Maria Sharapova won her ninth straight match on clay, the streak featuring her Rome title, by defeating Agnieszka Radwanska in the fourth round of Roland Garros 7-6(4) 7-5. The Russian will be playing her fifth quarterfinal at the tournament, but only once did she make one step further, in 2007 when she reached the semis.

The three-time Grand Slam champion Sharapova, who has a chance to complete a career slam this week, came back from 4-1 down in the first set, leveled to 4-4, then both players held their serves to take the set to a tiebreak. In the second set Sharapova faced set points, but saved all five of them and finished the job in that set.

It’s interesting to compare Sharapova’s and Radwanska’s stats because of contrasts in most departments. Sharapova hit 7 aces to Radwanska’s 1, but also 7 double faults to Radwanska’s 0. When it comes to winners and unforced errors the situation is equally unbalanced. Sharapova hit almost 4 times more unforced errors (44 to Radwanska's 12), but also much more winners, 47 to 13.

Andrea Petkovic, who defeated Maria Kirilenko 6-2 2-6 6-4 in the fourth round, will be next Sharapova's opponent. Other quarterfinal pairs are: Svetlana Kuznetsova vs. Marion Bartoli, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova vs. Francesca Schiavone, and Li Na vs. Victoria Azarenka. (via Sharapova's official website, photo courtesy of our reader Tony)

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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Maria Sharapova powered into the second week of Roland Garros, as well as the other favorites who were in action this Saturday.

The seventh-seeded Sharapova beat world No.129 Yung-Jan Chan of Chinese Taipei 6-2 6-3. It’s interesting that Sharapova won 15 straight games from her second-round match against Caroline Garcia to 4-0 in the first set against Chan. In the round of 16 Sharapova will face seed No.12 Agnieszka Radwanska, who came this far with straight-set victories over Patricia Mayr-Achleitner, Sania Mirza and Yanina Wickmayer.

The other players expected to do well at the tournament also had a successful seventh day of French Open 2011: Victoria Azarenka defeated Roberta Vinci 6-3 6-2, Li Na beat Sorana Cirstea 6-2 6-2, Andrea Petkovic progressed passed Jarmila Gajdosova 6-2 4-6 6-3, and Petra Kvitova defeated Vania King 6-4 6-2. (photo courtesy of our reader Tony)

Thanks to Forty Deuce I learned about an excellent article from the New York Times about Maria Sharapova's brand and how she's been building it carefully from the beginning of her career. Somewhere in the middle of the article, they hint that the 24-year-old Sharapova plans to announce a new partnership ahead of the US Open. The partnership will work towards developing Sharapova’s own brand of candy and sweets resembling tennis balls, packaged in containers shaped like tennis-ball cans. The new brand will be called Sugarpova.

I have to mention one quote of a 13-year-old Sharapova which the New York Times article singles out. When little Sharapova was asked whether she would rather win Wimbledon or make $20 million in endorsements, she said without hesitation: "I would choose to win Wimbledon, because then the millions will come." That’s why we love her, she’s smart and has guts!

Sharapova already has lucrative contracts with Nike (estimated to be worth $70 million), Cole Haan, Tiffany, Tag Heuer and Sony Ericsson. According to Forbes, the Russian made $24.5 million from June 2009 to June 2010.

At the ongoing Roland Garros, Sharapova is one of the favorites for the big trophy, because of her recent Rome title, her status of a champion and her ever-present fighting spirit. In her today's second-round match, the seventh-seeded Russian, who doesn't accept the end until it's really there, won 11 straight games from being 6-3 4-1 down to beat world No.188 Caroline Garcia of France 3-6 6-4 6-0. The Nike design she's sporting at the claycourt Grand Slam is a yellow Eiffel Tower-inspired dress. (photo: sr_cranks)

World No.21 Ana Ivanovic won the French Open title only three years ago and reached the top of the WTA rankings then, but the Serb has been struggling to find that very game ever since, and except a few flashes of form and good results, the overall cloud surrounding her has been pretty gray. Today she lost in the first round of the French Open to world No.64 Johanna Larsson of Sweden 7-6(3) 0-6 6-2 (last year she lost in the second round, and the year before in the fourth).

