Top seed Francesca Schiavone beat Yvonne Meusburger of Austria 6-1 6-4 to finally win her first WTA Tour title (the 27-year-old Italian had lost eight previous finals!). Additionally, she became the first winner of this new tournament on the WTA Tour calendar.

“A great relief … but I didn't put pressure on myself," world No. 31 said. "I'm a different player now and I just went out today to enjoy myself and hopefully win."

"The match was much closer than the result shows," said the 82nd-ranked Meusburger, who was also beaten by Schiavone in the first round of this year's French Open. "Anyway, the final was a good experience for me and it will help me to further raise my game."

It’s worth mentioning that the winner took home $25.840 and 140 points, while the runner-up earned $13.520 and 100 points. (source: CBS Sports Line)

In order to raise money for charity, Wilson has released limited edition versions of their (K) Factor tennis rackets which are inlaid with gold leaf designs. They are well-known because they were used by multiple Grand Slam champions Venus and Serena Williams at this year’s Wimbledon. Only 650 of each model will be available at a recommended retail price of $500; ten percent of the proceeds go to The Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF). Serena and Venus signed an additional ten rackets of each model which are to be auctioned for the charity. Note: Venus used the white frame, Serena the black one. (via Down the Line)

Nicole Vaidisova is known as a player who always carries many books in her tennis bag. That was the reason the Czech was chosen for Get Caught Reading, a nationwide public service campaign launched by the Association of American Publishers in 1999 to promote the joy of reading. Vaidisova is now spreading the literacy word by being photographed reading Mitch Albom's bestselling Tuesdays with Morrie.

Other celebrities that have also appeared in the campaign include Whoopi Goldberg, Alicia Keys, Queen Latifa, Robin Williams, NY Yankee Johnny Damon, The Miami Heat, etc. To see what their posters look like click here.

Maria Sharapova was criticized a lot lately since she withdrew from the Fed Cup on two occasions in 2007; actually the 20-year-old is yet to make a Fed Cup appearance for her native country.

Both times the highest-ranked Russian player pulled out because of injuries, but after the second withdrawal, which was at the last minute, Russian tennis officials accused her of putting her own interests ahead of her country.

"I'm telling you, just forget about all these promises," said Russia's chief tennis coach Vladimir Kamelzon. "Her closest advisers are Americans and they would never allow her to play for Russia," he added. Read more »

Click here to check out who are currently the most beautiful female athletes and vote for your favorites. At the moment, they are all in the first round, but then they can advance to so called “Sexy 16”, “Elite Eight”, “Fab Four”, “Women’s Final”, and in the end one of them will be named the “Hottest Athlete”.

Out of WTA players there are Maria Sharapova, Daniela Hantuchova, Serena Williams, Ana Ivanovic, and Maria Kirilenko.