PRO TOUR NEWS – 12/26/11

Written by: Staff on 26th December 2011

PRO TOUR NEWS - 12/26/11

Na Li of China returns the ball to Samantha Stosur of Australia during their at the WTA Championships tennis tournament in Istanbul, Turkey on 28 October 2011. EPA/TOLGA BOZOGLU |

©”DAILY TENNIS NEWS WIRE”©

WOMEN

Six of One, Half a Dozen of the Other

2011 was not a good year for winning streaks.

Although winning streaks of 25 or more matches happen only every few years, we can usually expect two or three streaks of 15 or more matches in a year.

Not this year. The longest winning streak by anyone at the WTA level was the twelve match winning streak by Serena Williams at Stanford (five wins), Canadian Open (six wins), and Cincinnati (where she withdrew from the second round). The only other winning streaks of ten or more matches were:

11 by Azarenka (Miami W, Marbella W)

11 by Li (Sydney W, Australian Open F)

11 by Lisicki (Birmingham W, Wimbledon SF)

11 by A. Radwanska (Pan Pacific W, Beijing W)

10 by Clijsters (Australian Open W, Paris F)

10 by Kvitova (twice: Madrid W, Prague $100K F or Linz W, Istanbul W — that streak of course ongoing)

10 by Sharapova (Rome W, Roland Garros SF)

#1 Caroline Wozniacki never even managed ten wins in a row. She never had back-to-back titles. Her best winning streak was nine — a title at New Haven (four wins) and a semifinal at the U. S. Open (five wins). She managed to win eight in a row four other times.

Losing streaks were a lot more common. The only player to avoid one completely was Serena Williams, who never lost back-to-back matches (well, neither did Venus, but she had almost no events). Li, despite her high ranking, had a five match losing streak.

We also thought of a measure of inconsistency — that is, of the ability to achieve both winning streaks and losing streaks: We multiplied a player’s longest winning streak by her longest losing streak. The bigger that number, the more the gap between her highs and her lows. We looked at 43 different players. Note that Li, with an 11 match win streak and a five match loss streak, comes out “on top”:

1. Li: 55 (11 wins in streak, 5 losses)

2. Vinci: 42 (7 wins in streak, 6 losses)

3. Goerges: 36 (9 wins in streak, 4 losses)

3. Hercog: 36 (9 wins in streak, 4 losses)

3. Martinez Sanchez: 36 (9 wins in streak, 4 losses)

6. Lisicki: 33 (11 wins in streak, 3 losses)

7. Gajdosva: 30 (5 wins in streak, 6 losses)

7. Kerber: 30 (5 wins in streak, 6 losses)

7. Kvitova: 30 (10 wins in streak, 3 losses)

10. Wozniacki: 27 (9 wins in streak, 3 losses)

11. A. Radwanska: 22 (11 wins in streak, 2 losses)

11. Azarenka: 22 (11 wins in streak, 2 losses)

13. Makarova: 21 (3 wins in streak, 7 losses)

13. Stosur: 21 (7 wins in streak, 3 losses)

15. Clijsters: 20 (10 wins in streak, 2 losses)

15. Peer: 20 (4 wins in streak, 5 losses)

15. Pennetta: 20 (4 wins in streak, 5 losses)

15. Sharapova: 20 (10 wins in streak, 2 losses)

19. Bartoli: 18 (9 wins in streak, 2 losses)

19. Cetkovska: 18 (9 wins in streak, 2 losses)

19. Medina Garrigues: 18 (6 wins in streak, 3 losses)

19. Pavlyuchenkov: 18 (6 wins in streak, 3 losses)

19. Petkovic: 18 (9 wins in streak, 2 losses)

19. Petrova: 18 (6 wins in streak, 3 losses)

19. Rezai: 18 (6 wins in streak, 3 losses)

19. Zvonareva: 18 (9 wins in streak, 2 losses)

27. Kanepi: 16 (4 wins in streak, 4 losses)

28. Hantuchova: 15 (5 wins in streak, 3 losses)

28. Kuznetsova: 15 (5 wins in streak, 3 losses)

30. Jankovic: 12 (4 wins in streak, 3 losses)

30. Mattek-Sands: 12 (4 wins in streak, 3 losses)

30. Niculescu: 12 (6 wins in streak, 2 losses)

30. Peng: 12 (4 wins in streak, 3 losses)

30. S. Williams: 12 (12 wins in streak, 1 losses)

30. Safarova: 12 (4 wins in streak, 3 losses)

30. Zheng: 12 (4 wins in streak, 3 losses)

37. Cibulkova: 10 (5 wins in streak, 2 losses)

38. Dulgheru: 9 (3 wins in streak, 3 losses)

38. Kirilenko: 9 (3 wins in streak, 3 losses)

38. Kleybanova: 9 (3 wins in streak, 3 losses)

41. Wickmayer: 8 (4 wins in streak, 2 losses)

42. Ivanovic: 6 (3 wins in streak, 2 losses)

43. V. Williams: 3 (3 wins in streak, 1 losses)

Observe that Wozniacki stands pretty high — #10. Kvitova is even higher, but that’s because she had a longer winning streak….

Understand that a high or low standing in the above statistic isn’t either good or bad — a long winning streak can put you fairly high, but so can a long losing streak. It’s not a measure of success or failure; it’s a measure (in at least some cases) of mixed results.