2011 Tennis WTA Tour Year in Review Quiz

Answers

1. Kim Clijsters won the 2011 Australian Open, defeating Li Na 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 in the final for her fourth major singles title and her first not at the US Open. In the first set, Na outhit Kim in a battle mostly of power groundstrokes. Kim then realized that she needed to do something to disrupt Na's timing, so she started mixing in different paces, spins, and heights, drawing increasingly frequent errors. Li ended the match with 40 unforced errors and 24 winners; Clijsters had a better ratio, 26 to 22.

2. Russia had two players in the top ten at the end of 2011, Maria Sharapova at #4 and Vera Zvonareva at #7. No other nation had more than one.

3. At Roland Garros, Li Na became the first Chinese player ever to win a Grand Slam singles title, defeating the defending champion, Francesca Schiavone, 6-4, 7-6(0). Li's biggest single asset was depth, giving Schiavone very few opportunities to attack. Na also hit with excellent power, often taking the ball early to reduce Schiavone's time to react, and she served with an exceptional first-serve consistency of 77%. Schiavone also played well, with a respectable 63% of first serves in, but she had only 12 winners for the match.

4. Marion Bartoli played 29 tournaments in 2011, by far the most among the top-ten women. The next busiest were Caroline Wozniacki and Vera Zvonareva with 22 each.

5. Petra Kvitova defeated Maria Sharapova 6-3, 6-4 in the 2011 Wimbledon singles final to claim her first major title. Kvitova played at her best through almost the entire match, using the slice on her lefty serve cleverly to force Sharapova to be either too close or too far from the ball to hit her best returns. Petra landed 66% of her first serves at an average speed of 99 mph and won 72% of those points.

Sharapova usually hits her groundstrokes with great power and depth, but Kvitova's were significantly better on both counts. The depth, power, and angles on Petra's groundstrokes kept Maria from setting up to get her weight behind enough of her own shots, so they often landed short, further enhancing Petra's chances to be aggressive.

6. The Czech Republic won the 2011 Fed Cup title, defeating Russia 3-2. Petra Kvitova contributed two wins in singles, Lucie Hradecka and Kveta Peschke one in doubles.

7. Virtually every commentator on television had picked Serena Williams as the overwhelming favorite to win the 2011 US Open, but Samantha Stosur had other ideas, defeating Serena with surprising ease, 6-2, 6-3, in the final. Serena's strokes were not at their best, but much of that was due to the pace, accuracy, exceptional topspin, and consistency of Sam's shots and her quickness on defense. Sam has an excellent topspin-slice serve and the best twist serve ever in women's tennis; she won 73% of her first-serve points and 63% of her second-serve points.

Most impressive, though, was Sam's mental toughness, as she weathered a huge, protracted uproar early in the second set that began when Serena yelled "Come on!" after hitting a powerful forehand to Sam's backhand, but before Sam had hit the ball and while the ball was still in play. The chair umpire made exactly the right call, giving Sam the point, but Serena, apparently not knowing the rules, launched into a tirade at the chair umpire and got the crowd booing at the umpire and then cheering wildly each time she took a point for the next couple of games, which Serena won while Sam quietly restored her level of play.

8. Caroline Wozniacki finished 2011 with the number one ranking, her 7485 points just holding off Petra Kvitova, who had 7370.

9. Four different players finished as runners-up in the Grand Slams of 2011: Li Na at the Australian Open, Francesca Schiavone at Roland Garros, Maria Sharapova at Wimbledon, and Serena Williams at the US Open.

10. Petra Kvitova defeated Victoria Azarenka 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 to win the 2011 WTA Championships final. In getting to the final, Petra took every set in all three of her round-robin matches.