The 2009 Slovenia Open has already started. This year, the tournament is held at PortoroĹľ, Slovenia which is played on outdoor hard courts.
The No. 2 seeded Anabel Medina Garrigues from Spain, who won the 2008 and 2009 French Open doubles division with partner Virginia Ruano Pascual, was defeated by Vesna Manasieva from Russia in the qualifiers last Tuesday. The 20 year old who turned pro 3 years ago in 2006 will then face Croatia’s star player and wild card holder Petra Martic.
The left-handed Ksenia Pervak, also from Russia, defeated 20 year old professional player Julia Georges from Germany. The 18 year old tennis player will then face fellow Russian and the former No. 1 Dinara Safina. This will be Safina’s first match after her defeat against the American Venus Williams in the 2009 Wimbledon semifinals.
The 4th seeded Roberta Vinci from Italy, who started playing pro at a young age of 16, won over wild card holder Nastja Kolar from the Republic of Slovenia. Then the 7th seeded and 22 year old Vera Dushevina from Russia won over Tathiana Garbin from Italy.
Sara Errani of Italy and the tournament’s 5th seeded player defeated Arantxa Rus from South Holland. Galina Voskoboeva from Russia was defeated by Petra Kvitova from Czech Republic.