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 »

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)

Switzerland’s Patty Schnyder retired from tennis this season after a first-round defeat at the French Open, which was her 59th appearance at a Grand Slam, and a tribute to her 17-year-long career was organized at the WTA Championships in Istanbul.

Retired tennis champion Mary Pierce handed Schnyder a career memory book, and in attendance were also Samantha Stosur, Istanbul finalist Victoria Azarenka, Katarina Srebotnik, Kveta Peschke and WTA Chairperson and CEO Stacy Allaster, whose contract with the Tour has recently been extended and she will lead women's tennis for another five years, until 2017. 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 »