Amidst the comments, criticisms, and online attacks, the accolades continue to pile up for Serena Williams who, on Wednesday night, bagged the ESPY award for Best Female Tennis Player, winning over Maria Sharapova, Petra Kvitova and Simona Halep.

Like Us on Facebook

It is the seventh ESPY for the world no. 1 in the said category; she was previously awarded in 2003, 2004, 2009, 2010, 2011 and 2013. In total, she has nine ESPYS which puts her on top of the list over other WTA players like Sharapova, Venus Williams, Steffi Graf, Lindsay Davenport and Monica Seles.

Williams, however, was not present during the star-studded event. The reigning Wimbledon champion is currently in Sweden competing at the clay courts of the Collector Swedish Open in Bastad. She recently faced qualifier Ysaline Bonaventure in the first round and easily won in straight sets with the score of 6-2, 6-1.

"I had never played her before so I didn't know what to expect," Williams said as reported by the WTA website. "And she had a really big serve and some really good holds - she played really well. It definitely wasn't an easy match."

The transition from grass to clay wasn't easy either for Williams who collected her 40th match win of the year.

"It's just so much easier to go from grass to clay than from clay to grass," she added. "It's really not bad. I'm getting used to it. It's worse the other way around!"

Just after her historic Wimbledon win, Williams grabbed the headlines when haters posted online comments attacking her looks and physique. The 33-year-old was quick to reply, however, with a dazzling red carpet-worthy look at the Wimbledon Champions dinner.

Up next for Williams is Klara Koukalova whom she has beaten four times in five meetings. The Czech, however, defeated Williams on clay once and took the American to a 3-setter at the French Open in 2009.

Meanwhile, second seed Samantha Stosur was knocked out in the second round by Spain's Lara Arruabarrena. The world no. 91 got through a tough tie-break in the first set before sending the former US Open Champion home in just 83 minutes with the score of 7-6 (7-5), 6-0.

Tagsserena williams, serena williams espy, serena williams haters, serena williams results, serena williams scores