The first known semifinalist of the Eastbourne International grass-court tournament was the defending champion Justine Henin, who crushed fifth-seeded Nicole Vaidisova 6-2 6-2.

I had expected much more from this match. Vaidisova serves well, so I thought the match would be much more undecided, but her serve had let her down, and she had no other weapons to use against the Belgian top seed. Within the first 20 minutes Vaidisova was 5-0 down, having held only one game point.

In the second quarterfinal match eight-seeded Marion Bartoli defeated fourth-seeded Elena Dementieva 6-1 6-0. This is Bartoli’s second consecutive win over the Russian, the previous one having been in this month’s Roland Garros. Furthermore, the Frenchwoman is now even with Dementieva on grass, 1-1.

FIRST SEMIFINAL: Henin vs. Bartoli >> So far, they’ve played only once, and that was four years ago. Henin defeated Bartoli on the hard-courts of Toronto. But in this case, the stats are not necessary; it’s clear who the favorite in this match is. Read more »

Seeds for the UK’s favorite sporting event have been released. Unlike the other grand slams where the top 32 seeds in the men's and women's singles are decided purely on world rankings, Wimbledon takes into account results on grass in the past two years.

However, you will notice that player seeds are pretty much in accordance with their world ranking. The only major exception is Venus Williams who is ranked 31st in the world, but is seeded 24th.

Here's a list of ladies' singles seedings:

1. Belgium’s Justine Henin is seeded at the top. She's the world’s best player on clay, having four French Open titles as a proof. At the moment she is definitely in form, and therefore has high chances of completing a career slam. The only grand slam title she misses is one from Wimbledon, where she was a finalist in 2001 and 2006.

2. Russia’s Maria Sharapova considers the grass-court grand slam her favorite tournament and this year she is confident that she can repeat her 2004 success when she took the Wimbledon trophy. The 20-year-old Sharapova has been a semi-finalist since then.

"Grass definitely suits my game. With the power and the big first serve I feel I can get a good start on the point," she said.

Let me remind you that last week Sharapova reached the finals of the DFS Classic (played on grass), where she was defeated by Jelena Jankovic. Read more »

No more late-night chocolate boxes for Henin, at least if she is to listen to her nutritionist’s advice.

"I've had to stop eating a lot of things," world No. 1 said on her arrival in Eastbourne for this week's International Women's Open. "I can't eat sugar any more before going to bed. I miss Belgian chocolate a lot." (Do you remember that severe stomach problems even forced Henin to retire in the middle of the Australian Open final against Amelie Mauresmo?)

Despite winning her fourth Roland Garros title only 10 days ago, Henin feels ready for Wimbledon. "I felt very good in Paris," she said. "I won all my matches in two sets. I think I feel fresher than I was before Wimbledon last year."

Maybe she feels so fresh because she has a new physical coach and a different training program.

BTW, I’ve chosen this photo because Justine really looks like: “Give me some chocolate, I was a good girl.”

Highest-ranked Chinese female player Na Li will probably take part in the next week’s grand slam, even though she had to withdraw from Eastbourne, the ongoing Wimbledon warm-up event, because she had strained a muscle in her chest.

"She decided not play in Eastbourne this week to give her time to recover from the injury. She is unlikely to pull out of Wimbledon," said Xie Miqing, spokeswomen of the China Tennis Association.

Last year, world No. 18 Na Li reached the quarter-finals of Wimbledon which established her as the first Chinese to go that far in a grand slam. (source: Reuters)

World No. 19 Vera Zvonareva pulled out of Wimbledon on Monday after failing to recover from a left wrist injury which bothered her for months and forced her to miss the French Open.

The 23-year-old Russian has not played since retiring while trailing Dinara Safina in the semifinals of the Family Circle Cup in April.

Zvonareva will be replaced by Canada’s Aleksandra Wozniak who lost in the first round at the Australian Open and French Open this year.

Other players that have previously withdrawn from the grass-court grand slam are the 2004 French Open champion Anastasia Myskina, world No. 63 Zheng Jie and world No. 124 Romina Oprandi.

The Williams sisters, the 2000 and 2002 Wimbledon doubles champions, have been given a late wildcard into the doubles draw after Britain's Amanda Elliott and Katie O'Brien withdrew due to Elliott’s wrist injury. (via Reuters, Yahoo!Sports)

Jelena Jankovic has been amazing this year – she reached a career-high No. 3 in the singles rankings, and collected titles from Auckland (hardcourt), Charleston (clay), Rome (clay), adding to them today’s Birmingham trophy (grass). Moreover, this year she has earned more points than any other WTA player.

I was definitely wrong when I said that she should have skipped the tournament in Strasbourg in order to relax a bit. I thought she was playing too much and that it would affect her game – but Jankovic proved me wrong. After Strasbourg, she reached the semi-finals of Roland Garros and now she defeated the 2004 Wimbledon Champion Maria Sharapova to win the DFS Classic in Birmingham. Her form is simply amazing. Read more »

Maria Sharapova, the No. 1 seed and a two-time champion in Birmingham, beat Marion Bartoli of France 7-5, 6-0 in a semifinal on Sunday. Bartoli, who completed her suspended quarterfinal earlier Sunday, defeated third-seeded Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia 5-7, 6-4, 7-5.

The match between Sharapova and Bartoli was temporarily delayed when two spectators needed medical assistance – a woman was left unconscious after falling down a staircase, and a man in another part of the stadium fainted. The helicopter had to be sent to take the woman to the hospital.

Second-seeded Jelena Jankovic reached the final by defeating Italy’s Mara Santangelo 6-1, 7-5.

The final will take place also on Sunday; I’ll keep you posted! (via ESPN)

Two preview photos of Ana's new Adidas outfits have been published on her official website.

The white one she’ll be wearing at Wimbledon, the purple one at the US Open. At the moment I prefer the purple outfit, I find the model more interesting. However, I’m sure they'll both look perfect when Ana puts them in action on the court. Which one do you prefer?

Before Wimbledon, world No. 6 Ivanovic will be playing at Ordina Open in the Netherlands. This grass-court tournament starts on Sunday, June 17th. Ana is seeded second, which is her highest ever seeding in a Sony Ericsson WTA Tour event. She has a bye in the first round, so her opening match will take place on Tuesday or Wednesday, where her opponent will be either Eleni Daniilidou of Greece or Frenchwoman Severine Bremond.

Top-seeded Maria Sharapova (BTW, currently the highest-paid female athlete) had to win two matches on Saturday to reach the last four of the rain-hit DFS Classic. She beat Austria’s Tamira Paszek 6-3 4-6 6-2 in a much-delayed third-round match. Sharapova had an easier time against Elena Likhovtseva, seeing off her fellow Russian 6-2 6-3 to reach the semi-finals.

"Mentally, you have to be ready for a very long day. You have to be ready no matter how many stops there are,” Maria, the 2004 Wimbledon champion, commented on the rain which constantly interrupted the tournament.

Sharapova missed two months earlier this year due to a right shoulder injury and hopes her crowded schedule doesn't make it worse. Read more »

We haven’t seen Martina on court for more than a month now. Being injured, the former world number one hasn’t played since Qatar Telecom German Open in Berlin, where she lost to Patty Schnyder in the third round. We were hoping that she’ll make a comeback at the 18-24 June Ordina Open in the Netherlands, but that won’t be the case.

However, it is certain that Martina will compete in Wimbledon, the third grand slam of the year. (via Martinaworld)