Fifth seed Samantha Stosur became the highest-seeded casualty of Wimbledon 2012 so far, continuing her poor record at the tournament, while Caroline Wozniacki suffered a surprise loss to Tamira Paszek in terms of ranking, but not as much of a surprise since Paszek won the grasscourt Eastbourne over the weekend.

Wimbledon is the only Grand Slam where Stosur has a negative record, as she has never been beyond the third round in nine appearances, and this year is no exception thanks to Arantxa Rus. The 21-year-old Rus made headlines at this year's Roland Garros by reaching the fourth round, beating Virginie Razzano (Serena Williams' famous conqueror) and then Julia Goerges. This time, Rus won six games in a row to win the first set against Stosur, and despite suffering a bagel in the following set, she quickly went up in the third and prevented Stosur from coming back to eventually win the second-round match 6-2 0-6 6-4.

The seventh-seeded Caroline Wozniacki lost in the first round already and it is the first time in her career that she loses a Wimbledon opener, while the last three times she played the fourth round. Tamira Paszek came out on top in the rain-interrupted match and won 5-7 7-6(4) 6-4 after saving two match points in the second set. Remember that Paszek saved five match points in the Eastbourne final against Angelique Kerber?

I'd also like to mention that third seed Agnieszka Radwanska progressed to the third round without hitting even one unforced error in her 6-2 6-1 victory over Elena Vesnina. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)

Petra Kvitova, Agnieszka Radwanska and Caroline Wozniacki - seeds number two, one and three respectively – went out in the first round of the AEGON International in Eastbourne.

Last year Kvitova was runner-up at the grasscourt tournament and she went on to win Wimbledon. This year, however, the Czech opened her grass season with a loss to fellow lefty Ekaterina Makarova 7-5 6-4, whom she defeated to reach the quarterfinals in 2011. Makarova, the 2010 Eastbourne champion and the semifinalist last week in Birmingham, scored her first Top 5 win.

Agnieszka Radwanska, top seed and champion at Eastbourne in 2008, fell in the first round to Tsvetana Pironkova 6-2 6-4, Wimbledon 2011 quarterfinalist and Wimbledon 2010 semifinalist, while third seed Caroline Wozniacki lost to Christina McHale 6-1 6-7(7) 6-4.

However, defending champion and fourth seed Marion Bartoli advanced to the second round with a 6-2 6-2 win over Sorana Cirstea. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)

After contributing to Women's Tennis Blog with his Kaia Kanepi interview, David Fearnhead, journalist and author of novel Bailey of the Saints, wrote an exclusive article discussing the curse of the sporting romance on the example of former No.1 and current No.9 Caroline Wozniacki, who is dating golfer Rory McIlroy.

Sports people by their very nature are obsessives. It’s what gives them their edge. It’s what drives them on where others would quit. It’s the glue which binds their personality and profession together. We’ve all heard professional athletes talk of "being in the zone". It’s this seeking of perfection which delivers their euphoria.

The danger with all obsession fuelled careers though, is that one day the focus of that obsession might change. There’s the old favourites of gambling, drugs, drink, and sex addiction, which have seen the downfall of many a stellar career. However, the recent troubles of Wozniacki and her beau have led me to suspect that a plain old four-letter word may also be terminable disease for a professional athlete. Could love be a career killer on tour?

The importance of love in the lives of professional sports is ripe for any novelist. Indeed in my debut novel, Bailey of the Saints, I explored such a theme. That was football, but it’s the same in all sports, certainly it’s true on the WTA Tour. The life of a player off court can and does affect their performance on it. Read more »

Caroline Wozniacki stripped to her underwear saying "This is me" for the purpose of advertising photos for her line of underwear to be launched worldwide in September 2012.

Wozniacki’s collection was created in collaboration with Danish underwear brand JBS, a family-run business established in 1939 and Scandinavia’s leading underwear manufacturer in terms of size, revenue and popularity.

Read more »

Every Grand Slam is a unique opportunity for tennis fashion to step up and shine in the best light, so here at Women's Tennis Blog I always compile a collage of WTA photos to show the variety of styles in one place. For this French Open I played with movie making a bit and made this slideshow video. I hope you like it! Of course, don't forget to click the YouTube "Like" button if you do!

I included a lot of brands in the video, so that you get as comprehensive picture as possible. You can see players wearing Nike, Adidas,  Lotto, Reebok, Anta, Lacoste, Asics, Under Armour, EleVen, Fila and Adidas by Stella McCartney.

As you'll notice in the video, my pick for the best look of the 2012 French Open is Serena Williams, even though her display of the three-shade green Nike dress lasted for just one match (a long and exciting one, though). Also perfect was Ana Ivanovic and all the others who sported the Adidas Adizero style in lime and core energy.

Who's on your best-dressed list?

It's awesome being regular with these fashion overviews, so now we can easily refer to the past and compare. Check out Roland Garros designs in the past two years.

• 2011: Spring tennis fashion Roland Garros edition
• 2010: Roland Garros fashion radar – WTA outfits

Also, compare the claycourt looks with the styles sported on the blue courts in the Australian sun at Melbourne 2012.

Kaia Kanepi survived one immense choking session and one regular-size choking session to beat Caroline Wozniacki in the third round of Roland Garros 6-1 6-7(3) 6-3 on the fifth match point.

Let's first mention the timing of the match points, it will explain quite a lot about the match. The first two Kanepi had when leading 6-1 5-2, the third one came like an hour later, at 5-1 in the third set, and Kanepi double faulted to continue the agony! At 5-3 in the third set she earned the fourth one, which Wozniacki saved with a nice winner, and in that same game Kanepi finally converted a match point, her fifth one. Kanepi was serving for the match five times during the encounter!

Here's how it all began. Kanepi raced to a 6-1 5-1 lead in the match. Wozniacki then won a perfect game on her serve, but I thought that would be just a short defense of pride as Kanepi was serving for the match in the following game. However, the outcome turned out to be quite
different. Leading 6-1 5-2 30-0, Kanepi missed a sure point on the net and her choking session began, which turned into a huge choking session.  Read more »

Maria Kirilenko and Caroline Wozniacki took the streets of Paris in embraces of their boyfriends and ensured a photo proof with the city landmarks adorning the background.

Kirilenko and NHL star Alex Ovechkin hugged in the middle of traffic on the Champs-Élysées with the Arc de Triomphe glowing in the distance. Alex himself shared the photo on Twitter, saying: "Me and Maria in city of LOVE." Read more »

Remember how Maria Sharapova's former coach Michael Joyce recently criticized Caroline Wozniacki's tendency to let go of coaches too easily? Well, the Dane again has a new coach in her team, the 2002 Australian Open champion Thomas Johansson, and he will stick around at least through the US Open, while he's already been working with the Wozniacki camp for a few weeks.

Wozniacki's father explained that they have already set up a plan with Johansson and after Roland Garros Wozniacki will start training with him in Monaco. By the way, the 37-year-old Johansson has another job, as well as a family.

Just like Joyce pointed out in his criticism that Wozniacki needs to give her coaches more time to prove themselves, Johansson said: "We must give it some time. One doesn't make no miracles in such a short time." (source: Tennis.com, photo: © Neal Trousdale)