#779 - The Amazing Race 15

note : this entry will only be written in English :-)

Last week, the fifteenth season of The Amazing Race was concluded. In the end, after twelve legs, Meghan & Cheyne won the race. Well, this is not really surprising because they had been domination this season with four streak victories in the last four legs along with two other victories.

Apparently, some guesses I made this time were correct. I was correct in predicting Meghan & Cheyne to be the strongest team this season. I was also correct predicting Mika & Canaan would last long till the end. Well, they survived pretty long tho. Plus, three of the teams I liked at that time made it to the top three!! Wow!! That one factor makes this season to be one of the best :-)

::: Meghan & Cheyne

Overall, I think season 15 was one of the strongest seasons of all. The competition was pretty furious and the castings were really strong. The diversity of the contestants was really interesting. However, it doesn't mean this season is perfect. In fact, I feel there were several downsides made by the producer.

The first downside was the two new twists. I don't think both twists were interesting to watch nor effective. "Early Elimination" was a "stupid" twist in my opinion. It only brought early tension in the first 15 minutes but after that there was barely any effect left. It would not bring any spice further on the rest of the race. By doing that, in fact, they just rose their production cost by having to pay for all the accommodations (and cost) for that one "extra" team, while they only filmed exactly the same amount of episodes (and legs) as other previous seasons. The extra cost is okay if it brings more "profit" to the show itself, but I don't think there is any good side of it aside from the tense 15 first minutes of the race. After that, people would not even care about this early elimination or the eliminated team. The twist was also "bad" for the eliminated team, in this case Eric & Lisa. They finally beat all other thousands applicants to be on TAR, one of the greatest TV shows ever, but they didn't even leave the US and only survived the first 15 minutes of the leg. How suck is that? The second twist was the "Switchback". It was actually ONLY a roadblock but it had been done before in one previous season (season 6). Hello?? Okay, it was a tough roadblock, but so what??

The second downside, which makes the first one look even worse, is the elimination of YIELD/U-TURN. I personally think Yield and U-Turn are the best twists in TAR(A). It is so interesting to see how team decides to or not to yield/u-turn other team and how the yielded/u-turned team copes with that. It reflects their strategy and personality. This twist also stimulates (or triggers) further conflict(s) between teams, and conflict is money for a show, right? It makes the show much more interesting to watch. This mistake even makes the first one worse because it seems that the producer traded yield/u-turned with early elimination/switchback, which IMO are not great twists.

The third downside was the lame final task. The season finale was so cool and great up to the poker chips task. However, after that they had to meet Mr. Vegas, and after that, finish line. Well, for me, one great task TAR had on their several previous final legs was the "review" task, where team had to complete task which involved all the journey they had travelled. Eliminating this task, for me, was a bad decision :-(

The other downside, not a major one and it was out of the producer's hand to control, was the domination of Meghan & Cheyne. Well, don't get me wrong, they are my most favorite team this season, I like this team so much. However, watching a team dominates a season so much is kinda boring :-) This is like what happened at TARA 2 and TAR 13 where Mark & Rovilson and Nick & Starr dominated the seasons, respectively.

::: Meghan & Cheyne won season 15 of TAR.

Anyway, aside from those weaknesses I thinkl, I think season 15 had been a great season. This season was helped by the great castings of teams, that's really important to make people enjoy the show no matter what weaknesses appear. I personally still think this season was one of the best season ever even though had those weaknesses not appeared, it would have been even more perfect :-)

::: A great casting of season 15 which helped this season to overcome the weaknesses.

