The 2007 Wimbledon finalist Marion Bartoli won her sixth career title and her first on grass on Saturday against last year's Wimbledon semifinalist Petra Kvitova at the AEGON International in Eastbourne. En route to the big trophy Bartoli overcame Lucie Safarova's match point in the first round, windy conditions at the tournament, a groin strain and the fact that she played both her semifinal and the final on the same day.

The sixth-seeded Bartoli reached the final with a clinical 6-3 6-1 victory over Samantha Stosur. The match against fifth-seeded Kvitova was a tough affair, although Bartoli looked to be cruising when the score was 6-1 3-1. Final result: 6-1 4-6 7-5.

Bartoli has had notable results in the past weeks: in Strasbourg she was runner-up to Andrea Petkovic (Bartoli retired in the final) and at the French Open she played the semifinals which she lost to Francesca Schiavone. The Frenchwoman has won 13 of her last 15 matches. (photo via AEGON International)

Venus Williams survived one more round than her sister Serena at the AEGON International in Eastbourne, but that was it, in the quarterfinals she lost to in-form Daniela Hantuchova, who played the final of Birmingham last week. Hantuchova's first win over Venus in their eleven meetings, and actually the first in ten years, came after a tough battle with both Venus and the wind.

In the first set of the Eastbourne quarterfinal, Hantuchova converted two of three break opportunities she had and held her serve throughout the set to win it 6-2.  The Slovak world No.25 looked to be on a good way to victory while leading 6-2 4-2, but Venus fought back and won the second set 7-5. In the decider Hantuchova took command again and advanced to the semifinals where she will play fifth seed Petra Kvitova. Final score: 6-2 5-7 6-2.

Hantuchova was Eastbourne runner-up in 2004. (photo: Stephane Martinache)

Serena Williams survived a scrappy first-round encounter with Tsvetana Pironkova, but top seed Vera Zvonareva was a sterner opponent and even though Serena led 6-4 5-4 Zvonareva prolonged the match and won it 3-6 7-6(5) 7-5 after three hours and 12 minutes of play. Positive news for Serena today is her Wimbledon seeding. The defending champion will be seed No.7, which is 19 places higher than her ranking, and will avoid the highest-ranked opponents until at least the quarterfinals.

Venus Williams may have toughed out a three-setter against Andrea Petkovic in the first round of the AEGON International, but in today's match with Ana Ivanovic, the American faced just one break point, which she saved, and defeated Ivanovic 6-3 6-2. Her seeding at Wimbledon will be 23.

Kim Clijsters' news are the worst by far – the injury the Belgian sustained in yesterday's loss to Romina Oprandi at the Unicef Open will prevent her from playing Wimbledon, which starts next week. During the match, Clijsters injured her right ankle, the very same part of body she injured at a wedding in April. The injuries are not related, though, Clijsters says. A few weeks of staying away from tennis should be enough for her to recover. By virtue of her Wimbledon withdrawal, the rest of the seeded players benefited by moving up one spot. (photos: angela n., Edwin Martinez1)

If Serena Williams is known for something it's that she never gives up and when you watch her matches you have to know that no matter how desperate her situation is, she can always pull out a win. Today at the AEGON International Serena was in exactly that type of situation, trailing Bulgarian world No.34 Tsvetana Pironkova, who by the way took out Serena's sister Venus from last year's Wimbledon, 5-0 in the first set. However, Serena used her experience and Pironkova's lost opportunities to her advantage and bit by bit won the match 1-6 6-3 6-4. Interestingly, at the end of the match, Serena's total number of points was 80 and Pironkova's 79.

Serena's opponent in the second round of Eastbourne could be Vera Zvonareva, whom she defeated in the 2010 Wimbledon final, her last match prior to today's match win Pironkova.

The elder Williams sister, Venus, is also making a comeback on the grass of Eastbourne. She also had a three-setter in her opening match against Andrea Petkovic and in the second round she will play Ana Ivanovic.

