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)

The 2012 has gained its full swing with the Australian Open, and our loyal contributor and reader John Bolan would like to share his predictions of how the Top 10 rankings will look like at the end of the season. Don't forget to share your Top 10 picks in the comments, as John will send the person whose predictions turn out to be the closest to the actual 2012 year-end Top 10 a picture with an autograph of a Top 10 player. Nice incentive!

Once again, it is time to pick the Top 10 players in the order they will finish on December 31, 2012. We have had a few weeks to observe which players have played well this year. Logic, injuries and where the players finished for 2011 are the main criteria used to make these picks.

My pick for number 1 in 2012 is Victoria Azarenka (I also picked Victoria for number 1 in 2011). She squeaked by Maria Sharapova for third place last year, but is definitely a rising young star whose time has come. Maria is my pick for the runner-up spot – number 2. Let’s hope she stays healthy for the remainder of the year.

Three players who have already been injured this year are Kim Clijsters, Serena Williams and Andrea Petkovic. Do we take a chance and put any of them in the Top 10? Kim is my #3 pick and Serena #4. Although Andrea is the most sensational player in women’s tennis, she is seriously injured and will miss months on the tour in 2012.

My #5 pick is Petra Kvitova. Some say she is now the best player, but she will need to prove it.

Three very consistent players from 2011 – Caroline Wozniacki #6, Agnieszka Radwanska #7 and Vera Zvonareva #8 are my next 3 picks. Caroline’s personal life will interfere with her tennis game in 2012. She will lose her #1 ranking after two years in the top spot.

Li Na is anything but consistent. When she is on she is very good. She’s my number 9 pick.

Number 10 is Sabine Lisicki. She is very strong with one of the fastest serves in the WTA. In 2012 she will finally make her goal of a Top 10 player. I was one of a dozen fans to watch her comeback begin on the first day of the Miami tournament last March. She has played great tennis since then.

I doubt many of you will agree with me on these picks! Use the comments and make your picks! The person closest to the actual finish will get one of my autographed pictures of a player who finishes in the Top 10. Good luck!

Reminder: How accurate was John in 2011? Check out his November reflections on his January 2011 choices.

Thank you, John, for contributing with this article and offering to award a Women's Tennis Blog's reader a with valuable autographed WTA picture.

Caroline Wozniacki, Jelena Jankovic, Li Na, Kim Clijsters, Victoria Azarenka and Agnieszka Radwanska all advanced to the fourth round of the Australian Open and only Azarenka lost more than four games in a set.

Wozniacki and Jankovic will meet in the fourth round, after Wozniacki moved on with a commanding victory over Monica Niculescu 6-2 6-2 and Jankovic cruised past Christina McHale 6-2 6-0, playing well in crucial moments and saving ten break points. Even though Jankovic lost her last three meetings with Wozniacki, the Serb said it was in her overall bad period, and now her motivation and confidence are much greater.

A rematch of the last year's final is also awaiting in the fourth round as Clijsters faces Li. Clijsters beat Daniela Hantuchova 6-3 6-2 in her third match of the tournament, while Li advanced when Anabel Medina Garrigues retired with an ankle sprain after only three games. In the 2011 title match Clijsters defeated Li 3-6 6-3 6-3, in what was a positive experience for both players and the two are excited to repeat the challenge.

Victoria Azarenka, who will play Iveta Benesova in the fourth round, faced a fresh first-time WTA titlist Mona Barthel and won the first set against her in just 31 minutes, hitting only three unforced errors. Barthel brought more resistance in the second set, but after four match points Azarenka defeated her 6-2 6-4.

Julia Goerges moved into the second week of a Grand Slam for the first time after overcoming Romina Oprandi 3-6 6-3 6-1, the Italian who upset tenth seed Francesca Schiavone in the second round. Next for Goerges is Agnieszka Radwanska, the 6-2 6-2 winner over Galina Voskoboeva.

The second set of third round matches awaits! (photo: Tidalist)

The weekend's Sydney finalists Victoria Azarenka and Li Na are both safely through to the second round of the Australian Open.

Sydney titlist Azarenka felt Heather Watson's resistance only in the first two games of the encounter and advanced with a 6-1 6-0 victory. Next for the world No.3 will be Casey Dellacqua, who took out Bojana Jovanovski 6-3 6-2.