Finally, kudos to the producer!! Hopefully they will make an even better season 16 (I heard they have started filming season 16)!! Long live TAR!! :-) And yeah, congratulations to Meghan & Cheyne, the most competitive team this season and my most fave team!! Note : I also love the other two teams in the top three :-)

ps : all photos taken from the official website, link above

#778 - A New Week

ENGLISH

Another week has started, and now it's about seven days before my final presentation next week. This week I must face two final exams on Wednesday and Thursday, wew, but my mind now focuses on my final presentation next week because I still have several things to do to prepare for it. I have finished the program my supervisor gave me last week but I still need to check it. Well, I feel like I am such in a big amount of stress this week and I really hope I could deal with all this week's pressures and execute all things I need to!! hahaha :)

There's nothing much happened lately since, well, clearly I devoted most of my time to my final work (thesis) lately, hahaha. Well, there were also several assignments due last week and some problems kinda pissed me off, but I learn something from that :)

One thing which kinda frustrates me lately was my super BAD internet connection, it barely connects to the internet. Most of the time, when I try to connect, it fails. Just like right now, it's connected to the internet but because it's so damn slow, I can't access anything but google, wew, that's kinda useless right? Damn. Note: now I use my brother's laptop to surf the net :)

BAHASA INDONESIA

Minggu yang baru sudah dimulai, dan sekarang sudah tinggal tujuh hari lagi sebelum sidangku minggu depan nih. Minggu ini aku harus menghadapi dua ujian akhir, di hari Rabu dan Kamis, wew, tapi koq pikiranku terfokus banget ke sidang yah karena ada beberapa hal yang harus aku persiapkan untuk itu. Aku sudah menyelesaikan program yang minggu lalu dikasi pembimbingku itu sih dan aku masih harus mengeceknya. Hmm, kayanya aku akan berada dalam stress yang besar nih minggu ini, mudah2an aku bisa melaluinya dengan baik dan bisa mengerjakan semua yang harus aku selesaikan minggu ini dengan baik!! hahaha :)

Nggak banyak yang terjadi akhir-akhir ini karena, hmm, ya karena memang akhir-akhir ini kebanyakan waktu aku curahkan pada skripsi, hahaha. Yah, memang ada beberapa tugas lain yang harus selesai minggu lalu dan beberapa masalah membuat aku agak sebal, cuma aku belajar banyak darinya :)

Satu hal yang membuat aku jengkel banget adalah koneksi internetku yang JELEK banget, hampir nggak connect lho. Kebanyakan waktu, ketika aku mencoba connect, eh nggak nyambung. Kaya sekarang ini nih, nyambung sih ke internet cuma karena saking lambatnya, nggak bisa akses apa-apa kecuali google aja, wew, nggak berguna kan? Sial. Catatan: sekarang aku pake laptop adikku untuk internetan :)

#777 - It's December!!

ENGLISH

Wow, how time flies!! Now we are already in the last month of 2009, December. Well, the month that we are in now is December really excites me. It means that within two weeks, most of my "burdens" will be all relieved. I have got confirmation to have my final presentation of my thesis on December 15th, 2009, in less than two weeks from now!! :) Sure after that I still need to work on my thesis, probably revising the paper, but the pressure will be off and I still can enjoy my holiday.

Well, I was kinda in a stress mode last Monday. I got an "extra" task to work on my thesis. Well, actually the task is really interesting and I am more than happy to do that because I like the material: making a program. However, the problem was that at that time I still had two assignments from other classes to be completed by the end of this week. Beside that, I still need to create my final presentation slide, right? Those assignments aren't all the things I have to execute in these two weeks. So, at that time I felt that I had so many things to do and finish within two weeks, and none of them was easy.

Then, after taking a bit break and clear my mind, I knew how to solve the problem. I just need to organize my schedule to execute all the tasks. I have done one big assignment from a class yesterday and I will execute the other task next Saturday. Now I can focus on the "extra" task of my thesis and I still have next week to create my final presentation slide. I will also need to check and mark two assignments from one class I teach this weekend because next week the final score must have been done to meet the deadline. Plus, next week will also be the first of final examination week, and I will have two exams next week. Therefore, actually the scheduling is still a little bit tight. However, I know that if I follow my planning properly I will surely be able to execute all my assignments well. :)

Haha, wish me luck!! :-)

BAHASA INDONESIA

Wow, waktu cepat amat yah!! Tiba2 nih kita sudah berada di bulan terakhir di tahun 2009, Desember. Ini berarti bahwa dua minggu lagi, semua "beban"-ku akan terselesaikan. Aku sudah dapat konfirmasi untuk sidang skripsi tanggal 15 Desember 2009, kurang dari dua minggu dari sekarang!! :) Tentu saja setelah itu akan masih ada kerjaan sih yang berhubungan sama skripsi, misalnya merevisi tulisan skripsinya, tapi setidaknya bebannya kan akan bebas dan aku bisa menikmati liburan kan.

