The first match of the Istanbul WTA Championships came to a close and tournament debutante Petra Kvitova routed Vera Zvonareva 6-2 6-4 in an hour and 25 minutes. Zvonareva was a runner-up to Venus Williams at this event in 2008, when it was played in Doha.

From four breaks and 2-2 in the first set of this Red Group clash, the 21-year-old Kvitova took six straight games to win the first and go 2-0 up in the second. Kvitova was soon leading 4-1, but Zvonareva managed to level at 4-4 and distance Kvitova from victory. However, Zvonareva handed Kvitova an easy break and soon after the Czech won.

The Wimbledon champion Kvitova has a chance of ending the year ranked No.1, but that depends both on her and on the outside circumstances. The Czech would have to win the Istanbul title and current world No.1 Caroline Wozniacki, last year's WTA Championships finalist, would have to lose her round-robin matches. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)

The 2011 TEB BNP Paribas WTA Championships in Istanbul start tomorrow, not affected by the devastating earthquake that killed around 270 people in Turkey. Players and the Tour expressed their condolences, but their job is calling them to focus on the big task ahead.

Since only the most successful eight players of the season are in the competition, it is not entirely reasonable to talk about the toughness of the draw, but we can always speculate: is the world No.1 the favorite, or the most-established players, or the late season bloomers, or someone else? Let’s analyze the two round-robin groups.

RED GROUP: Caroline Wozniacki, Petra Kvitova, Vera Zvonareva, Agnieszka Radwanska

The tournament will start with the clash between Kvitova and Zvonareva. Kvitova is making her debut at the WTA Championships, but at this year’s Wimbledon she showed she doesn’t shy away at grand stages. Also, the Czech is fresh off a WTA title in Linz.

Another first-time qualifier, Agnieszka Radwanska, is also in action on the first day, against world No.1 Caroline Wozniacki. Radwanska is the hottest player this fall, having won 11 of her last 12 matches, including Premier-level titles in Tokyo and Beijing. Zvonareva was runner-up in Tokyo, while Wozniacki had the worst results of the group this fall, losing in the third round of Tokyo and the quarterfinals of Beijing.

To give you a deeper insight into the mutual relationships of the players, here are their head-to-head statistics, with this year's records in brackets. Read more »

Vera Zvonareva and Samantha Stosur have occupied the sixth and seventh spot in the draw of the $4,900,000 TEB BNP Paribas WTA Championships, which means that only one more player can qualifier for the singles competition and that will be either Agnieszka Radwanska or Marion Bartoli.

In order for Bartoli to qualify, she would need to win both Osaka and Moscow and Radwanska would have to lose before the quarterfinals of Moscow. The player who doesn’t take the eighth spot will join Andrea Petkovic as an alternate.

This will be Zvonareva’s fifth time to play the elite year-end Championships, while Stosur played last year for the first time.

Besides the two new additions to the draw, Caroline Wozniacki, Maria Sharapova, Petra Kvitova, Victoria Azarenka and Li Na had already qualified.

For the past three years the prestigious event was held in Doha, and this year it will take place in Istanbul for the first time. The 2010 champion was Kim Clijsters, whose injuries have prevented her for playing since August. (photos: sr_cranks)

Vera Zvonareva is one of those quiet, low-key players, but that doesn't mean she's shy of taking her clothes off for the camera. The third-ranked Russian is actually the sole tennis player among 22 athletes featured in the new ESPN Body Issue.

You can see the photo as well as a behind-the-scenes video from the shoot at my blogging friend DeShawn Besabella's website. Update: the web page is no longer available, therefore, I've removed the link.

Talking about Zvonareva posing, do you know of these pics  for her apparel sponsor K-Swiss? She may not be showing a lot of skin, but the photos are funnily weird. (photo: sr_cranks)

To reach the quarterfinals of the China Open in Beijing Ana Ivanovic showed her mastery of consistent aggressive tennis and good focus against third-ranked Vera Zvonareva and scored her first Top 5 victory since June 2008 when she beat fellow Serb, then world No.3, Jelena Jankovic in the semifinals en route to the French Open title.

In the 6-2 6-1 win over Zvonareva, Ivanovic hit 29 winners to Zvonareva's four.

In the first round Ivanovic blew away Kimiko Date-Krumm 6-1 6-1, then powered past Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-2 6-3, and now she's in the the quarterfinals where she will face either Sofia Arvidsson, who upset Wimledon champion Petra Kvitova, or Agnieszka Radwanska, who won the Tokyo Premier tournament last week. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)