnieszka Radwanska POL right forearm #17 Victoria Azarenka BLR rest and recovery #21 Tatiana Golovin FRA #28 Virginie Razzano FRA #60 Tatiana Perebiynis UKR #65 Mariya Koryttseva UKR #68 Yung-Jan Chan TPE back injury #101 Galina Voskoboeva RUS #110 Meilen Tu USA left hip #115 Mara Santangelo ITA foot injury       The Birmingham trophy is a silver flower basket, valued at 20 guineas in 1884 (over $2000 US today), which was awarded that year to first Wimbledon ladies champion Maud Watson.     Maude donated the basket to the Edgbaston Priory Club in 1934, and when the Birmingham tourney was created as a Wimbledon warm-up in 1982, it became the Maude Watson Trophy.

Barcelona KIA,  Barcelona, Spain   tourney time:        = GMT +1 hours        = US EDT +5 hours        = US PDT +8 hours Spain News Weather Forecast | Weather Maps | Weather Radar     Barcelona: The main draw for Barcelona has 8 seeds, with no 1st-round byes.     There are 4 qualifiers and 3 wild cards in the main draw. Qualifying finals are on Monday.   click for broader view   David Lloyd Club Turó Latitude: 41.382484 Longitude: 2.108216 goto link for World Wind Barcelona KIA venue address: David Lloyd Club Turó, Avinguda Diagonal, 673-685, 08028, Barcelona, Spain TEL:933342012 2008: Maria Kirilenko posed at David Lloyd Club Turó (probably on Wednesday, June 11) for a pic to accompany a Barcelona newspaper interview...

Barcelona, 1st Round, Mon-Tue 11am losers' prize: $1,035 US; points: 1 *#82 Nuria Llagosterra Vives ESP d #18 s1 Shahar Peer ISR 7-5, 6-2 Mon-dark-Tue Nuria's backhand drive #23 s2 Maria Kirilenko RUS d #122 Lilia Osterloh USA 6-0, 2-0 retired--right thigh strain Tue Maria moving to field a backhand *#85 Stephanie Cohen-Aloro FRA d #31 s3 Dominika Cibulkova SVK 6-5 retired-- left abdominal strain Tue #41 s4 Lucie Safarova CZE d #554 q Leticia Costas ESP 6-2, 6-1 Tue #47 s5 Pauline Parmentier FRA d #334 sr Sanda Mamic CRO 6-2, 3-6, 6-2 Mon #53 s6 Sara Errani ITA d #118 Loudres Dominguez Lino ESP 6-3, 6-2 Tue #55 s7 Klara Zakopalova CZE d #345 sr Karolina Sprem CRO 2-6, 7-6(3), 6-2 Mon *#216 q Ekaterina Ivanova RUS d #56 s8 Tatiana Garbin ITA 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 Tue #59 Edina Gallovits ROU d #76 Julia Vakulenko UKR 6-2, 0-6, 6-3 Tue *#148 Varvara Lepchenko USA d #89 Rossana de Los Rios PAR 7-5, 6-2 Mon *#307 wc Eloisa Compostizo de Andres ESP d #108 Emilie Loit FRA 6(4)-7, 6-4, 7-6(5) Mon *#251 q Maria Kondratieva RUS d #124 Catalina Castano COL 7-6(7), 4-6, 6-0 Tue #132 Carla Suarez Navarro ESP d #120 Alicia Molik AUS 6-2, 6-4 Tue *#145 Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez ESP d #140 Aleksandra Wozniak CAN 6-4, 6-1 Mon Maria Jose after winning a point (match point?) *#158 Magdalena Rybarikova SVK d #143 Maria Elena Camerin ITA 6-1, 6-2 Mon #405 Arantxa Parra Santoja ESP d #453 q Maite Gabarrus-Alonso ESP 6-1, 6-3 Tue

