The fourth round of the Australian Open feautred a rematch of last year's final and the outcome was the same – Kim Clijsters defeated Li Na. The score 4-6 7-6(6) 6-4 took the Belgian to the quarterfinals, but within those numbers hide four match points, a painful ankle injury at 3-3 in the first set and a gruelling fight of both players.

With her foot thickly wrapped and 2-6 in the second set tiebreak, Clijsters started her big comeback by winning six points in a row to take the match to the third set, which she opened with a 4-0 lead. Li then slowly recovered to 5-4 down, but it was Clijsters who closed out the match to her advantage.

After the victory, the Belgian winner of four Grand Slam titles said that it was one of her best comebacks, while the disappointed Li can live off the number of matches she won in January, a great improvement from her horrible second half of 2011. 

Clijsters was the third WTA player to move into the 2012 Australian Open quarterfinals, as Victoria Azarenka and Agnieszka Radwanska eased past their opponent earlier on Sunday. Azarenka beat Iveta Benesova 6-2 6-2, while Radwanska lost just one game per set against Julia Goerges.

Next for Clijsters will be world No.1 Caroline Wozniacki. The Dane reached the quarterfinals by beating Jelena Jankovic, who helped by committing an astonishing number of 50 unforced errors in the encounter. Jankovic did hit more winners than Wozniacki, as is usually the case with Wozniacki's opponents, but nothing could outweigh those errors, which often had no apparent cause.

The final score was 6-0 7-5 and it was the first time in their eight meetings that Wozniacki bageled Jankovic. Besides their often-mentioned status of "slamless No.1", and besides their mainly defensive game style, Wozniacki and Jankovic have something else in common as of late – Ricardo Sanchez, who not so long ago coached Jankovic, is now Wozniacki's coach. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)

Caroline Wozniacki’s love life is booming, at least its online representation suggests that, and her fashion designer Stella McCartney opted for the color of passion for the world No.1’s Australian Open. Wozniacki accessorized the red dress with a heart-shaped Danish flag pendant that her boyfriend Rory McIlroy gave her for Christmas.

Adidas Adizero used a shade of red for their predominantly peach dress worn by Ana Ivanovic, Daniela Hantuchova and Sorana Cirstea.

Serena Williams is wearing a blue Nike dress with wide tank straps and pleated bottom.

The American opened her Australian Open campaign with custom-made headband and sneakers celebrating Black History Month.

Notice the cute small balls adorning the socks!

Petra Kvitova is, as always, wearing a two-piece Nike outfit, style similar to her 2011 apparel.

Maria Sharapova is wearing a white Nike Maria Statement Slam Dress with electric green straps and a black Nike logo.

Fila is now all over the place, well-represented by Kim Clijsters, Svetlana Kuznetsova and the new additions to the family, Jelena Jankovic and Vera Zvonareva.

Defending champion Kim Clijsters is working a black V-neck shirt with lemon accents and the same shirt in white. A simple black skirt is always there.

Svetlana Kuznetsova is dressed similarly, exposing her "Pain doesn’t kill me, I kill the pain" tattoo.

Jelena Jankovic is still in her first month of promoting Fila, after her three-year contract with Anta has expired, and at the Australian Open she's looking great in an orange Center Court dress.

Another new Fila member, Vera Zvonareva, who used to wear K-Swiss, is in the neutral tones. Sweat marks are spoiling the image, though.

Bethanie Mattek Sands is not exciting us this time. Her look is absolutely toned down. In the photo below you can see her teamed up with Lacoste-clad Jarmila Gajdosova, wearing a very regular Under Armour long-sleeve bright yellow shirt and a white skirt. For her singles match in the first round, Bethanie wore a simple green tank.

Mentioning Lacoste, Samantha Stosur left the brand to sign with Asics, but her white Asics dress didn't get much exposure as the home favorite suffered an emotionally-painful upset in the very first round.

Whose Australian Open 2012 style is your favorite? For me, number ones are Ana Ivanovic, Daniela Hantuchova and Sorana Cirstea in the Adidas Adizero dress (Cirstea upset Stosur in it!), because of the daring combination of colors and a signature modern yet simple design of the line. The runner-up position I would award to Serena Williams' look. (photos: Adidas, Tidalist, Slice, Australian Open, Life)

No official information on Jankovic's cooperation with Fila has been announced yet, but the world No.14 debuted her possible new clothing sponsor in the first round of the Brisbane International, in the match against Carla Suarez Navarro. The Fila Center Court Dress was on the courts for two more matches, until Jankovic lost to Francesca Schiavone in a quarterfinal marathon, 5-7 7-6(2) 6-3, after wasting two match points in the second set.

As for Samantha Stosur, her deal with Asics is official, implying the end of her sponsorship by Lacoste. In the following video Stosur is saying a few words about her joining the Asics team.

Just like Jankovic, Stosur premiered her Asics clothing at the Brisbane International. She was seeded No.1 but was knocked out by Iveta Benesova in the second round, 6-4 6-2.

