For the sixth year in a row, Women's Tennis Blog is using the relaxed off-season period to review the on-court styles of our top players and brands. Of course, who else will kick off the series than our fashion darling Maria Sharapova. Let's see what the Russian wore in the year that saw her complete a Career Slam and win the Olympic silver.

In 2012, the Nike-clad Sharapova continued her subdued sporty femininity. Glamour, layers, frills and popping details have not described the Russian's tennis style since last year. Of course, Masha is still the most glamorous WTA player, but on court that glamour is toned down now, fitting the simple, everyday wearable category. There still are details in her designs, but you have to look deeper to find them.

White with electric green accents was Sharapova's color combination for the Australian sun and it transcended to the indoor hardcourt of Coubertin Stadium in Paris.

At Indian Wells, the 25-year-old wore a blue dress with light blue scales on the sides and in the back, matching the color of the straps.

*Visit the full list of retrospections of WTA players' yearly outfits*

Very ordinary red tanks followed for four tournaments, paired with simple white and black skirts. Read more »

With a surprisingly straightforward 6-2 6-1 victory over Caroline Wozniacki, Nadia Petrova became the third titlist of the Tournament of Champions – after Aravane Rezai (2009) and Ana Ivanovic (2010, 2011) – which has relocated from Bali to Sofia this year.

It's a nice finish to the season for Petrova, with Tokyo title, WTA Championships doubles and now Sofia singles, her 13th singles career title.

In the round-robin phase of the Tournament of Champions, Petrova beat Maria Kirilenko, Zheng Jie and Tsvetana Pironkova for a perfect 3-0 score in the Sredets Group, then Roberta Vinci in the dramatic semifinal 6-7(8) 6-1 6-4, and finally Wozniacki, for the first time in their last five clashes.

Even though she's come short of the Sofia title, the world No.11 Wozniacki is leaving Bulgaria with a season-ending Top 10 ranking, thanks to her semifinal victory over Tsvetana Pironkova. Let me remind you, Wozniacki started 2012 ranked No.1!

Petrova, who is now coached by Ricardo Sanchez, Wozniacki's coach of earlier this year, will finish the season ranked 12th, one spot higher than her current standing. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)

The Czech Republic successfully defended the Fed Cup trophy, dominating the Serbian team 2-0 on Saturday, and even though on Sunday Ana Ivanovic gave Serbia a slight ray of hope by beating the highest-ranked Czech Petra Kvitova in the first match of the day, Lucie Safarova's rocking winners against Jelena Jankovic finished the job for the Czechs in Prague. Read more »

Top two seeds will meet in the final of the Qatar Airways Tournament of Champions Sofia – No.1 Caroline Wozniacki and No.2 Nadia Petrova.

The first to advance was Wozniacki, with a 6-4 6-1 victory over home-supported Tsvetana Pironkova. From 4-4 in the first set, Wozniacki won seven straight games and closed the match two games later. By virtue of this win, on Monday, November 5th, Wozniacki will start her 174th week in the Top 10, which is the sixth most of all active WTA players. The Dane used to be No.1 for 67 weeks and of all active players only Serena Williams is ahead of her with 123 weeks (below are Victoria Azarenka with 36 weeks, Maria Sharapova 21, Jelena Jankovic 18, Ana Ivanovic 12, Venus Williams 11). Read more »

The Czech Republic made a strong start to their Fed Cup title defense with two comfortable victories over Serbia, whose chances for maiden Fed Cup crown look very slim.

Lucie Safarova and Ana Ivanovic took the court first. The match was opened by Ivanovic holding her serve after fending off a break point, but that was as much of a lead the Serb had in the match, as Safarova went up a break in the third game, and even though Ivanovic leveled to 2-2, another break in the seventh game sealed the Serb's fate. Safarova continued her solid game in the second set and beat Ivanovic, who was coming back from a hip injury sustained in Moscow, 6-4 6-3 for the fourth straight time. Read more »