At the previous Grand Slam, the 2012 US Open, Laura Robson made it to the fourth round by upsetting Li Na and Kim Clijsters on the way, and now she's through to the third round of the Australian Open, having taken out Wimbledon champion and eighth seed Petra Kvitova 2-6 6-3 11-9 in a match that finished after midnight local time.

Kvitova finished the match in which, according to her own words, her serve was worse than ever, and 18 double faults surely confirm the Czech's resentment at herself, although 18 aces did provide a good counter-balance. In the third set Kvitova built a 3-0 lead, playing the best tennis of the match, but the 18-year-old Robson then broke her three times to go up 6-5. Kvitova broke back again and a few upcoming games went with serve until Robson again took her opponent's serve and held to love to advance to the third round of a Grand Slam for the second time in her career.

The new face of Adidas by Stella McCartney next plays Sloane Stephens for a chance to avenge her last week's Hobart loss to the American 19-year-old. It's been their only career meeting so far. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)

Thanks to Marine of Tennis Notebook I'm learning that Adidas by Stella McCartney is dropping the idea of being represented exclusively by one player. The brand was first promoted by Russian beauty Maria Kirilenko, before she got replaced late in 2009 by more consistent and subsequent world No.1 Caroline Wozniacki. Now, after Wozniacki's three-year exclusivity with Stella, new faces are joining the story: Laura Robson and Andrea Petkovic. Read more »

Victoria Azarenka is the only WTA player competing at the season-ending Championships that's active this week ahead of the luxurious event – all the other seven women in the singles field, except Angelique Kerber who is set to play Luxembourg next week, have nothing left on their schedule but the Championships – and at the ongoing Generali Ladies Linz, the No.1 is simply continuing the stellar momentum that earned her the Beijing title last week.

The Belarusian is now in the final of the Austrian tournament, having lost just 11 games en route to the title match. Imagine, she hasn't lost more than two games per set in her victories over Arantxa Rus, Simona Halep, Petra Martic, and today Irina-Camelia Begu, while last week she won a Premier Mandatory tournament losing four games in just two sets!

In the final, Azarenka will face fifth seed Julia Goerges, who beat Kirsten Flipkens 1-6 6-2 6-3 in the semis. Azarenka's prospects are good for her 66th match win this season and her sixth title of the year. She's 3-1 head-to-head against Goerges, and even that one loss came through retirement, while her record on hardcourts this year is stunning, 44-4.

Enjoying the successful week in Linz, Azarenka joined the dance troupe performing on the court and showed some moves, including, of course, the Gangnam Style. Read more »

After her successful run to the fourth round of the US Open, Laura Robson continued to make her mark, as she had expected from the Asian tournaments which suit her game, and became the first British woman in 22 years to reach a WTA final (a period longer than Robson's lifetime), but in the title match at the Guangzhou Open, the 18-year-old fell short to Hsieh Su-Wei 6-3 5-7 6-4.

Robson was expecting a big opponnent in the 26-year-old Hsieh, who had beaten her in their only previous meeting and whose shots she finds hard to read. In the final, it looked like the Brit would lose in straight sets, but she saved five match points and even went 3-0 up in the third set, before losing to the Chinese Taipei's player. Read more »

After Grand Slams, you are used to our contributor Omair giving unofficial titles to players based on their performances, and for the recently-finished US Open he did the same, but with a little twist, he gave names to players inspired by animated movies. We hope you'll like it!

SERENA WILLIAMS – RANGO

Serena not only won her 15th major, but proved again that she is not done yet with tennis by winning the second straight Grand Slam and the Olympics in between. Serena lost a total of 19 games en route to the US Open final, where she was pushed hard by Victoria Azarenka, who even served for the championship in the third set, but Serena showed her superior class and experience to bring her opponent back to earth and win her fourth US Open title. In doing so, Serena showed everyone that "No man can walk out of his own story", just like Rango.

VICTORIA AZARENKA – VECTOR

Vector from "Despicable Me" tried in every way to let Gru down, but in the end he lost and Gru won. Azarenka gave everything she had, but she came up short to one of the best players in tennis history. Don’t take it negatively. By giving Azarenka the title of Vector, I don’t refer to the vicious methods Vector used in the movie, I am thinking of the positive side of it, that she fought with her whole heart and body, but in the end she had to satisfy herself with the runner-up trophy.

MARIA SHARAPOVA – TANGLED

Sharapova was not at her best in her last three matches, yet she never gave up, fighting hard to stay alive in the fourth round against Nadia Petrova, then in the quarters against Marion Bartoli, and then in the semis she finally got tangled in her service demons and succumbed to the pressure of Victoria Azarenka. Read more »