World No.1 Caroline Wozniacki managed to crown her red clay season just a day before the start of the French Open – in the final of the inaugural Premier-level Brussels Ladies Open the Dane defeated surprise finalist Peng Shuai even though the Chinese convincingly took the first set 6-2. Final score: 2-6 6-3 6-3.

Wozniacki improved in the second set against the eighth-seeded Peng, ranked 31st in the world, but a concerning thing happened in the third set when Wozniacki needed medical treatment on her left thigh.

As Wozniacki is one of the favorites for the French Open and bares quite a pressure to win her first Grand Slam title there, let's just briefly have a look at her clay season:

• title win on the green clay of Charleston
• runner-up in Stuttgart
• third round in Madrid
• semifinals in Rome
• title in Brussels

Therefore, her win-loss record on clay courts this season is 17-3. Two of the losses were to Julia Goerges and one to Maria Sharapova. Also, in the Brussels Ladies Open semifinals she defeated reigning French Open champion Francesca Schiavone in a thrilling encounter that lasted more than two hours and a half. (photo: Ralf Reinecke)

Roland Garros 2011 has been awaited as a big occasion for world No.1 Caroline Wozniacki to win her maiden Grand Slam, or as a venue where Kim Clijsters will reassert the dominance of the "old generation", or maybe as an unexpected place for Maria Sharapova to remind us what she's made of. Let's not forget defending champion Francesca Schiavone and an always-lurking possibility of an emergence of a lesser known player or new player in the limelight such as Petra Kvitova and Julia Goerges.

Top seed Caroline Wozniacki will play Kimiko Date Krumm in the first round, and then has possible matches against Daniela Hantuchova and the 2009 French Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova. In the quarterfinals the Dane could face last year's runner-up Samantha Stosur. But let's not overlook that world No.18 Julia Goerges, who largely owes her fame to the two recent victories over Wozniacki, is in the same quarter of the draw.

Third seed Vera Zvonareva is in the second quarter, as well as defending champion Francesca Schiavone, who failed to impress in the clay lead-up to the French Open but this week in Brussels she reached the semifinals where she lost to Wozniacki. The Italian's first opponent will be Melanie Oudin. Jelena Jankovic, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Flavia Pennetta, Alisa Kleybanova and Nadia Petrova are also in this quarter. Read more »

The semifinal encounter of world No.1 Caroline Wozniacki and reigning French Open champion Francesca Schiavone was not interesting only because all eyes are on Wozniacki's clay play ahead of the French Open and because Schiavone is defending her title there, but also because they happen to be in the same half of the today-announced draw for the clay court Grand Slam. Wozniacki proved to be a bit better from her Italian opponent and edged a 6-4 4-6 6-3 victory.

At 4-4 in the first set, Wozniacki won her service game to love and to take the first set she followed it by breaking Schiavone to love. The second set was again leveled at 4-4, but then Schiavone broke for a 5-4 lead and won the next, long game, after saving break points. The third set was the most tightly-contested. Wozniacki opened up with a 2-0 lead, as Schiavone piled up three unforced errors in the second game. And even though Schiavone broke back right away, later, in the eighth game, Wozniacki earned a crucial break and went on to reach the Brussels Open final. Read more »

The Brisbane International tournament, taking place in the beginning of the season, will be more significant as of 2012, as the WTA awarded it a Premier level status. The aim of this move is to strengthen the start of the tennis year by attracting more big names to the event whose prize money will increase from the current $220,000 to $655,000 in 2012, and it will sore further to $1,000,000 from 2013.

The more valuable Brisbane tournament, being held at the state-of-the-art Queensland Tennis Centre since 2009, will start January 2, 2012. The following players have won the title in Brisbane so far: Victoria Azarenka, Kim Clijsters and Petra Kvitova.

Additional info: the WTA has also announced interesting stats backing up the success of the new Roadmap unveiled in 2009. Maybe we have a feeling that everyone is injured, but the WTA’s data tells a different story:

- 15% increase in top player participation at the WTA's Premier events
- 46% decrease in player withdrawals (photo: twenty90seven, source: WTA Tour)

Top two seeds at the Brussels Open had a rest in the quarterfinal after their difficult second round wins. No.1 seed Caroline Wozniacki played only two full games when her opponent, Yanina Wickmayer, retired with a low back injury. Second seed Vera Zvonareva won the first ten games and lost only one game in her match-up with Alexandra Dulgheru.

