[JoPova]

I thought it would be nice to list Maria's best matches per year, starting from 2004! If you feel like it, you can even give a reason for your different picks!

2004:
2005:
2006:
2007:
2008:
2009:
2010:
2011:
2012 (so far):

(I'll post mine later. I have to think about it a little bit more! )

[Asherahpova]

This year for me: Stosur & Vika in Stuttgart, Petra & Errani at RG. (people like to ignore just how much Errani made Maria work after the first half of first set.)Kerber in AO was good too.

2011: Against Sveta in Cinci is probably my favourite match of hers.

[dsanders06]

2004: Has to be the Wimbledon final

2005: Maybe the Tokyo final against Davenport? Even though she was super-consistent that year, there were surprisingly few Vintagepova matches.

2006: US Open final. Honourable mention to the win over Clijsters in San Diego.

2007: Even though she lost it, it really has to be the YEC final against Henin.

2008: AO QF against Henin fo sho.

2009: I suppose the match against Stosur in Tokyo (though it's hard to say whether that was just because of how good the match-up was, because she was generally very ragged at that tournament and only won the title on willpower alone ... I think her best TOURNAMENT of the year in terms of level of play was Toronto).

2010: Match against Clijsters in Cincinnati

2011: Win over Wozniacki in Rome

2012: Even though it was "just" Stuttgart, really hard to go against her win over Azarenka there. Honourable mention to win over Woz in Miami - people seem to have forgotten about this because of the misleadingly close scoreline, because of how headcasey she was at that tournament - but when she was focussed, it was her best tennis on hardcourts since the surgery I think.

[FakeMashabator]

It's hard NOT to name more than one match for most of the years. Let me see:

2004: Wimbledon SF against Lindsay, Wibledon F against Serena

2005: Indian Wells QF against Peak Pierce YEC RR against Davenport

2006: Acura Classic F against Clijsters, USO F against Henin obviously, Zurich QF against Bachinsky (dayum, her serves that time ), Linz F against Petrova, YEC RR against Kuznetsova (Peak Pova era )

2007: YEC RR against Kuznetsova and Ivanovic (that match against ana ) and even YEC F against Henin

2008: AO QF against Henin (what can I say?) >>>>>>>>>>

2009: well...not much, but I'll say either Toronto QF against Radwanska

2010: Wimbledon 4th Round against Serena

2011: Indian Wells R4 against Safina Rome SF against Wozniacki

2012: AO R3 against Kerber, Stuttgart QF against stosur and F against Azarenka

[Trih]

I wish I watched more than slams until 2011 I feel so bad about it!

2004 SF vs Davenport and 2006 USO final vs Henin
2011 Rome final against Stosur
2012 AO SF vs Kvitova (most emotional match) and Stuttgart F vs Azarenka (best played match)

[nelsondan]

Given the losses at Wimbledon and Australia....I have a hard time omitting the French Open Final in 2012.

[Rerun]

2007: Masha vs Ana at YEC semifinal

she was amazing there

[slamchamp]

By quality of play
2004: Wimbledon against Hantuchova and Serena
2005:Wimbledon against Karatancheva and Us Open Ag. danilidou
2006:Us Open against Mauresmo, Linz Petrova
2007:Yec against Ana
2008:AO Henin duuh!
2009:RG against Petrova? oh and againt Stosur Tokyo
2010:In Cincinatti against Bartoli (except the last games )
2011:Wimbledon against Cibulkova, RG Petkovic
2012 (so far):RG against Errani also a mention to her match against Kerber AO

[Break My Rapture]

2004: Wimbledon vs Hantuchova (SF and F are too obvious ). What about that IW match against Karatantcheva? When the latter made "I'm gonna kick her butt" quote pre-match and won the first set before Maria started playing awesome tennis in the next two sets. There's HLs of this match on YouTube. She was also playing pretty well in USO vs Pierce, altho she sadly lost.

2005: Miami QF vs Henin hands down. So mentally tough.

2006: IW SF vs Hingis. San Diego F vs Clijsters and LA QF vs Safina. Defo also the 2 bagel sets against Mauresmo in US Open. YEC vs Clijsters is honorable mention.