Hmm, Senin kemarin aku berada dalam mode stress nih. Aku mendapat tugas "ekstra" pada skripsiku. Yah, sebenernya tugasnya menarik banget tuh dan aku sangat senang untuk mengerjakannya soalnya aku suka materinya: bikin program. Cuma masalahnya, waktu itu aku masih ada dua tugas besar dari kuliah lain yang harus sudah jadi minggu ini. Di samping itu, aku juga harus segera membuat slide presentasi untuk sidangku kan? Tugas-tugas itu bukan semua hal yang harus aku kerjakan dua minggu ini lho. Makanya waktu itu aku merasa koq ada buanyak sekali yang harus aku kerjakan dalam tempo dua minggu ya, dan tidak ada yang mudah.

Trus, habis istirahat sebentar dan menenangkan pikiran, aku tahu bagaimana memecahkan masalah itu. Solusinya sederhana, aku hanya perlu mengatur jadwalku untuk menyelesaikan semua tugas. Satu tugas besar dari satu kelas sudah beres kemarin dan tugas lain akan dikerjakan hari Sabtu nanti. Sekarang aku bisa fokus pada tugas "ekstra" skripsiku dan aku masih punya minggu depan untuk menyelesaikan slide presentasi sidangku. Aku juga harus mengoreksi dan ngasi nilai dua tugas dari satu kelas yang aku ajar semester ini nih wiken ini soalnya nilai akhirnya mesti sudah jadi minggu depan untuk memenuhi deadline-nya. Plus, minggu depan itu adalah minggu pertama dari minggu ujian akhir, dan aku akan ada dua ujian akhir minggu depan. Makannya walau begitu, jadwalnya masih cukup padat juga. Namun, aku percaya sih kalau aku mengikuti pengaturan jadwalku dengan baik, pasti semua bisa diselesaikan dengan baik. :)

Haha, doakan aku ya!! :-)

#776 - Updates

ENGLISH

Oh God, it has been another while since my last entry in this blog!! Well, I just realized one other reason why I haven't been really active in this blog, beside the fact that the urge to blog regularly hasn't been that big anymore. Lately I focused on my final assignment a lot. I spent so much time working on that and some other assignments, plus some other agendas. Those activities left me with really little time to blog.

Lately, my internet connection is troubled. It is really not stable, probably because of the rainy season. It's raining almost everyday in Bandung these days. Well, the bad connection is also one reason why I haven't been that active anymore.

Hopefully, I will be a lot more active in short time :)

Anyway, as mentioned earlier, my activities lately revolved around my campus, most of the time, mainly because I have to focus on my final assignment. I have got approval to have my final presentation before Christmas (which is a good thing) but that also means I need to speed things up. However, I still also managed to have time to hang out a bit, to release all the stress. About two weeks ago my friends and I played bowling, in which I played pretty good, scoring 119 and 116, haha :).

O yea, today I bought my train ticket back to Yogyakarta. Since my final presentation has been approved to be held before 18 December, so I bought the 18 December ticket back home, catching Argo Wilis.

Well, to save more money, last week I tried to make my first fried rice. Sure I used instant seasoning powder, which is not really healthy, but at least now I know how to make fried rice, LOL. Next time I go back home, I will bring homemade fried rice seasoning when I return, hahaha. O yea, this reminds me that last Sunday there was a "putu" cake seller near my boarding house. It has been YEARS since I ate putu the last time and that's why I bought ten of them last Sunday :)

::: my first fried rice

::: "putu" cake, a local delicacies

::: hainan rice I had this evening

BAHASA INDONESIA

Ya Tuhan, udah lama juga ya sejak posting terakhirku di blog ini!! Wah, aku baru menyadari nih faktor-faktor lain yang menyebabkan aku nggak terlalu aktif akhir2 ini, selain fakta bahwa entah kenapa dorongan untuk ngeblog secara reguler berkurang. Akhir2 ini aku fokus banget sama skripsiku nih Aku menghabiskan banyak waktu bekerja pada tugas itu dan juga beberapa tugas lain, plus juga beberapa agenda. Aktivitas2 itulah yang menghabiskan kebanyakan waktuku.

