For those of you who didn't see my shoutout in the Women's Tennis Fans Facebook group, our childhood photos series is becoming more and more famous, and it even earned a dedicated article at Tennis.com, including a thumbnail on the homepage! What more can you ask for?

In that light, let's continue the series and feature the highest-ranked Belarusian in WTA history, whose 2011 was her best career season - Victoria Azarenka. Don't you love the modest look at little Azarenka's face? I can imagine her saying: "When I grow up I want to be the best tennis player in the world, to play on grand courts and win big matches in front of huge crowds."  Read more »

Petra Kvitova crowned her 2011 season with titles at Brisbane, Paris, Madrid, Wimbledon and very recently Linz, and now she's put the icing on the cake (the icing worth $1,750,000) by winning the TEB BNP Paribas WTA Championships on her tournament debut. Kvitova's opponent in the final, Victoria Azarenka, gave significant resistance and made the final highly entertaining, but it was Kvitova who went all the way to a 7-5 4-6 6-3 victory.

Just when it seemed the first set would finish before it even warmed up, with a desperate look on her face Azarenka won her first game of the match in the sixth game and she didn't stop there. From 1-5, Azarenka broke Kvitova's serve to love two times and leveled to 5-5. Then Kvitova finally held her serve again and in the following game capitalized on her fifth set point. Read more »

Petra Kvitova finished the round-robin phase of the WTA Championships at the top position in the Red Group, with all the three matches won, while Victoria Azarenka was the leader of the White Group, and the two have now reached the $4,900,000 tournament final by beating their semifinal opponents – Kvitova rebounded to beat Samantha Stosur, Azarenka was solid against Vera Zvonareva.

The first semifinal of the day was Kvitova vs. Stosur. Even though it was Kvitova who earned an initial lead, Stosur won the first set 7-5 and had a break point to go 2-0 up in the second set. The Czech debutante at the tournament then won six of the next eight games to win the set 6-3 before going 5-0 up in the decider. Stosur did manage to get closer in the third-set score, but the match finished to Kvitova’s advantage 5-7 6-3 6-3. Read more »

I'm regularly reviewing fashion at Grand Slams (take a look at this year's tennis outfits at the Australian Open, Roland Garros, Wimbledon and US Open) and this time I've decided to add the season-ending Championships, as another great tennis stage. The singles field at the $4,900,000 tournament this year played in Istanbul consists of eight players, so only the mere quantity of players significantly reduces the diversity of outfits. Therefore, nothing can outclass Grand Slams as the best stages for all the fashion fun, although some stars had brand new looks prepared for the WTA Championships.

Li Na and Victoria Azarenka are sporting neat outfits, but they are nothing new, we've seen them in previous tournaments. Li is wearing Nike Women's Holiday Smash Classic Top and Pleated Skort. Azarenka already gave a lot of exposure to her Nike Women's Holiday Set Point Graphic Tank and a matching skort during her run to the Luxembourg title and Tokyo semifinals.

Petra Kvitova, another Nike representative, is just like Azarenka wearing purple and grape tones. Caroline Wozniacki is wearing the best of her recent Adidas by Stella McCartney dresses, which she should've worn at the US Open, in my opinion, instead of the similar dress in white. Read more »

Victoria Azarenka was the last player to come to Istanbul because she was occupied by winning the title in Luxembourg. Remember, the Belarusian was the only one missing in the glamorous player photo shoot introducing the luxurious tournament with the prize money of $4,900,000. The world No.4 continued her Luxembourg form (she didn't lose a set en route to the trophy) and at the WTA Championships she recorded two solid victories to reach her first semifinals in her third appearance at the tournament.

After dominating Samantha Stosur in her first round-robin match 6-2 6-2, with the same score Azarenka took out French Open champion Li Na to become the first certain member of the Istanbul final four. The fifth-ranked Li earned zero break points against Azarenka and hit 22 unforced errors more than her opponent (39 to 17).

Li was successful in her first match of the tournament, beating Maria Sharapova 7-6(4) 6-4. (photo: sr_cranks)