Earlier this year world No.10 Li Na donated all her prize money from the Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open (she reached the quarterfinals and earned $57,500) to the China Foundation for Poverty Alleviation, helping with earthquake relief efforts in Yushu County in northwest China.

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Nike is one of the best producers of tennis apparel and here’s a special about the outfits their top players will wear at Wimbledon 2010.

Maria Sharapova’s dress I’ve already talked about, and now I’ll just say that its official name is apparently the Lawn Rose Dress and its inspired by English rose petals.

Defending champion Serena Williams will wear the Control Lawn Dress, inspired by the Wimbledon tradition of strawberries and cream. The dress features piping in Voltage Cherry against the traditional white palette.

Li Na will wear a top and a skirt, in colors similar to Serena’s dress.

You can visit Nike’s 2010 Wimbledon lookbook, a site dedicated to the clothes for the grass court Grand Slam.

The 2009 runner-up Li Na has defeated Maria Sharapova for the second year in a row at the AEGON Classic, last year in the semifinals but this year in the finals to claim her first WTA title on grass.

The first set was closely fought,  with the second-seeded Sharapova making a 3-1 lead only to let Li break back and level at 3-3. During the first set Sharapova, twice titlist in Birmingham, had and converted only that one break point, while Li converted 2 of her 8 chances to break and win the first set 7-5. Li then rolled through the second set 6-1.

By winning her third WTA singles title, the first Chinese women's tennis player to enter the Top 10 will return to the elite group. (photo via AEGON Classic)

Maria Sharapova put an end to an amazing winning streak of qualifier Alison Riske to reach the AEGON Classic final for the fourth time in seven visits to Birmingham. The Russian’s opponent in the title match will be Li Na, who defeated her in the last year’s semifinals.

Riske had never won a WTA main-draw match before this week, but even after victories over Sandra Zahlavova in the first round, former world No.5 Chakvetadze, ninth seed Aleksandra Wozniak and third seed Yanina Wickmayer, the 19-year-old had fuel in her tank and took one set from Sharapova who came through with the 6-2 4-6 6-1 score.

Top seed Li Na of China also played a three-setter to beat Aravane Rezai 6-1 3-6 6-3 in the second semifinal and reach the trophy round. The Chinese No.1, who was upset by Magdalena Rybarikova in the 2009 final, is 1-5 in career meetings with Sharapova. (photo by Richard)

The last match of today’s play at the $700,000 Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart was an upset of defending champion Svetlana Kuznetsova. The third-seeded Russian lost to China's Li Na 6-3 7-5 in the second round.

The only other second-round match that took place on Wednesday happened to be an upset as well, with unseeded Shahar Peer of Israel defeating fifth seed Agnieszka Radwanska 6-3 6-7(4) 6-2. Peer had a match point in the second set, but wrapped up victory in the third to upset the Pole who had added to the slump of Ana Ivanovic in the first round.

No.4 seed Jelena Jankovic, No.6 seed Victoria Azarenka, No.7 seed Samantha Stosur, No.8 seed Yanina Wickmayer and unseeded wildcard Justine Henin were all victorious in their first-round matches.

Kuznetsova’s opponent in the last year’s Stuttgart final, Dinara Safina, is in action on Thursday and will play her first match since the Australian Open. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)

Argentinean world No.37 Gisela Dulko defeated seven-time Grand Slam champion Justine Henin in the second round of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, while British qualifier Elena Baltacha upset seventh seed Li Na of China.

The 31st-seeded Dulko broke wildcard Henin’s serve three times in the third set, converting every break point she had, before scoring a 6-2 1-6 6-4 win. When Dulko won the match, after two hours, she fell to her knees as spectators applauded to congratulate her on this amazing victory over Henin, who was a Grand Slam finalist less than two months ago.

The 26-year-old Baltacha achieved her first Top 10 victory by beating tenth-ranked Li Na in the second round. Baltacha’s win came after two hours and 50 minutes, two saved match points, recovery from 5-1 down in the third set tiebreaker and after the Briton "fought her heart out". World No.65 Baltacha's final result was 7-6(6) 2-6 7-6(7).

Dulko’s opponent in the third round will be fifth seed Agnieszka Radwanska, while Baltacha will play wildcard Alicia Molik. (photo: Ralf Reinecke)

Fellow tennis blogger, HCFoo from Malaysia, was privileged to attend surprise birthday bash for China's Li Na.

Together with line judges, ballboys and ballgirls, media and organizers, HCFoo sang a birthday song for the 28-year-old Li, both in Malaysian and in English.

The bouquet of flowers you see in front of Li Na is from our fellow blogger.

Happy birthday from Women’s Tennis Blog as well. We're wishing you to advance further within the Top 10!

China’s Li Na, who has risen to No.10 in the rankings after reaching the Australian Open semifinals, lost 6-1 5-7 6-2 to Germany’s Tatjana Malek in the first round of the inaugural Malaysian Open.

Chinese first ever Top-10 women’s tennis player and second seed in Kuala Lumpur, converted all three of her break points, but lost her own serve three times and world No.81 Malek thus scored her first Top 10 win. Li’s compatriot Zheng Jie, seed No.3, advanced to the second round by beating qualifier Elena Bovina 6-4 6-3.

Top-seeded Elena Dementieva progressed to the second round. The Russian defeated Ekaterina Bychkova 6-2 6-1, in a less straightforward match than the score suggests. Interestingly, Dementieva’s next opponent will be young Serbian star Bojana Jovanovski, who you remember was jury member here on Women’s Tennis Blog when we held the contest to award one of our readers with the racquet signed by Justine Henin. Good luck, Bojana! (photo: chascow)

Chinese tennis stars Zheng Jie and Li Na have arrived home after their enormous success in Australia and were welcomed by crowds of fans and media.

Zheng and Li made history for China when they reached the 2010 Australian Open semifinals. Actually, never before had two Chinese players been in the second week of a major at the same time. Moreover, Zheng and Li are now both within Top 20 in the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour rankings – Zheng is No.20 and Li has become the first Chinese Top 10 player by reaching No.10.

The national celebration of Zheng’s and Li’s arrival took place in Beijing. They answered questions from fans and media, and donated their equipment to the Chinese Tennis Association's Youth Foundation. Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications China President Roger Eriksson presented Zheng and Li with special gifts for their achievements. (source: Sony Ericsson WTA Tour)

World No.17 Li Na went bungee jumping for the first time during this month’s ASB Classic in New Zealand and I thought it would be nice to share the video clip, as the Chinese is a player to watch at the moment.

I’m wishing Li Na to jump into the Australian Open final, Serena’s years are odd ones anyway. The two are facing each other in a few hours. Serena has a 3-1 record against Li. They faced each other at the Australian Open once, and although it was four years ago we can mention that Serena won, but in three sets.