Akhir2 ini, koneksi internetku bermasalah nih. Bener2 nggak stabil, mungkin karena musim hujan yah. Soalnya sekarang ini hampir setiap hari hujan loh di Bandung. Hmm, koneksi yang lemot ini deh juga satu alasan mengapa aku ga terlalu aktif.

Ya mudah2an aja, aku akan menjadi lebih aktif lagi dalam waktu dekat :)

Ngomong2, seperti yang telah disebutkan di awal, aktivitasku akhir2 ini berkisar di sekitaran kampus, kebanyakan ya karena aku mesti fokus di skripsi itu. Aku sudah mendapat persetujuan untuk sidang sebelum Natal (yang merupakan hal yang bagus) tetapi di sisi lain itu juga berarti aku harus ngebut kan. Namun, aku masih sempet jalan2 juga sih untuk refreshing sekalian menghilangkan stress. Sekitar dua minggu yang lalu aku dan temen2 main bowling dimana aku main lumayan tuh, dapat skor 119 dan 116, haha :).

O iya, hari ini aku beli tiket balik ke Yogyakarta. Karena sidangku sudah disetujui untuk diadakan sebelum 18 Desember, ya udah aku beli tiket balik tanggal 18 Desember, naik Argo Wilis.

Yah, untuk menghemat uang, minggu lalu aku iseng mencoba membuat nasi goreng pertamaku. Tentu saja aku pake bumbu bubuk yang instan itu, yang tentu ga terlalu sehat lah ya, cuma setidaknya sekarang aku tahu lah cara bikin nasi goreng, LOL. Lain kali kalo pulang, nanti baliknya bawa bumbu dari rumah deh, hahaha. O iya, ini mengingatkanku bahwa Minggu kemarin tumben ada penjual kue "putu" tuh lewat di dekat kos. Sudah BERTAHUN-TAHUN sejak terakhir aku makan putu, makanya waktu Minggu kemarin itu aku beli sepuluh buah :)

#775 - Exciting!!

ENGLISH

Well, this week has kinda been exciting for me.

First of all, I planned a holiday for next June this week. Well, this plan was actually really spontaneous. My friends and I didn't expect to plan this holiday. However, learning that AirAsia is selling one million free seats for flights after 1 May 2010 somehow made us plan the trip!! haha :)

At first we bought tickets to the most reachable destination, Singapore. We were kinda confused about whether to depart from Yogyakarta or Bandung. However, because at the date we want the tickets from Yogyakarta are economy promo while tickets from Bandung are not, we chose to depart from Yogyakarta. Beside, departing from Yogyakarta is going to be "friendlier" for me, in term of my schedule :) Well, because we gave seven days between the departing and returning tickets, we must find another destination to go because spending an entire one week in Singapore is way too long. There were several options in my mind, Krabi (Thailand), Siem Reap (Cambodia), or Hanoi (Vietnam). After discussing with my friends, the most interesting one for us is Krabi. Well, I myself have always wanted to go to Krabi, so it's a perfect timing. So, Krabi it is.

At first, my focus was to find direct flight from Singapore to Krabi, which as for now is only served by one airline, Tiger Airways. However, the ticket to get there for the date I will be in Singapore is still not a promo one. Then, I had an idea. If AirAsia is still selling promo tickets and AirAsia flies to Krabi from Kuala Lumpur, I might find a cheaper AirAsia ticket from Singapore to Krabi, via Kuala Lumpur. I did my research and I was lucky to get the tickets, hehe :) Because we will fly to Kuala Lumpur, so we decided to spend one night there, during our trip back to Singapore.

