The WTA Tour unveiled a new ad campaign entitled "Strong is Beautiful", aimed at kindling greater engagement of fans around the world by showing all the beauty of women’s tennis players whilst also portraying them as individuals who needed to overcome various hurdles in life in order to come where they are and stay there.

The campaign features 38 WTA players and includes TV, print and digital advertisements, as well as social media applications. I like this campaign, it’s classy, artistic and doesn’t promote only the very top players. Also, I like the 30-second videos. Besides the nice music, unique styling and the wonderful scenery and atmosphere, I think it's great that some players are telling their life story in their native language. Read more »

The only tournament in Germany had four German players in the quarterfinals, but all of them that could go out actually did, and now we have only Julia Goerges representing the country in the semis of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart.

World No.1 Caroline Wozniacki was 4-1 behind in the first set against German world No.19 Andrea Petkovic, but the Dane rallied to win 10 straight games en route to a 6-4 6-1 victory. Wozniacki’s semifinal opponent will be Agnieszka Radwanska, who took out another German, Kristina Barrois, 7-5 6-3.

The quarterfinals also featured an all-German battle between Julia Goerges and Sabine Lisicki, and as Goerges won 6-4 6-4, she will be the only German representative in the final four, while playing her first Premier-level semifinal. Goerges is ranked 32nd in the world, and after Petkovic she is the second-ranked German player. Goerges’ opponent in the final four will be fifth seed Samantha Stosur, who pulled out a 2-6 6-3 7-6(3) win over world No.3 Vera Zvonareva. Stosur considers the match her best match of 2011.

There will be no play at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix on Friday, because it's a holiday. (photos: © Neal Trousdale)

Adidas made a nice presentation of their designs for Roland Garros 2011 in the form of an e-magazine called Adizene. There our beautiful player photos accompanied by a short interview embedded on the page.

You are certainly already familiar with these outfits, we've been seeing them around for months already. Ivanovic will wear her beautiful Adidas Adizero, only the pink and orange version with green details this time. I always love when clothing brands match the unmatchable colors. I especially love when for the red clay they use colors that resemble the red color of clay, and you think it would bland too much, but what you actually get is an intriguing and compatible combination. Read more »

German Andrea Petkovic came to the semifinal against struggling Maria Sharapova with the confidence of upsets over world No.1 Caroline Wozniacki in the fourth round and sixth seed Jelena Jankovic in the quarterfinals, but in the second and third sets the Russian showed the form that brought her so many titles and number one ranking to win the match 3-6 6-0 6-2.

Petkovic was dominant in the first set and it looked as if we were in for another Petko Dance. However, the match turned into a one-sided affair, to Sharapova's advantage. The Russian won 11 straight games, building a 5-0 lead in the third set, and Petkovic’s inspiring performance at the Sony Ericsson Open had a rather flat end. And this amazing result for Sharapova came despite her grueling 3-6 7-6(6) 7-6(5) win in the previous round against Alexandra Dulgheru, and an ankle injury she suffered then.

All in all, Sharapova forced a perfect revenge for her shockingly easy 6-2 6-3 loss to Petkovic at the 2011 Australian Open.

World No.23 Petkovic will crack the Top 20 when the new rankings are released on Monday, while the 13-ranked Sharapova is ensured a spot in the Top 10 again.

Even though Sharapova played the Sony Ericsson Open final in 2005 and 2006, she will try to win her first title at the tournament, either against Vera Zvonareva or 2009 champion Victoria Azarenka.

Reminder: Do join our contest for a chance to win Maria Sharapova’s Nike dress! (photos: Tidalist, © Neal Trousdale)

In a long and closely-fought rain-interrupted Sony Ericsson Open quarterfinal, Andrea Petkovic followed up her win over world No.1 Caroline Wozniacki with a 2-6 6-2 6-4 upset of sixth seed Jelena Jankovic, Miami runner-up to Serena Williams in 2008.

In the first set, the seventh-ranked Jankovic faced no break points and won 80% of points on her serve, compared to Petkovic's 49%. Also, she won 51% of return points, compared to Petkovic's low 20%.

German world No.23 Petkovic established a 2-0 lead in the beginning of the second set and even though Jankovic had multiple break points in the third game, after a long fight Petkovic increased the lead to 3-0 and solidly went on to win the set 6-2.

In the decider, it was Jankovic who was first in the better position, leading 4-2, but it was obvious it wouldn't be an easy job for her. Petkovic took charge and even though Jankovic kept fighting, and maintained the match thrilling until the end, Petkovic won four straight games to reach the semifinals of the $4,500,000 tournament. (photo: sr_cranks)

Vera Zvonareva is now just two steps away from her third successive title at the PTT Pattaya Open in Thailand. The top-seeded Russian beat world No.40 Peng Shuai 6-4 4-6 6-4 and earned her 13th consecutive win at the tournament. The victory didn’t come without a challenge, as Peng had two break points to lead 5-3 in the third set. Zvonareva’s next obstacle is Daniela Hantuchova.

Second seed Ana Ivanovic lost in today’s Pattaya quarterfinals. The Serb was defeated by Roberta Vinci, the first time in their five meetings. Final score: 7-5 6-3.

A mention of Galina Voskoboeva’s Pattaya campaign I owe to our reader and contributor John Bolan. Voskoboeva lost in the quarterfinals to Sara Errani, 2-6 6-3 6-2. But this defeated came only after she won two qualifying matches, including one against Sania Mirza (Voskoboeva's first match back from almost a year long injury), and her second-round match against third seed Maria Kirilenko.

Elsewhere, that is in Paris, another tournament is in full swing. As we’re awaiting the spectacle of the day – Kim Clijsters vs. Jelena Dokic, which could earn Kim No.1 ranking – let’s mention a great match that happened between Andrea Petkovic and Bethanie Mattek Sands. Petkovic was in charge during the beginning of the match, her service games were strong and she earned a set point. However, Mattek Sands miraculously got back into the match, and in a tiebreak won that first set, leaving Petkovic in utmost frustration.  Even though the German won the second set, Mattek Sands repeated the history and advanced to the semifinals, 7-6(4) 2-6 6-3. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)

As our reader Brenda from Argentina asked for my overview of the 2011 Australian Open tennis fashion, here it is – a little bit of every brand, a little bit of good and bad.

Let's not save the best for the last. Let's start with by far the biggest fashion attention-grabber of the tournament – Venus Williams. The American played three matches (actually two, but she started her third one) and showcased the same number of outfits. The following one is the unofficial ugliest tennis outfit of the decade.

Venus, a graduate in fashion design and the person behind clothing line EleVen, made the outfits herself.

Believe it or not, Venus' dresses, or whatever they can be called, have gained a fan base. Whoever likes Venus' latest EleVen dresses, please leave a comment! I'm sure the world would love to hear your reasoning.

I'd like to continue with Nadia Petrova, the representative of Ellesse. Petrova has also had some colorful and imaginative styles (remember her US Open 2010 outfit that had stripes of all the possible colors?). There might be sound logic behind Petrova's support of EleVen.

Another fashion favorite is always Aravane Rezai. Even though this time her family drama attracted more attention than her dress, the Frenchwoman stayed faithful to the touch of crazy uniqueness. Although, she definitely can do better!

Let's move on to adidas – plenty of it. Read more »