Only three of eleven break points converted and 33 unforced errors ensured Sharapova's loss to the left-handed and aggressive Kerber who wasn't as intimidated by the three-time Grand Slam champion as in their recent and only previous meeting at the Australian Open.  The 27th-ranked Kerber had a perfect conversion rate on her five break points, coming back from 4-2 down in the first set and from 3-1 down in the second.

Kerber scored her first Top 5 win and her victory is even bigger given the fact that Sharapova played the Australian Open final only two weeks ago.

Next tournament on Sharapova's calendar is the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, which starts on March 7. Before that, on March 5, Sharapova will play an exhibition match with Caroline Wozniacki in New York, as part of the BNP Paribas Showdown. (photo: Lawntennisnews)

When the WTA Tour interviewed Romanian prospect Irina-Camelia Begu in April 2011, the 21-year-old wished for a Top 100 ranking. Already in September she reached No.38 and crowned the season with a WTA Newcomer of the Year Award. But how did it all start for this Bucharest resident?

Irina started training tennis at the age of three, with her aunt Aura Wagner. However, tennis was not the only sport of her childhood. She wanted to become a gymnast, but found it very hard, and she also played handball by the age of ten or eleven, when she finally decided to focus on tennis.

The photo above is from Irina's Facebook page. It was taken when she was just four years old, during her first training in Germany. The comment below the pic says:

I was very proud and happy to hold my aunt’s racquet, the person who made me fall in love with this game.

I would like to thank a reader who referred me to this pic of Irina some time ago, but I've lost track of who it was. I'm sorry. Reader, say hello in the comments if you see this!

Maria Sharapova does not enjoy the freezing European weather, although the smiling face next to a Paris Christmas tree still surviving in February could make your believe otherwise. However, the extreme cold didn't stop the Open GDF Suez top seed to beat world No.44 Chanelle Scheepers 6-3 6-1 and move into the quarterfinals after a first round bye. And that's not all, the victory has assured Sharapova's rise to No.2 in the WTA rankings as of Monday, February 13.

I may be hard to believe, but the experienced Russian is playing the Paris tournament for the first time. It's not that she was skipping it on purpose, but complicated scheduling, injuries and sickness got in the way on so many occasions.

Sharapova's quarterfinal will be on Friday and she will play either ninth seed Angelique Kerber or Monica Niculescu. Against Kerber Sharapova had a 6-1 6-2 victory at the recent Australian Open and it's been their one and only encounter, while she has never faced Monica Niculescu. (photo via Sharapova's Facebook page)

Our stats analyst Omair is already famous for his statistical articles and now he's inspired Ludolf, another reader of Women's Tennis Blog and fan of tennis numbers, to contribute his take on the WTA rankings, i.e. he compared the actual rankings with the performance of players at the biggest events – Grand Slams and WTA Championships. Enjoy!

The WTA ranking does not rank properly the strength of players in the sense of the ability to win a match or a tournament. The main reason is that it is cumulative and therefore underestimates players without a sufficient number of tournaments. We need to compute an average to avoid this. Moreover, the WTA ranking considers tournaments with weights not depending on the quality of players on them.

To achive the above-mentioned goal it seems to be more appropriate to take the average result from majors and the WTA Championships, the tournaments where the best players are almost always present. By the result of a player we mean the number of her losses (including the rounds which she did not achieve), i.e. 0 for the winner, 1 for the defeated finalist, 2 for defeated semifinalists, and so on. The results for the last 52 weeks are presented in the table, completed by the WTA ranking (after the Australian Open) for comparison. (FO: French Open, W: Wimbledon, USO: US Open, WTA: WTA Championships, AO: Australian Open)

It is not a surprise that Serena Williams and Kim Clijsters reached much better position than their WTA ranking. It should be noted that the average results of these players (and some others, too) are not relevant in the same degree as of the other players due to a small number of tournaments they took part in. For instance, had Kim Clijsters reached the next round at the French Open, she would have taken the 6th position with the average of 3.50. Also, Samantha Stosur and Agnieszka Radwanska got significantly worse result than their WTA ranking.

We can conclude that the first three players are significantly better than others, except maybe Serena Williams and Kim Clijsters. This is in a good correlation with the WTA ranking, which need not be true in general.