So there it is, I have planned my holiday next June!! hehehe :) My trip will be: Jogja - Singapore (2 nights) - (via Kuala Lumpur) - Krabi (2 nights) - Kuala Lumpur (1 night) - Singapore (2 nights) - Jogja.

The second exciting thing is that I am getting closer to the conclusion of my thesis, yeah!! I have got the approval to have my final test (sidang) next month, before the Christmas Holiday, yeah!! :)

BAHASA INDONESIA

Minggu ini lumayan mengasyikkan deh.

Yang paling mengasyikkan adalah, aku membuat rencana liburan Juni nanti lho. Yah, sebenarnya rencana ini nih spontan banget. Temen2ku dan aku tidak berencana untuk membuat rencana liburan ini. Namun, karena tahu AirAsia menjual satu juta kursi gratis untuk penerbangan setelah 1 Mei 2010, jadi deh rencana ini dibuat!! haha :)

Pertama tentu kami membeli tiket ke tujuan paling terjangkau, yaitu Singapore. Pertamanya kami agak bingung tentang mau berangkat dari Yogyakarta atau Bandung. Namun, karena pada tanggal yang dimaksud yang dari Jogja lagi promo banget dan dari Bandung nggak, ya sudah kami milih yang dari Yogyakarta saja. Selain itu, berangkat dari Yogyakarta akan lebih "bersahabat" untuk aku dalam hal jadwal :) Kemudian, karena kami menyediakan waktu tujuh hari di antara tanggal berangkat dan tanggal pulang, kami harus menemukan tujuan lain kan soalnya seminggu di Singapore jelas kelamaan lah. Ada beberapa opsi di pikiranku, yaitu Krabi (Thailand), Siem Reap (Kamboja), atau Hanoi (Vietnam). Setelah berdiskusi, kami memutuskan Krabi yang paling menarik. Yah, aku sendiri memang sudah pingin banget pergi ke Krabi sih, makanya waktunya sempurna. Jadi, Krabi-lah tujuan itu.

Pertamanya, aku fokus untuk menemukan penerbangan langsung dari Singapore ke Krabi, yang ternyata sekarang ini hanya dilayani satu maskapai saya, Tiger Airways. Sayangnya, tiket untuk tanggal itu sedang tidak promo. Kemudian, aku mendapat ide bagus. Kalau AirAsia masih menjual tiket promo dan AirAsia terbang ke Krabi dari Kuala Lumpur, mungkin aku bisa mendapat tiket murah AirAsia dari Singapore ke Krabi, via Kuala Lumpur. Aku melakukan survey sedikit dan untung lho aku bisa dapat tiketnya, hehe :) Karena kami akan terbang ke Kuala Lumpur, ya udah sekalian lah kami akan nginap semalam disana, dalam perjalanan balik ke Singapore.

Ya, jadi itulah rencana liburanku Juni nanti!! hehehe :) Perjalanannya akan menjadi: Jogja - Singapore (2 malam) - (via Kuala Lumpur) - Krabi (2 malam) - Kuala Lumpur (1 malam) - Singapore (2 malam) - Jogja.

Hal kedua yang menarik adalah aku semakin mendekati kesimpulan dari skripsiku nih, yeah!! Aku sudah dapat persetujuan untuk sidang bulan depan, sebelum libur Natal loh, yeah!! :)

#774 - Tiring Week

ENGLISH

Finally I got my official IELTS score I took two weeks ago. It was pretty satisfying, even though in some bands I did not do my best, I mean, I could have gotten a better score, hehe :) My overall band score is 7.5, it is beyond the minimum target I need to meet, it is also beyond my own personal target. Considering IELTS preparation I took was this one ONLY, I think I did good. I had never taken any IELTS related test before that. Anyway, the preparation worked really well since I did not make the mistakes I made at the preparation test at the actual test. I got a 9 in my reading test, haha :) I also did good in my speaking test, I got an 8.

