Victoria Azarenka decided to actively prepare for the WTA Championships in Istanbul and straight from storming to the Beijing title she flew to Linz where in similar fashion she earned another title, her sixth this season. The world No.1 is now on a roll of 13 consecutive straight set match wins, if we disregard the walkover she gave to Angelique Kerber in Tokyo due to dizziness.

Julia Goerges, Azarenka's opponent in the final, was the first player to take more than two games in a set in Linz against Azarenka, who scored a 6-0 6-2 victory over Arantxa Rus in the first round, 6-1 6-1 over Simona Halep in the second round, 6-2 6-2 over Petra Martic in the quarterfinals and 6-2 6-1 over Irina-Camelia Begu in the semis. The fifth-seeded Goerges won three games in the first set, in which Azarenka was strong on her serve and faced no break points, and four games in the second set, all the four of which came in succession when Goerges was 5-0 down. Therefore, final score was 6-3 6-4.

It was Azarenka's first appearance at the Generali Ladies Linz. The title has earned her $37,000 and 280 ranking points. (photo: Ralf Reinecke)

Less than a month after British No.1 Laura Robson made it to the final of the Guangzhou Open and became the first British woman in 22 years to reach a WTA final, twenty-year-old Heather Watson came through an epic battle against Taiwan's Chang Kai-Chen to win 7-5 5-7 7-6(4) in her first career WTA final at the HP Open in Osaka. The singles trophy is the first on the women's side for Great Britain since 1988 (Watson was born for years later)!

Watson is ranked No.71 and is the second ranked player of her nationality, after Robson who is No.56 and the youngest player in the Top 100. Before this week, Watson's best results were three quarterfinals, all in 2011. Robson was also successful in Osaka, having reached the quarterfinals, where she lost to the eventual finalist Chang, who later took out top seed and Grand Slam champion Samantha Stosur.  Read more »

Victoria Azarenka is the only WTA player competing at the season-ending Championships that's active this week ahead of the luxurious event – all the other seven women in the singles field, except Angelique Kerber who is set to play Luxembourg next week, have nothing left on their schedule but the Championships – and at the ongoing Generali Ladies Linz, the No.1 is simply continuing the stellar momentum that earned her the Beijing title last week.

The Belarusian is now in the final of the Austrian tournament, having lost just 11 games en route to the title match. Imagine, she hasn't lost more than two games per set in her victories over Arantxa Rus, Simona Halep, Petra Martic, and today Irina-Camelia Begu, while last week she won a Premier Mandatory tournament losing four games in just two sets!

In the final, Azarenka will face fifth seed Julia Goerges, who beat Kirsten Flipkens 1-6 6-2 6-3 in the semis. Azarenka's prospects are good for her 66th match win this season and her sixth title of the year. She's 3-1 head-to-head against Goerges, and even that one loss came through retirement, while her record on hardcourts this year is stunning, 44-4.

Enjoying the successful week in Linz, Azarenka joined the dance troupe performing on the court and showed some moves, including, of course, the Gangnam Style. Read more »

When you’re on top of the game and you’re the biggest tennis star in your country, you can expect sponsors to chase after you and that’s what world No.4 and Polish No.1 Agnieszka Radwanska has been enjoying. The fact that she doesn’t like cooking didn’t prevent a house appliances company from wanting her to endorse their products. From the Beijing tournament Aga flew to Warsaw to launch the campaign for touch-screen ovens as the face of the Smart Style campaign by Amica.

Cooking has never been my passion, but I appreciate the time savings, because intelligent equipment in the kitchen will definitely be useful to me.

Radwanska, whom the Polish edition of Forbes named the biggest showbiz star, also has major contracts with the Lotto sports clothes and Lexus cars. Moreover, the 23-year-old Pole is sure to cash in substantial amounts in the coming period. The world No.3 in match wins this year has one more tournament left in 2012, but a $4,900,000 one, the TEB BNP Paribas WTA Championships in Istanbul, where even if she doesn't win a single match she will earn $110,000.

World No.1 Victoria Azarenka barely broke a sweat all week at the China Open, including the Sunday's final against world No.2 Maria Sharapova, to claim the $848,000 prize and her fifth title of the season (after Sydney, Australian Open, Doha and Indian Wells). Alize Cornet won just one game against Azarenka, 6-1 6-0 in the first round, Sabine Lisicki fell 6-4 6-2 in the second, Elena Vesnina 6-3 6-3 in the third, Romina Oprandi 6-2 6-0 in the quarterfinals, ninth seed Marion Bartoli 6-4 6-2 in the semis and second seed Maria Sharapova 6-3 6-1 in the final. You can't ask for a better run to a WTA title, let alone a Premier Mandatory one.

For the amazing third time in the hardcourt finals this year, Azarenka thrashed Sharapova. In the Australian Open final she beat her 6-3 6-0, in the Indian Wells final 6-2 6-3 and today the score was alike. Truth be said, both players had a negative differential of winners to unforced errors, but Azarenka was much better with -7 compared to Sharapova's -21, which included 39 unforced errors.

Azarenka has Linz and the WTA Championships left on the schedule for 2012, while Sharapova will focus just on the WTA Championships. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)