The 2024 Shot of the Year Showdown continues the Asian swing

Editor’s note: Over the next two weeks, wtatennis.com will be running the 2024 Shot of the Year Showdown — a bracket-style tournament in which you, the fans, can vote for your favorite points and ultimately the best of the season.

The group stages will run daily from Nov. 25 to Dec. 8, consisting of 14 groups of eight points each, organized from the 51 Hologic WTA Tour tournaments of 2024.

Each group winner, plus two “lucky losers” — the second-placed points with the highest vote shares when the polls close — will advance to two semifinals of eight points each on Dec. 10.

The top two points from each semifinal will advance to the grand final on Dec. 12.

We’ve selected 112 points from the past 12 months that brilliantly showcase the athleticism, power, touch and creativity in women’s tennis. Now it’s up to you to select the best of the best.

Group L comprises September and October’s WTA 500 and WTA 250 tournaments in South Korea, Thailand, China and Japan.

Vote in Group A: Brisbane / Auckland / Adelaide / Hobart
Vote for Group B: Hua Hin 1 / Linz / Cluj-Napoca / Austin / San Diego
Vote in Group C: Abu Dhabi / Doha / Dubai
Vote in Group D: Indian Wells / Miami
Vote in Group E: Charleston / Bogota / Stuttgart / Rouen
Vote in Group F: Madrid / Rome
Vote in Group G: Nottingham / ‘s-Hertogenbosch / Berlin / Birmingham / Eastbourne / Bad Homburg
Vote in Group H: Rabat / Strasbourg / Palermo / Budapest / Iasi / Prague
Vote in Group I: Washington D.C. / Toronto / Cincinnati / Monterrey / Cleveland
Vote in Group J: Monastir / Guadalajara / Merida
Vote in Group K: Beijing / Wuhan

GROUP L: Seoul / Hua Hin 2 / Ningbo / Osaka / Tokyo

All-court athleticism in the first round of Seoul as Emma Raducanu chased down a brilliant half-volley by Peyton Stearns, then found a ridiculously sharp angle on the run to pass the American.

Veronika Kudermetova was firmly on the back foot throughout this Seoul second-round point in the face of Liudmila Samsonova’s aggression — until a desperate lunge saw her conjure up a bullet-like forehand pass down the line out of nowhere.

As the clock ticked towards the three-hour mark in this Hua Hin 2 quarterfinal, Tamara Zidansek seemed down and out against Nadia Podoroska — literally, as the Slovenian fell to the floor. But she bounced back up and still managed to pull off a forehand winner on her next shot.

The point at which recklessness becomes genius: Marta Kostyuk‘s decision to pull out a drop shot on the run from such a defensive position against Diana Shnaider in the Seoul quarterfinals was bold enough, but to find a clean winner with it at 6-6 in the tiebreak? Incredible.

How’s this for a way to win a set? Laura Siegemund needed hustling ability, anticipation and finally net reflexes to convert set point against Arianne Hartono in the Hua Hin 2 semifinals. “She was everywhere, and all things to everything,” as the commentator put it poetically.

This is Aoi turned heads on her WTA debut in Osaka, not just by reaching the semifinals but by doing so with a funky, unorthodox game reminiscent of Hsieh Su-Wei and Monica Niculescu. Ito’s nonchalant web of slices and her delicate touch at net were on full show in this first-round point against Sofia Kenin, which she ends with a marvellously angled diving volley.

Daria Kasatkina was a brick wall against Katerina Siniakova in the Ningbo second round, chopping back the Czech’s best forehands before finding a terrific sharp backhand angle on the pass.

A semifinal spectacular in Tokyo by Diana Schneider and Zheng Qinwen as the pair used their full repertoires to try to out-hit and out-manoeuvre each other. It would take something special to end it, and that’s what Shnaider found as, with her back to the court, she twisted, stretched up and found a winning angle with a high backhand overhead.