The 2012 WTA Tour Championships was a tennis tournament played at Istanbul, Turkey from October 23 to October 28, 2012. It was the 42nd edition of the singles event and the 37th edition of the doubles competition. The tournament was held at the Sinan Erdem Dome and was contested by eight singles players and four doubles teams. It was the larger of two season ending championships on the 2012 WTA Tour.
The tournament featured the top eight singles players and the top four doubles teams in the race to Istanbul. Victoria Azarenka, Maria Sharapova, Serena Williams, Agnieszka Radwańska, Angelique Kerber, Petra Kvitová, Sara Errani and Li Na qualified for the singles competition. Kvitová withdrew from the championships after one match and was replaced by Sam Stosur. Radwańska and Errani's round robin match set the record for the longest match in WTA Tour Championships history within the best-of-three system. Azarenka, Sharapova, Williams and Radwańska qualified from the red and white groups for the semifinals. This was the first time since 1989 that the world's top four ranked women's players all made it to the semifinals of the tournament and the first time since 2003 that the top four seeds made the same stage. Williams went on to win her third season ending championship.
In the doubles Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci, Andrea Hlaváčková and Lucie Hradecká, Liezel Huber and Lisa Raymond and Maria Kirilenko and Nadia Petrova made up the teams. The competition started in the semifinals and it was the all-Russian pairing of Kirilenko and Petrova who claimed the title.
Finals
Singles
Serena Williams defeated Maria Sharapova, 6–4, 6–3. It was Williams' seventh title of the season and the 46th of her career. It was her third WTA Championships title, having also won in 2001 and 2009.
Doubles
Maria Kirilenko / Nadia Petrova defeated Andrea Hlaváčková / Lucie Hradecká, 6–1, 6–4.
Tournament The 2012 WTA Championships took place at the Sinan Erdem Dome 23–28 October 2012. It was the 41st edition of the event. The tournament was run by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) and was part of the 2012 WTA Tour. It was the larger of the two season ending championships on the 2012 WTA Tour, the smaller being the latter was only for players who did not qualify for the WTA Championships.
Format The singles event featured eight players and began as a round robin event, split into two groups of four. Over the first four days of competition, each player met the other three players in their group, with the top two in each group advancing to the semifinals. The first-placed player in one group met the second-placed player in the other group, and vice versa. The winners of each semifinal met in the championship match.
Round robin tie-breaking methods The final standings of each group shall be determined by the first of the following methods that apply: Greatest number of wins Greatest number of matches played; or Head-to-head results if only two players are tied, or if three players are tied then: a If three players each have the same number of wins, a player having played less than all three matches is automatically eliminated and the player advancing to the single elimination competition is the winner of the match-up of the two remaining tied players; or b Highest percentage of sets won; or c Highest percentage of games won
The doubles competition has four teams playing in a straight knockout format from the semifinal stage.
Prize money and points The total prize money for the 2012 WTA Championships was 4.9 million United States dollars.
StageSinglesDoublesPoints 1Champion RR2 + $1,295,000 $375,000 RR2 + 810Runner-up RR2 + $435,000 $187,500 RR2 + 360Semifinalist RR2 + $30,000 $93,750 RR2Round robin (3 wins) $455,000 –690Round robin (2 wins) $340,000 –530Round robin (1 win) $225,000 –370Round robin (0 wins) $110,000 –210Alternates $50,000 – 1 for every match played in the round robin a player got 70 points automatically, and for each round robin win they got 160 additional points 2 RR means Prize money or Points won in the round robin Round. RR for doubles was 690
Qualified players
Singles #PlayersPointsTournDate Qualified110,19015(14)6 Sep29,11515(12)6 Sep37,90013(12)10 Sep47,0952024 Sep55,470194 Oct65,21518(16)4 Oct74,855214 Oct84,72617(16)5 Oct
On September 6, Victoria Azarenka and Maria Sharapova became the first two players to qualify for the championships.
Victoria Azarenka started the year strongly, winning the Apia International Sydney over Li Na, 6–2, 1–6, 6–3. She then followed this up by winning her maiden grand slam at the Australian Open, defeating Maria Sharapova, 6–3, 6–0. With the win, she claimed the no. 1 ranking for the first time. Her winning streak continued in the Qatar Total Open. She won the title without dropping a set, beating Samantha Stosur, 6–1, 6–2 in the final. She then won her fourth title of the year at the BNP Paribas Open, once again defeating Sharapova, 6–2, 6–3. Her streak ended when she was defeated by Marion Bartoli in the quarterfinals of Sony Ericsson Open. During the clay season, she reached back-to-back finals, in Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, losing to Sharapova, 1–6, 4–6, and the Mutua Madrid Open, losing to Serena Williams, 1–6, 3–6. At the French Open, she lost in the fourth round to Dominika Cibulková, 2–6, 6–7(4–7). Seeded second at Wimbledon, she reached the semifinals, where she was defeated by Serena, 3–6, 6–7(6–8). At the Summer Olympics, she reached the semifinals, where she once again lost to Serena, 1–6, 2–6. However, she won the bronze medal match against Maria Kirilenko, earning Belarus their first tennis medal in history. She teamed up with Max Mirnyi for the mixed-doubles event, where she won the gold medal after defeating Laura Robson and Andy Murray in the gold-medal match. Seeded first at the US Open, Azarenka defeated the defending champion, Samantha Stosur, in the quarterfinals and Sharapova in the semifinals, but lost to Williams in her first US Open final, 2–6, 6–2, 5–7. She then won the China Open as the top seed, defeating Sharapova 6–3, 6–1 in the final and did not drop a set in the tournament. Azarenka won her sixth title of the year at the Generali Ladies Linz defeating Julia Görges 6–3, 6–4, after blowing a 5–0 in the second.
