Last year fashion was the topic of Wimbledon with Bethanie Mattek Sands' tennis-ball jacket and Venus Williams' awkward zipper-outfit, but this year tenniswear is in the safe zone, except for Serena Williams' color challenge. Let's have a closer look.

Serena Williams challenged the White Clothing Rule by pairing the Nike Women's London Statement Baseline Dress with cerise shorts/knickers and a matching headband, while Wimbledon requires the outfits to be without solid mass of coloring and little or no dark or bold colors. Nike was not pushing the boundaries with defending champion Petra Kvitova, who was traditionally wearing a sporty, ordinary outfit.

Maria Sharapova, the fresh proud owner of a career Grand Slam, is always fully-prepared for fashion scrutiny, thinking out her outfits in detail from head to toe with the Nike team. For the touch of color that the white Wimbledon allows, Sharapova chose liquid lime. Here you can see how the Nike Women's Maria Slam Statement Dress looks from the back.

My favorite of the tournament is Maria Kirilenko in the Adidas Adipure line. The white dress with a pleated skirt features craft emerald contrasting stripes. Read more »

Serena Williams aced a 6-2 7-5 victory over defending Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova to reach her eighth career Wimbledon semifinal in a bid to win her fifth title at the Grand Slam. Williams' last major title came at Wimbledon 2010 and en route to that one she defeated Kvitova in the semis, but the Czech was ranked 62nd then, while now she's No.4 and a former No.2.

In today's quarterfinal, Williams often dictated points, especially with her serve and service return. Serving for the match, Williams blasted three aces and a service winner, thus collecting a total of 13 aces in the match and a Wimbledon 2012 leading total of 61 aces. Kvitova helped Williams by making four consecutive errors when serving at 5-5 30-0 in the second set to hand Williams a crucial break.

Serena's opponent in the semis will be the winner of the match between Victoria Azarenka and the only unseeded quarterfinalist Tamira Paszek.

Two most recent Wimbledon champions Petra Kvitova and Serena Williams both moved into the second round at this year's grasscourt Grand Slam with straight-set victories.

Defending a Grand Slam title for the first time, Petra Kvitova made a nervous start in her first-round match at Wimbledon 2012, but she overcame an initial 4-1 deficit to eventually cruise past Akgul Amanmuradova 6-4 6-4 on Centre Court. Trailing 4-1, Kvitova saved two break points to prevent being two breaks down and won five games in a row to take the first set. The second set was more straightforward, despite the short rain delay towards the end of the match.

Playing on the same court where her five-time Wimbledon champion sister Venus exited yesterday to Elena Vesnina, Serena Williams left behind her first ever first-round Grand Slam loss suffered last month at Roland Garros and advanced to the second round of Wimbledon with a 6-2 6-4 victory over Barbora Zahlavova Strycova, who is now 0-21 lifetime against Top 10 players.

Williams, the 2002, 2003, 2009 and 2010 Wimbledon champion, will next play Melina Czink, while Kvitova will face Elena Baltacha. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)

Petra Kvitova, Agnieszka Radwanska and Caroline Wozniacki - seeds number two, one and three respectively – went out in the first round of the AEGON International in Eastbourne.

Last year Kvitova was runner-up at the grasscourt tournament and she went on to win Wimbledon. This year, however, the Czech opened her grass season with a loss to fellow lefty Ekaterina Makarova 7-5 6-4, whom she defeated to reach the quarterfinals in 2011. Makarova, the 2010 Eastbourne champion and the semifinalist last week in Birmingham, scored her first Top 5 win.

Agnieszka Radwanska, top seed and champion at Eastbourne in 2008, fell in the first round to Tsvetana Pironkova 6-2 6-4, Wimbledon 2011 quarterfinalist and Wimbledon 2010 semifinalist, while third seed Caroline Wozniacki lost to Christina McHale 6-1 6-7(7) 6-4.

However, defending champion and fourth seed Marion Bartoli advanced to the second round with a 6-2 6-2 win over Sorana Cirstea. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)

Women's Tennis Blog's contributor Omair is known for his statistical approach to tennis, but now he's summing up the claycourt season, awarding the WTA players titles based on their performance at Roland Garros 2012. Do you agree with Omair's titles? Feel free to comment!

Maria Sharapova – CLAY QUEEN

Having won Stuttgart and Rome, Sharapova was 11-1 on clay coming into the French Open, and she made it 18-1, her lone loss coming at the hands of Serena Williams on the blue clay of Madrid.

Sara Errani – CINDERELLA

Although Errani was the claycourt wins leader entering the French Open, she had never been beyond the second round of the tournament in her last four attempts, had been past the third round of a Grand Slam only once in the last eighteen majors (quarterfinals at this year's Australian Open) and was 0-28 against Top 10 players. It all changed at this year's Franch Open, she not only reached her first Grand Slam final, but in doing so recorded her first two victories over Top 10 players. Although she fell short to Sharapova in the final, she had a great run to the championship match.

Samantha Stosur – UNDERACHIEVER

Stosur's game is best suited to clay and she is a great claycourt player as is evidenced by her record at Roland Garros – she has been to the semifinals or better for three of the past four years, including this year's semifinal. She is one of the fittest athletes on the Tour at the moment, and with her game she no doubt was an underachiever. Read more »