Well, anyway, this week has also kinda tiring. A lot of things went on this week. These last three days, I helped at the 2009 Unpar Mathematics Competition. Well, I was one official at the 2007 and 2008 Unpar Mathematics Competition. This year, I am retired, LOL. However, it doesn't mean that I don't care about this competition anymore, therefore I still offered and gave my help :) That's why it has kinda been a bit tiring. Oh, and I also became a judge this year, haha.

BAHASA INDONESIA

Akhirnya aku mendapat nilai IELTS resmiku yang tesnya aku ikuti dua minggu yang lalu. Hasilnya lumayan memuaskan, walau di beberapa area rasanya nggak gitu maksimal sih, dalam artian, rasanya aku bisa mendapat nilai lebih baik lagi, hehe :) Nilai keseluruhanku 7,5, ini di atas nilai minimum yang aku butuhkan, ini juga di atas target personalku. Mempertimbangkan persiapan IELTS yang aku ambil HANYA waktu ini saja, aku rasa aku bekerja dengan baik karena aku tidak membuat kesalahan yang aku buat di latihan. Aku dapat 9 loh di reading, haha :) Aku juga bagus deh di speaking, dapat 8.

Hmm, ngomong, minggu ini melelahkan juga. Banyak hal yang terjadi minggu ini. Tiga hari belakangan, aku membantu panitia Kompetisi Matematika Unpar 2009. Hmm, aku panitia di acara ini tahu 2007 dan2008. Tahun ini, aku pensiun, LOL. Namun, itu bukan berarti lantas aku bisa cuek saja kan tentang acara ini, makanya aku masih menawarkan bantuan :) Makanya deh agak capek juga. O iya, tahun ini aku juga menjadi juri, haha.

#773 - 2009 WTA Tour Championships

note: this entry will only be written in English

Last week, the WTA Tour Championships, a year end championships, of women professional tennis was held at Doha, Qatar.

Singles

At Doha, eight female tennis players were qualified to play singles. They are the eight female tennis player with the highest points earned during the whole 2009 season along with two alternates. They are, in order (and also the grouping in the tournament):
1. Dinara Safina (RUS) - white group
2. Serena Williams (USA) - maroon group
3. Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS) - maroon group
4. Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) - white group
5. Elena Dementieva (RUS) - maroon group
6. Victoria Azarenka (BLR) - white group
7. Venus Williams (USA) - maroon group
8. Jelena Jankovic (SRB) - white group
9. Vera Zvonareva (RUS) - alternate
10. Agnieszka Radwanska (POL) - alternate

This tournament was really dramatic and "full of stories". Aside from the 2009 US Open, I think this tournament is also the most dramatic tournament of the year.

This year has been filled with a debate whether or not Dinara Safina deserved to be world no. 1 while she has not won any grandslam title yet. Coming at the tournament, Safina was only leading 155 points ahead of Serena Williams. It means that whoever did better in the year end championships, she would be the world no.1.

However, Dinara Safina then retired at her first match against Jelena Jankovic. At the time, Serena Williams had already won her first match against Svetlana Kuznetsova. This means that Serena Williams is officially the year end world no.1 in 2009!!

As for Jelena Jankovic (JJ), who qualified for the tournament in the last minutes, she was really lucky. She was in the white group, which I personally think was the easier group as she was in the same group with debutants, Azarenka and Wozniacki, and Safina, who was struggling at the end of the year. JJ lost miserably at her first match against Azarenka. That was the end of her bad luck. At her second match, she only needed to play two games to win the match as Safina retired. At the third round, she played the exhausted and injured Wozniacki. Of course JJ won the match and she was through to the semifinal. I gotta say JJ was really lucky. Not that being lucky is bad, I think luck is one key factor in tennis match :)

::: Jelena Jankovic at Doha

Wozniacki, however, played her really best. She defeated Azarenka in a what seemed to be an easy match for Azarenka as of the first set. Due to Safina's withdrawal, Safina was replaced by Vera Zvonareva, the first alternate, to play Wozniacki's second match. The match was one of the most dramatic match of the season as both players were injured. Wozniacki even had a severe cramp at the last game of her match and fell to the ground. Wozniacki eventually won the match. However, the victory still didn't guarantee a semifinal spot for her and she still had to play JJ. Exhausted, she easily lost to JJ. Her faith was determined by the result of the last match at the white group, a match between Azarenka and Agnieszka Radwanska, the second alternate who replaced Zvonareva because of Zvonareva's injury. Azarenka looked like going to win the match easily as she lead 6-4, 4-0 at the second set. However, Radwanska stormed back and won the second set 7-5. At the third set, suddenly Azarenka feel exhausted and injuries attacked her. She retired at 4-1, Radwanska's leading. Thus, Wozniacki was through to the semifinal.