There are some weak points of this average result. First, rather small number of tournaments is considered, hence the average has a rather big deviation. This has been already pointed out for Kim Clijsters. Let us also note that the first three players have the smallest possible differences. Also, it does not describe the actual level of players but an average in past 52 weeks.

What do you think of this perspective? It's nice to have one more approach, but as Ludolf himself stated, it still has many flaws and the fact that only five tournaments are taken into account, it's pretty limited. Plus, almost all the best players showed up at the tournaments analyzed, but still it's "almost". (photo: © Neal Trousdale)

A month and a half ago,news leaked that Alisa Kleybanova finished her chemo/radiation therapy and that she was planning to resume training in February, while a comeback during the claycourt season was stated as a possibility. Matt Cronin is now informing us on Tennis.com that Kleybanova has started her off-court training and if she passes one more major medical test, she will take up training on the tennis courts. In case the Russian doesn't pass the test, she will come to the United States to train in the warm weather.

The 22-year-old Kleybanova was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma in the summer of 2011.

Alisa, Women's Tennis Blog wishes you a full recovery and successful return to tennis! (photo: © Neal Trousdale)

The status of a new WTA number one and a Grand Slam champion brought all the attention to Victoria Azarenka and people started digging more info about the Belarusian, particularly asking me about her boyfriend whom she mentioned in her Australian Open trophy speech:

I would like to thank my team—you guys have been supporting me for so long and believing in me, and it made me realise that I can believe in myself and I can finally raise this trophy. I want to thank my parents, who are watching for sure now, my friends, my boyfriend and my grandmother, the person who inspires me the most in my life.

So who is Victoria Azarenka's boyfriend?

His name Sergei Bubka (see his closeup photo here). He is a 24-year-old Ukrainian pro tennis player residing in Monte Carlo, just like his girlfriend. Currently his ATP ranking is No.157, the highest was No.145, and he is yet to win an ATP title in either singles or doubles.

Sergei's nickname is "Bubka Junior" because his father shares the same name and is a well-known pole vaulter who won 6 consecutive IAAF World Championships, an Olympics gold and broke the world record for men's pole vaulting 35 times. Sergei's mother, Liliya, is a former rhythmic gymnast.

According to his ATP Tour profile, Sergei's idols growing up were Michael Jordan, Andrei Medvedev and Marat Safin. His hobbies include watching movies, football, golf and snowboarding. If Sergei didn't pursue a tennis career, he would have "studied business and then worked in that area, or team sports".

DeShawn Besabella, thanks for the trophy speech transcript! Forty Deuce, thank you for the photo!

A few days before the Australian Open I found some interesting things regarding the winners of the Australian Open warm-up events and their performance at the Australian Open that year. There are four warm-up events which pave the way for the players to get into some form for the first Grand Slam of the year:

• Brisbane
• Auckland
• Hobart
• Sydney

Let's have a look at how well this year's winners performed at the Australian Open and how they compared to the winners of previous years and their performances at the Australian Open that year. Please note that for this article I used the results of Sydney and Auckland from 1988 onwards, since it was from 1988 that all the players played from the first round of the 128 player draw for the Grand Slam.

BRISBANE

• Best Australian Open result in the respective year: quarterfinals
• 2012: Kaia Kanepi won Brisbane and lost in the second round of the Australian Open

The Brisbane tournament started way back in 1997, and was known as Gold Coast back then. The name of the tournament was changed in 2009 to the Brisbane International. This year the Brisbane event went Premier. The first ever winner of the tournament back in 1997 was Elena Likhovtseva who defeated Ai Sugiyama in the final. Elena Likhovtseva could not carry on the momentum to the Australian Open and lost in the first round, while Sugiyama lost in the second round of the Australian Open that year.

The best result a Brisbane winner so far had at the Australian Open was a quarterfinal showing. Three players achieved that feat. Venus Williams was the first Brisbane player to reach the Australian Open quarterfinal back in 2002 when she won the Brisbane event. Venus lost to 8th-seeded Monica Seles in three sets. Patty Schnyder in 2005 and Petra Kvitova in 2011 followed in the footsteps of Venus Willaims and went on to reach the quarterfinals of the Australian Open after winning the event in the respective years. Schnyder lost in three sets to 19th-seeded Nathalie Dechy, while Kvitova lost in straight sets to second-seeded Vera Zvonareva.