To remind yourselves of how Jankovic and Stosur looked in the apparel of their former sponsors, browse through our yearly fashion retrospections:

The 2011 look at Jelena Jankovic's fashion partnership with Anta

The second year of JJ's partnership with ANTA in pictures

Jelena Jankovic's 2009 ANTA dresses

Jelena Jankovic's Reebok days

Retrospection of all Samantha Stosur's Lacoste outfits in 2011

In pictures: Samantha Stosur wearing Lacoste throughout 2010

(sources: Slice, DeShawn Besabella)

A lot of debate has been going on over the last few years regarding the coveted world No.1 spot in the WTA rankings. Issues have been raised that the WTA ranking system is flawed, that the player must win a Grand Slam before she gets to the top. Is the WTA ranking system really flawed? And is it mandatory for a player to be a Grand Slam winner before she attains No.1 in the rankings? If yes, then why? And if no, then why has the hype been created?

These are the questions that will be debated on forever. As for me, being the best player in the world does not mean that you have to win all the tournaments or you have to win some specific events. For me, the best player in the world is the one who has been the most consistent throughout the year. You should not be ranked the best player in the world if you win all the four majors and do poorly the rest of the year. A player doing well in all the tournaments has all the right to be the best player in the world. How do you define the best player? What is your opinion on who should be the world No.1 player?

THE BEGINNINGS OF "SLAMLESS NUMBER ONES": WHO WAS THE FIRST AND WHEN WAS THE TERM COINED?

The term "slamless No.1" first appeared in August 2003 when Kim Clijsters became the first Belgian ever (man or woman) to be ranked world No.1. During that stellar season, Clijsters compiled a 90–12 singles record. Her singles win total was the highest single-season total by any woman since Martina Navratilova in 1982. Clijsters was also the first woman to play more than 100 singles matches in a year since Chris Evert in 1974.

Amelie Mauresmo followed in the footsteps of Kim Clijsters in 2004, when Mauresmo became the first French player to attain the top spot in the WTA rankings. Jelena Jankovic then repeated the same feat in 2008 and clinched the year-end top spot as well. Dinara Safina followed in 2009 and Caroline Wozniacki in 2010.

While Clijsters did go on to win her first Grand Slam at the 2005 US Open, and Mauresmo did it at the Australian Open 2006, Safina, Jankovic and Wozniacki are still in the hunt of their first ever major trophy. Will they ever be able to win it, only time will tell us.

Let's have a look at the seasons of the these five players, during which they first attained the top spot. Let the numbers do the talking, and let yourself be the judge as to who do you think did the best during her season that saw her attain the world No. 1 ranking for the first time. Do comment on how do you people see the seasons of these five players.

PERFORMANCE OF SLAMLESS WORLD NUMBER ONES IN THE YEAR THEY REACHED THE TOP RANKING

GRAND SLAM RESULTS OF SLAMLESS WORLD NUMBER ONES IN THE YEAR THEY REACHED THE TOP RANKING

At three of four Grand Slam events Clijsters was defeated by the eventual champion, with the only exception being Wimbledon where she lost to Venus Williams in the semis, who then lost to sister Serena in the final. At both French Open and the US Open Clijsters was defeated by none other than Justine Henin.

Safina was defeated by Serena at the Australian Open and Svetlana Kuznetsova at the French Open, while Venus thrashed Safina in Wimbledon semis (6-1 6-0) which marked the fewest games won by a reigning No.1 in a match. Serena mocked Safina's status of the top player. After Serena won Wimbledon, she said that she would rather be world No.2 and win two Grand Slams, than be world No.1 and win Rome.

As for our current world No.1 Caroline Wozniacki, we can notice that her 15-4 win-loss record at Grand Slams in the year she first occupied the top spot is the worst of the five slamless number ones.

PERFORMANCE AT YEAR-END CHAMPIONSHIPS

PERFORMANCE AT TOURNAMENTS

INSIGHT INTO LOSSES

What is interesting to note here is that Clijsters was beaten only thrice by a player outside the Top 25 during the whole year and for a total of four times only by a player ranked outside the Top 5. I guess Clijsters' season of 2003 was the best of all these five players. What do you people think?

Safina is the only slamless No.1 who lost to a player outside the Top 100 in the year she reached the top of the rankings. Safina fell to a world No.132 player and a world No.226 player consecutively.

As for our current No.1, Caroline Wozniacki, she had six losses to players outside Top 25, while her lowest-ranked conqueror was then-No.62 Petra Kvitova, currently the world's second-ranked player.

How do you see the performance of these five stars during their stellar seasons which made them achieve the top spot?

Thanks, Omair, for contributing with your analysis once again. I'm looking forward to posting Part 2. For those who have joined us for the first time, do explore Omair's previous insights into the 2011 season:

• Comparative analysis of Top 10 players and their performance at big tournaments in 2011
• Part 1: Top 10 players in 2011 – how they scored against fellow big opponents
• Part 2: Top 10 players in 2011 – what do their losses suggest?

