2010 WTA BSA's

Lists have always been a stock and trade component of WTA Backspin, and that's never more the case than with the annual Backspin Awards.

The final "Ms. Backspin" standings won't show up in this space for a few days. Unfortunately, that's probably just long enough for someone to come up with an idea for something else -- after this year's previous doll and three-figure statue -- to be produced in the likeness of a certain Belgian.

Hmmm, if I may, I'd like to offer up the notion of a butter sculpture as a possibility.

Anyway, here are 2010's "secondary" player and match lists (maybe they'll serve as a fitful distraction for any potential "artists" out there):

*RISERS*
1. Caroline Wozniacki, DEN
2. Vera Zvonareva, RUS
3. Samantha Stosur, AUS
4. Vania King/Yaroslava Shvedova, USA/KAZ
5. Kaia Kanepi, EST
6. Alisa Kleybanova, RUS
7. Victoria Azarenka, BLR
8. Shahar Peer, ISR
9. Aravane Rezai, FRA
10. Maria Kirilenko, RUS
11. Yaroslava Shvedova, KAZ
12. Jarmila Groth, AUS
13. Yanina Wickmayer, BEL
14. Ekaterina Makarova, RUS
15. Alla Kudryavtseva, RUS
16. Andrea Petkovic, GER
17. Agnes Szavay, HUN
18. Czech Republic Fed Cup Team
19. Marion Bartoli, FRA
20. Barbora Zahlavova-Strycova, CZE
21. Julia Goerges, GER
22. Alona Bondarenko, UKR
23. Sara Errani, ITA
24. Elena Vesnina, RUS
25. Dominika Cibulkova, SVK
HM- Sofia Arvidsson, SWE

*FRESH FACES*
1. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, RUS
2. Alexandra Dulgheru, ROU
3. Petra Kvitova, CZE
4. Rebecca Marino, CAN
5. Alison Riske, USA
6. Polona Hercog, SLO
7. Mathilde Johansson, FRA
8. Coco Vandeweghe, USA
9. Ksenia Pervak, RUS
10. Johanna Larsson, SWE
11. Tamira Paszek, AUT
12. Monica Niculescu, ROU
13. Mariana Duque-Marino, COL
14. Evgeniya Rodina, RUS
15. Melanie Oudin, USA
16. Simona Halep, ROU
17. Chang Kai-Chen, TPE
18. Laura Robson, GBR
19. Christina McHale, USA
20. Stefanie Voegele, SUI
21. Bojana Jovanovski, SRB
22. Zarina Diyas, KAZ
23. Chanel Simmonds, RSA
24. Ayumi Morita, JPN
25. Nurumi Nara, JPN
26. Regina Kulikova, RUS
27. Olivia Rogowska, AUS
28. Sally Peers, AUS
29. Veronica Cepede Royg, PAR
30. Chelsey Gullickson, USA

*UP-AND-COMERS & JUNIORS*
1. Karolina Pliskova, CZE
2. Kristyna Pliskova, CZE
3. Sachie Ishizu, JPN
4. Sloane Stephens, USA
5. Daria Gavrilova, RUS
6. Beatrice Capra, USA
7. Heather Watson, GBR
8. Ons Jabeur, TUN
9. Timea Babos, HUN
10. Yulia Putintseva, RUS
11. Camila Silva, CHI
12. Jana Cepelova, SVK
13. Elina Svitolina, UKR
14. Zheng Saisai, CHN
15. Cristina Dinu ROU
16. Timea Babos/Sloane Stephens, HUN/USA
17. Caroline Garcia, FRA
18. Lauren Davis, USA
19. Monica Puig, PUR
20. Irina Khromacheva, RUS
21. Kristina Hardebeck, USA
22. Madison Keys, USA
23. Michelle Larcher de Brito, POR
24. Tang Hao-Chen, CHN
25. Maria-Teresa Torro-Flor, ESP
HM- Tian Ran, CHN

