The 2007 Wimbledon finalist Marion Bartoli won her sixth career title and her first on grass on Saturday against last year's Wimbledon semifinalist Petra Kvitova at the AEGON International in Eastbourne. En route to the big trophy Bartoli overcame Lucie Safarova's match point in the first round, windy conditions at the tournament, a groin strain and the fact that she played both her semifinal and the final on the same day.

The sixth-seeded Bartoli reached the final with a clinical 6-3 6-1 victory over Samantha Stosur. The match against fifth-seeded Kvitova was a tough affair, although Bartoli looked to be cruising when the score was 6-1 3-1. Final result: 6-1 4-6 7-5.

Bartoli has had notable results in the past weeks: in Strasbourg she was runner-up to Andrea Petkovic (Bartoli retired in the final) and at the French Open she played the semifinals which she lost to Francesca Schiavone. The Frenchwoman has won 13 of her last 15 matches. (photo via AEGON International)

Roberta Vinci edged Jelena Dokic 6-7(7) 6-3 7-5 in the final of two 28-year-olds on the grass of the Unicef Open.

The 30th-ranked Vinci is now an impressive 5-1 in WTA career finals. Her previous four titles have been Barcelona in 2009 and 2011, Luxembourg and Bogota.

En route to the trophy Vinci pulled of upsets of third-seeded Yanina Wickmayer and fifth-seeded Dominika Cibulkova. The former world No.4 Dokic also caused an upset, in the second round against Flavia Pennetta. (photo via Unicef Open)

Bethanie Mattek Sands kept her promise and the dress that she announced last month would be the outcome of her cooperation with Lady Gaga's designer Alex Noble was finally revealed at Thursday evening's Pre-Wimbledon Party. And just like the fashion experimentalist hinted, the dress is made of tennis balls.

I was slowly browsing the WTA's photo gallery from the event and reading the names of designers that players were wearing, like Caroline Wozniacki in Stella McCartney, Laura Robson and Heather Watson in Temperley and Mulberry, and then my eyes landed on a yellow costume. After a few moments of confusion I remembered Bethanie's cooperation with Alex and I was like "oh, that's the dress we've been waiting for".

When I first saw Bethanie's outfit I was shocked, mostly because of the screaming color and because she looks like a circus performer, but the more I examine the outfit, the more I realize the tennis balls were actually blended into a dress pretty well, and the overall look can be seen as feminine. The hat is weird, but it does contribute to the shock effect. The shoes, well, they match.

Can we give Bethanie and Alex thumbs up for their fashion project? Do you like Bethanie's gown?

Also, if you like Bethanie's fashion, enjoy the gallery of her out-of-the-ordinary tennis clothes.

Venus Williams survived one more round than her sister Serena at the AEGON International in Eastbourne, but that was it, in the quarterfinals she lost to in-form Daniela Hantuchova, who played the final of Birmingham last week. Hantuchova's first win over Venus in their eleven meetings, and actually the first in ten years, came after a tough battle with both Venus and the wind.

In the first set of the Eastbourne quarterfinal, Hantuchova converted two of three break opportunities she had and held her serve throughout the set to win it 6-2.  The Slovak world No.25 looked to be on a good way to victory while leading 6-2 4-2, but Venus fought back and won the second set 7-5. In the decider Hantuchova took command again and advanced to the semifinals where she will play fifth seed Petra Kvitova. Final score: 6-2 5-7 6-2.

Hantuchova was Eastbourne runner-up in 2004. (photo: Stephane Martinache)

Jelena Dokic made Flavia Pennetta the sole seeded player to lose on Wednesday at the Unicef Open. The 59th-ranked Australian defeated the fourth-seeded Pennetta 6-3 6-4 for the second straight-set victory at the tournament (in the first round she beat Alla Kudryavtseva 6-0 6-4).

The former world No.4 Dokic is not a stranger to grass. She played the semifinals of Wimbledon in 2000 and she won on the grass of Birmingham in 2002. In the quarterfinals of the Unicef Open Dokic will meet Johanna Larsson, who is ranked 71st.

It is Dokic’s third quarterfinal of the season, including her title run in Kuala Lumpur, and her third highest-ranked win this year (in Paris she defeated world No.20 Nadia Petrova and No.5 Francesca Schiavone in the first round of Kuala Lumpur). (photo: © Neal Trousdale)

The current Big Three of women's tennis, if I may call them that way – Serena Williams, Venus Williams and Kim Clijsters – had very much different Wednesday. Serena lost in Eastbourne, Venus won, while Kim faced the fact that she would have to withdraw from Wimbledon because of her injury sustained yesterday in 's-Hertogenbosch.

Serena Williams survived a scrappy first-round encounter with Tsvetana Pironkova, but top seed Vera Zvonareva was a sterner opponent and even though Serena led 6-4 5-4 Zvonareva prolonged the match and won it 3-6 7-6(5) 7-5 after three hours and 12 minutes of play. Positive news for Serena today is her Wimbledon seeding. The defending champion will be seed No.7, which is 19 places higher than her ranking, and will avoid the highest-ranked opponents until at least the quarterfinals. Read more »

Second-ranked Kim Clijsters' failed to receive much attention with Serena and Venus Williams returning to the competition this week, but here it is, the Belgian surprisingly lost in the second round of her home tournament, the Unicef Open. Her conqueror – Italian world No.81 Romina Oprandi, who is now celebrating her greatest career achievement. Final score: 7-6(5) 6-3.

Not only has Clijsters lost, but in the first set she appeared to have injured right ankle. The former world No.1 will undergo some tests to see how her ankle is doing, and now even her participation at Wimbledon is in doubt. Remember, only weeks ago Clijsters was healing her right ankle injury sustained at a wedding?

At the French Open, her first tournament after the recovery from the injury, Clijsters was also upset in the second round, by Arantxa Rus, ranked outside Top 100. (photo: krissaconnection)

If Serena Williams is known for something it's that she never gives up and when you watch her matches you have to know that no matter how desperate her situation is, she can always pull out a win. Today at the AEGON International Serena was in exactly that type of situation, trailing Bulgarian world No.34 Tsvetana Pironkova, who by the way took out Serena's sister Venus from last year's Wimbledon, 5-0 in the first set. However, Serena used her experience and Pironkova's lost opportunities to her advantage and bit by bit won the match 1-6 6-3 6-4. Interestingly, at the end of the match, Serena's total number of points was 80 and Pironkova's 79. Read more »