(photos: © Neal Trousdale, Stephane Martinache)

The Serbian sisters are out of sync and it could be a good sign. Only yesterday did we report that Ana Ivanovic stopped working with Scott Byrnes as her fitness coach and today we're learning that former world No.1 Jelena Jankovic has a new coach in her team, German Henner Nehles, a former UNLV standout player. Nehles will travel to Australia with Jankovic, who has also hired Korey Goodwin as her fitness trainer.

Jankovic’s last coach was Ricardo Sanchez and the Spaniard is now proudly working with top-ranked Caroline Wozniacki.

Additional info: IMG is no longer managing Jelena Jankovic. The Serb started cooperating with IMG in January 2009, but has now replaced the agency with Linda Long, a former executive with Puma and Nike. (source: Tennis.com, photo: © Neal Trousdale)

It's a known fact that Jankovic is all about glitter, vibrant colors and weird patterns, and some atypical designs can work only on her, more precisely, only on her personality. That said, do you think Anta matched JJ's potential to the full?

Initially Anta was mostly labeled as looking kind of cheap. After three years, do you think they've improved? It's hard for me to say, but I can give a small "yes". Or maybe now that JJ's ranking has dropped our expectation are lower?

I give huge thumbs up for Anta investing in accessorizing the world No.14 Jankovic. They're making her outfits a whole package, just like Nike is doing for their top athletes like Maria Sharapova and Serena Williams, and the below Rolland Garros look is a perfect example.

The Roland Garros dress beautifully matched the unique bag and that outfit would be my favorite of the year. Do you agree?

The more Anta is present in the tennis world the more I appreciate the variety it brings. Nike and Adidas are all over the place and rare brands squeezing in the market do bring a different perspective and a breath of fresh air.

For a complete picture of Jankovic and Anta, check out their designs from the previous years:

• Review of Jelena Jankovic's 2009 Anta dresses
• Jelena Jankovic in colorful Anta dresses in 2010

Also, remind yourselves of how JJ looked during the Reebok days in 2008.

Make your final judgement in the comments. How did JJ look in 2011? What was your favorite Anta dress in 2011? (photos: SkySports, uristilman, sr_cranks, chascow, jelenajankovicsite, Wimbledon, Fiji Water, Precious Dream, Zimbio, Ralf Reinecke)

During her appearance at an Oriflame event in Belgrade, smiling Jelena Jankovic eagerly talked to the press and revealed that her relationship will Montenegrin waterpolo player Mladjan Janovic is still doing strong.

"I am always happy and in love," said Jankovic. When asked whether she was still with Mladjan, Jankovic replied: "Yes, of course."

Jelena and Mladjan have been dating since 2008. They met at the Beijing Olympics.

The Oriflame event, which took place at a Belgrade theater, was a contest for the 2011 Best Mother and Daughter, and Jelena and her mother Snezana were the faces of the event. Also, Jelena used the opportunity to wish her mother a happy birthday and presented her with a chocolate cake and a flower basket during the evening. (source: Blic, photo: Ralf Reinecke)

The tennis season is over for Jelena Jankovic as she lost to world No.175 Ekaterina Ivanova in the first round of the Premier-level Kremlin Cup in Moscow, the tournament she won in her golden 2008.

There are only two tournaments left this season, for both of which players qualify by their season results, and the 13th-ranked Jankovic will play neither of them, finishing the year without WTA titles. Last year Jankovic qualified for the WTA Championships, but lost all three of her matches.

The 6-4 1-6 6-4 victory over Jankovic in the first round of Moscow is qualifier Ivanova's first Top 50 victory and only her second win in a WTA main draw this year. The 23-year-old will next play the winner of the Alla Kudryavtseva vs. Elena Vesnina encounter. (photo: Ralf Reinecke)

Also, I was inspired to make a poll where you can vote for the cutest childhood photo of a WTA player. This list is of course by no means extensive. Feel free to share some cute photos of WTA players you may have come across, and I can feature them in future articles and polls.

Below are my photo favorites included in the poll:

1) Dinara Safina – I love her face expression here.

2) Sara Errani – Adorable curly blond hair, love the vintage look.

3) Sam Stosur - Classic girl beauty.

4) Jelena Jankovic – I love this photo of JJ in a fluffy top and skirt with lots of flowers, make-up and bracelets.

5) Elena Dementieva – Angelic girl.

6) Monica Seles - Very cute photo.

7 ) Ana Ivanovic - So adorable.

The Partizan Tennis Club and Serbian Tennis Association will organize a WTA event in Belgrade, Serbia, in 2012. Prize money will be $220,000. The exact date of the tournament is still under consideration, but it will take place just before the French Open or US Open.

Participation of Serbian tennis stars Jelena Jankovic, Ana Ivanovic and Bojana Jovanovski is expected, as well as of former Serbian representative, now an Australian national, Jelena Dokic, who has reconciled with her family, primarily with her father Damir who lives in Serbia. (source: Blic)