Angelique Kerber defeated Ekaterina Makarova at the AEGON International 6-2 6-4 and reached her first semifinal on grass while becoming a leader in match wins in 2012. At the other tournament of the week, Kim Clijsters is reaffirming her comeback by reaching the semifinals of the Unicef Open.

Yesterday Kerber recorded her 38th match win of the year, tying world No.2 Victoria Azarenka and world No.3 Agnieszka Radwanska, but today she took the lead with 39 wins and will play her seventh semifinal of the season having Klara Zakopalova on the other side of the court.

Defending champion at the AEGON International is Marion Bartoli and she's also through to the semis where she'll face Tamira Paszek, who will be playing her first Premier-level semifinal.

Elsewhere, at the Unicef Open, after easing past Kateryna Bondarenko in the second round, Kim Clijsters defeated Francesca Schiavone 6-3 7-6(7) in the quarterfinals. Playing her first event since March, Clijsters increased her record against Schiavone to 12-0. In the previous rounds at the tournament, Schiavone came back from 5-3 down in the third set against Maria Kirilenko and against Irina-Camelia Begu she fought off eight match points. Clijsters will face qualifier Urszula Radwanska in the semis. (photos: © Neal Trousdale)

Petra Kvitova, Agnieszka Radwanska and Caroline Wozniacki - seeds number two, one and three respectively – went out in the first round of the AEGON International in Eastbourne.

Last year Kvitova was runner-up at the grasscourt tournament and she went on to win Wimbledon. This year, however, the Czech opened her grass season with a loss to fellow lefty Ekaterina Makarova 7-5 6-4, whom she defeated to reach the quarterfinals in 2011. Makarova, the 2010 Eastbourne champion and the semifinalist last week in Birmingham, scored her first Top 5 win.

Agnieszka Radwanska, top seed and champion at Eastbourne in 2008, fell in the first round to Tsvetana Pironkova 6-2 6-4, Wimbledon 2011 quarterfinalist and Wimbledon 2010 semifinalist, while third seed Caroline Wozniacki lost to Christina McHale 6-1 6-7(7) 6-4.

However, defending champion and fourth seed Marion Bartoli advanced to the second round with a 6-2 6-2 win over Sorana Cirstea. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)

Melanie Oudin, still best known as the 2009 US Open wonder kid, lifted her first WTA trophy by defeating former world No.1 and former champion Jelena Jankovic in the final of Birmingham. The 20-year-old Oudin came through qualifying and won a total of eight matches to make that career milestone.

Oudin was ranked 208th during the Birmingham week, the win climbed her to No.122, but she used to be No.31 a few months after her fourth round at Wimbledon 2009 followed by the US Open quarterfinals.

At the beginning of the AEGON Classic it didn't seem that the American's freefall would end, as Oudin wasn't even seeded in the qualifying, in her first match the tiebreak was 10-8 and she survived many three-setters, including victories over seed No.10 Sorana Cirstea in the first round and eighth seed Ekaterina Makarova in the semifinals. In the final against the fifth-seeded Jankovic, Oudin finished the job more straightforwardly, 6-4 6-2, increasing her head-to-head record against the Serb to 2-0. Despite losing the final, Jankovic can be satisfied for making the best appearance at a tournament since last year and for getting back to the Top 20. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)

Alize Cornet, former world No.11 and current No.73, won the Nurnberger Gastein Ladies without dropping a set all week, even though her straight-set victory in the final against Yanina Wickmayer was a close affair, as the seventh-seeded Cornet was serving at 4-5 0-15 in the first set and 5-6 15-30 in the second.

Before beating the second-seeded Wickmayer, Cornet defeated Edina Gallovits Hall in the first round, then Sacha Jones, Estrella Cabeza Candela, and third seed Ksenia Pervak in the semis.

Cornet is ecstatic to have won her second WTA title and her first since Budapest 2008 at her favorite tournament where she feels at home.

Top seed in singles at the Bad Gastein was Julia Goerges and she fell in the first round already. However, the German made up for the loss by winning her fourth doubles title and her first teamed up with best friend Jill Craybas. In the final they defeated No.1 seeds Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Petra Martic, 6-7(4) 6-4 11-9. (via WTA Tour, photo: Ralf Reinecke)

Sabine Lisicki recently did an interview with Ellery Maddocks for Tennis Now, chatting about how she turned her hatred for grass into love, the excitement she has for Wimbledon and the London Olympics, cooperation with Longines, the constant travels of tennis players, etc.

Here's my favorite part of the interview, where Sabine explains how the grass surface troubled her not only because of its uniqueness but grass itself caused her health problems:

I used to hate it, the first time I went there (Wimbledon) I actually think I lost 5 straight matches on grass plus one doubles, and then I turned it around in 2009 where I went to the quarterfinals. I have a string grass allergy, so there was a lot against it, but at some point I just turned it around. I just love it now, it plays differently, it's quicker obviously which is good for my service, which is one of my weapons.

Last year at the grasscourt Birmingham Lisicki won the title and went on to reach the semifinals of Wimbledon, her first and only Grand Slam semifinal appearance. However, Lisicki exited this week's Birmingham tournament in the second round already, losing to Urszula Radwanska 6-3 6-4. (photo: Ralf Reinecke)