*SURPRISES*
1. United States Fed Cup Team
2. Tsvetana Pironkova, BUL
3. Anastasia Rodionova, AUS
4. Chanelle Scheepers, RSA
5. Anna Lapushchenkova, RUS
6. Timea Bacsinszky/Tathiana Garbin, SUI/ITA
7. Anastasija Sevastova, LAT
8. Olga Govortsova, BLR
9. Romina Oprandi, ITA
10. Lucie Hradecka, CZE
11. Renata Voracova, CZE
12. Angelique Kerber, GER
13. Mandy Minella, LUX
14. Elena Baltacha, GBR
15. Mariya Koryttseva, UKR
16. Han Xinyun, CHN
17. Beatriz Garcia-Vidagary, ESP
18. Anastasiya Yakimova, BLR
19. Zhang Shuai, CHN
20. Valerie Tetreault, CAN
HM- Alexandra Mueller, USA

*VETERANS*
1. Francesca Schiavone, ITA
2. Kim Clijsters, BEL
3. Serena Williams, USA
4. Gisela Dulko/Flavia Pennetta, ARG/ITA
5. Italian Fed Cup Team
6. Venus Williams, USA
7. Justine Henin, BEL
8. Elena Dementieva, RUS
9. Li Na, CHN
10. Flavia Pennetta, ITA
11. Maria Jose Martinez-Sanchez, ESP
12. Liezel Huber, USA
13. Zheng Jie, CHN
14. Nadia Petrova, RUS
15. Kimiko Date-Krumm, JPN
16. Tamarine Tanasugarn, THA
17. Cara Black, ZIM
18. Roberta Vinci, ITA
19. Lisa Raymond/Rennae Stubbs, USA/AUS
20. Daniela Hantuchova, SVK
21. Iveta Benesova, CZE
22. Jelena Dokic, AUS
23. Klara Zakopalova, CZE
24. Patty Schnyder, SUI
25. Edina Gallovits, ROU
HM- Akgul Amanmuradova, UZB

*COMEBACK PLAYERS*
1. Justine Henin, BEL
2. Ana Ivanovic, SRB
3. Bethanie Mattek-Sands, USA
4. Lisa Raymond/Rennae Stubbs, USA/AUS
5. Anna Chakvetadze, RUS
6. Mirjana Lucic, CRO
7. Tamira Paszek, AUT
8. Australian Fed Cup Team
9. Belgian Fed Cup Team
10. Arantxa Parra-Santonja, ESP
11. Laura Pous Tio, ESP
12. Slovak Republic Fed Cup Team
13. Eleni Daniilidou, GRE
14. Sesik Karatantcheva, KAZ
15. Sania Mirza, IND
HM- Marina Erakovic, NZL

*DOUBLES*
1. Gisela Dulko, ARG
2. Gisela Dulko/Flavia Pennetta, ARG/ITA
3. Vania King/Yaroslava Shvedova, USA/KAZ
4. Liezel Huber, USA
5. Serena Williams/Venus Williams, USA/USA
6. Barbora Zahlavova-Strycova, CZE
7. Yaroslava Shvedova, KAZ
8. Vania King, USA
9. Kveta Peschke/Katarina Srebotnik, CZE/SLO
10. Nadia Petrova, RUS
11. Timea Bacsinszky/Tathiana Garbin, SUI/ITA
12. Lisa Raymond/Rennae Stubbs, USA/AUS
13. Iveta Benesova/Barbora Zahlavova-Strycova, CZE/CZE
14. Cara Black, ZIM
15. Katarina Srebotnik, SLO
16. Maria Kirilenko, RUS
17. ChanYung-Jan/Zheng Jie, TPE/CHN
18. Cara Black/Liezel Huber, ZIM/USA
19. Sara Errani/Roberta Vinci, ITA/ITA
20. Chung Chia-Jung, TPE

