Short and sweet

Tennis skirts have never covered very much. But the outfits at Wimbledon yesterday left less to the imagination than ever before.

Leading the way was the Russian beauty inevitably dubbed the new Kournikova, 17-year-old Maria Sharapova.

Fans had plenty of opportunity to admire the long legs of the six-footer as she secured a semi-final place with a 5-7, 7-5, 6-1 win over Ai Sugiyama of Japan. In a dress with spaghetti straps, split to the hip to reveal tiny white shorts, she demonstrated why she has a flourishing modelling career.

Karolina Sprem, who put Venus Williams out of the tournament last week, was equally eyecatching as she took on the might of Lindsay Davenport.

The 19-year- old Croatian displayed several inches of midriff as she dashed around the court in a crop-top and tiny tight skirt, slit at one side. Unfortunately, her tennis was rather less electric than her outfit, as she crashed out 6-2, 6-2.

As the skirts get shorter, shorts are also shrinking. The trend is illustrated admirably by 16-year-old-French girl Tatiana Golovin. Her hipster hotpants sat dangerously low as she dashed around court yesterday in a quarter-final against Serena Williams which she lost 6-2, 6-1.

Of course, Martina Navratilova has been wearing shorts for years - but somehow it's not quite the same. Serena, the 22-year-old number one seed, has this year favoured a Pocahontas-style skirt with shredded strips of fabric.

After her victory yesterday, she said she had planned something 'really super-sexy' for the championship but 'they wouldn't let me wear it'.

The American, who once played in a black wetlook catsuit, refused to divulge details of the outfit, saying: 'Maybe they will let me wear it next year.'