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 »

Four-time French Open champion Justine Henin was making her first appearance at the tournament since winning it in 2007 and defeated Tsvetana Pironkova 6-4 6-3 to reach the second round. The Belgian world No.23 now has 22 straight wins at the French Open, and 21 of those came between 2005 and 2007, in the period Henin won three straight titles in Paris. In addition, the 27-year-old Henin has won 37 straight sets at the tournament, which is the longest streak in the Open Era.

Ninth seed Dinara Safina, finalist here in Paris last year and the year before, was stunned by world No.72 Kimiko Date Krumm in the first round already. The 39-year-old Date Krumm, who made her French Open debut when her today’s opponent was only three-years-old, scored a 3-6 6-4 7-5 victory. The former world No.1 Safina made 17 double faults.

The 1995 French Open semifinalist Date Krumm, who returned to tennis in 2008 after a 12-year retirement, became the second oldest player to win a main draw women's singles match at the tournament since the game turned professional.

Seed No.22 Henin will play Klara Zakopalova in the second round, while Date Krumm will face Jarmila Groth. (photos: HWeidemannPhotography, sydney-yokochin)

Playing her first match since winning the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart in the end of last month, Justine Henin was bageled in the third set by Aravane Rezai and lost in the opening round of the $4,500,000 Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open.

The 4-6 7-5 6-0 victory of Rezai over Henin on clay is making us question Henin’s title prospects for the upcoming French Open, but as usual in women’s tennis, everything is possible and you never know what will happen.

The world No.22 Rezai will play Dinara Safina in the second round, if the Russian defeats Klara Zakapalova in their first-round match. (photo: Stephane Martinache)

Former world No.1 Justine Henin returned to the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour in January and today at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart she won her first comeback title, having finished runner-up at Brisbane and Australian Open. The Belgian’s opponent in today's final was Australian Samantha Stosur, whom she was playing for the first time.

The 26-year-old Stosur entered the Stuttgart final on an 11-match winning streak on clay, but it was not rocket science that her first meeting with four-time French Open champion Henin would be a real challenge. Henin, a wildcard now projected to return to the Top 20, didn’t need more than one break point to take her opponent’s service game and then the first set. In the following set, the Australian seventh seed, a wildcard as a late entrant, held serve throughout and broke Henin two times to win 6-2. In the decider, Henin was strong on her serve and allowed Stosur to win only one game. Final score: 6-4 2-6 6-1.

Henin won her 42th WTA singles title and her second at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix. Prize for the winner was $107,000 and a Porsche sports car, while the runner-up took home $56,000. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)

Seven-time Grand Slam champion Justine Henin will have a chance to win her first title since coming out of retirement, having reached the final at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix on her beloved clay. It will be the Belgian’s 60 Tour final and her opponent will be fellow wildcard Samantha Stosur.

The former world No.1 Henin didn’t have a birthday present for Shahar Peer and defeated the Israeli 6-3 6-2 in the semifinals. Even lack of sleep and cold couldn’t stop Henin, who is currently ranked four places lower than Peer.

Australia’s Samantha Stosur reached her eighth final on the WTA Tour with a 7-5 6-3 victory over 138th-ranked qualifier Anna Lapushchenkova. Stosur had to come from 5-2 behind to take the first set. By the way, if you’re interested in reading more about Lapushchenkova, I suggest a short but very informative article at Diane’s blog about women’s tennis.

Although Stosur is in excellent form, having confirmed that with the Charleston title last month, the first meeting with Henin, especially on clay, will be a great challenge. And apparently, the fact that Henin is playing her first tournament on clay in two years will not be an obstacle. In addition, the Belgian won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in 2007. (photos: sr_cranks)

I sometimes think that a win over Justine Henin would be a greater career achievement for Jelena Jankovic than a Grand Slam title. Both are former world No.1s, but Jankovic has an embarrassing 0-10 record against Henin.

Jankovic was close to defeating Henin many times. They have played six three-setters so far, including today in the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix quarterfinals, but Jankovic never had the nerve or that important something to go all the way. Moreover, out of those six matches played in three sets, Jankovic won the first set five times, which was the case today as well.

The two hadn’t met since the 2007 Sony Ericsson Championships and today’s quarterfinal in Stuttgart was interesting because it was their first encounter since Henin came out of retirement. As many times before, things started well for the fourth-seeded Jankovic and she took the first set 6-3. In the second set Henin hit 24 unforced errors to Jankovic’s 11, but the Belgian wildcard had 24 winners compared to Jankovic’s 8. Nevertheless, Jankovic had a chance to win the set, as she lost only in the tiebreak which ended with the score 7-4. In the third set Jankovic came back from 0-2 to lead 3-2, but then the beginning of her end started and she finally lost the match 3-6 7-6(4) 6-3.

