Melanie Oudin, still best known as the 2009 US Open wonder kid, lifted her first WTA trophy by defeating former world No.1 and former champion Jelena Jankovic in the final of Birmingham. The 20-year-old Oudin came through qualifying and won a total of eight matches to make that career milestone.

Oudin was ranked 208th during the Birmingham week, the win climbed her to No.122, but she used to be No.31 a few months after her fourth round at Wimbledon 2009 followed by the US Open quarterfinals.

At the beginning of the AEGON Classic it didn't seem that the American's freefall would end, as Oudin wasn't even seeded in the qualifying, in her first match the tiebreak was 10-8 and she survived many three-setters, including victories over seed No.10 Sorana Cirstea in the first round and eighth seed Ekaterina Makarova in the semifinals. In the final against the fifth-seeded Jankovic, Oudin finished the job more straightforwardly, 6-4 6-2, increasing her head-to-head record against the Serb to 2-0. Despite losing the final, Jankovic can be satisfied for making the best appearance at a tournament since last year and for getting back to the Top 20. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)

Italian fifth seed Francesca Schiavone began the defence of her French Open crown with a confident 6-2 6-0 victory over world No.88 Melanie Oudin.

The 19-year-old American, who became famous during her 2009 Wimbledon and US Open runs which she hasn’t been able to repeat ever since, was tipped as a possible test for Schiavone. However, she won only two games against the defending champion, and hit six winners to Schiavone's 25.

Schiavone’s opponent in the second round will be either Anne Keothavong or Vesna Dolonts.

If you think Schiavone has a chance to repeat her last year's extraordinary feat and win the French Open, vote for her in our poll. (photo: Stephane Martinache)

As our reader Brenda from Argentina asked for my overview of the 2011 Australian Open tennis fashion, here it is – a little bit of every brand, a little bit of good and bad.

Let's not save the best for the last. Let's start with by far the biggest fashion attention-grabber of the tournament – Venus Williams. The American played three matches (actually two, but she started her third one) and showcased the same number of outfits. The following one is the unofficial ugliest tennis outfit of the decade.

Venus, a graduate in fashion design and the person behind clothing line EleVen, made the outfits herself.

Believe it or not, Venus' dresses, or whatever they can be called, have gained a fan base. Whoever likes Venus' latest EleVen dresses, please leave a comment! I'm sure the world would love to hear your reasoning.

I'd like to continue with Nadia Petrova, the representative of Ellesse. Petrova has also had some colorful and imaginative styles (remember her US Open 2010 outfit that had stripes of all the possible colors?). There might be sound logic behind Petrova's support of EleVen.

Another fashion favorite is always Aravane Rezai. Even though this time her family drama attracted more attention than her dress, the Frenchwoman stayed faithful to the touch of crazy uniqueness. Although, she definitely can do better!

Let's move on to adidas – plenty of it. Read more »

Maria Sharapova will officially not use Prince racquets any more, and the word is out that her new brand of choice is Head, even though her agent refused to comment on the subject. The 23-year-old Sharapova had played with Prince since she was nine and won all three of her Grand Slam titles with that racquet.

And although Sharapova's partnership with Head is not official yet, this Nike promo for the Australian Open 2011 clearly shows the Russian is using Head now. (Jacob, thanks for sharing the pic with me!).

There's another partnership change in tennis - Melanie Oudin, who was wearing adidas and famously promoted their Barricade shoes with inspirational messages "believe" and "courage", will now be sporting Wilson's apparel and footwear. The American has been using Wilson’s Blade racquet, but has now become a Wilson exclusive player, having switched to their clothing as well.

There’s one more novelty concerning Oudin and Wilson – the 19-year-old will be swinging her new Blade 98 Pink BLX racquet starting in Australia. (Magdalena, thank you for telling me about this!)

American Melanie Oudin, who came out of nowhere to reach the quarterfinals of the 2009 US Open, found it hard to carry the burden of high expectations and fell to the recently-married Alona Bondarenko in the second round this year. The 18-year-old Oudin made 38 unforced errors during her 6-2 7-5 loss to seed No.29 Bondarenko.

Second seed and defending champion Kim Clijsters had an easy task against Sally Peers, a 19-year-old qualifier ranked 201. Clijsters advanced to the third round with a 6-2 6-1 victory over Grand Slam debutant Peers, who recorded a 6-0 6-1 win over Aleksandra Wozniak in the first round.

Third-seeded Venus Williams struggled early in her match against 193rd-ranked qualifier Rebecca Marino, but beat her 7-6(3) 6-3.

French Open runner-up Samantha Stosur, seeded fifth, reached the third round of the US Open for the first time, even though it’s her seventh appearance at the tournament. Stosur defeated Anastasia Rodionova 6-1 6-4.

Sixth seed Francesca Schiavone, 2010 French Open champion, quickly won her match against fellow Italian Maria Elena Camerin 6-2 6-1. Schiavone has now lost a total of just four games to advance to the third round of the US Open. (photos: © Neal Trousdale)