The 2024 Shot of the Year Showdown reaches the Chinese 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 K comprises the autumn’s two WTA 1000 events in China.

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

GROUP K: Beijing / Wuhan

Yuliia Starodubtseva had to deal with slices, moonballs, changes of direction and all manner of variety from Laura Siegemund in this point in the Beijing first round. The Ukrainian held her ground, then managed to track down a Siegemund volley to nail a passing shot winner.

Watching this Beijing first-round point, you could be forgiven for thinking that tennis was played widthways across the court, not lengthways. Mananchaya Sawangkaew and Zarina Diyas carve sharper and sharper angles as it goes on until Sawangkaew finds the winning counter-drop.

Tweener alert! Caroline Dolehide pulled off the trick shot to deny Elina Avanesyan in the Beijing second round, weighting her tweener lob down the line perfectly to fall into the corner of Avanesyan’s court.

Zhang Shuai went from zero to hero in front of her home crowd in Beijing, snapping a 24-match losing streak and going all the way to the quarterfinals. Shots like this defensive angled drop shot on the run in the third round against Greet Minnen helped.

Karolina Muchova‘s cat-and-mouse skills were on full display as early as the third point of her Beijing quarterfinal defeat of Aryna Sabalenka. Breathtaking gets helped the Czech turn defense into offense, and the clever wrong-footing sliced pass with which she snatched the rally from Sabalenka was exquisite.

Sabalenka also played her part in one of the most enthralling matches of the year. As the third set began to heat up, she pulled out a miracle shot of her own, flicking an impossibly angled forehand squash shot pass past Muchova at net.

Coco Gauff‘s net skills were impressive enough in this point in the Beijing final. The speed with which the American hustled back to retrieve Karolina Muchova’s lob, and the athleticism with which she twisted to slam the forehand pass, were simply remarkable.

Sixteen shots of the highest intensity as Zheng Qinwen fought for survival in the Wuhan final against Aryna Sabalenka. Her penultimate forehand down the line rightly sends the crowd into a frenzy, but the Chinese star still needed one final forehand to put the point to bed.