Seed No.3 Francesca Schiavone defeated Ayumi Morita 6-2 6-3 in the quarterfinals and will play the top-ranked Wozniacki in the semis. It will be an interesting encounter ahead of the French Open, as even though the Dane won their last three encounters, it was Schiavone who was victorious in their only match on clay and it was last year at the French Open.

As for Zvonareva, she will play Peng Shuai in the semifinals, to whom she hasn’t lost in their seven meetings. The eighth-seeded Peng defeated Sofia Arvidsson in the quarters and reached her fourth semifinal of the season. (photo: sr_cranks)

This should be interesting! Bethanie Mattek Sands, vastly known for her daring tennis clothes, started working with none other than Lady Gaga's fashion designer, Alex Noble.

Now I'm trying to open my mind as much as I can but I still can't imagine what they could come up with. We got a hint, though – the look they're making together will involve tennis balls and strings, and it will be "badass".

I'm looking forward to something really crazy, my expectations are high! And the fact that they both got very inspired is a bizarrely promising start.

Top two seeds at the inaugural Premier-level tournament of the Brussels Open, Caroline Wozniacki and Vera Zvonareva, both advanced to the quarterfinals, but not without considerable effort.

Zvonareva found herself 6-2 3-2 down against Galina Voskoboeva, before rallying back to beat the Kazakh qualifier 2-6 6-4 6-3. The Russian said she needed some time to get accustomed to the new court and new atmosphere, while her opponent got that sort of preparation during qualifying.

As for the world No.1 Wozniacki, she rallied from a break down in both sets to defeat American Varvara Lepchenko 6-4 7-6(5) on the fifth match point. In their only previous meeting, which was also on clay, Wozniacki was much more productive, defeating Lepchenko 6-3 6-1 in Madrid in 2009. Read more »

Serena Williams will not play Roland Garros, but that doesn't mean Nike hasn't prepared a dress for the missing 13-time Grand Slam champion. Big stars have dedicated clothes even for events they are not attending.

At the 2011 French Open, Serena was supposed to wear a so called Nike Women's Summer Smash Knit Dress. The dress is pink with can-can ruffles and an underlayer providing a touch of gray. The shoes are Nike Mirabella. Read more »

The pain from the ankle injury is still present, but Kim Clijsters' determination is overpowering it, and the Belgian has confirmed her participation at the 2011 French Open.

The advantage is that I still have the spirit of the past Grand Slam tournaments. If I play well, I can win. Attitude is very important, even though the situation is physically very different.

The second-ranked Clijsters sustained the injury at her cousin's wedding in April and hasn't played competitive tennis since. She resumed training earlier this month and the French Open will be her first event after the injury. However, we shouldn't worry for Clijsters, she's a master of comebacks.

Everything is going well. I am hitting the ball well. I still feel a little bit of pain in the ankle, but I have a tight bandage on it and that helps me.

In 2001 and 2003 Clijsters played the final of Roland Garros. The first one she lost to Jennifer Capriati and the second to Justine Henin. (source: CNN, photo: sr_cranks)

Petra Kvitova won the Madrid Open and cracked the Top 10, but in the lead-up for the French Open she chose a $100000 ITF Challenger in Prague instead of the Premier-level event in Rome. Kvitova reached the final of the tournament in her home Czech Republic and lost it to Slovakian world No.61 Magdalena Rybarikova 6-3 6-4, but the really bad thing is that she sustained a hip injury during the week.

I still don't know how serious it is, but she looked all happy at the trophy ceremony and the WTA's official website doesn't even mention the injury. However, Kvitova was supposed to play the Brussels Ladies Open and is not in the draw any more.

A very nice thing about Kvitova's participation at the ITF event in Prague is that she chose to play there out of loyalty for the people who had supported her since the juniors.

Talking about injuries and troubles lurking the 2011 French Open, Serena Williams’ withdrawal was soon followed by her sister Venus'. Kim Clijsters is still marked as doubtful for the French Open, although I believe she will play. If she happens to skip it, she will start preparing for grass court season and play at the Unicef Open in the Netherlands. (source: Women Who Serve, photo: sr_cranks)