Victoria Azarenka is the new world number 1 and Australian Open 2012 womens singles champion!
Sharapova got an early 2-0 lead, but since then has struggled to win a game. Sharapova has just sat at the baseline and hit out for the whole match without success. Azarenka has been out hitting Sharapova from the baseline, but Sharapova has never even thought about changing her game plan.
Azarenka has been so pumped up throughout and claimed the title 6-3 6-0.
Maria Sharapova is actually going to play for her country in the Fed Cup next month against Spain. This is only the third time she will be playing for her country! How Sad! Its a real shame that tennis players dont seem to have national pride and want to play for their country any more.
If I was the Russian captain I probably wouldnt even want her to play, since she hasnt seemed to care in the past!
The Australian Open 2012 is the first Grand Slam of the year and it is going to be amazingly exciting. Six players on the womens side have the ability to finish the tournament with the World Number 1 ranking.
Victoria Azarenka, Maria Sharapova, Sam Stosur and Agnieszka Radwanska could also take the top ranking, but the No. 2-ranked Kvitova is the favorite.
Caroline Wozniacki currently holds the top spot, but with her poor run in Grand Slams I doubt highly that she will be number 1 when the tournament ends.
After hurting her left ankle at the Pan Pacific Championships in Tokyo, Japan earlier this year, Maria Sharapova has decided to withdraw from the Brisbane International.
Sharapova told tournament officials that she’s just not 100% ready yet to compete at the top level. However, it shouldn’t hinder her chances of appearing at next year’s Australian Open. This would have been Maria’s first appearance at the event after she committed to it earlier this year instead of reappearing at the ASB Classic in Auckland, New Zealand
This injury has been quite the obstacle for Sharapova in her previous two tournaments, the first being the China Open where she was forced to retire and of course the Year-Ending Championships in Istanbul, where she retired after losing her first two matches in the round-robin stage.
The Australian Open begins on Jan 16th and we hope Maria will make her comeback there with favorable results.
After starting out the year ranked 34 in the world, Petra Kvitova turned everyone’s head when she won her maiden Grand Slam title at Wimbledon this year to former champion Maria Sharapova.
And after winning the Year-Ending Championships on her first try, not losing a single match en route to the final where she beat Victoria Azarenka; this young woman has certainly proved herself as the best of the year. Apart from these tremendous wins, she has also won 6 singles titles this year and has a record of 60-13 for the 2011 season. Not too long ago she won both her matches to help the Czech Republic win the Fed Cup and has by the end of the year catapulted herself to the number 2 ranking spot only behind Caroline Wozniacki.
Kvitova also won the Most Improved Player and Sportsmanship Award. Other winners include Sabine Lisicki of Germany for the Comeback Player of the Year and Irina-Camelia Begu for the Newcomer of the Year.
“This season has been simply a dream,” Kvitova said. ”It is an incredible honour to win the player of the year award and join the ranks of some of the best players that have ever played the sport, especially Martina Navratilova.” ”I will always cherish the 2011 season and look forward to building on it.”
Let’s see if Kvitova can have an even better year in 2012!
Samantha Stosur has had a great start to the WTA Tour Championships. This is the first time Stosur defeated Sharapova in the last 10 meetings. Stosur won 6-1 7-5.
“Obviously it’s a big feat for me. You never want to lose to someone 10 times in a row,” Stosur beamed said. “I was feeling pretty focused, relaxed and ready to go. I did a few things differently and thankfully it paid off.”
This was also Maria Sharapova’s first tournament in a month since her ankle injury.
“It’s obviously tough to come back after a month and compete at this level but the good thing is I gave myself a chance and did everything I could to even be here, so I’m happy,” she said “I still have a couple of matches to go and time to improve”
There were a lot of upsets on the first day of the US Open 2011. Heather Watson from the UK came very close to the upset of her career and the tournament with a brilliant match. Heather played Maria Sharapova (who is my favourite for the title) and lost 3-6 7-5 6-3.
“I had a lot of fun today. It’s what I want to do. I want to be out there on the big courts playing the top players. It was a really great match, very competitive. We played some really great tennis.
“I had my chances in the second set. You have to create the opportunity but also execute, and I was probably a bit too defensive on those important points.
“But I always believed I could win. There’s no point in my going out there if I don’t believe that I can win.
“I just wanted to make every ball, make her play every ball, and just fight. Because Maria’s a fighter. She’s never going to give up. That’s what makes her a champion. That’s why she’s won this tournament before.
“I absolutely loved the atmosphere. I thought everyone was going to be supporting Maria. She’s won here before. She’s been number one in the world.
“I had a lot of support. I heard some people calling me Cinderella, all sorts of stuff. And just when they were chanting my name, I kind of got the goosebumps. I thought, ‘Stay calm, focus on the match’.”
Heather should be very happy with her performance and this is promising for British tennis!
Maria Sharapova has taken the Cincinnati title. Maria Sharapova defeated Jelena Jankovic in the final 4-6 7-6 6-3. The match had 20 double faults and 16 service breaks, so wasnt the best match from either player, but still a very interesting and close final.
This is good preparation for both players leading into the US Open. With Kim Clijsters out of the US Open I will be placing my money on Sharapova for the title.
HAHAHA did you see what Novak Djokovic posted? Hey @Novak, is that your new road to success – trying to be me? I am a little disappointed you did not wear my dress and think you could work on your body language a bit more! And the hair… no comment on that… what do you guys think?
