Wimbledon: Women's Form Guide 25/6

There were first-round exits for a number of top women’s players including Caroline Wozniacki, Petra Kvitova and Sam Stosur in lead-up tournaments this week ahead of the 2012 Wimbledon Championships which begin on Monday June 25.

Several big name players were in action at Eastbourne for the AEGON International which was eventually taken out by Austrian world number 37 Tamira Paszek, while at the UNICEF Open it was world number 20 Nadia Petrova celebrating.

To see last week’s Form Guide, click here

Firstly to Eastbourne it was 21-year-old Paszek who took out the event with a 5-7, 6-3, 7-5 final victory over highly-fancied German Angelique Kerber, who is currently ranked at number eight in the world.

Paszek knocked off Marion Bartoli, Tsvetana Pironkova and Daniela Hantuchova, along with Kerber, on her way to a memorable victory which shows she could cause some trouble at Wimbledon.

There was trouble for a number of big names, including the top three seeds, Agnieszka Radwanska, Petra Kvitova and Caroline Wozniacki who all lost in the first round.

Reigning Wimbledon champion Kvitova, who went down to Ekaterina Makarova, said: “It’s not good preparation but I have more days for getting ready for Wimbledon. I have to work hard now to improve my game.”

Wozniacki, who lost in three sets to American Christina McHale, said: “I would have liked to have won that match, but at least I got some points in. I’m just trying to work on a few things before Wimbledon.”

At the UNICEF Open in the Netherlands, Russian Nadia Petrova knocked off Polish qualifier Urszula Radwanska 6-4, 6-3 in the final.

French Open finalist Sara Errani crashed out in the first round, along with tournament top seed Sam Stosur who went down to Belgian Kirsten Flipkens in straight sets.

Stosur said: “Overall, I was quite happy with the way that I played. It wasn’t anything too disastrous. It’s a matter of going out there again tomorrow and practising hard. Just fine-tuning a few important points and that can make the difference.”

Three-time US Open winner Kim Clijsters reached the semi-finals after good wins over Kateryna Bondarenko and Francesco Schiavone before injury forced her to withdraw against Radwanska.

Clijsters said: “I felt the side of my stomach in my match against Bondarenko and against Schiavone the injury was there the whole match. If I could keep playing here I would, but with my injury history in this area, this was the smart decision to make ahead of the next few months. The next few days will be tough and I’ll do everything to be at my best and close to 100% at Wimbledon.”