Wimbledon may have strict dress code but there still is enough space for players and their brands to experiment and bring something new and exciting. Let's see how successful they've been this year.

Let's start with Venus and Serena Williams. We've already paid close attention to both Venus' Eleven dress and Serena's Nike dress, but it's worth mentioning them again – Venus was definitely unique with fringes all over the bottom part of the dress, while Serena wore a more classic design inspired by strawberries and cream and a cute narrow headband. Just to use the opportunity to mention that the sisters, twice defending champions, lost in doubles quarterfinals today to Elena Vesnina and Vera Zvonareva 3-6 6-3 6-4.

Chinese brand ANTA and Jelena Jankovic were simple and classy at this year's Wimbledon. JJ also sported a customized racquet bag and was fully equipped for the greatest Grand Slam.

Once my favorite tennis fashion designer Stella McCartney seems to be lacking inspiration as Caroline Wozniacki has been wearing pretty much the same dress for months. Now I can't blame her, why bother when you're going to lose your match in 46 minutes (sorry, Caro). Talking about Stella, we have to mention Maria Kirilenko who looks awesome even in the simple adidas BARRICADE top and skort. Read more »

Defending champion and top seed Serena Williams reached the semifinals of Wimbledon with a 7-5 6-3 win over ninth seed Li Na, while her sister Venus, five-time Wimbledon champion and last year’s runner-up, crashed out to world No.82 Tsvetana Pironkova in the quarters.

Li didn’t break Serena’s serve until 5-2 in the second set and Serena then immediately broke back to advance to the semifinal meeting with world No.62 Petra Kvitova, who had never won a match at Wimbledon before this year. To reach the semifinals, Czech Kvitova defeated Kaia Kanepi after saving five match points and coming from 5-2 down in the deciding set (final score: 4-6 7-6(8) 8-6).

Second seed Venus Williams lost her quarterfinal match against Tsvetana Pironkova in straight sets 6-2 6-3 and Pironkova has thus become the first Bulgarian to reach semifinals of a Grand Slam in the Open Era. Prior to Wimbledon 2010, world No.82 Pironkova had recorded just one victory at the tournament.

Pironkova’s opponent in the semifinals will be seed No.21 Vera Zvonareva who upset eighth seed Kim Clijsters 3-6 6-4 6-2 even though the Belgian entered the match with a perfect 5-0 record against the Russian. Clijsters’ game was worsening as the match progressed and Zvonareva reached her second Grand Slam semifinal.

The 2010 Wimbledon semifinals are yet again proving how unpredictable women’s tennis is nowadays. Who would have thought that semifinal pairs would be Serena Williams vs. Petra Kvitova and Vera Zvonareva vs. Tsvetana Pironkova. I’m sure absolutely no one was even close! At present, world No.1 Serena is the only WTA player you can count on. (photo: sr_cranks)

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.

To my relief, Venus Williams’ Wimbledon dress is nothing like her Roland Garros outfit, but the bottom part does make me say “why”, even though it could be argued it’s kind of fun and party-like. Venus said the dress is inspired by Tina Turner.

It doesn’t happen often, but I find absolutely nothing tacky about Jelena Jankovic dress, although it is more likely to get unnoticed than other ANTA pieces she wore. Every JJ’s outfit brings at least a small smile on my face, and even though the white Wimbledon dress is so simple, nice and normal, the full outfit makes sure we're not left without that shock moment.

JJ is serious business, Federer, watch out! (via Down the Line)

Both the 2010 French Open finalists have now lost in the first round of Wimbledon as Samantha Stosur followed Francesca Schiavone in exiting the grass court Grand Slam right at the first hurdle. A day after French Open champion Schiavone fell to Vera Dushevina, sixth-seeded Samantha Stosur lost in straight sets to Estonian qualifier Kaia Kanepi, once ranked 18th in the world, 6-4 6-4. Schiavone and Stosur have now made history – they are the first Roland Garros finalists to have both gone out in the first round of one Wimbledon.

Defending champion and top seed Serena Williams produced a ruthless display to crush Michelle Larcher de Brito 6-0 6-4 and move into round two. The first set lasted just 22 minutes as Williams broke the 17-year-old Larcher de Brito three times, facing no break points herself. The Portuguese fought well in the second set, but an early break was enough for Williams’ power to prevail. The American’s opponent in the second round will be Anna Chakvetadze, who beat Andrea Petkovic. (photo: chascow)

This is not an upset, nor is it surprising, but I still have the inertia of covering Ana Ivanovic and her early losses at tournaments still come as small shocks although they shouldn't be by now. Anyway, the former world No.1, unseeded this year, fell in the very first round of Wimbledon 2010 to seed No.13 Shahar Peer with the score 6-3 6-4. The world No.45 Ivanovic entered the match with a 0-1 record against Peer, actually 0-2 if you include the Fed Cup, but today's encounter was their first on grass and Ivanovic came to Wimbledon with a 15-5 win-loss record at the tournament, compared to Peer's much weaker 8-5.

Fifth-seeded Francesca Schiavone, the champion at the previous Grand Slam of Roland Garros, was also eliminated in the first round already, by unseeded Russian Vera Dushevina 6-7(0) 7-5 6-1. The Italian has suffered her second straight loss after her awesome achievement on the Paris clay.

Ivanovic's compatriot Jelena Jankovic, seeded fourth, needed a lot of match points and a tiebreak, but saw off promising British star Laura Robson 6-3 7-6(5). Last year's Wimbledon runner-up Venus Williams improved to 47-3 in opening matches at Grand Slam tournaments by beating Rossana de los Rios 6-3 6-2. Kim Clijsters powered through to the second round with a 6-0 6-3 victory over Maria Elena Camerin, and her fellow Belgian Justine Henin advanced with a 6-4 6-3 win over Anastasija Sevastova. (photo: sr_cranks)