Kaia Kanepi won the Brisbane event this year. Based on the history of the Brisbane winners and their performance at the Australian Open, Kanepi's chances of making it out the second round were 67%.

Twice in the tournament's 15-year history has the Brisbane winner lost in the second round, Kanepi with her second round showing this year made it thrice in the 16-year history of the tournament. Many dubbed Kanepi as the dark horse for the Australian Open after her strong showing at the Brisbane event, however, Kanepi could not carry that momentum and fell victim of Ekaterina Makarova, who would go on to crush Serena Williams, five-time Australian Open champion, in the fourth round.

Brisbane winner has yet to move beyond the quarterfinal stage of the Australian Open, and with the event going Premier this year, this statistic will for sure change in the years to come. Although, I had hoped that this statistic will change this year since the field at Brisbane was very strong with the likes of Kim Clijsters, Serena Williams, Samantha Stosur.

AUCKLAND

• Best Australian Open result in the respective year: semifinals
• 2012: Zheng Jie won Auckland and lost in the fourth round of the Australian Open

The ASB Classic event has been going on for quite some time. However, as mentioned earlier, I for this article, have taken the results from 1988 onwards since it was from 1988 that at a Grand Slam event all the players had to play from the very first round in a draw of 128 players.

From 1988 onwards, in the past 24 years only one Auckland winner has made it past the fourth round and she went on to reach the semifinals. She was Elena Dementieva back in 2009. Dementieva won the ASB Classic event and then went on to win the Medibank International in Sydney in 2009. Going into the Australian Open that year Dementieva was one of the three women who had a chance to grab the top spot based on their showing at the Australain Open, however, she was defeated in straight sets in the semifinals by the eventual champion Serena Williams.

Zheng Jie won the ASB Classic event this year by defeating Flavia Pennetta in the final (Pennetta retired in the final). Entering into the Australian Open, Zheng had only 21% chances of making it out of the third round based on the history of the performance of the past winners of ASB Classic at the Australian Open that year. Zheng carried that momentum into the Australian Open and defeated 23rd seed Vinci in the second round for a third round meeting with 9th seeded Marion Bartoli. It seemed Zheng's run would end since Bartoli was in great form, but Zheng proved too good for Bartoli and made quick work of Bartoli by defeating the 9th seed in straight sets for a place in the fourth round of the Australian Open. However, Zheng lost in the fourth round making it 24th time in the past 25 years that the Auckland winner failed to reach the Australian Open quarterfinals. However, all the credit goes to Zheng for her brave performance at the Australian Open where she routed two seeded players, one of whom was a Top 10 player.

HOBART

• Best Australian Open result in the respective year: quarterfinals
• 2012: Mona Barthel won Hobart and lost in the third round of the Australian Open

Hobart event was first organized back in 1994. Mana Endo was the first ever winner of Hobart. She defeated Rachel McQuillan in the final. Endo went on to reach the second round of the Australian Open, while McQuillan made it to the third round of the Australian Open that year.

During the 18-year history of the tournament, only six players have made it out of the third round. While four of those lost in the fourth round, only two players, in the tournament’s 18-year history, have made it to the quarterfinal stage of the Australian Open in the respective year. Not a single Hobart winner has made it past the quarterfinal stage of the Australian Open. Dominique van Roost was the first Hobart winner to make it to the quarterfinals of the Australian Open back in 1997. She retired in her quarterfinal match against 14th-seeded Mary Joe Fernandez while trailing 5-7 0-4. Anna Chakvetadze was the second and only other Hobart winner to make it to the quarterfinals of the Australian Open. She did that in 2007, she was defeated in two tight sets by top seed and eventual finalist Maria Sharapova.

