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 »

It was not meant to be that we get two first-time WTA titlists this weekend – Dominika Cibulkova did it, Monica Niculescu did not, and instead world No.3 Victoria Azarenka of Belarus comfortably won her eighth career title and third this year, after Miami and Marbella.

The top-seeded Azarenka had a straightforward 6-2 6-2 victory over Niculescu in final of the BGL BNP Paribas Luxembourg Open, but she had strategy prepared for the Romanian:

Monica has a unique game, a really different style. You really have to dig deep and be patient against her, but you also have to be aggressive. If you stand there and just dig the balls back, she can beat you. So I just tried to stay aggressive and fight for every point and I'm happy how it turned out.

Read more »

Marion Bartoli needed three things to take the last spot in the season-ending WTA Championships: to win Osaka – check!, to have Agnieszka Radwanska lose before the quarterfinals in Moscow – check!, to win the Moscow title – well, it would have been too good to be true. Bartoli withdrew from her quarterfinal against Elena Vesnina citing viral infection, insuring Radwanska's qualification for Istanbul. Read more »

World No.8 Agnieszka Radwanska is the hot player of this period, sort of a late-season bloomer, having won two big tournaments of Tokyo and Beijing in back-to-back weeks of the end of September and beginning of October. In her third successive event, the Kremlin Cup in Moscow, the Pole lost in the second round to Lucie Safarova 6-4 4-6 6-4 and opened the door for Bartoli to take the last spot in the draw of the WTA Championships in Istanbul. All Radwanska can do now is sit and wait, while the victory over Safarova would have made her a certain qualifier.

The 27th-ranked Lucie Safarova is a talented player with great prospects, but her inconsistency prevents her from becoming an always-present big name in tennis. On her second match point Safarova earned her fourth victory over Radwanska in their five meetings.  Read more »

At the end of September, in Tokyo quarterfinals, Maria Sharapova twisted her ankle during serve. The MRI scan showed no big damage to the ankle, the Russian started practicing little by little and is ready for the year-end finale at the TEB BNP Paribas WTA Championships.

On Wednesday, Sharapova arrived in Istanbul and praised her physio Juan and the comfort of Turkish Airlines on Facebook.

We already know which dress Sharapova is expected to wear at the tournament which starts October 25. You can see it here. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)