Wimbledon may have strict dress code but there still is enough space for players and their brands to experiment and bring something new and exciting. Let's see how successful they've been this year.

Let's start with Venus and Serena Williams. We've already paid close attention to both Venus' Eleven dress and Serena's Nike dress, but it's worth mentioning them again – Venus was definitely unique with fringes all over the bottom part of the dress, while Serena wore a more classic design inspired by strawberries and cream and a cute narrow headband. Just to use the opportunity to mention that the sisters, twice defending champions, lost in doubles quarterfinals today to Elena Vesnina and Vera Zvonareva 3-6 6-3 6-4.

Chinese brand ANTA and Jelena Jankovic were simple and classy at this year's Wimbledon. JJ also sported a customized racquet bag and was fully equipped for the greatest Grand Slam.

Once my favorite tennis fashion designer Stella McCartney seems to be lacking inspiration as Caroline Wozniacki has been wearing pretty much the same dress for months. Now I can't blame her, why bother when you're going to lose your match in 46 minutes (sorry, Caro). Talking about Stella, we have to mention Maria Kirilenko who looks awesome even in the simple adidas BARRICADE top and skort. Read more »

World No.100 Ekaterina Makarova went through three qualifying rounds and then eliminated a lot of big names from the main draw to win her first Sony Ericsson WTA Tour singles title at the Premier-level event of the AEGON International.

Makarova has won eight straight matches this week and each of them without losing a set, including the final against world No.15 Victoria Azarenka, 7-6(5) 6-4. Even though Azarenka was troubled by injury in the title match, nothing can take away the awesome feeling of accomplishment from Makarova, who has not only become the first qualifier to win Eastbourne but can also pride herself on the victories over Flavia Pennetta in the first round, Nadia Petrova in the second, Svetlana Kuznetsova in the quarterfinals and fresh French Open finalist Samantha Stosur in the semis. (photo: Stephane Martinache)

Qualifier at the AEGON International Ekatertina Makarova may have started the semifinal against in-form Samantha Stosur slow, but in the end she sent the third seed packing with a 7-6(5) 7-5 victory.

The 100th-ranked Makarova claimed just four of the first 19 points and fell behind 3-0, 0-40 in the first set against Stosur. The Russian attributed that poor start to the nervousness of playing on the center court. However, Makarova didn’t let the nerves get the best of her and won the first set in a tiebreak. Then, she used one of her four break points in the second set, which gave her enough advantage to defeat Stosur, who will climb to a career-high ranking of No.6 on Monday.

Makarova will play her third career final and try to win her first WTA title. Her final opponent at the AEGON International will be world No.15 Victoria Azarenka. The Belorussian reached the final with a 6-3 7-5 win over eighth seed Marion Bartoli, who has failed to advance beyond the semifinals at Eastbourne  for the fourth straight year. (photo: Stephane Martinache)

Fifth seed Kim Clijsters may have lost just three games and spent just 92 minutes in the victories over Yanina Wickmayer and Lucie Safarova en route to the quarterfinals of the AEGON International , but the Belgian struggled against Victoria Azarenka and lost 7-6(6) 6-4. Azarenka is now 1-2 in career meetings with Clijsters.

Unseeded Azarenka upset fourth seed Agnieszka Radwanska in round one and followed it up with a victory over Heather Watson for her first back-to-back wins in six tournaments.

In other quarterfinal matches of the day in Eastbourne, third seed Samantha Stosur reached her fifth semifinal of the year with a 6-7(5) 6-1 6-0 win over Elena Baltacha, eighth-seeded Marion Bartoli edged Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez 5-7 6-4 7-6(5) and advanced to the semifinals of Eastbourne for the fourth straight year, while the 2004 champion Svetlana Kuznetsova keeps fallings and her latest loss is to qualifier Ekaterina Makarova in straight sets 6-4 7-5. (photo: Stephane Martinache)

It's not just a dream, Ana Ivanovic followed up her 6-1 6-3 victory over Elena Vesnina in the first round of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia with another straight sets victory, 6-4 6-4 against ninth seed Victoria Azarenka.

This is the most noteworthy Ivanovic’s win this season, and actually her best result in who knows how many months. In fact, Ivanovic’s website states that it is her first victory over a Top 10 player in some 20 months. In addition, with the triumph over Azarenka in Rome the 22-year-old recorded her first two successive straight sets wins since June 2009.

Alright, enough with the comparison with things Ana would like to forget. Will the win over Viktoria prove to be a positive turning point for the continuation of Ana’s career? I certainly hope so, but the pressure is the last thing Ana needs, especially having in mind that another Top 10 player, sixth seed Elena Dementieva, is awaiting in the third round. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)