Doubles team of Gisela Dulko and Flavia Pennetta crowned their stellar season with their biggest career title, the WTA Championships – Doha 2010. They defeated second seeds Kveta Peschke and Katarina Srebotnik 7-5 6-4 in Sunday’s final and won the prestigious season-ending title playing at the tournament for the very first time.

The top-seeded pairing of Dulko and Pennetta came to Doha with six 2010 doubles titles (Miami, Stuttgart, Rome, Bastad, Montreal, Moscow) and what better way to finish the season than by becoming the year-end No.1 team on the WTA and winning the WTA Championships title. On top of that, Argentina's Dulko will rise to No.1 in the individual doubles rankings and become just the second South American ever to achieve that feat. (photo: sr_cranks)

Just as Jay from www.OnCourtAdvantage.com previewed here on Women's Tennis Blog, the WTA Championships final featured the battle between Kim Clijsters and Caroline Wozniacki, and it was a three-setter, however, the winner turned out to be Kim Clijsters and not Caroline Wozniacki.

It was only the second meeting between Clijsters and Wozniacki, and just like their first match which happened in the final of the 2009 US Open, this one was in the final of another grand tournament for which only the best of the best qualify. The 20-year-old Wozniacki, the youngest player to reach the WTA Championships final since Maria Sharapova won at 17 in 2004, rose to the occasion and gave great resistance to the still much more experienced Clijsters.

The Belgian three-time US Open champion won the first set 6-3 and raced to a 4-1 lead in the second set. Wozniacki took charge from that moment on and leveled the score at 4-4, before taking the second set 7-5. In the decider, Clijsters made a crucial break in the sixth game to establish a 4-2 lead and Wozniacki was never able to neutralize that Clijsters’ advantage. The Dane had chances to stay in the match in the eighth game of the third set, but didn’t make good use of them and Clijsters won the match shortly after, on her second match point. Final score: 6-3 5-7 6-3.

The 27-year-old Clijsters became the fifth player to win the WTA Championships at least three times (she won back-to-back titles in 2002 and 2003), after Navratilova (8), Graf (5), Evert (4) and Seles (3). It’s her 40th career title and fifth this season. The world No.4 added a huge sum of $1,450,000 to the already great $3,585,060 she had won prior to Doha in 2010 only. As for the money Wozniacki is taking home, she is sure not disappointed despite the loss – her runner-up check is worth $680,000.

It’s bad for top-seeded Wozniacki that she didn’t have that extra something to defeat a player of Clijsters’ caliber and go all the way to the prestigious Doha title which would be a nice icing on the cake of her season-ending No.1 ranking.  Good news is that she reached the title match, fought well against Clijsters, even had comeback periods during the match, and above all, she was far from melting down and letting the nerves get the better of her.

Here's more retirement news, but unlike Elena Dementieva, Kim Clijsters is giving us two years to prepare. The 27-year-old Belgian, whose post-baby career has been more than successful, said to the Guardian that she is planning to leave tennis once again in order to have a second child.

We do want to have more children… I'd like to try and keep the tennis going until the Olympics in London, at which point Jada will be obligated to go to school. So that's when I'll probably be calling it quits and just focus on the family.

Besides focusing on family, Clijsters plans to be active at the tennis club she bought in her home Belgium.

Together with a friend of mine, I've bought a tennis club in Belgium — actually the club where I practice at in Bree. We're going through the process of rebuilding it, so when I retire from tennis, that's something that will interest me very much.

Since giving birth to incredibly cute daughter Jada and returning to tennis in 2009, Clijsters has won two US Open titles, and another three tournaments in 2010 – Brisbane, Miami, Cincinnati. The Belgian has qualified for Doha and has just as I’m writing this defeated Samantha Stosur 7-6(3) 6-1 at the season-ending WTA Championships to reach nothing less than the final. (source: Tennis.com, (photo: Twenty90seven)

WTA players seem to enjoy catching us unprepared. It’s not a shocker that Elena Dementieva decided to call it a career, but at this very moment, without any prior notice, it’s nothing less than a shocker. The graceful Russian knew she was about to retire even in the beginning of the season, but didn’t want to make her decision public so that people wouldn’t talk about it during the whole year. That’s so Elena. She’s so humble and never wants to draw spotlight to herself.

