Let's take a look at the WTA TOP 10 : Vera Zvonareva

Vera Zvonareva has been the typical regular girl unable to show off at a specific tournament but who had an overall good year. After two grand slams reached in 2010 at both Wimbledon and US Open, we all waited for Vera's shining. Instead of what, Vera did fall a little bit, going from the second spot of the rankings to the seventh.

7- Vera Zvonareva (RUSSIA)
2010 Year-Ending Ranking : N°2 (-5)

All Vera Zvonareva's determination in this defensive shot at the 

Australian Open but she failed in the semi-finals against

Kim Clijsters (Melbourne, Australia)

 2011 in Review : This season has been for Vera Zvonareva a very solid season, in which she's been really consistant and had overall good results without shining anywhere. She did not defend both her finals at London and New-York that she played in 2010.

She begins her season at the Medibank International in Sydney where she got upset in her first match of the year by Flavia Pennetta in two sets 7/5 7/5. She somehow manages to reach Australian Open semi-finals winning over Petra Kvitova in the quarter-finals before losing to eventual champion, Kim Clijsters. Then, she plays in Middle East, in Dubai and Doha. She won by the way Doha by winning over Caroline Wozniacki 6/4 6/4 in the final. 

Vera Zvonareva's season has been an example of consistency but it deeply missed a high result, a shining star result. In fact, she reached the 3rd round at Indian Wells and the quarter-finals at Miami. 

During the claycourt season, she reaches the quarter-finals at Stuttgart, the 3rd round in Madrid (losing to eventual champion Petra Kvitova) and the semi-finals at Brussels. 

She arrives at Roland Garros with a quite good amount of confidence and played three good matches in Paris, including a tragic match against Sabine Lisciki before running into russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova to whom she lost 7/5 2/6 6/2. She goes then to play over grass beginning at Eastbourne and reaching quarter-finals losing to Samantha Stosur. At Wimbledon, she's got a final to defend and she did not manage to do it : she actually lost in the 3rd round to Pironkova in straight sets. That was Vera's first big disappointment this season. But life goes on and she thus has to commit to US Hardcourt season where she reaches the final at Carlsbad losing to A.Radwanska to whom she lost against in the 3rd round in Toronto. She wins at Baku before this and after both Carlsabad and Toronto, she manages to play the semi-finals at Cincinnati where she loses to Maria Sharapova, the eventual champion, in three sets. At the US Open, she does the job to reach to quarter-finals before losing to eventual champion, Samantha Stosur.

In Asia, she reaches the final at the Tokyo Open beating Petra Kvitova on her way before losing to Agnieszka Radwanska in straight sets in the final. On the other hand, she loses to Ana Ivanovic during the China Open, in the 3rd round. 

However, her consistant results throughout the year allowed her to qualify for the Year Ending Championship where she won against Woznacki and lost to both Kvitova and Radwanska but she managed to reach the semi-finals where she lost to Victoria Azarenka 6/2 6/3.

What to expect for 2012 ? : In 2012, I want first of all Vera to win a match against A.Radwanska because she never managed to win over her this year. Vera is really able to do well in slams and I want her to reach another Grand Slam Final, and why not winning it. She's really able to do so and got what it takes in her racquet. Perhaps she needs to be a little bit more agressive and to take initiatives. 

She's got a bronze medal to defend at the Olympics and I really hope she'll keep it and why not, get a better one ? 

Vera Zvonareva got enough talent to reach the latter stages in every tournament, in order to climb back the rankings, she'll have to be consistant but explosive too, able to do damages and pull out big upsets. She'll be a big contender to all big titles but she'll have to stay focused to go further and clinch titles. To do so, Vera will have to control her emotions that made her lose matches way too many times. 

The best of 2011 : Vera Zvonareva d. Petra Kvitova 6/2 6/4 (Australian Open- Quarter-finals) 

It's way too difficult to chose a best match talking about Vera Zvonareva since she's always consistant and rarely shows a better level in a special match. I finally chose this one because Vera Zvonareva showed great attacking skills. 

The Worst of 2011 : Tsvetana Pironkova vs Vera Zvonareva 6/2 6/3 (Wimbledon- 3rd round)

It was not really hard ot pick up this one since Vera was kind of absent. No footwork, no timing, no power. It was like she was not on the court, like she was totally absent.