Maria Sharapova was beaten by fourth seed Li Na 6-4 6-4 in the semifinals of the AEGON Classic in Birmingham.

The former Wimbledon champion, who had been looking for her third title in Birmingham, suffered six breaks of serve while Li was avenging her Roland Garros defeat.

The world No.20 Li will play Magdalena Rybarikova of Slovakia, who defeated Sania Mirza of India 3-6 6-0 6-3 in the other semifinal.

Sharapova will spend next week practicing at Wimbledon, which starts June 22. (photo courtesy of our reader Richard)

Since her comeback, Maria Sharapova has remained undefeated on her favorite surface and reached the semifinals of the grasscourt Birmingham event.

Sharapova won her fourth match on grass this season by defeating last year’s Birmingham runner-up Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium. The Russian, making her way back after nine months out with a shoulder injury, won 6-1 2-6 6-3.

Sharapova will next face Chinese fourth seed Li Na, whom she defeated just two weeks ago to reach the French Open quarterfinals. (photo: Stephane Martinache)

Because of bad weather, only today did Maria Sharapova finish her yesterday’s match, and she had to play another one on the same day. Fortunately, both finished victoriously for the Russian.

The former world No.1 needed only two minutes to wrap up a rain-delayed second-round match with Alexa Glatch, and win it 6-3 6-4. Next for Sharapova was seventh seed Francesca Schiavone, and she raced past her 6-1 6-3 to reach the quarterfinals of the Wimbledon warmup event.

Sharapova goes on to face Belgian world No.61 Yanina Wickmayer, who saw off 14th seed Roberta Vinci 6-1 6-4. (photo: Stephane Martinache)

Maria Sharapova was today playing her first match on grass since last year's Wimbledon, where she lost in the second round.

Sharapova is back on her beloved grass, although the claycourt season was everything but unsuccessful for her, and beat Stephanie Dubois 6-4 6-2 in the first round of the AEGON Classic in Birmingham. The Russian was victorious at that tournament in 2004, just before winning Wimbledon, her first Grand Slam title.

Sharapova, who has climbed from No.102 to No.73 in the world, will next face Alexa Glatch of the United States, who upset Flavia Pennetta at the recently-finished Roland Garros. (photo: Stephane Martinache)

World No.45 Kateryna Bondarenko of Ukraine squeezed past Belgian teenager Yanina Wickmayer in the final of the DFS Classic in Birmingham to win her first WTA Tour title. Twelfth-seeded Bondarenko needed two tie-breaks to defeat Wickmayer 7-6 (9-7) 3-6 7-6 (7-4) in a match lasting nearly three hours.

The 18-year-old Wickmayer, ranked 66th in the world, injured her knee in the second set, but was a tough opponent nevertheless. The Belgian No.1 blamed her defeat on her lack of experience and expressed hope that the injury will not ruin the rest of her grasscourt season.

Here’s what former Wimbledon junior champion Kateryna Bondarenko said after the DFS Classic final:

"It feels great, finally I have my own title,"

"I never expected it to be on grass. It was a really tough match. I think we both played really well. Maybe I got lucky in the tie-break." (sources: BBC, Reuters, photo via Yahoo)

Last year’s Wimbledon finalist Marion Bartoli may miss the 2008 Championships because of a wrist injury.

Top-seeded Bartoli was upset in the second round of the DFS Classis on Wednesday and after the loss she said her participation at Wimbledon 2008 is under question.

"It’s been bothering me since before the French Open," said the Frenchwoman.

"I’ve been having treatment but it’s tendinitis, and there is only so much you can do for that. It seems like 2008 doesn’t want me to be in great shape. I am always having something, some illness or injury."

Bartoli said that she will skip Wimbledon "if it’s not getting better."

"Missing a Grand Slam, especially Wimbledon, is a huge disappointment," the world No.10 added.

After losing 5-7 6-4 6-0 to Petra Cetkovska in Birmingham Bartoli’s 2008 match record fell to 8-14. (source: On the Baseline; photo: Getty Images)

Defending champion Jelena Jankovic, last year's finalist Maria Sharapova, and the 2008 French Open finalist Dinara Safina have all decided to skip the DFS Classic in Birmingham, a Wimbledon warmup event which starts June 9.

World No.3 Jankovic withdrew from the grass-court tournament with the same arm injury that caused her to fly home to Belgrade after losing to Ana Ivanovic in the semifinals of the French Open.

Sharapova, who has won the DFS Classic twice, will skip the event after five consecutive years in the draw in order to be able to focus on Wimbledon better. The Russian world No.1 has also withdrawn from Eastbourne which means she will play no competitive grass-court tennis before Wimbledon.

Safina, ranked 14th in the world, pulled out of Birmingham with a bad back. (sources: ESPN, Reuters; photos: Tennis Channel, Getty Images)

Jelena Jankovic has been amazing this year – she reached a career-high No. 3 in the singles rankings, and collected titles from Auckland (hardcourt), Charleston (clay), Rome (clay), adding to them today’s Birmingham trophy (grass). Moreover, this year she has earned more points than any other WTA player.

I was definitely wrong when I said that she should have skipped the tournament in Strasbourg in order to relax a bit. I thought she was playing too much and that it would affect her game – but Jankovic proved me wrong. After Strasbourg, she reached the semi-finals of Roland Garros and now she defeated the 2004 Wimbledon Champion Maria Sharapova to win the DFS Classic in Birmingham. Her form is simply amazing. Read more »

Maria Sharapova, the No. 1 seed and a two-time champion in Birmingham, beat Marion Bartoli of France 7-5, 6-0 in a semifinal on Sunday. Bartoli, who completed her suspended quarterfinal earlier Sunday, defeated third-seeded Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia 5-7, 6-4, 7-5.

The match between Sharapova and Bartoli was temporarily delayed when two spectators needed medical assistance – a woman was left unconscious after falling down a staircase, and a man in another part of the stadium fainted. The helicopter had to be sent to take the woman to the hospital.

Second-seeded Jelena Jankovic reached the final by defeating Italy’s Mara Santangelo 6-1, 7-5.

The final will take place also on Sunday; I’ll keep you posted! (via ESPN)

Top-seeded Maria Sharapova (BTW, currently the highest-paid female athlete) had to win two matches on Saturday to reach the last four of the rain-hit DFS Classic. She beat Austria’s Tamira Paszek 6-3 4-6 6-2 in a much-delayed third-round match. Sharapova had an easier time against Elena Likhovtseva, seeing off her fellow Russian 6-2 6-3 to reach the semi-finals.

"Mentally, you have to be ready for a very long day. You have to be ready no matter how many stops there are,” Maria, the 2004 Wimbledon champion, commented on the rain which constantly interrupted the tournament.

Sharapova missed two months earlier this year due to a right shoulder injury and hopes her crowded schedule doesn't make it worse. Read more »