Henin’s opponent in the semifinals will be Shahar Peer of Israel, who advanced with a 6-3 6-2 victory over rusty Dinara Safina, seeded second. (photo: sr_cranks)

Justine Henin and Kim Clijsters, two former Belgian world No.1s  that have nine Grand Slam singles titles between them, will face each other for the 23rd time in their fruitful careers and the occasion will be the 2010 Sony Ericsson Open semifinals. Their head-to-head record is very close – Henin leads the series 12-11.

Justine Henin, wildcard entry into the tournament, has beaten her fourth seeded opponent in a row with a 6-7(5) 6-3 6-4 triumph over seed No.2 Caroline Wozniacki in the Sony Ericsson Open quarterfinals, while No.14 seed Kim Clijsters defeated No.9 seed Samantha Stosur 6-3 7-5 in the second quarterfinal of the day.

The world No.33 Henin, who is projected to return to the Top 30 next week, had committed 31 unforced errors in the first set, before her game became more stable. In the third set she lost only two of 22 service points and closed out the match against Wozniacki with a love game.

Clijsters, currently ranked 16th, played her quarterfinal aggressively and Stosur, who pulled off come-from-behind wins in her first two matches in Miami and then upset No.7 seed Jelena Jankovic in the last round, couldn’t overcome the power of the two-time Grand Slam champion.

"It has always been special and it will always be special," Henin said on the rivalry with Clijsters. "Kim and I grew up together, arrived on the tour at the same time, played well at the same time, retired at the same time, and now we came back at the same time. It's amazing. We have never stopped respecting each other. Never, ever, ever."

Additional info: The other semifinal at the Sony Ericsson Open features Venus Williams and Marion Bartoli. (photos: Twenty90seven)

Both Belgian former top-ranked players Justine Henin and Kim Clijsters defeated their third-round opponents at the 2010 Sony Ericsson Open in Miami and progressed to the fourth round of the Premier-level tournament.

Seven time Grand Slam champion Henin, who entered the event as a wildcard, continued her solid display with a 6-4 6-4 victory over seed No.26 Dominika Cibulkova. Earlier in the day, two-time US Open champion Clijsters, who had beaten Petra Kvitova 6-1 6-1 in the second round, lost just one game against 17th seed Shahar Peer to win her third-round match 6-0 6-1.

Clijsters won the Sony Ericsson Open in 2005, while Henin held a double match point in the 2007 final against Serena Williams, but failed to make that last step and lost the thrilling match. (photos: Esther Lim)

Wildcard Justine Henin advanced to the third round of the Sony Ericsson Open with a 6-3 6-2 victory over world No.6 Elena Dementieva.

The former world No.1 Henin, now ranked 33rd, faced no break points in the first set and broke the fifth-seeded Dementieva three times in the second set to beat the Russian once again this year, after their second-round encounter at the Australian Open.

The win over a strong players such as Dementieva is important for Henin who is still building up her comeback, since she lost early at her last tournament (Indian Wells) and has been working hard since then.

The 27-year-old Henin will play seed No.26 Dominika Cibulkova in the third round. (photo: Esther Lim)

The BNP Paribas Open came to a close on Sunday and its two weeks caused a few important changes in the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour rankings, the most notable one being that Justine Henin is once again a ranked player.

Seven-time Grand Slam singles champion Henin abruptly quit tennis in May 2008 and became the first player ever to retire while holding world No.1 ranking, however, since the Belgian’s ranking was not protected, she returned to the Tour in January 2010 as an unranked player. Only now, having competed in three tournaments since the comeback, Henin has earned her ranking back. The 27-year-old had reached back-to-back finals at Brisbane and the Australian Open, in Indian Wells she lost in the second round, and is now holding the 33rd spot.

Other significant moves include Caroline Wozniacki’s rise from No.4 to a career-high of No.2 after her appearance in the Indian Wells final. Samantha Stosur was a semifinalist at Indian Wells and the success earned her the most notable rankings rise of her career, as the Australian entered the Top 10 for the first time.

There were also unfortunate significant ranking movers. Vera Zvonareva was last year’s Indian Wells titlist, but this time she lost in the fourth round and fell from No.14 to No.23. Last year’s Indian Wells runner-up Ana Ivanovic was defeated in the second round this year and left the Top 50 for the first time since 2005. The former No.1 Ivanovic fell 30 spots, from No.28 to No.58. (photo: Esther Lim)