Last year’s Australian Open runner-up Li Na defeated Ksenia Pervak 6-3 6-1 in the first round. In both sets Pervak converted her sole break points, but her 100% in conversions was far from enough for Li who outweighed them with 14 break points of her own, six of which she managed to realize.

Defending Australian Open champion Kim Clijsters is also through, having ousted Maria Joao Koehler 7-5 6-1. The repeat of the last year’s final could happen early this year, as Clijsters and Li are in the same quarter of the draw. (photo: angelicalbite)

Hey everyone. The Australian Open is about to start and this year the field seems to be wide open without clear favorites. Also many of the top players are struggling with injuries and Andrea Petkovic already had to withdraw from the event because of a back injury. In this article I want to give you my view on who has the best chances to win the tournament.

I decided to pick out four players who I believe have the biggest chance to win this year’s Australian Open title.

1. PETRA KVITOVA

Petra Kvitova is currently in a close battle with Caroline Wozniacki for the world number 1 ranking. She had her breakthrough winning Wimbledon last year and I think she has very good chances to become the most successful player in 2012.

Her game is big, she played well in the warm up matches to the tournament, and she seems to have the confidence and belief now.

CHECK OUT HOW WELL KVITOVA IS PLAYING IN THIS VIDEO

2. KIM CLIJSTERS

Clijsters is the defending champion and in my opinion always a threat at any Grand Slam. She had a tough second half of the season in 2011, where she did not play much at all because of several injuries.

Having had such a long preparation could be an advantage for her because she is probably in great shape right now. At the warm-up tournament in Brisbane she seemed to be in strong form but had to pull out because of a hip injury. The latest reports are saying that she is practicing at 100% though and therefore I think she is one of the favourites to win the title.

3. SERENA WILLIAMS

As usual it is difficult to assess what kind of form Serena Williams is in for the Australian Open. She has not played much before the tournament but she obviously likes the tournament, having won it five times in the past.

In a recent interview I heard Brad Gilbert, famous coach and expert, talk about how hard Serena was preparing and how well she looked out on the practice courts. An ankle injury forced her to pull out of Brisbane but she has also been seen practicing hard on site in Melbourne. She has not played many tournament matches in a while so it will be crucial for her to get through the first couple of rounds.

If she gets through the first couple of rounds and stays healthy she will definitely be one of the top favourites for the title.

4. MARIA SHARAPOVA

Sharapova also had to pull out of Brisbane due to an ankle injury. Nevertheless she has been seen practicing regularly on-site at the Aussie Open since then and said that she is confident she can play the tournament.

Sharapova played quite well last year. She is working hard and seems very focused on her goal to win another Grand Slam. As usual a lot depends on serve though. If she had time during the off-season to work on it and get her motion a bit more fluid, then she has a good chance at competing for the title at this tournament.

OTHER NOTABLE PLAYERS

Apart from these four, there are many more players with realistic chances to win the title at this year’s Aussie Open. Let’s have a look at some of the other in-form players.

VICTORIA AZARENKA

Azarenka is currently number 3 in the world. So far she has not had much success at the Grand Slams though. She plays well but I am not sure if her game is big enough to beat some of the top players like Kvitova and Williams when they are at their best late in a Grand Slam.

That being said, she has just won the Sydney warm-up event, beating Li Na in the finals, and played excellent tennis. With so many of the top players slightly injured as well, she could have a real chance to go deep into the tournament with her solid game.

CAROLINE WOZNIACKI

Wozniacki is still the number 1 player in the world but as we all know she has not won a Grand Slam yet.

At the end of last year Caroline hired Ricardo Sanchez as her new coach. I think she made a good move in hiring a new coach to try and make a few minor but important changes to her game. It’s really tough to assess what kind of an impact Sanchez will have, but it is definitely a good sign that Caroline hired someone new and is looking to make some changes to her game.

Caroline was also slightly injured in the warm-up event before the Aussie Open. That combined with the uncertainty as to what they are trying to do with her game, I don’t see her in the group of the top favorites to win the tournament.

SAM STOSUR

Sam Stosur is a player that I expect to do really well in 2012. Her game is huge and she also had a breakthrough last year, winning the US Open. She definitely has the game to do well at the tournament but she seems to be quite nervous performing in front of the Australian crowd. She has never gotten past the 4th round at this tournament.

