WTA Championships in Pictures

I haven't been following the WTA for the past month or so, and thus had no clue who got into the year-end championships. In summary: injuries, pull-outs, and surprise qualifiers--oh, sorry, for a moment there I thought I was still talking about the ATP Tour. :)

Poor Elena Dementieva. After going through what Peter Bodo termed a "Death March" in order to qualify for the year's Top Eight, Elena didn't win any of her round-robin matches. She lost her most recent one to...

...Kim Clijsters. Despite being the only Slam winner to attend the year-end championship, Kim let the chance to become #1 slip through her fingers for the second time this year, losing two out of her three round-robin matches. So, this year's #1 will be...

...Lindsay Davenport, who ended #1 last year. In her upcoming semifinal she plays...

...Mary Pierce, who was the only player out of the eight to win all three of her round-robin matches. As for the other French player in the eight...

...Amelie Mauresmo qualified to play in the other semifinal. She faces fellow former #1...

...Maria Sharapova, who was hampered by injuries in the latter part of the year. Maria seems in good health and suffered only one loss in the round robin, to...

...Nadia Petrova, who benefited from Justine Henin-Hardenne's and Venus Williams's pull-outs. Ranked #10 this year, Nadia only recently won her first WTA title. The biggest surprise, however, was...

...Patty Schnyder, who is ranked #8 at this point in the year. She's stealthily crept up the rankings by playing consistently into five Tour finals this year, winning two and losing three to Lindsay Davenport, Nadia Petrova, and Amelie Mauresmo--fellow competitors in these championships.

posted by Noelle De Guzman @ 4:53 PM