Additional info: The dress Nike made specifically for Serena Williams' appearance at Roland Garros, which she missed, is receiving the rightful attention at this week's AEGON International. (photos: Ralf Reinecke, © Neal Trousdale)

The short film shows the beginnings of Venus' and Serena's careers, the LA ghetto neighborhood they grew up in, their father Richard's clear vision, and even a "respected author" who said "demographically tennis is still perceived as a white upper-class sport, I don't think there are people out there dying to give millions of dollars to a ten-year-old black girl". You also get to see a 13-year-old Venus and a year younger Serena talking, laughing and playing tennis.

More childhood photos of Serena and Venus are available here, while here you can see little Venus with her enthusiastic father on the tennis court.

Comeback news: Regarding the sisters' actual return, Venus' was quite positive. The older Williams sister won the first match she played in five months, and it was against the very same opponent against whom she retired at the Australian Open in January – in the first round of the grass-court AEGON International, Venus defeated German world No.11 Andrea Petkovic 7-5 5-7 6-3.

As for Serena, today she will play her first match since winning the Wimbledon crown last year, and it will be against Bulgarian world No. 34 Tsvetana Pironkova. I love Serena's attitude on whether she is having high expectation for the upcoming Wimbledon:

I'm not preparing for today or Wimbledon. I'm preparing for the rest of my career.

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).

At the Premier-level grass-court tournament in Eastbourne, Serena will open up against Bulgaria’s world No.33 Tsvetana Pironkova, last year’s Wimbledon semifinalist. In the second round, Serena could face the tournament’s top seed,  Vera Zvonareva, whom she defeated to win the Wimbledon crown last year. Venus will face eighth seed Andrea Petkovic in the first round. Tough beginning for the sisters!

While the Williamses are practicing, there are players in real action, at two tournaments going on now. I'm sure you're wondering how Ana Ivanovic performed in the Birmingham semis against Daniela Hantuchova - well, not so surprisingly, she lost, but did she really have to convert only two of 20 break points? The score was 6-7(2) 6-3 6-2 for Hantuchova, who will play Sabine Lisicki in the final. Lisicki beat Peng Shuai 6-3 6-1 in the semis.

At the other tournament taking place this week, the e-Boks Sony Ericsson Open 2011, Danish world No.1 Caroline Wozniacki reached the final and the 38th-ranked Lucie Safarova will be her last obstacle for the title. Note that the event in Denmark is played on hard court and it's between the clay and grass part of the season! (photo: © Neal Trousdale)

This grass-court season is expected to be marked by Serena Williams’ return to tennis, after her almost a year long absence. The American, who has slipped to No.25 in the rankings from the No.1 where she stood when she last played competitively, plans to participate in the next week's Aegon International and then Wimbledon, where she will be defending her title.

Serena's sister Venus, a five-time Wimbledon champion, is also expected to play the grass-court Grand Slam. The last tournament she played was the 2011 Australian Open in January. Her health problem was a hip injury.

Serena was away from the tennis courts because of her injured foot that she had two operations on, and then in February she was hospitalized because of a pulmonary embolism, a blood clot in her lungs.

In a statement released by her agent Serena said: "I am so excited to be healthy enough to compete again […] I’m thankful to my family, friends, and fans for all of their support. Serena’s back!" (source: The New York Times, photos: © Neal Trousdale)

There was a lot of talk about fashion at the 2010 US Open, especially about the very short Stella McCartney dress Caroline Wozniacki was wearing and Venus Williams’ too movable outfits. The Sony Ericsson WTA Tour dedicated one photo feature to Tracy Austin, that I recently had an interview with, and I came across this very interesting photo showing that exposed shorts are nothing new. I simply had to share the picture of the outfit, because it's so unique and strange. Imagine Wozniacki wearing it today. The photo dates back to the Eastbourne tournament in 1978.

The gallery also featured a photo we could add to our collection of young pictures of women’s tennis players. You can see a 14-year-old Austin playing Chris Evert in the round of 32 at Wimbledon in 1977.

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)

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)