Flavia Pennetta eliminated second seed Samantha Stosur from the Mercury Insurance Open and reached the semifinals with a 6-4 6-3 victory. All the top three seeds are out of the tournament now: Jelena Jankovic, Samantha Stosur and Vera Zvonareva.

The world No. 15 Pennetta has never lost to Stosur in their three career meetings, but it’s her first Top 10 victory since last year’s US Open. Stosur is ranked fifth.

During the quarterfinal of the Mercury Insurance Open, Stosur hit no aces and served five double faults, compared to Pennetta’s eight aces and only one double fault. Also, Pennetta had 19 winners and Stosur 12.

The Italian’s opponent in the semis will be Svetlana Kuznetsova. The Russian ended the hopes of qualifier Coco Vandeweghe, who upset third seed Vera Zvonareva in the second round. Kuznetsova beat Vandeweghe 7-5 6-2. (photo by John Bolan)

Estonian Kaia Kanepi won her first Sony Ericsson WTA Tour singles title by defeating defending champion and top seed Flavia Pennetta 6-4 6-3 in the final of the XXIII SNAI Open – Internazionali Femminili di Tennis di Palermo.

The wold No.38 Kanepi, seeded fifth in Palermo, had two runner-up finishes in the past: one in the Hasselt final against Kim Clijsters in 2006, and one in 2008 against Caroline Wozniacki in Tokyo. Pennetta’s score in career finals is 9-11 now and 7-7 on clay.

Today in Palermo Kanepi scored her first victory over Pennetta on clay, and they are now 3-3 in head-to-head meetings.

Prior to Palermo, Kanepi had three quarterfinal appearances this season, including one at Wimbledon where she lost to Petra Kvitova. (photo: Stephane Martinache)

Wimbledon is just days away and the annual party celebrating the tournament was held at the Roof Gardens in West London's Kensington last night. As usual, the WTA players gave their best to look good and glamorous, and oh well, as usual, their success was sporadic.

Let's start with the bright examples. Venus Williams and Maria Sharapova were spot on. Their dresses are perfect fits and just right for the occasion.

Defending champion Serena Williams looked like a pop star and I'm sure this profile picture will stay remembered for a while. Dinara Safina was having one of her better appearances, although I'm convinced this is not the best she can offer. Read more »

Thanks to our reader Jacob we have information about the most probable fashion choices of Nike and adidas for their players and the upcoming Wimbledon.

Maria Sharapova will wear the Striking Lawn Dress. The Russian is apparently still in the mood for layers and elegant dresses. Personally, I preferred her other phases, but I can’t say her recent designs have been bad. The straps of this white Wimbledon dress are crossing at the back.

Much more appealing to me is the dress that Ana Ivanovic and Flavia Pennetta will most probably wear – adidas’ Women's adilibria Dress. Again, at first glance it looks more sporty and simple than Sharapova's Nike, and I prefer the cleaner lines. This dress is also available in pink, and looks even better than the white version. (source: ProTennis)

Grand Slams are the places where tennis players want to look their best and sponsors want to use the opportunity of huge publicity to market their products. Let's have a look at what women's tennis stars are sporting during one such event, Roland Garros 2010 in Paris.

Venus Williams raised many eyebrows by her lingerie-like black dress. But the dress raises all the eyebrows when in action!

Sorana Cirstea lost on Day one to Svetlana Kuznetsova, but her adidas dress can win all the awards, if you asked me. Just like Ana Ivanovic's.

Bethanie Mattek-Sands is wearing her cool tube socks and looks sporty. Well, Venus took Bethanie's role of ball boy distractor. Caroline Wozniacki, nice dress but nothing new, really nothing. Read more »