Since her comeback, Maria Sharapova has remained undefeated on her favorite surface and reached the semifinals of the grasscourt Birmingham event.

Sharapova won her fourth match on grass this season by defeating last year’s Birmingham runner-up Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium. The Russian, making her way back after nine months out with a shoulder injury, won 6-1 2-6 6-3.

Sharapova will next face Chinese fourth seed Li Na, whom she defeated just two weeks ago to reach the French Open quarterfinals. (photo: Stephane Martinache)

Because of bad weather, only today did Maria Sharapova finish her yesterday’s match, and she had to play another one on the same day. Fortunately, both finished victoriously for the Russian.

The former world No.1 needed only two minutes to wrap up a rain-delayed second-round match with Alexa Glatch, and win it 6-3 6-4. Next for Sharapova was seventh seed Francesca Schiavone, and she raced past her 6-1 6-3 to reach the quarterfinals of the Wimbledon warmup event.

Sharapova goes on to face Belgian world No.61 Yanina Wickmayer, who saw off 14th seed Roberta Vinci 6-1 6-4. (photo: Stephane Martinache)

Thanks to our faithful reader Jacob we're learning about the dresses Ana Ivanovic will most probably wear during the next two Grand Slams.

For Wimbledon, the troubled Serb is supposed to wear the white adidas Adilibria dress.

At the 2009 US Open the world No.13 Ivanovic will sport another adidas Adilibria dress, in purple. Read more »

Ana Ivanovic has ended her only four-month long cooperation with Craig Kardon, a former coach of Martina Navratilova, Lindsay Davenport, Mary Pierce and Jennifer Capriati.

"I'd like to thank Craig for all his hard work," said the sliding tennis star. "He's a great guy and I enjoyed working with him."

Ivanovic failed to defend her title at Roland Garros (she lost in the fourth round) and will be back with Sven Groeneveld during the Eastbourne and Wimbledon tournaments, the coach that helped her win her first and so far only Grand Slam.

The former world No.1 will be trained on a part-time basis, by the adidas Player Development Programme consisting of Darren Cahill, Gil Reyes, Mats Merkel, and already-mentioned Sven Groeneveld. (photo: Ralf Reinecke)

Ana Ivanovic, who suffured a major slump in the rankings on Monday, falling from No.8 to No.13 after exiting the French Open in the fourth round as a defending champion, is scheduled to play doubles at the AEGON International.

The 21-year-old has been offered a wildcard into the Eastbourne doubles draw, and will be partnered with Germany's Sabine Lisicki, ranked 180th in doubles.

Ivanovic hasn't played a single doubles match on the Tour since last year, during which she played only one, and is currently unranked in doubles. Her career-high doubles ranking was No.50, in Septermber 2006, after having played several tournaments alongside Russian Maria Kirilenko.

The AEGON International starts June 15. (source: Ana Ivanovic's official website, photo: Ralf Reinecke)

The two weeks of Paris claycourt excitement are over, and the rankings are mirroring the turbulence.

Dinara Safina is still No.1, despite her unfortunate and miserable loss in her second successive final of Roland Garros, and in general, the Top 4 order stayed unchanged, with Serena Williams, Venus Williams and Elena Dementieva all holding on to their positions.

The 2009 Roland Garros champion Svetlana Kuznetsova moved from No.7 to No.5.

Jelena Jankovic’s slide continues, as she dipped one spot, from No.5 to No.6, just like Vera Zvonareva, from No.6 to No.7. The biggest change in the Top 10 has happened to the last year's Roland Garros champion Ana Ivanovic, who quickly fell from No.8 to No.13, after two solid years inside the Top 10 – including 12 weeks at No.1. As a result, Victoria Azarenka moved from No.9 to No.8; Caroline Wozniacki moved from No.10 to No.9; and Nadia Petrova rose from No.11 to No.10.

Unexpected Roland Garros semifinalists Dominika Cibulkova and Samantha Stosur both climbed a lot in the rankings. Cibulkova rose from No.19 to a career-high of No.14, while Stosur rose from No.32 to No.18 (she was previously ranked No.27 at most).

Li Na earned her place in the Top 20 for the first time since 2007 by rising from No.25 to No.20.