*DOWN*
1. Svetlana Kuznetsova, RUS
2. Dinara Safina, RUS
3. Jelena Jankovic, SRB
4. Sabine Lisicki, GER
5. Chinese Fed Cup Team
6. Cara Black/Liezel Huber, ZIM/USA
7. Aleksandra Wozniak, CAN
8. Anabel Medina-Garrigues, ESP
9. Russian Fed Cup Team
10. Sorana Cirstea, ROU
11. Nuria Llagostera-Vives/Maria Jose Martinez-Sanchez, ESP/ESP
12. Melanie Oudin, USA
13. Cara Black, ZIM
14. Agnieszka Radwanska, POL
15. Nicole Vaidisova, CZE
HM- Justine Henin, BEL & Maria Sharapova, RUS

*FED CUP MVPs*
1. Flavia Pennetta, ITA
2. Bethanie Mattek-Sands, USA
3. Yanina Wickmayer, BEL
4. Samantha Stosur, AUS
5. Kaia Kanepi, EST



*CHOKES OF THE YEAR*
1. Wimbledon QF - Petra Kvitova d. Kaia Kanepi
...4-6/7-6(8)/8-6. Kanepi held five match points, led 4-0 in the 3rd set and served at 5-3 for her first career berth in a slam semifinal. The Estonian rebounded well, though, winning her first career tour singles title later in the season.
=============================
2. Australian Open QF - Serena Williams d. Victoria Azarenka
...4-6/7-6/6-2. One year after succumbing to Williams and the Melbourne heat after having dominated on the court and appearing on her way to a huge victory, Azarenka did herself one better (or worse) this year. She led 6-4/4-0, serving for a straight sets victory at 5-2 and 5-4. She couldn't close out the match. In the end, Serena held sixteen of twenty service points in the 3rd set and, for the second straight year, climbed over Azarenka en route to another slam championship Down Under.
=============================
3. Australian Open 3rd Rd. - Nadia Petrova d. Kim Clijsters
...6-0/6-1. In fifty-two minutes, Clijsters suffered the worst loss of her career, then succinctly summarized everything in a few seconds during her post-match press conference with two simple words: "It sucks."
=============================
4. And She Thought She'd Gone Down Hard in Melbourne
...Azarenka's exit in Flushing Meadows from the U.S. Open draw was actually worse than her defeat at the Australian. In her 2nd Round match with Gisela Dulko, the dizzy Belarusian scarily collapsed behind the baseline after six games and had to be wheeled off the court and hospitalized. She'd taken the court despite having suffered a concussion as a result of a pre-match fall during a warm-up session.
=============================
5. Maybe They Can Get the 2012 Olympics Shifted to Beijing?
...without a home nation Olympics on the immediate horizon for inspiration (and providing necessary national pressure), the Chinese tennis federation's Fed Cup performances the past two seasons have been, at best, disappointing, and more often than not embarrassing. Since reaching the '08 semifinals, the Chinese team has yet to win a tie. In '09, the federation misinterpreted roster rules, resulting in a 5-0 1st Round shutout. This season, China sported a team sans Li Na, Zheng Jie and Peng Shuai, and fielded a roster of just three players roster in another shutout. By the end of the year, China had lost in the World Group II Playoffs (the nation's fifth straight tie lost) and been relegated to Zone Play for '11.
=============================
6. Upside-Down Down Under
...although the ranks of women's tennis is populated by more viable Aussies than we've seen in many years, Tennis Australia still found a way to make more than a few obtuse decisions in 2010. TA started the year by refusing to give a wild card to Top 20 player and '09 U.S. Open semifinalist Yanina Wickmayer, forcing her to go through qualifying to reach the Australian Open main draw because she hadn't entered the tournament before the deadline (the Belgian had been forbidden to do so because of a suspension, which wasn't overturned until after the AO entrance deadline had passed). Come U.S. Open time, TA again made an odd decision by refusing to give its discretionary wild card into the U.S. Open main draw to Jelena Dokic (who was coming back from an injury, but had just won an ITF title as the wild card decision was supposedly being made), instead opting to hand it to the lower-ranked, and less-accomplished, Sophie Ferguson.
=============================
7. Sydney SF - Serena Williams d. Aravane Rezai
...3-6/7-5/6-4. It's not so much that the Opinionated Pastry failed to win this match after leading 6-3/5-2, or that she couldn't serve it out at 5-3. It's that Rezai actually said she was "not impressed" by Williams during the experience. The rest of the field wasn't so unfazed by Serena's talents in Melbourne, as Williams went on to win her fifth AO title two weeks later.