Maria Sharapova started 2012 by reaching the final of the Australian Open. Being the favorite for the title, she succumbed in a 3–6, 0–6 defeat by first time grand slam finalist, Victoria Azarenka, in the final. She followed up her consistent performance with back-to-back final appearances at the BNP Paribas Open, losing to Azarenka, 2–6, 3–6, and the Sony Ericsson Open, losing to Agnieszka Radwańska, 5–7, 4–6. She then won her first title of the year at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, defeating world no. 1 Azarenka, 6–1, 6–4. She then also won the Internazionali BNL d'Italia, defeating Li Na, 4–6, 6–4, 7–6(7–5), coming back from 0–4 in the second set. At the French Open, she won her fourth grand slam singles title, defeating Sara Errani, 6–3, 6–2, in the final. The victory gave her a career grand slam and returned her to world no. 1. Entering Wimbledon as the top seed, Sharapova lost in the fourth round to Sabine Lisicki, 4–6, 3–6. She rebounded well at the Summer Olympics, winning the silver medal after being outplayed by Serena Williams in the final, 0–6, 1–6. Despite skipping the US Open Series, she reached the US Open's semifinals, but lost to Azarenka. She then reached the final of the China Open, once again facing Azarenka but lost 3–6, 1–6.
On September 10, Serena Williams became the third player to qualify for the championships.
Serena Williams did not enjoy a good start of the season, injuring her ankle at her first tournament of 2012 in Brisbane and succumbing in the fourth round of the Australian Open to Ekaterina Makarova, 2–6, 3–6. In the clay season, she won her first title on clay since 2008 at the Family Circle Cup, losing only 15 games and defeating Lucie Šafářová, 6–0, 6–1, in the final. She then won the Mutua Madrid Open over Victoria Azarenka, 6–1, 6–3. Coming to the French Open as a heavy favorite with a 17-match winning streak, Williams suffered a shocking first-round loss to Virginie Razzano, 6–4, 6–7(5–7), 3–6. This marked Williams' first loss in the first round in a Grand Slam. However, she regrouped well and triumphed at Wimbledon by defeating Agnieszka Radwańska in the final, 6–1, 5–7, 6–2, for her 14th Grand Slam title, came back after losing a 4–2 lead in the second. The following week, she defended her title at the Bank of the West Classic, defeating CoCo Vandeweghe, 7–5, 6–3. At the Summer Olympics, she won the gold medal after dominating Maria Sharapova, 6–0, 6–1, in the final. She lost just a total of 17 games during the event. This victory completed the career Golden Slam in singles, making her only the second woman (after Steffi Graf) to do so. She also won the doubles gold with sister Venus Williams for the third time, over Lucie Hradecká and Andrea Hlaváčková, 6–4, 6–4. Her 19-match winning streak ended at the Western & Southern Open to Angelique Kerber. At the US Open, she reached the final with the loss of just 19 games. In the final, she defeated world no. 1, Victoria Azarenka, 6–2, 2–6, 7–5, for her second Grand Slam singles title of the year and 15th overall.
On September 24, Agnieszka Radwańska became the fourth player to qualify for the championships.
Agnieszka Radwańska began the season with a semifinal appearance at Apia International Sydney and a quarterfinal finish at the Australian Open. She claimed her first title of the year at the Dubai Tennis Championships over Julia Görges, 7–5, 6–4. She claimed her second title of the year at the Sony Ericsson Open by defeating Maria Sharapova in the final, 7–5, 6–4. In the clay season, she reached two semifinals, before losing in her opening match in the Internazionali BNL d'Italia to Petra Cetkovská, 4–6, 6–4, 1–6, her first lost to a player other than Azarenka in the year. However, she bounced back by winning the Brussels Open over Simona Halep, 7–5, 6–0. At the French Open, she fell to Svetlana Kuznetsova in the third round, 1–6, 2–6. At Wimbledon, she reached the first Grand Slam singles final of her career, losing to Serena Williams, 1–6, 7–5, 2–6. At the Summer Olympics, she was upset in the first round by Julia Görges, 5–7, 7–6(7–5), 4–6. At the US Open, she lost for the first time to Roberta Vinci in the fourth round, 1–6, 4–6. She reached the final of the 2012 Toray Pan Pacific Open, where she was the defending champion, but was upset in the final by Nadia Petrova, 0–6, 6–1, 3–6.
On October 4, three more spots were filled, as Angelique Kerber, Petra Kvitová, and Sara Errani qualified for the championships.
Angelique Kerber enjoyed her best season so far. She reached two semifinals in her Australian Open preparation, before losing in the third round of the Australian Open to Maria Sharapova, 1–6, 2–6. She then claimed her first career title at the Open GDF Suez, defeating Marion Bartoli, 7–6(7–3), 5–7, 6–3. She won her second title of the year at the e-Boks Open, defeating defending champion Caroline Wozniacki, 6–4, 6–4. At the French Open, she fell in the quarterfinals to Sara Errani 3–6, 6–7(2–7). In the grass season, she reached the final of the Aegon International, losing to Tamira Paszek, 7–5, 3–6, 5–7, despite having five match points and a 5–3 lead. At Wimbledon, reached her second Grand Slam semifinal, but ended up losing to Agnieszka Radwańska, 3–6, 4–6. At the Western & Southern Open, Kerber reached her first Premier 5 final and fourth final of the year, but lost to Li Na, 1–6, 6–3, 1–6. At the US Open, after reaching the semifinals the previous year, she fell in the fourth round to Errani, 6–7(5–7), 3–6.