Still, it's very tough decision to make.  Very emotional.  I made the decision in the beginning of this season, so it was very hard coming to the tournaments knowing that this was my last one.  It was very emotional for me to play the whole year.

I didn't want to make it public.  I didn't want everybody talking about the whole season. You know, I only told to my family and close friends, so today in the court I was very surprised that everyone kind of knew about my secret.  They all were standing, and it was very special for me.

The 29-year-old Dementieva was ranked inside the Top 20 for 524 of 529 weeks since September 11, 2000. That’s ten years! She’s currently ranked ninth, and 328 of her career weeks she spent inside the Top 10. Read more »

It's been a never-ending debate about the way the WTA ranking system functions, whether it is flawed, whether a player who hasn't won a Grand Slam should be ranked No.1, etc. Our faithful contributor John Bolan belongs to the group of those who strongly believe that Caroline Wozniacki deserves her top ranking, despite not having won a major, and below is the justification of his opinion.

The topic is more than relevant now when Wozniacki has clinched the No.1 season-ending ranking, by beating French Open champion Francesca Schiavone 3-6 6-1 6-1 at the WTA Championships to qualify for the semifinals alongside Vera Zvonareva, Kim Clijsters and Samantha Stosur.

The WTA’s ranking system favors the majors where the winner is awarded 2,000 ranking points. A few other tournaments award 1,000 points to the winner, but most award only 280 points to the winner. The mathematics works out that a player would need to win 8 of these regular tournaments to equal just one victory in a major. My personal opinion is that the WTA system is flawed and more points and money should be offered in the regular tournaments and less in the majors. If they would change their system, more good players would play in more tournaments. That is, if they want to be ranked number one or in the top ten.

Players like Kim Clijsters, Justine Henin, Venus Williams, and Serena Williams can choose to play a few tournaments each year and add some excitement to the game. But players who play a limited schedule should not expect to be ranked the same as a player who plays the entire tour. In my opinion, the WTA should be marketing its stars like Caroline Wozniacki, Victoria Azarenka and others who play a full schedule and are highly ranked. Read more »

Vera Zvonareva played one of her longest two-setters to record her second win at the 2010 WTA Championships. The second-seeded Zvonareva saw off Victoria Azarenka 7-6(4) 6-4, but only after recovering from 2-4 in the first set and 1-3 in the second. Seed number eight Azarenka came to Doha fresh off her Premier-level Kremlin Cup title, but that very victory in the Russian capital gave her less time to prepare for the season-ending Championships. Zvonareva is now the leader in the White Group with 4-0 set win/loss record.

In the second match of the day, Kim Clijsters, playing her first match since winning the US Open in September, opened her Doha campaign with a 6-2 6-3 win over Jelena Jankovic. The third-seeded Clijsters hit seven aces, but double faults were her weak point this time as she made a total of 10. The Belgian is the only player in the field to have won the WTA Championships in the past and she achieved that feat two times, in 2002 and 2003.

In the Maroon Group, Samantha Stosur pulled off the first upset of the tournament by beating world number one Caroline Wozniacki 6-4 6-3, without even losing her serve. Stosur did face break points, but saved all six of them, while she converted two of her three opportunities to break the top-seeded Wozniacki. Stosur is now the best performer in her group, with 4-0 set win/loss record. (photos: © Neal Trousdale)

Dear readers, Women's Tennis Blog has become an attractive place for guest posters. This time Jay from www.OnCourtAdvantage.com wanted to contribute his preview of the Sony Ericsson Championships. Check out his favorites for the prestigious Doha title.

The Sony Ericsson Championships (SEC) have begun and will run for 6 days through to Women’s Singles Final on Sunday 31 October. Due to the unique Round Robin format used for this tournament we are blessed with the fantastic opportunity to see these top players clash more often than in any other tournament.

The SEC will produce a number of rematches of Grand Slam quarterfinals, semifinals and singles finals like Schiavone versus Stosur (2010 Roland Garros Final), Clijsters versus Wozniacki (2009 US Open Final) and Clijsters versus Zvonareva (2010 US Open Final).