=============================
8. Australian Open 1st Rd. - Vania King d. Dominika Cibulkova 6-3/6-7/7-6
Indian Wells 2nd Rd. - Caroline Wozniacki d. Vania King 5-7/6-2/6-4
Wimbledon 1st Rd. - Daniela Hantuchova d. Vania King 6-7/7-6/6-3
...nothing was ever assured when King was on the court in 2010. In Melbourne, she overcame a 5-1 3rd set deficit to defeat Cibulkova. Later, she learned that what goes around comes around. Twice. Wozniacki came back from a 4-1 3rd set deficit against HER in Indian Wells, then Hantuchova climbed out of a 7-6/4-1 hole at Wimbledon.
=============================
9. Australian Open 3rd Rd. - Justine Henin d. Alisa Kleybanova
...3-6/6-4/6-2. The Russian ended up having the best season of her career, and one wonders if the frustration of blowing this match, which she led 6-3/3-1 40/15 on Henin's serve, might have served as a catalyst for her finding ways to notch numerous big wins the rest of the year.
=============================
10. Rome SF - Jelena Jankovic d. Serena Williams 4-6/6-3/7-6
Madrid 2nd Rd - Serena Williams d. Vera Dushevina 6-7/7-6/7-6
...even Serena can let one slip away. She did just that against JJ in Rome, losing despite twice serving for the match, holding a match point at 5-4 and grabbing 5-2 lead in the deciding tie-break. Of course, more often than not, it's Williams who comes out on top in such match-ups. Case in point: vs. Dushevina in Madrid. In a 3:26 contest, the longest of Serena's career, Williams blew a 5-2 3rd set advantage, but saw the Russian fail to convert down the stretch -- holding a match point at 6-5, and a 4-0 lead in the 3rd set tie-break.
=============================
11. Acapulco QF - Venus Williams d. Laura Pous Tio
...4-6/6-3/7-5. Serena didn't corner the family market on witnessing opponents' meltdowns, though. Venus saw Pous Tio collapse after holding a 5-1 3rd set lead here. As it turned out, Venus hit an ace on match point, then went on to defend her singles title.
=============================
12. U.S. Open 1st Rd. - Jelena Jankovic d. Simona Halep 6-4/4-6/7-5
Indian Wells 3rd Rd. - Jelena Jankovic d. Sara Errani 2-6/7-6/6-4
...Halep led JJ by a set and 4-0, as well as 5-1. Two points from a win at 5-4, the Romanian received a coaching violation from the chair umpire. It was the beginning of the end. As the NYC heat began to take its toll, Halep never won another game, ultimately being broken at love to close out the match. Earlier in the season, Jankovic had overcome a 4-2, love/40 3rd set deficit against the Italian Errani, as well.
=============================
13. Indian Wells 3rd Rd. - Alisa Kleybanova d. Kim Clijsters
...6-4/1-6/7-6. Kleybanova had failed to close out one Belgian in Oz, but she refused to be closed out by another in Indian Wells. Clijsters led 3-0 in the 3rd, and 4-0 in the deciding tie-break before seeing the Russian charge back for the victory.
=============================
14. Istanbul Final - Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova d. Elena Vesnina
...5-7/7-5/6-4. In 3:11, the still-searching-for-her-first-title Vesnina showed why her title search has so far been star-crossed. She led her countrywoman 7-5/4-0, but still lost as Pavlyuchenkova lifted her second title in 2010. The crowd even sang "Happy Birthday" to the champion.
=============================
15. Australian Open 1st Rd. - Alla Kudryavtseva d. Melanie Oudin 6-2/7-5/7-5
Charleston 1st Rd. - Christina McHale d. Alla Kudryavtseva 3-6/7-6/6-3
...it was an "American Grab Bag" for Kudryavtseva in 2010. In Melbourne, she overcame a 6-2/5-3 deficit (and two match points) to defeat Oudin, but she wasn't as lucky against McHale in the spring in Charleston. There, it was Kudryavtseva who led 5-2, and held two match points of her own, before losing.
=============================
15. Oh, What Could Have Been?
...a U.S. Open final between Venus Williams and Caroline Wozniacki would have been "appointment viewing," but when the pair went down in disappointing fashion to Kim Clijsters and Vera Zvonareva, respectively, what resulted was "The Final Heard Nowhere Around the World"... well, except for wherever they're currently drawing up the sketch for that butter sculpture, that is.
=============================

