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)

Sabine Lisicki recently did an interview with Ellery Maddocks for Tennis Now, chatting about how she turned her hatred for grass into love, the excitement she has for Wimbledon and the London Olympics, cooperation with Longines, the constant travels of tennis players, etc.

Here's my favorite part of the interview, where Sabine explains how the grass surface troubled her not only because of its uniqueness but grass itself caused her health problems:

I used to hate it, the first time I went there (Wimbledon) I actually think I lost 5 straight matches on grass plus one doubles, and then I turned it around in 2009 where I went to the quarterfinals. I have a string grass allergy, so there was a lot against it, but at some point I just turned it around. I just love it now, it plays differently, it's quicker obviously which is good for my service, which is one of my weapons.

Last year at the grasscourt Birmingham Lisicki won the title and went on to reach the semifinals of Wimbledon, her first and only Grand Slam semifinal appearance. However, Lisicki exited this week's Birmingham tournament in the second round already, losing to Urszula Radwanska 6-3 6-4. (photo: Ralf Reinecke)

German world No.100 Sabine Lisicki defeated Slovakia's Daniela Hantuchova in a rain-delayed final of the AEGON Classic in Birmingham and collected her second WTA title.

En route to the Birmingham trophy, the unseeded Lisicki defeated Kimiko Date-Krumm (62) in the first round, Kirsten Flipkens (111) in the second, Tamira Paszek (80) in the third, Magdalena Rybarikova (69) in the quarters, Peng Shuai (20) in the semis and finally Daniela Hantuchova (28). As you can see, only one Lisicki's opponent was ranked lower than her. However, it is not really surprising that Lisicki managed to defeat them, as she was ranked No.22 in 2009, prior to her health problems. Read more »

Serena and Venus Williams are set to play the AEGON International in Eastbourne, and even though some fans are still finding it hard to believe the sisters will indeed show up, it is highly likely that their comeback is for real. To celebrate the return of the biggest names, the WTA Tour has even made a short video of the Williamses practicing ahead of their first competitive tournament in a long time – Serena hasn’t played since last year’s Wimbledon, which is practically a year, and Venus hasn’t played since January’s Australian Open (while even before that, after Roland Garros 2010 she played only Wimbledon and the US Open). Read more »

Ana Ivanovic needed less than three hours to win three matches and advance to the semifinals on the grass of the AEGON Classic in Birmingham.

After a first round bye Ivanovic defeated world No.118 Anna Tatishvili 6-1 6-0 in the second round in 44 minutes, in the third round world No.45 Rebecca Marino was beaten 6-3 6-2 in 59 minutes and today in the quarterfinals Ivanovic's quick progress continued with a 6-3 6-4 win over the 94th-ranked Mirjana Lucic, also in just seconds less than an hour. Ok, now, does she even need a coach?

The next obstacle of the second-seeded Serb will be pretty serious. It will be Slovakia's Daniela Hantuchova who also reached the semifinals without losing a set and has won 11 of her last 14 matches, including the recent 6-1 6-3 victory over world No.1 Caroline Wozniacki at the French Open. (photo courtesy of Tony)