As promised, Women's Tennis Blog is continuing its tradition of revising on-court outfits from the season behind us. This year's retrospections will start with the best-dressed WTA player – Nike-clad Maria Sharapova.

Sharapova started the season late, because of her career-threatening shoulder injury, playing her first match of 2009 at the BNP Paribas Open in March. She was introducing herself to competitive tennis slowly, playing doubles first, but her style had to be spot-on from the very beginning, and it was.

People argued that Sharapova’s Roland Garros dress had too much fabric, but I liked it, and I especially favored the blue color against the red clay. Read more »

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Elena Dementieva has won her third title of the 2009 season, after Auckland and Sydney in January, defeating Maria Sharapova 6-4 6-3 in the first ever all-Russian Rogers Cup final.

The first set wasn't impressive, featuring 14 double faults and seven breaks of serve. In the second set both players held serve until the sixth game, when Dementieva broke Sharapova for a 4-2 lead. The fourth-seeded Dementieva held her serve throughout and clinched her first Rogers Cup title and 14th career WTA Tour title.

Still, even after this loss Sharapova is leading their head-to-head series 8-3.

The world No.5 Dementieva has never won a Grand Slam title, but the triumph in Toronto might be her lucky charm as the last three Toronto champions proceeded to win the US Open - Justin Henin in 2007, Kim Clijsters in 2005 and Henin in 2003. (photo: AP via Yahoo)

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Fourth seed Elena Dementieva avenged her Wimbledon loss to Serena Williams in the semifinals of the Rogers Cup, while Maria Sharapova has continued to climb back to where she belongs and despite persistent struggles with her serve, she beat Alisa Kleybanova to reach her first final in over a year.

The second-seeded Williams had faced only one break point all week, but was broken five times during the semifinal which Dementieva won 7-6(2) 6-1 to move into her fourth final of the year.

It’s amazing how the Williams sisters are unbeatable at a Grand Slam stage. Serena ended Dementieva’s hopes for her first Grand Slam title two times this year, at the Australian Open and Wimbledon, the tournaments Serena eventually won.

Sharapova defeated Kleybanova 6-2 4-6 6-4, despite producing 12 double faults and converting only 5 of 22 break points. It only shows Maria's well-known strongest asset – her undying will.

Additional info: Sharapova will be seeded at the 2009 US Open, as she’ll move from No.49 to the Top 32 in the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour rankings. (source: Reuters, photos via Sony Ericsson WTA Tour)

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Maria Sharapova is among the three Russians to join American Serena Williams in the final four of the Rogers Cup. The semifinal pairs are: Alisa Kleybanova vs. Maria Sharapova, Elena Dementieva vs. Serena Williams.

World number two Serena Williams brushed aside qualifier Lucie Safarova 6-3 6-2 after a 57-minute quarterfinal. Serena hasn’t lost more than five games in any match at the 2009 Rogers Cup.

Elena Dementieva had a more difficult fight for the semifinal spot, coming from a set down to beat Samantha Stosur 6-7(3) 6-1 6-3.

Reminder: Williams and Dementieva had an insane last matchup in the semifinals of Wimbledon, which Williams edged 8-6 in the third set. It was the best match of Wimbledon 2009.

Fifth seed Jelena Jankovic, who defeated Kim Clijsters in the previous round, got upset by Alisa Kleybanova, but only after three hours and 16 minutes. Kleybanova failed to convert five set points in the first set, and then Jankovic won it in a tiebreak. The second set Kleybanova won in a tiebreak, and swept through the last four games of the decider to win one of the best matches of her career. Final score: 6-7(6) 7-6(7) 6-2.

Maria Sharapova is still working her way back to the top, very successfully I would say. Her latest victim was 14th seed Agnieszka Radwanska. Sharapova came back from 5-2 down in the second set to claim a 6-2 7-6(5) victory. (source: Reuters, photo: Ralf Reinecke)

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Despite the deadly storm hitting Toronto, all the third-round matches at the Rogers Cup were completed and we have our quarterfinalists.

No.5 seed Jelena Jankovic ended the run of wildcard Kim Clijsters with a 1-6 6-3 7-5 victory, despite trailing 5-3 a very dramatic deciding set. Jankovic's next opponent will be Alisa Kleybanova, whom she has never faced before.

Maria Sharapova, who has advanced by beating No.7 seed Vera Zvonareva, will play No.14 seed Agnieszka Radwanska in the quarterfinals.

"I have had a lot of rain delays in my career but probably not because of a tornado," Sharapova said after the match. "It was good knowing we were around cement in the player's area."

No.4 seed Elena Dementieva defeated her third-round opponent Shahar Peer on her fifth match point and here’s her interesting post-match comment: "Losing to Jankovic in Cincinnati after having four match points, it's just not enough for me. I really need five or more. From now on, every time I have a match point and finish the game there, I'll feel lucky." Dementieva will play Samantha Stosur in the quarterfinals.

No.2 seed Serena Williams’s quarterfinal opponent will be Lucie Safarova, who followed up her second round win over No.11 seed Ana Ivanovic with a win over Zheng Jie. (source: Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, photo by our reader Colleen)

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