In two quarterfinals that took place today at Roland Garros, players that advanced are those that actually consider, or at least used to consider, clay their least preferable surface.

Maria Sharapova is not a good slider on clay and four years ago at the very same tournament she famously compared her movement with a "cow on ice", but now, with a different setting in women’s tennis, she’s a title favorite and today she had a straightforward 6-0 6-3 win over Andrea Petkovic to reach the semifinals. The three-time Grand Slam champion, seeded seventh this year, is now only two wins away from completing a career slam. Just to mention, Sharapova did play the semifinals of Roland Garros in 2007 and lost to Ana Ivanovic. She lost in the quarters three times. Read more »

Traditionally, Women's Tennis Blog is doing Grand Slam fashion overviews, so let's see what major sports brands have on display at Roland Garros 2011.

World No.1 Caroline Wozniacki brought nothing new to the fashion table of Roland Garros – the 20-year-old Dane, who bowed out of the tournament in the third round already, wore the adidas by Stella McCartney Ruffle Dress which she debuted at Indian Wells in March.

Adidas impressed with an array of bright colors that perfectly contrast/match the red clay of Roland Garros. Above you can see the variety of pink, orange and green combinations on Daniela Hantuchova, Sorana Cirstea, Andrea Petkovic, Maria Kirilenko and Arantxa Rus. Here you can read more about Adidas' French Open collection.

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The WTA Tour unveiled a new ad campaign entitled "Strong is Beautiful", aimed at kindling greater engagement of fans around the world by showing all the beauty of women’s tennis players whilst also portraying them as individuals who needed to overcome various hurdles in life in order to come where they are and stay there.

The campaign features 38 WTA players and includes TV, print and digital advertisements, as well as social media applications. I like this campaign, it’s classy, artistic and doesn’t promote only the very top players. Also, I like the 30-second videos. Besides the nice music, unique styling and the wonderful scenery and atmosphere, I think it's great that some players are telling their life story in their native language. Read more »

World No.6 Li Na won Sydney and reached the final of the Australian Open in the beginning of the year, but then four straight losses followed, all the way to the Stuttgart tournament in the second half of April where she defeated Anastasija Sevastova before losing to Sabine Lisicki in the following round. The 29-year-old Li decided to make changes in her training and replaced her husband Jiang Shan's coaching by Denmark Fed Cup captain Michael Mortensen.

In the above video Mortensen is talking about his strategy for Li. Results of their cooperation are already here – Li reached the semifinals of the $4.5 million Mutua Madrid Open last week (she lost to eventual champion Petra Kvitova).
Here's how the China's first singles Grand Slam finalist commented on the partnership to Reuters:

My confidence was low and I felt I had to change my coach […] I'm not a young player so I know my body and what I can do on the court. We are focusing more on the mental side as I feel I need someone to support me.

At the ongoing tournament in Rome, Li is seeded fourth and after a bye in the first round she will play world No.46 Lourdes Dominguez Lino.

Since winning Sydney and reaching the final of the Australian Open, Li Na has lost all her opening matches (Dubai, Doha, Indian Wells and Miami), and you know what heals wounds the best, off-court activities such as commercials and photo shoots. The Chinese world No.7 distracted herself by a commercial for the new Beijing Open stadium.

World No.1 Caroline Wozniacki is making blister pads glamorous with her latest product promotion. Read more »