Agnieszka Radwanska

The second half of 2008 saw the competition for the No.1 ranking intensify, while several youngsters won their first titles and more established stars enjoyed golden form. In the end Serbia's Jelena Jankovic surged ahead as the most consistent queen of the courts, and there was also plenty of activity on the sidelines as the Tour prepared its revolutionary 2009 Roadmap calendar. 

 
JULY

For the first time in the history of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, a world No.1 stepped away from the sport she ruled in 2008. But there was no shortage of pretenders to the tennis throne, in a season that saw a handful of teens establish themselves as serious contenders, and mid-career surges by a clutch of more established players. There was plenty of action off court as well, including a marketing push of heroic proportions and happy news from some of the Tour's best-loved retired stars.
 
JANUARY
 

The last four quarterfinal berths were snapped up at the Bell Challenge on Thursday, with the winners including No.5-seeded Canadian sensation Aleksandra Wozniak and a trio of non-seeds.
 
Wozniak, who has rocketed up the rankings this year and is currently at No.37 in the world, cruised past qualifier Carly Gullickson in straight sets in the feature night match, 63 62. She now moves into the quarters of the Tier III event for the second time in four appearances, having gotten to this stage in 2006 as well (falling to Lilia Osterloh).
 

Details, details.
 
For well more than two years, the leadership of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour has been working toward its overhaul of the tour for 2009. The Roadmap has bumped forward, and although it has been roughed up in negotiations and beaten back in some areas, it has managed to get through the approval process in some kind of recognizable shape.
 
Now, just a couple of months before it officially goes into effect, the players finally are taking a close look at the Roadmap and realizing they don't like some of what they see.

They made it through in very different fashion, but Ana Ivanovic and Vera Zvonareva set up a championship clash between the Top 2 seeds at the Generali Ladies Linz with semifinals wins on Saturday.
 

Ana Ivanovic and Vera Zvonareva won contrasting victories on Saturday to reach the final of the Linz Open.
 
Top seeded Serbian Ivanovic battled for over two hours to overcome third seed Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland 6-2 3-6 7-5, while Russian second seed Zvonareva needed only 51 minutes to trounce sixth seed Marion Bartoli of France 6-0 6-1.
 
Both Ivanovic and Radwanska played to a high standard. Ivanovic served and returned better and struck powerfully from the baseline, but Radwanska was the smarter and more persistent player.

Ana Ivanovic and Vera Zvonareva continued to march towards a title clash between the Top 2 seeds as both Top 10 stars earned straight set victories in the quarterfinals of the $600,000, Tier II Generali Ladies Linz on Friday.
 

Ana Ivanovic is practicing quality control on court again.
 
Playing what she called one of her best matches in recent months, the top-seeded Serbian saved seven of nine break points to slip past seventh-seeded Italian Flavia Pennetta, 6-4, 6-4, and advance to the semifinals of the Generali Ladies Linz.
 
The top three seeds reached the final four.
 
It is Ivanovic's second semifinal in two weeks. She lost to eventual-champion Venus Williams in the Zurich semifinals on Saturday. Williams beat Pennetta in Sunday's final.