Part 2: Top 10 players in 2011 – what do their losses suggest?

On Monday our guest poster and stats lover Omair dug us into the numbers of his detailed analysis about the number of wins year-end Top 10 players scored over Top 10 players in 2011 and their best tournaments. Now it's time for Part 2 and a different perspective – results of the Top 10 stars approached through their losses.

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.

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Part 1: Top 10 players in 2011 – how they scored against fellow big opponents

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.

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Can we make predictions in women's tennis today? Compare January 2011 picks and year-end Top 10

In the beginning of the year our loyal contributor John Bolan made a prediction of how Top 10 would look like at the end of the season and a lot of readers presented their Top 10 picks in the comments. Now that the tennis 2011 has ended, I thought it was perfect time to ask John to do a comparison of the prediction and the actual season-ending rankings. He was eager to accept my proposal. Continue reading to see the shocking changes over the last 11 months, such as Justine Henin and Dinara Safina not playing any more and Petra Kvitova, who was never even mentioned, joining the elite big time.

On January 8, 2011 the Women’s Tennis Blog published my article "Who will be Top 10 players at the end of 2011?".  My picks were listed with reasons why I chose them. Many fans used the comment section to submit their picks. Now that the year is over, let’s find out how we did.

Most of us only named about 5 out of the 10 Top finishers. The reason that we did so poorly was the injury factor. Five of the top players were injured for most of the year – Justin Henin, Kim Clijsters, Dinara Safina, Serena Williams and Venus Williams. Most of us had at least 3 of these injured stars on our Top 10 list. The most difficult factor in picking the Top 10 is trying to guess who will not be able to play a full season and 2011 was an unusual year with so many of the top stars injured for so long.

No one picked the number 2 finisher – Petra Kvitova. Only one person picked Marion Bartoli and only one picked Andrea Petkovic. These omissions hurt the overall accuracy of our picks. Read more »

Comparative analysis of Top 10 players and their performance at big tournaments in 2011

This blog likes to give its faithful readers an opportunity to contribute and show their take on women's tennis, so here's Omair's analysis of our year-end Top 10 players and their 2011 results at Grand Slams, Premier tournaments and the WTA Championships. Have a look at what the numbers suggest.

Just to note, in the following tables CW is Caroline Wozniacki, PK is Petra Kvitova, VA is Victoria Azarenka, MS is Maria Sharapova, LN is Li Na, SS is Samantha Stosur, VZ is Vera Zvonareva, AR is Agnieszka Radwanska, MB is Marion Bartoli and AP is Andrea Petkovic.

WIN-LOSS RECORD OF THE YEAR-END TOP 10 PLAYERS AGAINST EACH OTHER IN 2011

The win-loss record is in itself self-explanatory, showing who has been the most dominant player - Petra Kvitova. Please also note the number of wins by a player against Top 5 players, especially for Top 5 players.

OVERALL WIN-LOSS RECORD IN 2011

Kvitova is not the leader only in the percentage of wins over fellow season-ending Top 10 players, but is also the leader in yearly win-loss record overall.

2011 GRAND SLAM WINS OF TOP 10 PLAYERS

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Injured Bartoli retires in quarterfinals + earthquake shakes Bali

Top seed Marion Bartoli retired with an ankle injury soon after the start of the third set of her opening match against Anabel Medina Garrigues at the Commonweath Bank Tournament of Champions in Bali. And that wasn't the only blow to the tournament on Friday. An earthquake hit the exotic island so much that the press conference had to be held outside the tournament facility. Luckily it happened after the matches were completed and spectators had already left.

"I’ve never done a press conference like this before," said Daniela Hantuchova who lost her quarterfinal to Sabine Lisicki 7-5 6-2. "It was quite frightening, but we seem to be okay." Read more »

Bali update: Sabine Lisicki enjoys artwork + draw announced

Sabine Lisicki is relieving her jetlag in Bali by painting pottery which will be auctioned off for charity. In her blog for the WTA Tour, the German reveals that her parents are also in Bali. Lisicki's mother Elisabeth, a painting and ceramics artist, enjoyed doing art with her daughter, while father Richard was busy taking the pictures for Sabine’s Facebook page. Read more »

Wait, season is not over yet, Bali's coming

Now that the WTA Championships in Istanbul have come to a close, let's shift our attention to the Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions which is about to start on November 3 in Bali. The Tour actually announced the draw of the really-season-ending tournament on the day the much more important season-ending tournament commenced (how awkward is that?), but I decided to postpone the Bali talk until Istanbul finishes.

You know that in order to qualify for the event in exotic Bali you have to win an International-level WTA tournament in the ongoing season and not qualify for the WTA Championships in Istanbul which features the best eight singles players of the year. To make things even more complicated, Marion Bartoli did not qualify for Istanbul and was therefore eligible to play Bali, but as the first alternate in Istanbul she did eventually play the event because of Maria Sharapova's withdrawal. Nevertheless, Bartoli is still qualified to play Bali. Pretty messed up. But hey, let's see who's in. Read more »

Marion Bartoli finally has a clothing sponsor – Lotto

World number nine Marion Bartoli came to Istanbul as a replacement of Maria Sharapova in the WTA Championships and in the sole match she played there, the 5-7 6-4 6-4 victory over eventual runner-up Victoria Azarenka, the Frenchwoman debuted an outfit of her new clothing sponsor Lotto. The deal is for three years through to 2014.

"I am pleased to have signed with Lotto, an Italian brand, and although I'm Corse of 2 generations, my name is Italian in origin," said Bartoli who infamously used to be without a clothing sponsor for four years.

The first Bartoli's Lotto outfit was a white short-sleeve shirt and a red skort.

Lotto's women's tennis stars also include Francesca Schiavone and Agnieszka Radwanska. (sources: On the Baseline, Marion Bartoli Fan Blog, photo: Life.com)

Bartoli retires, Radwanska qualifies for Istanbul afterall

Marion Bartoli needed three things to take the last spot in the season-ending WTA Championships: to win Osaka – check!, to have Agnieszka Radwanska lose before the quarterfinals in Moscow – check!, to win the Moscow title – well, it would have been too good to be true. Bartoli withdrew from her quarterfinal against Elena Vesnina citing viral infection, insuring Radwanska's qualification for Istanbul. Read more »

Marion Bartoli takes two victories in one day for Osaka title

Because of rain, the semifinals and final at the HP Open in Osaka had to be played on the same day. The final took place "after suitable rest"of the victorios semifinalists, who were Samantha Stosur and Marion Bartoli. Later in the final, Bartoli defeated Stosur 6-3 6-1 and won the International-level title by losing more than four games only in one match!

The top-seeded Stosur beat Zheng Jie after two hours and 36 minutes, 7-6(5) 3-6 6-3. The second-seeded Bartoli saved both break points she faced and without dropping serve defeated Angelique Kerber 6-1 7-6(5) in one hour and 38 minutes. As you can see, Stosur spent one hour more on the court on Sunday than her final opponent.

Later, Bartoli defeated Stosur 6-3 6-1 without dropping serve. The loss must be a disaapointment for Stosur even more so because she won her first title at the HP Open two years ago.

Bartoli won her seventh career title and second this season, after Eastbourne. The players Frenchwoman beat en route to the trophy: Melinda Czink, Vania King, Ayumi Morita, Angelique Kerber, and finally the reigning US Open champion Stosur. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)


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