Barcelona, 2nd Round, Wed-Thu 11am losers' prize: $1,925 US; points: 15 #23 s2 Maria Kirilenko RUS d #132 Carla Suarez Navarro ESP 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 Thu #41 s4 Lucie Safarova CZE d #405 Arantxa Parra Santoja ESP 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 Thu *#145 Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez ESP d #47 s5 Pauline Parmentier FRA 6-2, 6-4 Wed #53 s6 Sara Errani ITA d #148 Varvara Lepchenko USA 6-4, 7-5 Wed *#59 Edina Gallovits ROU d #55 s7 Klara Zakopalova CZE 6-2, 6-0 Thu #82 Nuria Llagosterra Vives ESP d #307 wc Eloisa Compostizo de Andres ESP 6-3, 6-0 Wed #85 Stephanie Cohen-Aloro FRA d #158 Magdalena Rybarikova SVK 7-6(3), 6-0 Wed #216 q Ekaterina Ivanova RUS d #251 q Maria Kondratieva RUS 1-6, 6-1, 7-5 Thu

Barcelona, QFs, Fri 11am losers' prize: $3,580 US; points: 30 #23 s2 Maria Kirilenko RUS d #59 Edina Gallovits ROU 7-6(3), 6-1 *#145 Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez ESP d #41 s4 Lucie Safarova CZE 6-2, 4-1 retired-- right hamstring injury Maria Jose fielding a forehand on the run *#82 Nuria Llagosterra Vives ESP d #53 s6 Sara Errani ITA 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 #85 Stephanie Cohen-Aloro FRA d #216 q Ekaterina Ivanova RUS 6-2, 6-1

Barcelona, SFs, Sat 11:45am WTA story losers' prize: $6,650 US; points: 50 #23 s2 Maria Kirilenko RUS d #85 Stephanie Cohen-Aloro FRA 7-5, 6-3 *#145 Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez ESP d #82 Nuria Llagosterra Vives ESP 2-6, 6-3, 6-1

Barcelona, Final, Sun 3:30pm loser's prize: $12,345 US; points: 80 winner's prize: $22,900 US, KIA Cee’d Automobile; points: 115 #23 s2 Maria Kirilenko RUS d #145 Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez ESP 6-0, 6-2 Maria after match point

Barcelona, Doubles Final, Sat losers' prize: $3,640 US winners' prize: $6,750 US *cdr172 s3 Lourdes Domínguez Lino & Arantxa Parra Santonja     d cdr87 s1 Nuria Llagostera Vives & Maria Jose Martínez Sánchez 4-6, 7-5, (10-4) Lourdes & Arantxa: the 3rd WTA doubles title for each; their 2nd as a team Barcelona, Qual Finals, Mon Jun 9 11am losers' prizes: q1 $175 1pt; q2 $300 2pts; q3 $555 3pts; qualifier 7 points *#554 Leticia Costas ESP d #160 Alina Jidkova RUS 6-1, 0-6, 7-5 *#453 Maite Gabarrus-Alonso ESP d #182 Neuza Silva POR 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 #216 Ekaterina Ivanova RUS d #249 Madison Brengle USA 6-4, 7-5 #251 Maria Kondratieva RUS d #459 Eva Fernandez-Brugues ESP 1-6, 6-3, 6-2 Barcelona, Withdrawals #33 Anabel Medina Garrigues ESP #43 Tsvetana Pironkova BUL right shoulder injury #49 Kaia Kanepi EST hip injury #79 Meghann Shaughnessy USA left knee #97 Maria Emilia Salerni ARG foot injury #123 Sandra Kloesel GER back injury

    The 4-week chlorophyll court season begins this week at Birmingham, followed by Eastbourne and s'Hertengobosch next week, and then the Wimbledon fortnight.

    Birmingham is the tourney that may have the lowest total prize $ to # of players ratio of the WTA Tour. The 56 players in the main draw (and 24 more who lost in qualifying) are there to get some time in playing on grass to prepare for Wimbledon, more than for the $200,000 prize money. Next week at Eastbourne, the last week before Wimbledon, there will be about half as many players, and over 3 times as much prize money.

    Barcelona, a new tourney in 2007, was held at the Barcelona Olympic Tennis Center the first year, but for 2008 it was moved to the David Lloyd Club Turó (there is no shortage of red clay courts in Barcelona).

See also: QuickShop: Sporting Goods - Martina Hingis - Anna Kournikova

Current WTA Results & Tennis News (tennis home page) - 2008 WTA Schedule with links & photos

Link to many postmatch interview & match highlight videos of WTA players at the 2008 WTA Player Videos page.

WTA PhotoRankings: the current top 20 Women's Tennis rankings with player photos, links, and bio info.