Anna Chakvetadze and Julia Goerges have both claimed significant victories to put themselves in contention for a place in the prestigious Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions.

Chakvetadze was once ranked as high as five in the world but the Russian has struggled since reaching her last final, in New Haven immediately before the 2008 US Open. She had even fallen out of the top 100, but her emphatic 6-1 6-2 win over Sweden’s Johanna Larson at the Banka Koper Slovenia Open in Portoroz was a massive confidence-booster. She even reached the doubles final, too.

It was a difficult and dramatic week for Chakvetadze as she battled for her eighth career title. First, she had to overcome fourth seed Sara Errani, who had been in the final the last two years with a title in 2008. Then she had to save two match points against Vera Dushevina in the quarter-finals, and recover from dropping the opening set 6-0 to Polona Hercog in the semis before cruising against Larson in the final.

Meanwhile, Goerges also had to do things the hard way in the Austrian mountain resort of Bad Gastein, winning two matches in one day to lift the Nurnberger Gastein Ladies title.

Rain meant that her semi-final against second seed Timea Bacsinszky had to be postponed until Sunday morning, but the unseeded German came through 6-1 6-4. Then, having saved some energy by winning that match in straight sets, she soon returned to court to contest the final and promptly defeated Frenchwoman Alize Cornet by the same score.

That gave Goerges her first career title in her first final, after she had not advanced beyond the semi-finals on four other occasions. She has now won 13 of her last 14 matches, rebounding from a first round loss to Marion Bartoli at Wimbledon with a $100,000 ITF Women's Circuit title on clay in France before reaching the semi-finals of Palermo and now winning in Bad Gastein.

"In the morning I told myself just try to get to the final," said the beaming Goerges. "It was my fifth chance and I did it. I was so happy to be in my first final that I was really relaxed against Timea, and the crowd was so supportive too. I got tight on one match point but closed it out well. I'm so happy to have my first title."

Both Chakvetadze and Goerges are now eligible for a place in the Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions, but only the top eight-ranked players to have won a singles title on the International Series and who are not playing at the WTA Championships in Doha will be eligible to compete when the tournament takes place at the Bali International Convention Centre, The Westin Resort, Nusa Dua from 4th to 7th November.