*COMEBACKS OF THE YEAR*
1. Roland Garros QF - Samantha Stosur d. Serena Williams 6-2/6-7/8-6
U.S. Open 4th Rd. - Samantha Stosur d. Elena Dementieva 6-3/2-6/7-6
...Stosur may not have won a slam title in '10, but she did produce two of the more spirited victories in any of the slams this year. In Paris, she overcame a Williams match point to become the first Australian-born woman to defeat a world #1 in a slam since 1993; and in Flushing Meadows, she survived four match point held by Dementieva in the latest-ending women's match (1:35 am) in U.S. Open history.
=============================
2. LPT 2.0 Looked Pretty Good... at the start
...Justine Henin returned to the tour after her retirement, reaching the Brisbane final (and holding match points against Kim Clijsters) in just her fifth match back, then advanced all the way to the Australian Open final a few weeks later.
=============================
3. Whatever Doesn't Kill You...
...former grand slam semifinalist Mirjana Lucic won a $25K challenger title in Jackson, Mississippi to claim her first title of any kind since 1998. At the U.S. Open, she notched her first slam match victory in eight years, and her first in Flushing Meadows in eleven.
=============================
4. Dubai 1st Rd. - Shahar Peer d. Yanina Wickmayer
...3-6/6-2/7-5. One year after the Dubai Debacle, Peer finally became the first Israeli woman to play a tennis match in the U.A.E., and she did so in winning fashion when she overcame a 4-2 3rd set deficit to win in the 1st Round. She ended up reaching the semifinals.
=============================
5. Cincinnati Final - Kim Clijsters d. Maria Sharapova
...2-6/7-6/6-2. In a match strewn with up-and-down play from both players, as well as a momentum-turning rain delay, it was Clijsters who came back from three match points down to finally win on her own fifth match point.
=============================
6. New Haven SF - Caroline Wozniacki d. Elena Dementieva
...1-6/6-3/7-6(5). Wozniacki did here what she so often does in three-set matches -- play good defense and stick arond long enough for her opponent to falter, then seize the match for herself. Dementieva had a break point for a 4-1 lead in the 3rd, served at 5-3, and led 3-0 in the deciding tie-break before ultimately losing the match. This was just one of several similar losses by the Russian in '10, and one wonders if her inability to come out on top in any of them might have played a part in helping along her decision to officially call it a career at the end of this season.
=============================
7. Roland Garros 2nd Rd. - Svetlana Kuznetsova d. Andrea Petkovic
...4-6/7-5/6-4. In their "whole life in a day" match, Petkovic served at 6-4/5-4, 40/love before a string of errors brought the final result back into question. Kuznetsova finally put things away on her own fourth match point in one of her few bright spots during the season.
=============================
8. The Return of AnaIvo?