By winning Hobart this year, Mona Barthel became the first qualifier to win a WTA title since Austria's Tamira Paszek won Quebec City in September 2010. Mona Barthel entered the Australain Open with more than 50% chances of making it out of the first round based on the performance of the winners of the past 18 years at the Australian Open. She did make it out of the first round and defeated 32nd seed Petra Cetkovska in the second round to book a third round meeting with Victoria Azarenka. Barthel did put up a good fight in the second set against Azarenka but the eventual Australian Open champion was too good for Barthel. So, the Hobart winner went down in the third round this year.

SYDNEY

• Best Australian Open result in the respective year: winner
• 2012: Victoria Azarenka won Sydney and won the Australian Open

Sydney finalists have had a very rich history at the Australian Open, with three Sydney winners going on to win the Australian Open and four Sydney runner-ups going on to claim the Australian Open trophy during the past 24 years. In addition, only once did the Sydney winner lose in the first round. It was back in 1995 when Gabriela Sabatini lost in the first round of the Australian Open after winning the Sydney title.

Victoria Azarenka won the Sydney title this year and while entering the Australian Open she had 79% chances of making it to the quarterfinals or better of the Australian Open, based on the performance of the past Sydney winners at the Australian Open. Three players during the past 24 years who had won the Sydney event went on to win the Australian Open. The three players were Monica Seles (1996), Martina Hingis (1997) and Justine Henin (2004). Victoria Azarenka with her victory at the Australian Open this year made it four players to win the Sydney and the Australian Open trophies the same year in the past 25 years.

Monica Seles, when she won Sydney and Australian Open to kick start her 1996 campaign, ended the year as world No.2. Martina Hingis, who won Sydney and Australian Open in 1997 ended the year as world No.1. Justine Henin who started her 2004 campaign with back-to-back titles at Sydney and the Australian Open ended the year at No.8. Where will Azarenka end this year which has seen her reach No.1 ranking, win Sydney and her maiden Grand Slam? Will she follow in the footsteps of Seles, Hingis or Henin or will she carve her own path? (photos: © Neal Trousdale)

Would you like to keep track of your tennis match scores? How about sending match results by email or text message? Look no further than the Tennis Score Tracker!

Tennis Score Tracker is a mobile application for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. Players, coaches, and observers can keep score of tennis matches, and send match scores at any time via email or text message. What makes this app unique is that tennis players can keep score of tennis matches while playing, updating match scores during changeovers.

Keeping score in tennis is very simple using this app. In just a few taps the match timer starts and scoring begins. If playing a tennis match users can set the score mode to game-by-game so that the score is updated during changeovers. If observing a tennis match users can set the score mode to point-by-point, scoring matches in the standard way. Scores can be sent via email or text message, or posted to Facebook. Matches can be suspended for later play if needed. A player roster, with details such as notes and player ratings, integrates with your existing contacts as an option.

Locations of tennis matches can be displayed in a map view so that over time users can see where matches were played, and to view previous matches based on location. Locations are displayed during match play based on location name, coordinates as latitude and longitude, or coordinates as degrees, minutes, and seconds, selectable by the user.

Features:

• Score several match types (singles, doubles, Australian, Canadian)
• Game-by-game scoring for players
• Point-by-point scoring for observers
• Post match scores to Facebook
• Send text or email with scores to players
• View historical match data
• Ability to suspend matches during play
• Supports Pro sets (for junior tournaments)
• Supports a variety of tiebreaks
• Edit historical matches or matches during play
• Match timer keeps track of match time
• Choose from one, three, or five sets
• Stores player detail with ratings, handedness, etc.

Device Requirements:

• Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad
• Requires iOS 4.2 or later
• 3.4 Mb

Languages Supported:

• English, French, Japanese, Spanish, Simplified Chinese

In early December 2011, Ricardo Sanchez was super excited to start working with Caroline Wozniacki, but the cooperation has already come to an end and all it will be remembered for is Wozniacki's failure to win her first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open and her actual fall to No.4 in the rankings following the quarterfinal loss at the tournament, after reigning the top spot for most of the time since October 2010.

The cause of the split is that the new coach couldn't find his way in the confines of the already established system of Wozniacki and her father Piotr. In simple words, Piotr had his own way of coaching and Ricardo was supposed to adapt to it, rather than to install his way of work. The two systems clashed, the outcome was that Caroline was confused and Piotr asked Ricardo to leave. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)