After wasting four set points in the first set and losing that set in a tiebreak, Ivanovic won seven games in a row to find herself with a 1-0 lead in the decider, but then her world crumbled.

"I wish I knew (what went wrong since 2008). I try to look back and see what I've done then and to do the same things. I'm just trying to work it out," Ivanovic said.

I'd like to mention that a lot of people in our poll actually voted for Ivanovic to go all the way to the title – she either has a lot of people who believe in her, or a very strong fan base who is there no matter what. In today's tennis everything is possible, and Ivanovic winning the French Open would not be that much of a surprise under the current circumstances, it's just that she has uncontrollable ups and downs.

Maria Sharapova and Kim Clijsters are safely through to the second round. Sharapova, who came to Paris on the wings of her Rome title, defeated Mirjana Lucic 6-3 6-0 without facing a break point. Clijsters proved her form after a two-month long absence with a 6-2 6-3 win over Anastasiya Yakimova in the first round of the French Open.

Victoria Azarenka and Li Na also won their openers. Virginie Razzano, who was playing in tribute of her late fiance Stephane Vidal, lost in the first round to Jarmila Gajdosova 6-3 6-1. Razzano will play doubles with Alize Cornet. (photo: sr_cranks)

Roland Garros 2011 has been awaited as a big occasion for world No.1 Caroline Wozniacki to win her maiden Grand Slam, or as a venue where Kim Clijsters will reassert the dominance of the "old generation", or maybe as an unexpected place for Maria Sharapova to remind us what she's made of. Let's not forget defending champion Francesca Schiavone and an always-lurking possibility of an emergence of a lesser known player or new player in the limelight such as Petra Kvitova and Julia Goerges.

Top seed Caroline Wozniacki will play Kimiko Date Krumm in the first round, and then has possible matches against Daniela Hantuchova and the 2009 French Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova. In the quarterfinals the Dane could face last year's runner-up Samantha Stosur. But let's not overlook that world No.18 Julia Goerges, who largely owes her fame to the two recent victories over Wozniacki, is in the same quarter of the draw.

Third seed Vera Zvonareva is in the second quarter, as well as defending champion Francesca Schiavone, who failed to impress in the clay lead-up to the French Open but this week in Brussels she reached the semifinals where she lost to Wozniacki. The Italian's first opponent will be Melanie Oudin. Jelena Jankovic, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Flavia Pennetta, Alisa Kleybanova and Nadia Petrova are also in this quarter. Read more »

Maria Sharapova has positioned herself among the favorites for the 2011 French Open, the only Grand Slam the 24-year-old Russian still hasn’t won, by following up her win over world No.1 Caroline Wozniacki in the Rome semifinals with a 6-2 6-4 defeat of last year’s French Open runner-up Samantha Stosur.

When Sharapova is in a good tennis period, it’s a joy to watch her, her determination and focus combined with her powerful game produce a lot of winners that can’t leave you emotionless. I’m really looking forward to her shaking up the draw at the French Open. Not to mention that her fiancé’s engagement from the stands is really cute, it makes Sharapova’s wins even more moving. Read more »

Maria Sharapova is far from the best mover on clay, but this time her power was too much for Caroline Wozniacki’s defensive game, and the Russian earned her first victory over a No.1 player since her comeback from a serious shoulder injury in May 2009 and also the 24-year-old reached the final of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia tournament in Rome for the first time. Maybe her fiancé's support made all the difference.

Sharapova won the last five games of the semifinal and the last game she won to love, while in the entire match she scored 36 winners to Wozniacki’s 15. Final result: 7-5 6-3. Not so promising prospects for Wozniacki’s French Open campaign – this year on red clay she was upset by Julia Goerges two times, in Stuttgart and Madrid, and now by Sharapova. Read more »