Monday action at the Australian Open completed the quarterfinal line-up and a special treat was to see Svetlana Kuznetsova doing well again. The matches of Day 8 saw Serena Williams wasting little energy to crush Maria Kirilenko 6-2 6-0, Sloane Stephens reaching her first Grand Slam quarterfinal with a 6-1 3-6 7-5 win over Bojana Jovanovski (Stephens will now crack the Top 20!) and top seed Victoria Azarenka easing past Elena Vesnina 6-1 6-1, but Azarenka's next opponent is the one I wanted to focus this article on – two-time Grand Slam champion Svetlana Kuznetsova, who is making a comeback statement with the fourth-round upset of tenth seed and former world No.1 Caroline Wozniacki 6-2 2-6 7-5.

Kuznetsova used to be a huge threat, but it's been a while since her name was in the headlines shoulder-to-shoulder with the WTA top names. Last season was her first in 11 years that she didn't finish in the Top 50, largely due to the knee injury that forced her to skip all post-Wimbledon events, but the Russian, despite struggling with crutches and blisters on her hands, used the time off to refresh her mind and came back to the Tour lurking as a low-ranked underdog. Read more »

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 »

After the seventh day of the Australian Open we have two quarterfinal pairs in the bottom half of the draw: Li Na [6] vs. Agnieszka Radwanska [4] and Maria Sharapova [2] vs. Ekaterina Makarova [19].

Li Na was broken in the first game of the match and climbed back from 5-3 and 6-5 down in the tiebreak to take the first set and then cruise through the second against seed No.18 Julia Goerges for a 7-6(6) 6-1 victory and her first Grand Slam quarterfinal since her French Open triumph one and a half years ago. Player with best win-loss record of the season will be her next opponent – Agnieszka Radwanska, who improved to 13-0 in matches and 26-0 in sets in 2013 by beating Ana Ivanovic 6-2 6-4, ending the encounter with two aces in a row. Li and Radwanska have an interesting recent history. Li quite routinely won their last three meetings in 2012, but Radwanska was victorious in their only 2013 clash in the semifinals of Sydney. Overall, Li leads 5-4.

Maria Sharapova reached the quarterfinals losing just five games! In her last match, against Kirsten Flipkens, the Russian's score was 6-1 6-0, against Venus Williams she lost four games, and in her first two matches she gave out no games to her opponents. Sharapova next faces the same player as last year at the quarterfinal stage of the Australian Open – compatriot Ekaterina Makarova, who upset injury-hampered Angelique Kerber 7-5 6-4, the highest-seeded victim in the women's draw. Sharapova leads Makarova 4-0 in their head-to-head record. (photo: Tidalist)

Unlike her sister Venus, who was crushed by in-form Maria Sharapova in the third round, for the second straight match Serena Williams hit a near-record serve and cruised to the fourth round of the Australian Open with a 6-1 6-3 victory over Ayumi Morita. Serena sealed her second-round match with a 207 kmh ace and in her latest encounter she repeated such a fast serve. Converted into miles per hour, that's 128.6, and the record, currently held by Venus Williams, is 129 mph.

Top seed Victoria Azarenka was greatly tested in her third round against Jamie Hampton, who may have pulled off an upset had she not sustained a lower back injury. Playing at that stage of a Grand Slam for the first time, Hampton drew the crowd to her side with her undying determination and powerful groundstrokes. She forced the third set and even went up a break in it, but the defending champion prevailed 6-4 4-6 6-2, despite trailing Hampton 17 to 41 in the winners department.

The fourth round is now all set up. Let's see who's facing whom: Read more »

At the previous Grand Slam, the 2012 US Open, Laura Robson made it to the fourth round by upsetting Li Na and Kim Clijsters on the way, and now she's through to the third round of the Australian Open, having taken out Wimbledon champion and eighth seed Petra Kvitova 2-6 6-3 11-9 in a match that finished after midnight local time.

Kvitova finished the match in which, according to her own words, her serve was worse than ever, and 18 double faults surely confirm the Czech's resentment at herself, although 18 aces did provide a good counter-balance. In the third set Kvitova built a 3-0 lead, playing the best tennis of the match, but the 18-year-old Robson then broke her three times to go up 6-5. Kvitova broke back again and a few upcoming games went with serve until Robson again took her opponent's serve and held to love to advance to the third round of a Grand Slam for the second time in her career.

The new face of Adidas by Stella McCartney next plays Sloane Stephens for a chance to avenge her last week's Hobart loss to the American 19-year-old. It's been their only career meeting so far. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)