Serena Williams simply can't stop the consolidation of her WTA dominance. So far at the season-ending Championships in Istanbul she's been by far the best player, the only one with three victories, although Maria Sharapova may catch up with her in that department, but definitely the only one with three straight-set victories. Serena's first victim was Angelique Kerber, then Li Na, and today world No.1 Victoria Azarenka. When racquet smashing to the court was not enough to alleviate Azarenka's frustration, the Belarusian resorted to slamming the racquet against her head, Mikhail Yuzhny-style, but she couldn't run from the inevitable and not face the superiority of Serena 6-4 6-4.

Serena has now won 46 of her last 48 matches, 6 straight against Top 5 players, 11 straight against Top 2 players and six straight against No.1s! Scary! Read more »

After losing to Serena Williams in the opening match of the Red Group at the WTA Championships, Angelique Kerber held two match points against No.1 Victoria Azarenka in the most entertaining match of the tournament, but that victory slipped through her fingers despite her outstanding performance and today the German lost to Li Na to find herself 0-3 after the round-robin action at the WTA Championships. Unfortunately, Kerber has no chance of making the semifinals of the season-ending Championships on her first appearance at the event, but she can leave the event with her head up and enjoy the off season.

Li entered the encounter with a 5-1 head-to-head record against Kerber and a loss to Serena Williams in her first round-robin match. Kerber was the first to take a lead, going up 4-2, but Li started coming back, broke Kerber’s serve for 4-4 and in the tenth game Kerber helped her opponent with two double faults to lose the first set. Eventually, from the sixth game, Li won nine of the next ten games to lead 6-4 5-1. Kerber did have a mini revival for 6-4 5-3, but Li closed it out with her fourth perfect service game. Final score: 6-4 6-3.

Li, now satisfied with her concentration and performance, has a match with Victoria Azarenka left to complete her round-robin play. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)

Maria Sharapova and Agnieszka Radwanska could have fallen asleep before stepping out on the WTA Championships court, waiting for the never-ending match between Victoria Azarenka and Angelique Kerber to finish. Finally, somewhere around 11 p.m. their encounter started and it turned out they had no intention of speeding up the wrap-up of Day 2, playing three 7-5 sets. Final score: 5-7 7-5 7-5 after three hours and 12 minutes, at 2:12 a.m. Read more »

It has been by far the most thrilling match of the WTA Championships. In short, in the first set Victoria Azarenka wasted four successive set points and one more, while Angelique Kerber used her fifth to win the set, in the second set Azarenka saved two match points to take the match to the decider and in the third set Azarenka broke Kerber for a 5-3 lead, but failed to serve it out, eventually winning on Kerber's serve in the following game, converting the first of two match points. Scoreline: 6-7(11) 7-6(2) 6-4.

Just like in her yesterday's win over Angelique Kerber, Serena Williams' first serve percentage was below 50% and again it didn't stop her from winning at the WTA Championships, this time against Li Na, who opened her action at the tournament today.

The match started with Serena breaking Li's serve, but the Chinese broke right back and later once again to lead 4-1. As always, it was too early to predict anything and put the cards on Li. Serena managed to climb back to 4-4 and at 5-4 she was serving for the set. It was not over yet, though. She was broken to love and at 6-5 again, before racing through the tiebreak. In all, this match had 11 breaks of serve, eight in the first set. Final score: 7-6(2) 6-3.

Only four times has Williams lost to players 30 or older and the last time it happened was against Patty Schnyder in 2009. Williams has now won 45 of her last 47 matches.

Serena's remaining opponent in the Red Group round-robin action is world No.1 Victoria Azarenka. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)

Shockingly, defending champion Petra Kvitova has pulled out of the WTA Championships in Istanbul, citing viral illness. After her yesterday's loss to Agnieszka Radwanska, accompanied by 41 unforced errors, tear-eyed Kvitova mentioned extreme nervousness that froze her fingers and legs, but there were no hints about sickness.

First alternate Samantha Stosur will replace Kvitova in the White Group. She will have time to adjust to the situation, as no matches are on schedule for her today. On Thursday she is set to play Sara Errani, and then her remaining round-robin match will be against Maria Sharapova.

Update: Thanks to the tweets of Beyond the Baseline, I'm learning that Kvitova said she misinterpreted her body shaking with nerves. Interestingly, she still plans to play an exhibition match with Maria Sharapova in Prague and lead the Czech Republic in their Fed Cup title defense against Serbia next month in the city. (source: Tennis.com, photo: Moo's Tennis Blog)

The third and last match of the first day action at the WTA Championships in Istanbul was a rematch of the 2012 French Open final between Maria Sharapova and Sara Errani and again Sharapova was victorious, with similar scoreline, 6-3 6-2.

After a slow start of the White Group match and the first four games lasting almost half an hour, Sharapova broke Errani to 4-2 and took control of the encounter, finishing it with 39 winners to Errani's 6, but also 26 unforced errors to Errani's 13.

Errani's season has been stunning with four singles titles, eight doubles titles (including Roland Garros and US Open), the singles final at Roland Garros and now her first ever participation at the WTA Championships. Not to mention that she's also competing in doubles, the only player in Istanbul to play in both fields. However, the Italian is yet to beat a Top 5 player in singles and after today's loss she's 0-22.

To sum up Day 1 in Istanbul, our winners are: Agnieszka Radwanska over Petra Kvitova, Serena Williams over Angelique Kerber and Maria Sharapova over Sara Errani. Tomorrow, Sharapova is also playing the third match of the schedule, against Agnieszka Radwanska. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)

Angelique Kerber came to her first match at the WTA Championships and her first match as a Top 5 player as the only player at the tournament who has defeated Serena Williams this year and the sole loss in Serena's 27 previous matches was at the hands of Kerber. But in today's Red Group match, Serena earned a good old revenge, winning nine of 11 games from 3-all in the first set for a 6-4 6-1 victory. Serena's threatening first serve was at weak 44% and she hit just three aces, but at the net she won 17 of 20 points.

Serena's 2012 results have been mind-blowing. She's won 44 of her last 46 matches and her last 15 against Top 5 players. Not to mention her this year's titles: Charleston, Madrid, Wimbledon, Stanford, Olympics and US Open – all Premier-level or higher. She's practically unstoppable and the fact that she hadn't played since the US Open does not put her even slightly on the unprepared side.

Serena opens tomorrow's action in Istanbul, against Li Na. Kerber has a day off. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)