This year is the 100th anniversary of the Fila sportswear brand and to celebrate it the originally Italian producer whose headquarters are now in Seoul is launching a collection inspired by the outfit Kim Clijsters received for Christmas when she was a child, in the mid 80s.

For the 2011 French Open, Fila dug into their achieves, searching for the outfit based on the description Clijsters provided. When they found it, they started working on it, updating the color palette and adorning it with a signature print design from the Belgian's childhood kit. Read more »

Italian fifth seed Francesca Schiavone began the defence of her French Open crown with a confident 6-2 6-0 victory over world No.88 Melanie Oudin.

The 19-year-old American, who became famous during her 2009 Wimbledon and US Open runs which she hasn’t been able to repeat ever since, was tipped as a possible test for Schiavone. However, she won only two games against the defending champion, and hit six winners to Schiavone's 25.

Schiavone’s opponent in the second round will be either Anne Keothavong or Vesna Dolonts.

If you think Schiavone has a chance to repeat her last year's extraordinary feat and win the French Open, vote for her in our poll. (photo: Stephane Martinache)

For a long time I've been planning to make a poll and now I've finally learned how to do it (hopefully it will work fine). The question is of course related to the French Open. I picked 12 players as possible winners of the tournament (the draw is so open that it was hard to select fewer players), but if your favorite is someone else, feel free to share your opinion in the comments. Do contribute with your vote!

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(photo: Stephane Martinache)

Seed No.18 Flavia Pennetta was the highest seed to fall on the first day of the 2011 French Open. The Italian's errors piled up and despite winning the second set and saving four match points, she lost to American Varvara Lepchenko and her mummified knees 6-3 2-6 6-3. Lepchenko's next opponent will be fellow American, Bethanie Mattek Sands, who toughed it out against Arantxa Parra Santonja (as for Bethanie's outfit, well, it's disappointingly conservative this time). Read more »

World No.1 Caroline Wozniacki managed to crown her red clay season just a day before the start of the French Open – in the final of the inaugural Premier-level Brussels Ladies Open the Dane defeated surprise finalist Peng Shuai even though the Chinese convincingly took the first set 6-2. Final score: 2-6 6-3 6-3.

Wozniacki improved in the second set against the eighth-seeded Peng, ranked 31st in the world, but a concerning thing happened in the third set when Wozniacki needed medical treatment on her left thigh.

As Wozniacki is one of the favorites for the French Open and bares quite a pressure to win her first Grand Slam title there, let's just briefly have a look at her clay season:

• title win on the green clay of Charleston
• runner-up in Stuttgart
• third round in Madrid
• semifinals in Rome
• title in Brussels

Therefore, her win-loss record on clay courts this season is 17-3. Two of the losses were to Julia Goerges and one to Maria Sharapova. Also, in the Brussels Ladies Open semifinals she defeated reigning French Open champion Francesca Schiavone in a thrilling encounter that lasted more than two hours and a half. (photo: Ralf Reinecke)