It's time for our traditional Grand Slam fashion overview! Unlike in previous years, we will start by looking at the less known brands that made an impact at the 2013 Australian Open and we'll leave the giants such as Nike and Adidas for the end of the article.

German Mona Barthel followed her Hobart run to the finals with a first-round 7-5 2-6 6-4 defeat to Ksenia Pervak at the Australian Open, but she left in style, wearing a gracious dress from Denise Cronwall's 2013 collection. Cronwall's designs are always feminine and romantic and even though this dress doesn't have the designer's signature lace and flower patterns, the wavy seam brings about the recognizable elegant feel.

Another young star Camila Giorgi also had a brief appearance at Melbourne Park, but as always she engraved her fashion mark with a colorful and cheerful outfit that perfectly complements her age and beauty.

Venus Williams is slowly spreading her line and is not the only one wearing her clothes on the tennis courts any more. World No.166, former No.25, Jarmila Gajdosova switched from Lacoste to EleVen and proudly sported the peach and white Oh&Oh tank and a matching skirt. Venus herself is working a dress with watercolor print and thin black contrast binding at the bust, waistline, and shoulders.

Compare Australian Open fashion from previous years:

• 2012
• 2011

Two more fashion switches at this Australian Open are Julia Goerges, who came to Fila from Nike, and Svetlana Kuznetsova, who replaced Fila with Qiaodan. Goerges' Fila debut is all blue: the German was wearing separates from spring 2013 Center Court Collection. Notice that her manicure is perfectly blending with the outfit. Kuznetsova was also all blue, but a different shade of blue, wearing the dress of the Chinese manufacturer. Read more »

"I never dreamed about winning a Grand Slam, just about playing with Pete" – that's what Marion Bartoli said at this week's Bank of the West Classic in Stanford after realizing her childhood fantasy of hitting with ATP World Tour legend Pete Sampras. However, as much as off-court activities were fulfilling for the second-seeded Bartoli, her on-court performance was below the capacities of the 2009 Stanford champion and runner-up in 2008 and 2011 that she is.

In the second round Bartoli rebounded from a 5-2 deficit in the first set and even saved set points before winning 11 straight games for a 7-5 6-0 victory over unranked Mallory Burdette, while in the quarterfinals she fell to Yanina Wickmayer 6-3 6-2.

However, the following quote of Bartoli assures me that she will soon forget the loss and remember this Stanford only by Sampras:

He would never overact on court. He was very much the same person on and off the court. The way he was loyal to his family and his coaches, the way he cried on court against Jim Courier at the Australian Open, that's the kind of person I like. He was the greatest champion. I just liked him and no one else!

In the other quarterfinal matches, top seed Serena Williams advanced with a 6-4 6-0 win over Chanelle Scheepers, Coco Vandeweghe followed up her upset win over fourth seed Jelena Jankovic with a victory over Urszula Radwanska to book her first WTA semifinal, while Sorana Cirstea was victorious in quite a ridiculous match against Dominika Cibulkova. Cirstea was correct on six of nine challenges in the first set of her 6-7(5) 6-2 6-0 victory.

Cistea's quote:

Toward the end of the set  I was challenging everything because I didn’t trust anyone anymore. I thought someone was playing a joke on me to see how I  would react. It was like Candid Camera because there were too many mistakes. I started to laugh because it was just hilarious. The chair umpire never ruled and today if we didn’t  have a challenge system I would be packing my bags for San Diego.

Bank of the West Classic semifinal pairs: Serena Williams (1) vs. Sorana Cirstea (9) and Coco Vandewegde vs. Yanina Wickmayer (5). (photo: © Neal Trousdale)

Local favorite Samantha Stosur expressed her eagerness for competing on home soil when she thrilled her country with the US Open title in September, but the moment the time came for the Australian to shine in the January's sun down under, the nerves crept in and after losing in the second round of Brisbane and the first round of Sydney, Stosur put the icing on the cake of disappointment by crashing out in the first round of the Australian Open.

Spraying 33 unforced errors, the world No.6 Stosur fell to Sorana Cirstea 7-6(2) 6-3, the player to whom she hadn’t lost more than three games per set in their previous two encounters. This time the 59th-ranked Cirstea had nothing to lose and put out her aggressive side against the stiff Stosur who was falling under her own pressure. In the end Stosur did save three match points, but she was far too emotional to turn the situation to her advantage.

"It's hard to suppress those emotions when it means so much to you," said Stosur after becoming the first big casualty of the tournament.

New York and fashion go hand in hand, and tennis outfits are no exception, especially when we have a high-profile event such as the US Open. So let's see what the manufacturers of tennis clothes prepared for our WTA stars and there is no better way to start than with American Bethanie Mattek Sands who integrated patriotism in her attire.

Don't you love the American-flag tube socks and the accompanying red shoes? Bethanie looks awesome in her Under Armour outfit with accessories that perfectly match the US Open occasion.

Bethanie is known for her experiments with fashion and her most recent took place before and during Wimbledon, when she incorporated tennis balls in her player party and on-court outfits.

Venus Williams shocked with her EleVen US Open dress as much as she did with her subsequent abrupt withdrawal due to a long-undiagnosed syndrome.

Top seed Caroline Wozniacki and Stella McCartney absolutely failed to inspire with a white dress much more suitable for Wimbledon. Why not use colors for the US Open when you can?

Read more »

Bethanie Mattek Sands, Heather Watson, Alize Cornet, Sabine Lisicki, Sorana Cirstea and Dominika Cibulkova have been chosen to be a part of Sony Ericsson’s Xperia Hot Shots campaign – a web-based TV show which will follow the tennis stars as they travel the world on tour.

The six participating players were announced in Miami, ahead of the Sony Ericsson Open, and Sony Ericsson brand ambassador, Maria Sharapova, was also there. Read more »

This is the fifth and the last part of our series featuring photos of female tennis players and their mothers. Here are the previous four parts: I, II, III and IV.

Marta, an account by profession, is the mother of two tennis stars, Agnieszka Radwanska (pictured above) and Urszula Radwanska.

Katarina Cibulkova is the mother of Dominika Cibulkova. Read more »

Wimbledon is just days away and the annual party celebrating the tournament was held at the Roof Gardens in West London's Kensington last night. As usual, the WTA players gave their best to look good and glamorous, and oh well, as usual, their success was sporadic.

Let's start with the bright examples. Venus Williams and Maria Sharapova were spot on. Their dresses are perfect fits and just right for the occasion.

Defending champion Serena Williams looked like a pop star and I'm sure this profile picture will stay remembered for a while. Dinara Safina was having one of her better appearances, although I'm convinced this is not the best she can offer. Read more »

Grand Slams are the places where tennis players want to look their best and sponsors want to use the opportunity of huge publicity to market their products. Let's have a look at what women's tennis stars are sporting during one such event, Roland Garros 2010 in Paris.

Venus Williams raised many eyebrows by her lingerie-like black dress. But the dress raises all the eyebrows when in action!

Sorana Cirstea lost on Day one to Svetlana Kuznetsova, but her adidas dress can win all the awards, if you asked me. Just like Ana Ivanovic's.

Bethanie Mattek-Sands is wearing her cool tube socks and looks sporty. Well, Venus took Bethanie's role of ball boy distractor. Caroline Wozniacki, nice dress but nothing new, really nothing. Read more »