The grass season is in full motion (as are my exams unfortunately!) with tournaments in Birmingham, Eastbourne and 's Hertogenbosch (just love it when English sports commentators have to pronounce that because it's Dutch).
It's been a real blood bath for the seeded players in these tournaments!
In Birmingham the four highest ranked players were: Schiavone, Lisicki, Hantuchova and Vinci in that order. Schiavone was outplayed by Doi in the second round: 5-7, 4-6 as was Lisicki at the hands of the younger Radwanska: 3-6, 4-6. The German was last year's victor, so she shall loose quite some points and more important: she doesn't seem to ready to defend her semifinal spot of last year at Wimbledon!
Hantuchova faced a tough second round loss against Czink: 5-7, (5)6-7. At least Vinci made it to the quarter finals but got knocked out there against Zheng: 3-6, 7-5, 4-6.
But there was a familiar name in the final: Jankovic, but is was Oudin who won the Birmingham title defeating the Serbian: 6-4, 6-2.
At the Unicef Open in 's Hertogenbosch, Kim Clijsters made her comeback after a lingering hip injury sustained in Miami. For the moment she's still on track, defeating Oprandi first: (5)6-7, 6-2, 6-3 and Bondarenko next: 6-2, 6-1 to reach the third round. She'll face Schiavone next, who won her match against Begu: 6-2, 2-6, 7-6(8) after fending off 0-6 in the final set tiebreak!
The same doesn't apply for Stosur, who lost quite surprisingly against Flipkens in the first round: (7)6-7, 3-6. She was seeded number one in this tournament!
Errani had a fantastic run on gravel, but her grass-ambitions ended in the first round of the Unicef Open at the hands of Bondarenko: 7-5, 3-6, 4-6. Also Pennetta (fourth seeded) got knocked out already in the second round against none other than the younger sister of Radwanska: 1-6, 1-6. She's certainly on a roll of defeating high ranked players!
Not such great news for her big sister, who lost immediately in the first round in Eastbourne against Pironkova: 2-6, 4-6. Sure, it's an upset but after all it's Pironkova, she made the semifinals at Wimbledon last year! The number two seed at the tournament, Kvitova, got send off to Wimbledon already by Makarova: 5-7, 4-6. Also Wozniacki is out after losing to her American nemesis McHale: 1-6, 7-6(7), 6-4 in the first round. Bartoli won last year at Eastbourne and she's looking good to maybe win it again!
Be sure to keep posted, with a lot of high ranked players out, this could get very interesting!
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