(Rank/Seed)
40/- Kanepi continued her come back from injury with an impressive title before the French Open, beating (34/8) Peng 62 75. It was a first time meeting. Kanepi has now won her 4th title in 8 finals, a 3rd clay court title and her 2nd at Premier level. Peng in contrast remains title less, having lost all five of her career finals, including here back in 2011!
The entire week in Brussels was very difficult with tumultuous weather continuously preventing play. It often meant, as was the case with both the semis and the final that players were forced to play two matches in one day. Kanepi has been gradually getting back to her best and has battled through a tough week, beating the likes of (16/3) Cibulkova in the first round and Lepchenko in the quarters in a third set tiebreak. Peng has had it even tougher; she came from 46 14 down against Govortsova to win 46 76(4) 76(4) in the second round, beat (17/4) Stephens in straight sets in the quarters before avenging a recent loss to Oprandi in three sets in the semis. Additionally, former champion (10/1) Wozniacki lost a fifth successive match with a 62 64 loss to Zheng in the second round, her opponent hitting twice as many winners as she.
Unsurprisingly, this tournament like others before it i.e. Warsaw have struggled with a relatively poor field for a premier level event due to its closeness to the French Open. Therefore, this event will be an International level tournament as of 2014.