If she can get her nerves under control she should do well though.

LI NA

Li Na was a finalist last year at the Australian Open. She won the French Open last year and then had a tough couple of months later in the year, where she played poorly. Possibly she was not able to handle the publicity that she got back home in China from winning a Grand Slam.

She showed some excellent tennis in the Sydney warm-up tournament though and I think she will show up playing well at the Australian Open.

LI NA WITH A GOOD WIN OVER PETRA KVITOVA IN SYDNEY

THE DRAW

The draw was released on Friday and there are a couple of interesting things to note.

1. Caroline Wozniacki in the top draw is facing some really tough opponents. She could face Jelena Jankovic in the fourth round and either Li Na or Kim Clijsters in the quarterfinals.

2. The second quarter is a bit weaker in my opinion. Here Victoria Azarenka and Agnieszka Radwanska should have the best chances to get through.

3. The third quarter is quite exciting as well with Maria Sharapova, Serena Williams, and Vera Zvonareva in it. Serena is my favorite in this one but Maria has a good chance of getting through as well of course.

4. In the fourth quarter Petra Kvitova is the clear favourite to me. Sam Stosur is in there as well and it will have to be seen how she handles the pressure of playing in front of her home crowd. Ana Ivanovic and Marion Bartoli are two more players that could make it out of this quarter.

Alright guys. So much for my Australian Open Preview. It should be an exciting tournament and please let me know your own thoughts in the comment section below!

Florian Meier runs the website OnlineTennisInstruction.com where he specializes in helping tennis players improve their game with video tennis tips. (photos: © Neal Trousdale)

Playing against defending champion Li Na in the final of the Apia International Sydney, Victoria Azarenka dominated the first set 6-2 before Li stormed through the second without facing a break point and by losing just one game. The odds continued to be on Li’s side in the beginning of the third set when she broke Azarenka’s serve in the opening game, but from then on Azarenka was writing the story of their match and took out the last year’s champion 6-2 1-6 6-3.

By defeating Stefanie Voegele, Jelena Jankovic, eighth seed Marion Bartoli, seventh seed Agnieszka Radwanska and finally Li, world No.3 Azarenka earned her ninth career title and her second in Australia, after Brisbane 2009. The Sydney winner’s prize is $107,000.

Li can also leave the tournament satisfied. She's had her best strech of match wins since the French Open. In addition, the Sydney final and her 22-4 win-loss record in Australia over the last three years can only suggest we can expect the best of Li at the upcoming Australian Open where she was runner-up last year. (photo via NDTV)

Defending champion Li seemed to be free falling towards defeat when Kvitova won the first set by giving up only one game and broke in the beginning of the following set to lead 3-1. However, the French Open champion Li fearlessly clawed back into the match and scored her fourth victory of the week, after wins over Ekatarina Makarova, Chanelle Scheepers and Lucie Safarova. Remember that in the entire post-French Open part of last season, i.e. since June, Li won a total of only seven matches.

Li’s opponent in the final will be Victoria Azarenka, who also overcame a 6-1 deficit to beat Agnieszka Radwanska 1-6 6-3 6-2, the conqueror of No.1 Caroline Wozniacki in the previous round. Li is 4-2 in career meetings with Azarenka, but it was Azarenka who handily won their last clash 6-2 6-2 at the WTA Championships at the end of 2011. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)

There was a big women’s tennis exhibition event in Singapore during the weekend, and elsewhere in Asia there was more relaxed tennis going on – the reigning Roland Garros champion Li Na welcomed fellow WTA star Sabine Lisicki and men’s tennis greats Pete Sampras and Carlos Moya in her hometown of Wuhan, China, for an exhibition tournament.

On Saturday, Li avenged her Wimbledon loss to Lisicki, by defeating the German 6-3 7-6(3) at Wuhan Sports Center. The 1998 Roland Garros winner Moya and 14-times Grand Slam champion Sampras played a men’s singles match on Sunday and the fantastic foursome also paired for some doubles entertainment.

