In January this year, Women's Tennis Blog's faithful contributor John Bolan was brave enough to share with the world his predictions about the 2012 year-end ranking and asked you to join him in foretelling the WTA standings, offering the best predictor among you one Top 10 WTA player autograph. Isn't it exciting to see now how John and about 30 of you who joined did?

John was absolutely correct in placing two players – John's No.1 Victoria Azarenka and No.2 Maria Sharapova have finished No.1 and No.2. He misplaced Serena Williams by just one spot, Li Na by two, Petra Kvitova and Agnieszka Radwanska by three and Caroline Wozniacki by four.

Three of John's Top 10 players didn't make the cut. Kim Clijsters was John's No.3, but in the middle of the year she decided to retire and actualized the decision after the US Open, while injuries pushed John's No.8 Vera Zvonareva and No.10 Sabine Lisicki to No.96 and No.37 respectively. Year-end No.5 Angelique Kerber and No.6 Sara Errani are the biggest top surprises of the season. Let's give the word to John!

I'm thrilled with the outcome since seven of the predicted players finished as final Top 10 players. The fact that my first two picks were exactly correct is a feat I have not been able to do in previous years. The fans using the comment section to submit their own picks also did better than in 2011.

Injuries were once again the biggest issue for great players not finishing in the Top 10. Kim Clijsters, Vera Zvonareva, Sabine Lisicki, Venus Williams and Andrea Petkovic were casualties during 2012. The hardest part of picking the Top 10 is the big unknown of which players will not be able to compete for the entire season. Read more »

Less than 24 hours after winning the longest best-of-three sets match in the WTA Championships history, Agnieszka Radwanska had to face the merciless Serena Williams and the outcome was not surprising – Serena ran over her opponent in one hour, converting six of seven break opportunities and finishing the match with a crosscourt winner on the line, on Radwanska's serve, without losing a point, 6-2 6-1.

Two longest matches of the tournament featured Radwanska and entering today's semifinal against Serena, Radwanska had ran 9.200 meters on court to Serena's mere 3.500. Exhaustion and fresh and powerful Serena made sure Radwanska would not play another marathon.

Serena likes quick matches and she gets what she likes. The Pole dropped serve at the start of both sets. In the first set she did bring some resistance by rebreaking to level to 2-2, but Serena took charge right away and never looked back. The second game of the second set she won in just one minute and 41 seconds, firing three aces. Radwanska was no match for Williams. Just look at the department of net points – Serena won 13 of 14, while Radwanska went to the net just once. (photo: Moo's Tennis Blog)

Agnieszka Radwanska was the protagonist in two longest matches of the 2012 WTA Championships. After defeating defending champion Petra Kvitova at the opening of the $4,900,000 tournament, the Pole toiled for three hours and 12 minutes before losing to Maria Sharapova 5-7 7-5 7-5 past 2 a.m. on Wednesday night, while today she ensured a semifinal clash with lethal Serena Williams, by working for three hours and 29 minutes to defeat first-time qualifier Sara Errani 6-7(6) 7-5 6-4. It is actually the longest best-of-three-set match in the year-end Championships ever! Read more »

Maria Sharapova and Agnieszka Radwanska could have fallen asleep before stepping out on the WTA Championships court, waiting for the never-ending match between Victoria Azarenka and Angelique Kerber to finish. Finally, somewhere around 11 p.m. their encounter started and it turned out they had no intention of speeding up the wrap-up of Day 2, playing three 7-5 sets. Final score: 5-7 7-5 7-5 after three hours and 12 minutes, at 2:12 a.m. Read more »

In the first match of the WTA Championships, in the White Group, Agnieszka Radwanska made her first career victory over Petra Kvitova at the very tournament where the Czech is defending her title. The Pole took advantage of Kvitova's numerous unforced errors and nervousness to record a routine 6-3 6-2 win.

First seven points of the match were Radwanska's (1-0 40-0) and even though Kvitova fought for a long time to hold her serve, eventually she was broken. In the next service game of Kvitova, Radwanska again earned triple break point, leading 3-0 40-0, but this time Kvitova came back and leveled the set. However, Radwanska regained control of the match and nothing could save Kvitova from her -18 differential of winners to unforced errors, compared to Radwanska's +6.

Kvitova has now spoiled two perfect records, 5-0 at the WTA Championships and 3-0 against Radwanska. Of course, nothing is lost yet when it comes to the WTA Championships, the round robin format gives you more than once chance. Kvitova has a day off tomorrow, while Radwanska will play the third match of the day against Maria Sharapova. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)