In Omair's statistical preview of the Australian Open quarterfinal between Victoria Azarenka and Agnieszka Radwanska the numbers were more on Radwanska's side, however, the Pole lost 6-7(0) 6-0 6-2. Omair would now like to have a closer look at what happened there.

When Victoria Azarenka entered the Rod Laver Arena today, she had something going on in her mind, her possibility of overtaking the top spot from Caroline Wozniacki, and that thing seemed to affect her in the first set tiebreak where she could not win a single point against Agnieszka Radwanska. But from then on, it was all Azarenka and she solidified her status as title contender with this win.

Radwanska walked on to the Rod Laver Arena today with a mission of her own, she wanted to make it fifth time lucky and enter into her first Grand Slam semifinal match and it seemed that she would, after the first set. But from then on Radwanska could not keep that level and lost to the red hot Azarenka.

Radwanska, just like Wozniacki in her quarterfinal, entered the match with cleaner stats, and Azarenka, just like Kim Clijsters, entered the match with not so good stats, but both Clijsters and Azarenka emerged out of their matches as the cleaner players and winners.

AGNIESZKA RADWANSKA STATS

Radwanska entered the match with 75% points won on her first serves when they landed in and her first serve percentage did not flop, but her winning percentage on the first serve dropped dramatically, and to add to that so did her winning percentage on second serves. You can never win a match against Azarenka by winning just 29% of your second serves or 47% of your first serves. As if that was not enough, Radwanska entered the match with a positive winner-UE differential of 27, but came out of the match with a negative 15 winner-UE differential. Radwanska will have to wait for the next Grand Slam to see if she can manage to make it to the semifinals. Read more »

After showing you his numbers analysis for the quarterfinal between Caroline Wozniacki and Kim Clijsters, our stats expert Omair made another Australian Open quarterfinal preview for you, Victoria Azarenka vs. Agnieszka Radwanska.

Agnieszka Radwanska has lost a set so far at the Australian Open, while Victoria Azarenka is yet to lose more than four games in a set. Despite that, when we look at numbers, Radwanska comes out as the cleaner one.

If we look at the Grand Slam results, we see that it is the sixth quarterfinal appearance for Azarenka and fifth for Radwanska, while Radwanska has yet to move beyond the quarterfinal stage of a major tournament, Azarenka did it at last year's Wimbledon when she lost to the eventual champion, Petra Kvitova, in the semis. Interestingly, it was Azarenka's fifth Grand Slam quarterfinal appearance when she finally moved beyond the quarterfinal stage, and this is Radwanska's fifth quarterfinal appearance. Azarenka and Radwanska are friends – will Radwanska follow in the footsteps of her friend and make it fifth time lucky or will she fade away, only time will tell us.

If we look at their head-to-head record, Azarenka has won six of their nine encounters and their latest coming at this year's Sydney in the semifinal, where Azarenka won in three sets.

Let us have a look at what the numbers suggest about their form so far at the Australian Open.

When we look at numbers, they are quite close in almost all departments. However, Azarenka has an upper hand by a huge margin in the 2nd serve winning percentage, but she also has a huge number of double faults, averaging at 4+ per match so far in the tournament (equal to Kim Clijsters' double faults). Read more »

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. Read more »

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)