Additional info: Talking about exhibitions, have you heard that players will be fined for playing the Hopman Cup in January? It is believed that the ITF will cover the fines, amounting to $375,000. The reason for the fines is that big WTA Tour events should of course be of primary importance for the players, and not exhibition events, and in 2012 the mixed doubles exhibition Hopman Cup will clash with the upgraded Brisbane International. Caroline Wozniacki, Petra Kvitova, Li Na, Marion Bartoli, Anabel Medina Garrigues, Jarmila Gajdosova, Tsvetana Pironkova and Bethanie Mattek Sands will play the December 31-January 7 Hopman Cup, i.e. four Top 10 WTA players. (source: WTA Tour)

First have a look at the table showing average rank of players who defeated each of the year-end Top 10 players and the lowest-ranked player to beat year-end Top 10 players during 2011. 

Vera Zvonareva needs to be mentioned here for her consistency as she is the only one of the Top 10 who was not beaten by a player ranked outside Top 35, while the rest of her colleagues from this elite group were beaten at least twice. The lowest-ranked player to defeat Zvonareva during 2011 was Tsvetana Pironkova, ranked 33rd (seeded 32nd) during the third round of Wimbledon.

Of Zvonareva's 22 losses only three came at the hands of players ranked between 30 and 35 and interestingly they came at the hands of players ranked 31, 32, and 33. Also, a total of only three losses came at the hands of players ranked between 21 and 29, while the rest of 16 came at the hands of Top 20 players. Average rank of Zvonareva's conquerors was 15, while the average rank of the conquerors of all the remaining Top 10 players was not even within Top 20.

Victoria Azarenka also needs to be mentioned here, because only five of her 17 losses came at the hands of players ranked outside Top 20, and of those five losses two came at the hands of Serena Williams who had low ranking due to her health problems and lack of play. Average rank of Azarenka's conquerors in 2011 was 23.

Let's continue with more specific tables, one for each of the Top 10 players, containing:

1) names of tournaments where players lost a match;

2) rank of the player that defeated them;

3) name of the player who defeated them.

Players who have beaten a Top 10 player in question twice or more in 2011 are highlighted in the tables.

Interestingly, three players have beaten Caroline Wozniacki twice this year, only one of them being a Top 10 player. Petra Kvitova has been beaten twice by only two players in 2011 – Andrea Petkovic and Vera Zvonareva – both the year-end Top 10 players. However, Petkovic was ranked 11th when she defeated Kvitova in Cincinnati.

It's interesting to note that Kvitova, who can be considered the player of the year especially for her Wimbledon and WTA Championships titles, played two events on the ITF Women's Circuit in 2011 – Nassau she exited in the opening round, while Prague 2 she lost in the final. Also note that six of Kvitova's 13 losses (almost 50%) came at the hands of players ranked below 40.

SUMMARY STATS FOR WOZNIACKI

Total rank of players who defeated her: 465
Number of defeats: 17
Average rank: 27.4

SUMMARY STATS FOR KVITOVA
Total rank of players who defeated her: 474
Number of defeats: 13
Average rank: 36.5

Victoria Azarenka has been beaten twice or more by three players – Li (both times at Grand Slams), Kvitova (three times) and Serena Williams (twice). Maria Sharapova was beaten twice by two players – Kvitova and Li, both Top 10 players.

Flavia Pennetta needs to be mentioned here since she was the one who spoiled the perfect record of Sharapova in three-set matches during 2011. Before the US Open Sharapova had won all the matches during 2011 that went to the third set, however Pennetta changed all that at US Open when she beat Sharapova 6-3 3-6 6-4 in the third round of US Open.

SUMMARY STATS FOR AZARENKA
Total rank of players who defeated her: 398
Number of defeats: 17
Average rank: 23.4

SUMMARY STATS FOR SHARAPOVA
Total rank of players who defeated her: 603
Number of defeats: 14
Average rank: 43.1

Lisicki and Stosur have been able to defeat Li Na twice or more this year, with Stosur beating her on four ocassions. Samantha Stosur has been beaten by Sharapova (three times), Kirilenko (twice), Bartoli (twice) and Kvitova (twice).

Of all the Top 10 players, the US Open champion Stosur suffered the biggest loss in terms of how low her opponent was ranked, falling to No.262 Melinda Czink in the first round of Wimbledon.

SUMMARY STATS FOR LI

Total rank of players who defeated her: 624
Number of defeats: 17
Average rank: 36.7

SUMMARY STATS FOR STOSUR
Total rank of players who defeated her: 865
Number of defeats: 23
Average rank: 37.6

In the beginning of this analysis I've already said so much about Vera Zvonareva's consistency, but there were two players against whom the Russian was weak: Agnieszka Radwanska defeated her four times in 2011, Samantha Stosur three times.

