Week in review: Japan and Linz

Hi Everyone. First I'd like to say it's a great pleasure to be covering blogging duties for Sean whiles he is out somewhere in the wilderness.

While the season ending championships don't start till next Monday, I thought I might just do a quick recap of the week that just went by. I will start recaps, previews and predictions for the YEC once the draw is out.

Tokyo:
Well done to Heather Watson! First British woman to win a tour event in nearly 25 years! I must say I wasn't impressed with her when I saw her playing Victoria Azarenka at Rod Laver Arena in the Australian Open this year. In fact, she didn't win a single game once I entered the court. Nonetheless it was a good showing from her and contributes to a banner year for British tennis. 1 Slam, 1 gold medal, 1 silver medal and now 1 WTA singles title. With the ascendancy of Laura Robson as well, this could mark a turnaround for Women's tennis in Britain who have not seen a top 10 British player since Jo Durie (who gives wonderful commentary on Eurosports).

Heather beat Chang from Chinese Taipei in 3 very tight sets to clinch the title. In case anyone is keeping score, it's Britain 1, Chinese Taipei 1, after Robson was beaten by Hsieh last week. Credit to Chang for beating the top seed, Samantha Stosur, who had yet another disastrous week. Where is the woman who pummeled the great Serena Williams with a loss of just 5 games in 2011?? US Open champions have always done well following their victory but Samantha has really gone the other way around. Perhaps she is ready to wind up the year after failing to qualify for the season ending championships.

Linz:
As expected, Victoria cruised to the title without the loss of a set throughout the tournament. But was anyone expecting less from the most consistent player on the tour in 2012? Especially with the 2nd seed being 13th ranked Ana Ivanovic? Other than a 4th round loss to Cibukova at Roland Garros, Victoria has been a model of consistency this year, if she can continue this momentum, she is likely to end the year ranked number one and would be deserving of the title of World Champion 2012. If she can get a win over Serena at the YEC it would only add to her resume for being the year end number 1. Nonetheless, 2012 has been a banner year for Victoria and hopefully she can continue to perform well.

Credit to the wildly unpredictable Julia Goerges for reaching the finals. That woman can beat anyone on a good day (except maybe Serena Willaims) and if she can harness her power, she can be a fixture in the top 20 and battle for titles like her other German compatriots.