Clijsters will next face Swiss veteran Patty Schnyder, who beat Gisela Dulko 6-4, 6-0. Clijsters is 5-2 career against Schnyder.

“I was so scared to beat Venus, it is huge mentally to beat her,” Bartoli said. “I needed some help to calm me down and remind me of the basics.”

Notes: Openers of interest include (1) S.Williams vs. Li, (6) Cibulkova vs. Stosur, (8) Bartoli vs. Peng, (5) Petrova vs. Mattek-Sands (winner to potentially face Sharapova); five of Top 10 players entered; wildcards to American Hilary Barte and Canadian Stephanie Dubois; Canadian defending champ Aleksandra Wozniak unseeded.

This is not a column about the color of tennis courts despite clay courts looking like the terrain of Mars and most hard courts at professional tennis events no longer being green. While covering the 2008 Indianapolis Tennis Championships, members of what looked to be a local scouting troop wearing hats saying “Environmental Team” were [...]

Seeds: 1. Mardy Fish, 2. Fabrice Santoro, 3. Sam Querrey, 4. Benjamin Becker, 5. Arnaud Clement, 6. Philipp Petzschner, 7. Kevin Kim, 8. Sergiy Stakhovsky

Glatch is quickly rising into the “next American to watch” (and there aren’t many) on the women’s side after a stunning Fed Cup debut where she notched two singles victories to propel the U.S. team to a 3-2 victory over the Czech Republic, putting the U.S. in the Fed Cup final.

“The one thing I’ve always said about ranking is I think numbers never lie,” Sharapova said following her French Open effort. “They always reflect on your performance and what you’ve achieved. But taking that aside, I think no matter if you’re ranked No. 1 or No. 100, it takes just as much work to get there.”

It had to be little consolation for the elder Williams when she saw herself on the latest cover of the American TENNIS magazine, touted as a favorite for Wimbledon.

“These types of matches are really important for me,” Sharapova said. “I’m spending more time out there than I want to, but I’m learning so many new things as well. When you haven’t played for such a long time and you’re put in these situations, many things come back to you.”

“I don’t think I’ve done enough,” she told the media. “I feel I can accomplish a lot more. I may be 22 years old but I’m not done. I have many things to do and many things to accomplish and I’m a girl on a mission.”