Alisa Kleybanova was struck by Hodgkin’s lymphoma in the spring of 2011, at the time her ranking was No.26, and after a brief comeback at Miami last season, the Russian decided to test her chances at smaller tournaments, which would also allow her to keep her protected ranking and thus enter the bigger tournaments, and at the first such small event she entered, the $10,000 Landisville, PA, held from May 13 to May 19, the 23-year-old went from the qualifying all the way to the title.

After three wins in the qualifying, the former world No.20 Kleybanova recorded five victories in the main draw, dropping just one set in the eight matches. In the final she defeated Natalie Pluskota 6-3 6-0. (photo: chascow)

Just like Adidas for Ana Ivanovic, Fila opted for navy for the upcoming French Open, one of Fila's signature colors which perfectly suits the red clay. The contrast is provided by pink and white. The Summer 2013 Baseline collection features various types of shirts, two versions of the Summer Baseline dress, skorts in white, pink and navy, a hooded jacket and matching pants, wristbands and a pink visor.

Jelena Jankovic, the most recognizable face of Fila, will wear the dress with thick straps, racer back and laser cut mesh overlay on upper back and skirt. Other high-profile Fila representatives Julia Goerges and Nadia Petrova are expected to sport the separates – the skort and tank – Goerges in pink and Petrova in navy. (source: Tennis Identity)

Serena Williams has been way beyond her competition and yet again, for who knows which time, she reaffirmed it by dominating Victoria Azarenka in the Internazionali BNL d'Italia final and winning her fifth title this season, the fourth consecutive (after Miami, Charleston and Madrid)!

The American is now heading to the French Open with almost perfect record on dirt since the start of the 2012 claycourt season – 33-1 – her only loss being the shocking upset by Virginie Razzano in the first round of the last French Open. This season she's won 16 matches on clay and this week in Rome all the wins were in straight sets, actually she lost a total of just 14 games en route to the Premier-level title and 343,548 EUR prize, beating Laura Robson after a first-round bye, seed No.14 Dominika Cibulkova in the third round, Carla Suarez Navarro in the quarterfinals, the underdog story of the tournament Simona Halep in the semis and finally the third-seeded Azarenka 6-1 6-3, by serving the match out at love after earning a triple match point with back-to-back aces.

This is Serena's 51st career title and her eighth on clay, which makes her the third active WTA player with the biggest number of claycourt titles, after leader Anabel Medina Garrigues (10) and sister Venus Williams (9). (photo: © Neal Trousdale)

Serena Williams extended her career-best winning streak to 23 matches, improved to 32-1 on clay since the start of 2012 and is now looking for her fourth consecutive title, after Miami, Charleston and Madrid. Her last obstacle is Victoria Azarenka, who does trail 2-11 in their head-to-head statistics, but she was the one who won their last meeting, the final of Doha in February 2013.

It was a quick semifinal victory for world No.1 Serena Williams over the upsetter of the tournament, Simona Halep, as the American finished the match 6-3 6-0, the only resistance coming from Halep early on when she broke for a 2-1 lead in the first set.

In the second semifinal, the third-seeded Azarenka defeated seventh seed Sara Errani, who will join the Top 5 in the rankings on Monday thus becoming only the second Italian ever to achieve that feat. After storming through the first set, allowing her opponent just a handful of points, Azarenka was made to work in the second set and even had Errani serving for the set at 5-4, but eventually the Belarusian managed to close it out in straights 6-0 7-5. (via WTA Tour, photos: sr_cranks)

At the Internazionali BNL d’Italia, Romanian world No.64 Simona Halep is scoring huge victories one after the other and she’s s now through to the biggest semifinal of her career where the concrete wall of Serena Williams is likely to end her dream run. However, we have to mention that their last and only meeting of two years ago, even though on grass, was a tough three-setter, won by Williams 3-6 6-2 6-1.

After going through qualifying and beating former world No.5 Daniela Hantuchova to enter the main draw, Halep dispatched two-time Grand Slam champion Svetlana Kuznetsova in the first round, fourth seed Agnieszka Radwanska in the second, seed No.13 Roberta Vinci in the third and today she triumphed over former world No.1 Jelena Jankovic after coming from the brink of defeat in the third set, always catching up with Jankovic’s leads, and saving two match points to eventually win 4-6 6-0 7-5. Halep’s semifinal opponent, reigning No.1 Serena, eased past Carla Suarez Navarro 6-2 6-0 and recorded the best winning streak of her career with 22 successive matches.

As for the other semifinal, seventh seed Sara Errani received a walkover when two-time defending champion Maria Sharapova withdrew with a viral illness. Still, she stayed at the tournament long enough to have the opportunity to wish her recently-publicly-confirmed boyfriend a happy 21st birthday (it was after her Thursday's third-round win over Sloane Stephens). Errani's semifinal obstacle will be third seed Victoria Azarenka, who defeated ninth Samantha Stosur 6-4 1-6 6-3 in the last quarterfinal. (photos by Francesca Moscatelli, Beyond the Baseline)