Petra Kvitova, 21, may have played her first Grand Slam final, and not only that, she played against former world No.1 and 2004 champion Maria Sharapova, but apart from the shaky serve in the opening game, Kvitova showed no signs of nervousness and went all the way to the biggest tennis trophy with a 6-3 6-4 win. The most powerful sign of Kvitova's mental strength, something very welcome in women's tennis, was the final game of the match which Kvitova quickly won with great serves without losing a point.

The weakest link in Sharapova's game was her serve, and here's one illustration: in the first set the Russian three-time Grand Slam champion won just 14% of points on her second serve. I often had a feeling that Sharapova was afraid to serve. After the coin toss she chose Kvitova to start the match. Also, the crucial sixth game of the first set Sharapova lost with a double fault and Kvitova earned a 4-2 lead. Sharapova's mental toughness got its time to shine when she served an ace on Kvitova's set point in the first set, but overall in the match, the eighth-ranked Kvitova was much more solid and not even the never-give-up attitude could save Sharapova. The first seven games of the second set featured five breaks of serve, and that fifth one was earned by Kvitova, who soon worked her way to the Wimbledon title.

Kvitova, who cracked the Top 10 this year, has won her fourth title of the season, after Brisbane, Paris and Madrid. (photo via Wimbledon)

Maria Sharapova advanced to the final of Wimbledon for the first time since the year she won the title in 2004 as a 17-year-old, and Petra Kvitova made her first Grand Slam final, while her best Grand Slam result until today were the semis of Wimbledon last year.

The first semifinal was the one between Victoria Azarenka and Petra Kvitova. Before you knew it Kvitova took the first set 6-1 and in the last game of that set she hit three aces. In the second set the momentum switched, and Azarenka built on her initial 3-0 lead to win the set 6-3. Interestingly, in that set she won, Azarenka scored only one winner! Kvitova’s unforced errors made all the difference. In the final set, the eighth-ranked Kvirova broke Azarenka’s serve in the beginning, for a 2-0 lead, and in the final game again to win 6-1 3-6 6-2.

The second semifinal featured Nick Bollettieri’s students, Maria Sharapova and Sabine Lisicki. The match started with Lisicki’s dominance, as she stormed to a 3-0 lead, but that was pretty much all we got to see from the German wildcard, as from that score until Sharapova’s 3-0 lead in the second set, the 62nd-ranked Lisicki won just one game. Final score: 6-4 6-3. (photos via Wimbledon)

As our faithful reader P!nky suggested, I'm making a poll for Wimbledon, a bit reluctantly, though, as Roland Garros winner Li Na was not even included in my Roland Garros poll which featured twelve names. This time I've narrowed down my list a bit, but if the player you favor is not included, feel free to add her in the comments section.

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Li Na is here because grass is her good surface and she won the French Open recently, although she did lose early to Daniela Hantuchova at the AEGON International. Talking about Hantuchova, I think her current form gives her big credentials for this year's Wimbledon, although her retirement in the semifinal against Petra Kvitova at Eastbourne is worrying. Kvitova played the Wimbledon semifinals last year and this weekend she played the final of Eastbourne which she lost to Marion Bartoli. I wanted to give justice to Bartoli and include her as well, because she won on the grass of the Wimbledon tune-up, has had a great win-loss record recently and played the final of Wimbledon in 2007. Caroline Wozniacki is world No.1, so she has to make the list. Serena Williams is defending champion, although she didn't impress in the lead-up to Wimbledon, while her sister Venus won the tournament five times. And last but not least, the 2004 champion Maria Sharapova, who played impressively this clay-court season, and grass is her much better surface.

What do you say? Who do you think has the greatest chance to win Wimbledon 2011? (photo: Fimb)

The 2007 Wimbledon finalist Marion Bartoli won her sixth career title and her first on grass on Saturday against last year's Wimbledon semifinalist Petra Kvitova at the AEGON International in Eastbourne. En route to the big trophy Bartoli overcame Lucie Safarova's match point in the first round, windy conditions at the tournament, a groin strain and the fact that she played both her semifinal and the final on the same day.

The sixth-seeded Bartoli reached the final with a clinical 6-3 6-1 victory over Samantha Stosur. The match against fifth-seeded Kvitova was a tough affair, although Bartoli looked to be cruising when the score was 6-1 3-1. Final result: 6-1 4-6 7-5.

Bartoli has had notable results in the past weeks: in Strasbourg she was runner-up to Andrea Petkovic (Bartoli retired in the final) and at the French Open she played the semifinals which she lost to Francesca Schiavone. The Frenchwoman has won 13 of her last 15 matches. (photo via AEGON International)

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 »