World-record tennis crowd watches Kim Clijsters beat Serena Williams

'Best of Belgium versus Best of the World'

Record-crowd was watching the  exhibition match between Serena Williams and Kim Clijsters at the King Baudouin Stadium in Belgium on Thursday and the world No.1 Williams was the one who lost 6-3 6-2.

One of the aims of the event was to attract the greatest number of spectators ever and to break the record of 30,472 people watching the match between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs in 1973. The organizers' goal was reached as there were 35,681 people in attendance of the Williams vs. Clijsters match.

Francesca Schiavone, Serena Williams, Kim Clijsters, Martina Navratilova

The original name of the event was "Best of Belgium" as it was supposed to feature Belgium’s stars Justine Henin and Kim Clijsters, but as Henin had to skip it due to the elbow injury sustained at Wimbledon, Serena came in as a replacement and the event was renamed to "Best of Belgium versus Best of the World".

Martina Navratilova was honorary chair judge, and French Open champion Francesca Schiavone was also present. (sources: Tennis Served Fresh, Simply Serena Williams)

Fashion radar: WTA players' Wimbledon whites

Wimbledon may have strict dress code but there still is enough space for players and their brands to experiment and bring something new and exciting. Let's see how successful they've been this year.

Serena and Venus Williams at Wimbledon 2010

Let's start with Venus and Serena Williams. We've already paid close attention to both Venus' Eleven dress and Serena's Nike dress, but it's worth mentioning them again – Venus was definitely unique with fringes all over the bottom part of the dress, while Serena wore a more classic design inspired by strawberries and cream and a cute narrow headband. Just to use the opportunity to mention that the sisters, twice defending champions, lost in doubles quarterfinals today to Elena Vesnina and Vera Zvonareva 3-6 6-3 6-4.

Jelena Jankovic at Wimbledon 2010

Chinese brand ANTA and Jelena Jankovic were simple and classy at this year's Wimbledon. JJ also sported a customized racquet bag and was fully equipped for the greatest Grand Slam.

Caroline Wozniacki at Wimbledon 2010

Once my favorite tennis fashion designer Stella McCartney seems to be lacking inspiration as Caroline Wozniacki has been wearing pretty much the same dress for months. Now I can't blame her, why bother when you're going to lose your match in 46 minutes (sorry, Caro). Talking about Stella, we have to mention Maria Kirilenko who looks awesome even in the simple adidas BARRICADE top and skort. Read more »

Serena sees off Sharapova, Clijsters beats Henin in Wimbledon fourth round

Maria Sharapova

Top seed Serena Williams beat Maria Sharapova 7-6(9) 6-4 to advance to the quarterfinals of Wimbledon. The 16th-seeded Russian came back from an early break of serve but wasted three set points in the first set tiebreak. One break of serve was enough for Williams to take the second set and hence the match. The defending champion’s serve is still in a rocking form and Sharapova confirms it: "She served extremely well, the best she's ever served against me, and that was the difference." Read more »

Justine Henin and Kim Clijsters set up fourth round clash at Wimbledon

Kim ClijstersJustine Henin

Belgians Justine Henin and Kim Clijsters are set to continue their rivalry in the fourth round of Wimbledon as they will play each other for the 25th time in their careers. Currently, the former world No.1s are tied at 12-12, but Henin has a 3-1 record against Clijsters on grass, and that sole loss came by retirement. Their last meeting on grass was in the semifinals of Wimbledon 2006 and Henin won it.

The eighth-seeded Clijsters advanced to the fourth round of Wimbledon with a routine win over No.27 seed Maria Kirilenko, 6-3 6-3. On Center Court, seed No.17 Henin stormed through the first set and rallied from 3-1 down in the second set to beat seed No.12 Nadia Petrova for the sixth straight time and with the score 6-1 6-4. Henin has never lost in the third round of a Grand Slam and her record is 27-0 now.

Fourth seed Jelena Jankovic cruised past No.28 seed Alona Bondarenko 6-0 6-3 and will have another shot at reaching her first Wimbledon quarterfinals. The 2007 Wimbledon finalist Marion Bartoli, seeded 11th this year, got past qualifier Greta Arn 6-3 6-4. Second seed and five-time Wimbledon champion Venus Williams also advanced, with a 6-4 6-2 victory over Alisa Kleybanova. (photos: sr_cranks, © Neal Trousdale)

Victoria Azarenka beats Kim Clijsters for Eastbourne semis

Victoria AzarenkaFifth seed Kim Clijsters may have lost just three games and spent just 92 minutes in the victories over Yanina Wickmayer and Lucie Safarova en route to the quarterfinals of the AEGON International , but the Belgian struggled against Victoria Azarenka and lost 7-6(6) 6-4. Azarenka is now 1-2 in career meetings with Clijsters.

Unseeded Azarenka upset fourth seed Agnieszka Radwanska in round one and followed it up with a victory over Heather Watson for her first back-to-back wins in six tournaments.

In other quarterfinal matches of the day in Eastbourne, third seed Samantha Stosur reached her fifth semifinal of the year with a 6-7(5) 6-1 6-0 win over Elena Baltacha, eighth-seeded Marion Bartoli edged Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez 5-7 6-4 7-6(5) and advanced to the semifinals of Eastbourne for the fourth straight year, while the 2004 champion Svetlana Kuznetsova keeps fallings and her latest loss is to qualifier Ekaterina Makarova in straight sets 6-4 7-5. (photo: Stephane Martinache)


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