2007: YEC vs Chakvetadze, Ivanovic and Henin. She definitely kept her best tennis for last that year.

2008: AO vs Davenport, Henin and Jankovic. For lack of other stand out matches I'll also add Doha QF vs Wozniacki.

2009: Tokyo QF vs Stosur is really the only match where everything seemed to be clicking that year.

2010: Cincy vs Radwanska and Bartoli. She was playing good in the final but not THAT great IMO.

2011: IW vs Safina. Rome vs Peer and Wozniacki. Cincy vs Kuznetsova.

2012: AO vs Kerber definitely. Stuttgart vs Stosur and Azarenka. Rome vs Venus and Kerber. RG vs Peng, Kanepi, Kvitova and Errani. I want to upload HD highlights of all these RG matches but they're still getting blocked.

[dsanders06]

I always forget she beat Kerber on the way to the AO final! Yeah, that's probably up there.

[Stonerpova]

Love this thread idea

2003: Wimbledon 2R, def. Dokic
2004: Wimbledon QF, def. Sugiyama
2005: Miami QF, def. Henin
2006: Wimbledon QF, def. Dementieva. I remember thinking she didn't play all that great at the Open against Mauresmo despite the two bagels.
2007: YEC Round Robin, def. Ivanovic
2008: Australian Open QF, def. Henin
2009: US Open R1, def. Pironkova or Tokyo R2, def. Stosur
2010: Honestly probably her loss to Serena at Wimbledon
2011: Rome SF, def. Wozniacki
2012 thus far: Stuttgart F, def. Azarenka

[Maria Croft]

Great idea. These are the ones that spring to mind for now. I'd also like to note that I pick some over better matches because of how important these wins were for Maria, or how important they turned out to be.

2004: Wimbledon Final against Serena 6-1 6-4
2005: Miami SF against Venus 6-4 6-3
2006: San Diego Final against Kim 7-5 7-5
2007 Roland Garros L16 against Schnyder 3-6 6-4 9-7
2008: Australian Open QF against Justine 6-4 6-0
2009: Beijing 2R against Azarenka 6-3 6-7 7-5
2010: Cincinnati 3R against Radwanska 6-2 6-3
2011: Rome SF against Wozniacki 7-5 6-3
2012: Roland Garros Final against Errani 6-3 6-2

[JoPova]

My picks:

2004: Wimbledon QF, vs Sugiyama
2005: Miami QF, vs Henin
2006: USO SF, vs Mauresmo
2007: YEC F, vs Henin
2008: AO QF, vs Henin
2009: Beijing 2R, vs Azarenka
2010: RG 3R, vs Henin
2011: Rome SF, vs Wozniacki
2012 (thus far): Stuttgart F, vs Azarenka

The best of all those is still the QF match at the AO 2008 against Henin!

[Tennisvampire]

I didn't follow her that much earlier, so I'll pick from the matches I watched, although they might not be her best...

2004-Wimbledon final against Serena
2005-/
2006-US Open final against Henin
2007-YEC final against Henin
2008-AO QF against Henin (I think probably the best match of her career, especially considering the opponent)
2009-Beijing against Azarenka, purely because of her mental toughness and the ability to get the win in the end
2010-RG 3rd round against Henin
2011-Rome SF against Woz
2012-hard to pick just one AO SF against Petra, because it was vintage FightingPova; Stuttgart final against Azarenka-probably tennis-wise her best match of the season (again, considering the opponent); Rome final against Li-low-quality match, but still, packed with drama. Plus, it was the second match of the season that she won after saving a match point RG SF and final against Petra and Errani respectively-because of what it meant to her and us fans

[Shezocas]

2004-Wimbledon final against Serena
2005-Miami, QF against Henin probably
2006-SF against Mauresmo and San Diego Final against Clijsters
2007-YEC against Ivanovic, against Henin in the final was also brutal, but she lost so...
2008-AO QF against Henin, best match of her career in my opinion
2009-Tokyo against Stosur
2010-Cincinnati against Bartoli and Radawanska and also Wimbledon 4R loss to Serena
2011-Rome SF against Wozniacki and Wimbledon QF against Cibulkova
2012-Stuttgart final against Azarenka and also QF against Stosur

This was considering the quality