::: Caroline Wozniacki cramping

At the maroon group, Serena Williams was unbeatable as she won all her round robin matches. She was only down one set on her match against her sister, Venus Williams. Venus Williams, the defending champion, struggled at her round robin round as she lost her first two matches against Dementieva and Kuznetsova. V. Williams eventually won her match against Kuznetsova, thus still keeping her chance alive. The last semifinal spot was determined with Dementieva vs Kuznetsova's match. If Dementieva won, she would be through to the semifinal. If she lost, V. Williams would advance. Dementieva then lost to Kuznetsova, thus, V. Williams was through to the semifinal even with only one win at round robin. This was the second time it happened, the first one was Amelie Mauresmo in 2003.

In the semifinal, V. Williams would face JJ, and S. Williams would face Wozniacki. V. Williams beat JJ in three sets, thus, making her second consecutive appearance at the tournament's final. JJ played a lot better in this stage of the competition. In other hand, S. Williams played poorly in her semifinal match agains the injured Wozniacki. S. Williams should have won easily but she made too many unforced errors. Still, she won the first set 6-4. At the second set, she served first and was broken by Wozniacki! But then, Wozniacki retired from the match citing abdominal injury. Should Wozniacki was not injured, I think S. Williams would have lost the match with that level of play, hmmm. Anyway, it means that S. Williams would meet her sister for the second time in four days.

In the final, both Williams sisters played a lot better than before. But it was S. Williams who was in her peak of her performance, thus crushing her sister 6-2, 7-6(4) to win the tournament. She remained unbeatable at the tournament and recieved 1500 points, plus US$ 1,550,000 prize money in singles (She and her sister also played doubles, so, her prize money from this tournament must be bigger than the figure :) ).

::: Serena Williams and Venus Williams with their trophies

Anyway, during the tournament, I think Venus Williams didn't play her best. She made too many unforced errors and double faults. Plus, her second serve play was also weak. I think Venus needs to work on this to prepare for the 2010 season.

Now, Serena Williams is world no.1 and she is 1,275 points ahead Dinara Safina, the world no.2. It is a pretty good lead as the gap guarantees Serena Williams to be world no.1 at least until the conclusion of 2010 Australian Open, the first grandslam in 2010.

Doubles

In doubles, four teams with most points earned in 2009 qualified for the event. The four teams were (in order):
1. Cara Black (ZIM) / Liezel Huber (USA)
2. Serena Williams (USA) / Venus Williams (USA)
3. Nuria Llagostera Vives (ESP) / Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez (ESP)
4. Samantha Stosur (AUS) / Rennae Stubbs (AUS)

The "special" thing is the presence of Serena Williams and Venus Williams. They had only played FIVE tournaments prior to the year end championships, but still managed to be qualified for the event. Yea, they performed strongly. They played at four grandslam tournaments and Stanford, a premier-level tournament. They won four titles, at Stanford and three grandslams. Their only loss came at French Open's third round, to pair Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Nadia Petrova.

Cara Black and Liezel Huber were the defending champion and they had been co-world no.1s in doubles since November 2007. The position was solid, until the "threat" from the Williams sisters became alive. Should they lost their semifinal match and the sisters won the tournament, the sisters would have taken their world no.1s position. Luckily for them, they beat Stosur/Stubbs at the semifinal, thus, securing their world no.1s title. However, the Williams sisters' run was ended in the semifinal as the lost in three sets to Llagostera Vives/Martinez Sanchez, whom eventually won the championships.

ps: photos were taken from many sources