Top seed Serena Williams beat Maria Sharapova 7-6(9) 6-4 to advance to the quarterfinals of Wimbledon. The 16th-seeded Russian came back from an early break of serve but wasted three set points in the first set tiebreak. One break of serve was enough for Williams to take the second set and hence the match. The defending champion’s serve is still in a rocking form and Sharapova confirms it: "She served extremely well, the best she's ever served against me, and that was the difference." Read more »

Top seed Serena Williams secured her place in the fourth round of Wimbledon with a 6-0 7-5 victory over Dominika Cibulkova, the defending champion’s third successive match in which she bageled her opponent in the first set. Serena’s next opponent will be the 2004 Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova who took a lot of effort to beat world No.68 Barbora Zahlavova Strycova 7-5 6-3 in the third round.

Cibulkova was absolutely stunned by Serena’s serve and said it was the best serve she had ever faced, even better than Venus’. However, world No.1 Serena thinks her serve was the only good part of her game and believes she must improve for her match against 16th-seeded Sharapova. In the 18-minute first set, the unseeded Cibulkova scored just six points, while Serena lost only six points on her serve in the entire match.

Serena is 5-2 head-to-head against Sharapova, winning their last four meetings. (photos: Stephane Martinache, Tidalist)

Belgians Justine Henin and Kim Clijsters are set to continue their rivalry in the fourth round of Wimbledon as they will play each other for the 25th time in their careers. Currently, the former world No.1s are tied at 12-12, but Henin has a 3-1 record against Clijsters on grass, and that sole loss came by retirement. Their last meeting on grass was in the semifinals of Wimbledon 2006 and Henin won it.

The eighth-seeded Clijsters advanced to the fourth round of Wimbledon with a routine win over No.27 seed Maria Kirilenko, 6-3 6-3. On Center Court, seed No.17 Henin stormed through the first set and rallied from 3-1 down in the second set to beat seed No.12 Nadia Petrova for the sixth straight time and with the score 6-1 6-4. Henin has never lost in the third round of a Grand Slam and her record is 27-0 now.

Fourth seed Jelena Jankovic cruised past No.28 seed Alona Bondarenko 6-0 6-3 and will have another shot at reaching her first Wimbledon quarterfinals. The 2007 Wimbledon finalist Marion Bartoli, seeded 11th this year, got past qualifier Greta Arn 6-3 6-4. Second seed and five-time Wimbledon champion Venus Williams also advanced, with a 6-4 6-2 victory over Alisa Kleybanova. (photos: sr_cranks, © Neal Trousdale)

June 24th, 2010 was a big day for Wimbledon, not only because it saw the end of the stunning match between John Isner and Nicolas Mahut (the score is 6-4 3-6 6-7(7) 7-6(3) 70-68 after a 491-minute decider), but also because Queen Elizabeth II made her first appearance at the tournament in 33 years.

The 84-year-old Queen, wearing a memorable turquoise coat and matching hat, greeted the top seeds and former champions such as Billie Jean King and Martina Navratilova. Read more »

What I hate about Wimbledon is the always-lurking rain, but all the other awesome things make it my favorite tennis tournament to watch – it’s by far the most stylish and prestigious. What adds to the wonderful appearance of Wimbledon are definitely the clothes the tournament staff are wearing, and Polo Ralph Lauren, in charge of their elegant, traditional and at the same time modern look since 2006, is definitely doing a fantastic job.