....after playing musical coaches and putting up tantalizing results, only to be unable to settle on a mentor or back up quality wins with enough others to justify the belief that the former #1 was indeed back, Ivanovic caught something of a wave in the season's 4th Quarter after tying her best U.S. Open performance (Round of 16) in September. In Linz, she won her first title in two years, then she ended her season by picking up a title at the Tournament of Champions in Bali. Of course, now that Heinz Gunthardt will no longer be her full-time coach in '11, whether her return to form will carry over into next season will be one of the leading questions on tour when things start up again in January.
=============================
9. No Longer Banned in the WTA
...back from her 2008-09 tour ban, Laura Pous Tio reached her first QF since 2006 in Acapulco.
=============================
10. Krumm Cake
...Kimiko Date-Krumm's remarkable comeback continued in 2010. Amongst other things, she led Japan in Fed Cup play (her first FC action since 1996), became the second-oldest woman to win a main draw match at Roland Garros (overcoming a 4-1 3rd set deficit against Dinara Safina), and reached a tour singles final at age 40.
=============================
11. Australian Open 4th Rd. - Victoria Azarenka d. Vera Zvonareva
...4-6/6-4/6-0. In a battle of (too?) emotional players, Azarenka showed the right way to channel anger. She trailed the match 6-4/3-1 and was a point from being 4-1 down. After receiving an on-court obscenity warning, the Belarusian turned up the volume of her game and blitzed Zvonareva. She won the final ten games of the match, and showed what she could do if she could ever harness all her talent and desire on a consistent basis. Of course, in her next match, she blew a huge lead against Serena (see above).
=============================
12. Just What the Tour Needs -- Another Sister
...in her first action since retiring from the tour in 2005, 35-year old Maggie Maleeva won the Bulgarian National Championship, the same title she'd won twenty-two years earlier.
=============================
13. Didn't You Used to Be...?
...Tamira Paszek won a title in Quebec City, her first on tour since she claimed the crown in Portoroz in 2006 at age 15.
=============================
14. Ten is Just Unlucky, Eleven is Bad
...Lauren Albanese was on a ten-match losing streak until she showed up to play a $25K challenger in Poza Rica, Mexico. She liked it there so much that she didn't just win the singles title, but she took home the doubles championship, too.
=============================
15.We'd Like to See Sesil More Often, See
...in Pattaya City, the Bulgarian-turned-Kazakh, banned-turned-not-banned Sesil Karatantcheva reached her first career tour semifinal.
=============================
HM- Just to Remind Everyone That She Used to Play, Too
...Tennis Channel commentator Lindsay Davenport briefly stepped back onto the court during the tour's North American summer hard court swing, winning a doubles title in Stanford with Liezel Huber.
=============================

