On the Baseline Tennis News

Fourth seed Roberta Vinci, sixth seed Lucie Safarova and seventh seed Vera Dushevina lost in the second round on Wednesday.

Ninth seed Shahar Peer only won three games before losing to Yaroslava Shvedova in straight sets on Wednesday.

Qualifier Vesna Manasieva ousted second seed Anabel Medina Garrigues on Tuesday at the Slovenia Open.

Top seed Alize Cornet survived an opening round battle on Tuesday against Mariana Duque Marino.

Former Top 15 player Nathalie Dechy has announced her retirement from professional tennis.

The French Tennis Federation released a statement on Tuesday confirming Dechy’s decision to end her career.

Russia’s Dinara Safina headed into her fourteenth week as the top-ranked player on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour when the rankings were updated on Monday.

Safina has now reigned as world number one for three weeks longer than seven-time major champion Venus Williams.

Fifth seed Carla Suarez Navarro lost to Tatjana Malek in the opening round of Bad Gastein on Monday.

Third seed Kaia Kanepi was upset in the first round of the Banka Koper Slovenia Open by Olga Govortsova on Monday.

Karin Burgess of Tennis Identity provides helpful tips on how to enjoy yourself, but still protect your exposed skin from the sun.

Alize Cornet, Francesca Schiavone, Sybille Bammer and Iveta Benesova are the top four seeds at this week’s NURNBERGER Gastein Ladies in Austria.

World number one Dinara Safina is the top seed at the 2009 Banka Koper Slovenia Open, followed by Anabel Medina Garrigues, Kaia Kanepi and Roberta Vinci.

Top seed Flavia Pennetta won her first title on her home soil on Sunday at the Internazionali Femminili di Tennis di Palermo.

Second seed Sybille Bammer beat top seed Francesca Schiavone on Sunday to win the ECM Prague Open.

It will be an all-Italian singles final on Sunday in Palermo, Italy at the Internazionali Femminili di Tennis di Palermo.