Agnieszka Radwanska also had her fair share of unwelcome opponents: Petra Cetkovska, Lucie Safarova, and Top 10 players Wozniacki and Kvitova all defeated Radwanska twice this year.

SUMMARY STATS FOR ZVONAREVA
Total rank of players who defeated her: 338
Number of defeats: 22
Average rank: 15.4

SUMMARY STATS FOR RADWANSKA
Total rank of players who defeated her: 453
Number of defeats: 18
Average rank: 25.2

Marion Bartoli has the unwelcome title in the elite 10, falling to the lowest-ranked opponents on average. Bartoli also has the unlikely honour of being the only Top 10 player who was beaten four times by players ranked outside Top 100 during 2011. However, she also played the most tournaments – 29, while no other Top 10 player played more than 22.

Andrea Petkovic and Caroline Wozniacki were the only players to beat Marion Bartoli twice or more this year. Wozniacki, Sharapova and Radwanska handed Andrea Petkovic two or more losses this year.

SUMMARY STATS FOR BARTOLI
Total rank of players who defeated her: 1310
Number of defeats: 25
Average rank: 52.4

SUMMARY STATS FOR PETKOVIC
Total rank of players who defeated her: 461
Number of defeats: 17
Average rank: 27.1

So far we've featured numerous Omair's analytic tables covering the following topics:

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

Did all these analyses help you draw some conclusions or direct your attention to specific data which you didn't realize before? Did some specific numbers maybe only strengthen some of your theories about certain players? (photos: © Neal Trousdale)

We can soon start calling our reader Omair a stats expert. After seeing his "Comparative analysis of Top 10 players and their performance at big tournaments in 2011" received so well, Omair eagerly rushed to thrill us with more analysis, this time focusing on the year-end Top 10 players and the ranking of opponents that they beat in 2011 (Part 1) and on the ranking of opponents that beat them (Part 2). Let the tables do the talking!

The table above shows the number of tournaments where a year-end Top 10 player defeated more than one Top 10 player. Petra Kvitova tops here with three tournaments, at two of which she defeated three or more Top 10 players en route to the title (Madrid and WTA Championships). World number one Caroline Wozniacki is the only Top 10 player who did not beat two Top 10 players in a single tournament.

Let's continue with tables showing tournaments won by each Top 10 player and tournaments where the player (though did not end up winning the event) ended up beating two or more Top 10 players.

As mentioned earlier, Kvitova tops the list of most Top 10 players defeated en route to title – at the WTA Championships in Istanbul she ended up beating as much as five Top 10 players, Top 8 players to be exact! Second in this list is Li Na who defeated four Top 10 players on her way to the French Open title this year. Take notice, Wozniacki only once defeated a Top 5 player on her way to title, which was in Brussels where she defeated then-No.5 Schiavone.

Actually, Kvitova was the  only one who ended up beating three Top 10 players in more than one tournament. Victoria Azarenka, Maria Sharapova, Li Na and Marion Bartoli did it once during 2011 – Azarenka at the WTA Championships, Sharapova in Rome, Li at the French Open and Bartoli in Eastbourne.

You can see that Li Na defeated four Top 10 players en route to her maiden Grand Slam title, more than Kvitova during her Wimbledon title run and more than Samantha Stosur who had to overcome only one such opponent on her way to the US Open trophy.

Vera Zvonareva won two titles in 2011 and all the victories in her Doha run included Top 30 players, two of which were Top 10. Agnieszka Radwanska was super hot in the later part of the season, winning Carlsbad, Tokyo and Beijing. The Pole scored two Top 10 victories in Toronto, more than in Carlsbad and Beijing actually, but lost in the semifinals of the tournament.

Just like in the "Comparative analysis of Top 10 players and their performance at big tournaments in 2011" the stats leader in the department of victories over fellow Top 10 players is mostly Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova.

What would you like to add looking at the stats? What are the details you notice and what do they tell you about specific players?

Stay tuned for the second part of the analysis to be posted this week on Women's Tennis Blog. The continuation will focus on the losses of Top 10 players and the rankings of players who defeated them. (Kvitova photo: © Neal Trousdale)