*UPSETS OF THE YEAR*
1. Marbella 2nd Rd. - Beatriz Garcia-Vidagary d. Kim Clijsters
...7-5/4-6/6-4. As shocking as that loss to Petrova in Oz was, it was probably trumped by Clijsters' defeat at the hands of the world #258, even if it was only the Belgian's second clay court match since the '06 Roland Garros semifinals (and after that other '07 match in Warsaw, Clijsters had announced her first retirement).
=============================
2. Wimbledon QF - Tsvetana Pironkova d. Venus Williams
...6-2/6-3. Even though it happened at Wimbledon, this win wasn't totally OUT-OF-THIS-WORLD SHOCKING at the time since Pironkova had defeated Venus in a slam once before. But since Pironkova did virtually nothing the rest of the season, it makes this upset look more "flukey" than it should.
=============================
3. Wimbledon Doubles QF - Vesnina/Zvonareva d. Williams/Willams
...3-6/6-3/6-4. Actually, this might be THE upset of the year, considering the Sisters were 32-1 at at SW19, with thirty-two straight sets won, heading into this match.
=============================
4. Fed Cup World Group Playoffs - Petra Kvitova (CZE) d. Justine Henin (BEL)
...6-7/6-4/6-3. Of course, as the season went on, Henin's inconsistencies reared their ugly heads, while Kvitova reached the semifinals at Wimbledon, and this win wasn't as stunning as it first appeared.
=============================
5. U.S. Open 2nd Rd. - Beatrice Capra d. Aravane Rezai
...7-5/2-6/6-3. Capra's "(It's a) Wonderful Win" didn't turn Trice into Oudin II, but the #317-ranked wild card certainly earned her Bannerette "wings" every time the Opinionated Pastry hit a forehand into the net.
=============================
6. Australian Open QF - Li Na d. Venus Williams
...2-6/7-6/7-5. Li can jump up and defeat anyone, and Venus always gets tripped up in Melbourne. But, still, since Li so often comes up small when you'd least expect it, it's still a big upset to see her win this one -- especially since Williams led 6-2/5-3, served at 5-4 and was within two points of a victory.
=============================
7. Dubai 3rd Rd. - Regina Kulikova d. Svetlana Kuznetsova
...5-7/7-6/6-4. Early evidence that Kuznetsova's head wasn't in the right place in 2010.
=============================
8. Roland Garros 1st Rd. - Kimiko Date-Krumm d. Dinara Safina
...3-6/6-4/7-5. One year after coming to Paris as the #1 seed, the back-to-back RG finalist went down in flames against the 39-year old, who hadn't won a slam main draw match in fourteen years.
=============================
9. $25K Hammond Final - Heather Watson d. Nicole Vaidisova
...4-6/7-6(10)/7-6(4). The straw the essentially broke the proverbial soon-to-retire Czech camel's back? Even though former Top 10er Vaidisova's ranking had crated all the way down at #177 at the time of this match, even she surely didn't think she'd be outbattled by a junior ranked #484.
=============================
10. Birmingham QF - Alison Riske d. Yanina Wickmayer
...6-7/6-4/6-3. Without a main draw win in her career, the #185-ranked qualifier stunned the Belgian and made it all the way to the semifinals. Her star has been rising ever since.
=============================
11. Madrid 1st Rd. - Aravane Rezai d. Justine Henin
...4-6/7-5/6-0. Even though Henin turned out to have been ill in this match, that love final set was something you'd never have seen in LPT 1.0 -- I mean, at worst, she'd have retired before things looked so bad on the scoreboard, right?
=============================
12. Beijing 2nd Rd. - Bojana Jovanovski d. Jelena Jankovic 4-6/6-2/6-2
Moscow 2nd Rd. - Zarina Diyas d. Jelena Jankovic 6-1/6-2
...as these late season losses pointed out more vividly than most, JJ just wasn't herself for large chunks of this season... and certainly not at the end, as a season's worth of QC soul-crushing, nagging injuries had taken their physical and mental toll.
=============================
13. Wimbledon 1st Rd. - Vera Dushevina d. Francesca Schiavone 6-7/7-5/6-1
Wimbledon 1st Rd. - Kaia Kanepi d. Samantha Stosur 6-4/6-4
...it didn't take long for Roland Garros' two finalists to have their grand slam fortunes turned on their heads.
=============================
14. Australian Open 1st Rd. - Maria Kirilenko d. Maria Sharapova
...7-6/3-6/6-4. A few seasons ago, Sharapova looked ready to dominate the tour while winning in Oz. 2010 began with her being the first seed bounced in her worst slam result since 2003.
=============================
15. Tokyo 1st Rd. - Kimiko Date-Krumm d. Maria Sharapova
...7-5/3-6/6-3. As the season wound to its close, Sharapova's results were raising more questions than providing answers about what her on-court future will look like. Off-court, though, she announced that she was getting married. So, at least she has that.
=============================

All for now.



SEASON REVIEW EDITIONS STILL TO COME: The Backspin Awards, Pt. II (with "Ms. Backspin" rankings, "Performance of the Year" and "Match of the Year" winners, plus 2010 season-ending ranking lists), and 2010's WTA Yearbook