Sorana Cirstea broke into the Top 30 for the first time, climbing from No.41 to No.27, while Michelle Larcher de Brito and Stefanie Voegele both cracked the Top 100 for the first time.

And of course, former world No.1 Maria Sharapova, who played Roland Garros 2009 ranked 102nd, has risen to No.73 after her quarterfinal finish. (photo: Ralf Reinecke)

Maria Sharapova was today playing her first match on grass since last year's Wimbledon, where she lost in the second round.

Sharapova is back on her beloved grass, although the claycourt season was everything but unsuccessful for her, and beat Stephanie Dubois 6-4 6-2 in the first round of the AEGON Classic in Birmingham. The Russian was victorious at that tournament in 2004, just before winning Wimbledon, her first Grand Slam title.

Sharapova, who has climbed from No.102 to No.73 in the world, will next face Alexa Glatch of the United States, who upset Flavia Pennetta at the recently-finished Roland Garros. (photo: Stephane Martinache)

The 2009 French Open championship match was much shorter and less thrilling than we had expected, with Svetlana Kuznetsova quickly defeating favorite Dinara Safina 6-4 6-2 in an-all Russian final. To make things worse, the world No.1 Safina double-faulted on the championship point.

The top-seeded Safina opened the match which began with an exchange of breaks. In the eighth and ninth game there was another exchange of breaks, and both players had a 40-0 lead on their opponent’s serve. Despite being quickly broken back in the ninth game, Kuznetsova broke Safina yet again in the tenth game, and took the first set.

In the second set, the seventh-seeded Kuznetsova earned breaks in the sixth and eighth games, to prevent the 23-year-old Safina from claiming her maiden Grand Slam title.

Safina has failed to crown her spectacular clay-court season, including her impressive run to the French Open finals, by losing her third Grand Slam final and second successive at Roland Garros. The 23-year-old Kuznetsova won her second Grand Slam title in her fourth major final.

Moreover, we are still having a shaky and slamless player on top of the rankings. Safina had an excellent chance, as well as ability, to make herself stand out from the rest, but she wasted the opportunity and hence failed to restore balance in women’s tennis.

The 74-minute match is the eighth consecutive straight sets women's final at Roland Garros. (photo: Stephane Martinache)

Spain’s No.3 seeds Anabel Medina Garrigues and Virginia Ruano Pascual have won their second consecutive French Open doubles title by beating 12th seeds Belorussian Victoria Azarenka and Russian Elena Vesnina 6-1 6-1.

Here’s what the doubles world No.6 Ruano Pascual said of her pairing with the doubles No.4 Medina Garrigues:

"We complete each other. She gives me the power I lack in my shots, and I give my strategic view."

The 35-year-old Ruano Pascual has now won her sixth French Open doubles title, and her tenth Grand Slam doubles title.

The Spaniards will split $435,000. (source: AP, photo via Yahoo)

This is probably the first time I was successful at predicting finalists, Dinara Safina and Svetlana Kuznetsova have been by far my strongest favorites for Roland Garros title. The top-seeded Safina and seventh-seeded Kuznetsova defeated their semifinal opponents, Dominika Cibulkova and Samantha Stosur respectively, to make an all-Russian 2009 French Open final.

World number one Dinara Safina reached her second successive Roland Garros final by capitalizing on a series of costly errors from Slovakia’s world number 19 Dominika Cibulkova to win a scrappy match 6-3 6-3.

"I'm trying to control my emotions. I'm not playing my best, but still it's not easy to beat me," said Safina.

The 2006 French Open runner-up Kuznetsova served for the match in the second set and then squandered a 5-2 lead in the tiebreak, but recovered her nerve in the decider to defeat surprise semifinalist Samantha Stosur of Australia. Stosur will be a member of the Top 20 when the rankings are released on Monday.

Match-up: The 2006 US Open champion Kuznetsova will be competing in her fourth Grand Slam final, and Safina in her third. Safina leads their head-to-head record 8-5, and she won their last match, in the Rome final. However, Kuznetsova is the only player to have beaten Safina on clay this season. This should be the most thrilling French Open final we could get right now. (source: BBC, photos: Tennis Channel, Sony Ericsson WTA Tour)