In no other tournament are you required to beat at least 4 if not 5, of the world’s Top 8 ranked players to win the title. The degree of difficulty is extreme and at least one player will show us the qualities of a true champion this week.

The maroon group is:

(1) Caroline Wozniacki
(4) Francesca Schiavone
(5) Samantha Stosur
(7) Elena Dementieva

The white group is:

(2) Vera Zvonareva
(3) Kim Clijsters
(6) Jelena Jankovic
(8) Victoria Azarenka

Predictions:

Let me just warn you that in tennis more than any other sport you should never bet on the outcome of a match. Instead invest your funds into enjoying, watching, playing and improving the great game we love.

Anyone who REALLY understands this game knows that in the vast majority of matches, both players will have critical moments and opportunities that can swing the match either way and often there can be a number of these situations with the same match.

On any given day it is the player who in the above mentioned situations that can:

Produce the better strategic nous;
Make the better decisions;
Execute their shots during the BIG points; and
Copes best with mental challenges that usually dictate who triumphs on the day.
But if you really want a prediction THEN…

Who will make the semifinals?

The maroon group:

Based on the form that has taken the 20-year-old Wozniacki to be the current World No.1, you would have to lean towards the 1.77m Dane as the favorite to win her group. The youngest player in the field leads the WTA Tour in match wins – 59 – and singles titles this year, 6 titles from 7 finals.

The 1.66m Schiavone would probably be the next best chance to take the second semifinal spot. The eldest player in the field is in great physical condition and will be prepared to peak this week and in the Federation Cup Final following the SEC.

The 30-year-old Italian has enormous pride in representing her country and in her own performance, which suggests she will fight relentlessly. The steely resolve of the Lioness could prove too much for Dementieva’s fragile ankle and Stosur’s current lack of confidence.

The 29-year-old Dementieva forfeited with an ankle injury last week in Luxembourg as she did in the 2010 Roland Garros semifinals. The 1.8m Russian’s strongest component of her game is her court movement and court coverage, so if that is compromised it will be much tougher for her.

The 26-year-old Stosur has not been in good form recently but does possess a serve and forehand that can win her matches. The 1.72m Australian is well suited to hard courts and has won her most recent match against Wozniacki and Dementieva. Stosur also holds a winning record over Schiavone.

Best Guess = No.1 Schiavone and No.2 Wozniacki. Read more »

The first two matches at the WTA Championships in Doha finished very quickly, with Vera Zvonareva and Caroline Wozniacki handily defeating their opponents.

Zvonareva lost just three games against Jelena Jankovic in the White Group and it’s Zvonareva’s fourth straight victory over Jankovic, which includes the defeat of Jankovic in 2008 at the same tournament. The second-seeded Zvonareva won eight straight games from 4-3 in the first set and finished the match 6-3 6-0.

The second match of the $4.55-million season-ending event was played in the Maroon Group, and top-seeded Wozniacki thrashed Russia's Elena Dementieva 6-1 6-1. Dementieva came to Doha troubled by an ankle injury which forced her to withdraw from last week’s tournament in Luxembourg.

Zvonareva could take the No.1 ranking from Wozniacki if two conditions are met: 1) that Zvonareva reaches the final unbeaten 2) that Wozniacki doesn't win more than one match. (photos: angelicalbite)

The WTA launched a new logo on Sunday, which they say is different from other sport logos because it doesn't have a picture of an athlete, but rather puts an emphasis on letters. The logo's oval shape should remind us of the mark a tennis balls leaves on the court and also of the shape of a racquet. Of course, the yellow thing the letter "A" is giving birth to, as Forty Deuce described, is a tennis ball.

What do you think of the new logo? I like the color scheme, and that's pretty much it. (via WTA Tour)

Maria Sharapova and her future husband Los Angeles Lakers basketball player Sasha Vujacic were spotted walking hand in hand while out for lunch in Los Angeles on Saturday, October 23. It is the first time we get to see the 23-year-old Sharapova's engagement ring, and as you can notice, it’s huge!

Read more »