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The WTA Finals, the final tournament of the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) with a prize fund of $7 million, has started in Singapore. This year, three newcomers are taking part in it, and seven out of eight tennis players have a chance to become the first racket of the world at the end of the year. In two matches in the White Group, Karolina Pliskova left no chance for Venus Williams, and Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza also beat the sensational Roland Garros winner Jelena Ostapenko in two games.
The final WTA tournament, which is being held in Singapore for the fourth year in a row, can be considered unique. Firstly, there has never been such a level of competition in the fight for first place at the end of the year at this competition. The fact is that, theoretically, seven tennis players can lead the ranking at once, and four of them - the current leader, Romanian Simona Halep, Spaniard Garbine Muguruza, Ukrainian Elina Svitolina and Czech Karolina Pliskova - are quite realistic candidates for leadership. For example, in order to beat Halep, who is only 40 rating points ahead of her, Muguruza needs to win just one more match. And Pliskova and Svitolina may well count on a favorable option for themselves.
Secondly, compared to last year, more than half - five out of eight tennis players - have updated the composition of the tournament participants. In addition, there were three newcomers in the Singapore eight - Elina Svitolina, Elena Ostapenko from Latvia and Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia.
Thirdly, it has not happened for a long time that the division of tennis players into groups so clearly corresponded to the manner of their play. In the White group were Garbine Muguruza, Caroline Pliskova, Venus Williams and Jelena Ostapenko, who prefer more powerful tennis compared to Simona Halep, Elina Svitolina, Caroline Wozniacki and Caroline Garcia from the Red group.
The starting day of the WTA Finals did not bring any surprises. First, Pliskova defeated Venus Williams in just 1 hour 12 minutes with a score of 6:2, 6:2. The 37-year-old American, who is taking part in the final tournament for the fifth time, but for the first time in the last eight years, is the oldest participant since 1994. She did not serve very well, making six double faults, and was unable to use her advantage in experience, while the Czech, sometimes not very consistent, demonstrated a fairly accurate and reliable game for herself.
The second meeting of the day - Muguruza-Ostapenko - turned out to be more interesting. On a relatively slow hard court surface, laid on a wooden “cushion” at the Singapore Indoor Stadium, the Latvian tennis player, as usual, tried to act as aggressively as possible, but did not succeed. The Spaniard won 6:3, 6:4 in 1 hour 25 minutes and is thus now ahead of Halep in the rankings, who in turn will play Garcia on Monday.
Evgeniy Fedyakov
WTA ranking
1 (1). Simona Halep (Romania) - 5675 points. 2 (2). Garbiñe Muguruza (Spain) - 5635.3 (3). Karolina Pliskova (Czech Republic) - 5105. 4 (4). Elina Svitolina (Ukraine) - 5000. 5 (5). Venus Williams (USA) - 4642.6 (6). Caroline Wozniacki (Denmark) - 4640.7 (7). Elena Ostapenko (Latvia) - 4510. 8 (9). Caroline Garcia (France) - 3795.9 (10). Joanna Konta (Great Britain) - 3610. 10 (13). Kristina Mladenovic (France) - 2885. 11 (8). Svetlana Kuznetsova(Russia) - 2856. 12 (14). Coco Vandewey - 2819. 13 (15). Sloane Stevens (both - USA) - 2722. 14 (18). Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova(Russia) - 2425. 15 (21). Anastasia Sevastova (Latvia) - 2295. 16 (16). Madison Keys (USA) - 2213. 17 (20). Elena Vesnina(Russia) - 2195. 18 (27). Julia Goerges - 2060. 19 (11). Angelique Kerber (both - Germany) - 2042. 20 (23). Ashleigh Barty (Australia) - 2031… 24 (28). Daria Kasatkina(Russia) - 1950… 33 (33). Ekaterina Makarova(Russia) - 1580… 54 (67). Natalya Vikhlyantseva(Russia) - 1070… 60 (57). Maria Sharapova(Russia) - 1006… 73 (74). Ekaterina Alexandrova(Russia) - 830… 84 (86). Evgenia Rodina(Russia) - 752.
In brackets is the position in the previous week.
WTA and ATP tournaments
Final WTA tournament in Singapore. Prize fund - $7 million
White group. First round. Garbiñe Muguruza (Spain, 2)-Elena Ostapenko (Latvia, 7) 6:3, 6:4. Karolina Pliskova (Czech Republic, 3)-Venus Williams (USA, 5) 6:2, 6:2.
WTA Kremlin Cup tournament in Moscow. Prize fund - $855 thousand.
Final. Julia Goerges (Germany, 7) - Daria Kasatkina(Russia) 6:1, 6:2.
ATP Kremlin Cup tournament in Moscow. Prize fund - $745 thousand.
Final. Damir Dzumhur (Bosnia and Herzegovina, 6)-Richardas Berankis (Lithuania) 6:2, 1:6, 6:4.
ATP tournament in Stockholm. Prize fund - €590 thousand.
Final. Juan Martin Del Potro (Argentina, 4)-Grigor Dimitrov (Bulgaria, 1) 6:4, 6:2.
And here we go again: the final chord of the season will be given from October 22 to 29 in Singapore with the final WTA tournament. As always, the eight best representatives of women's tennis hope to win the unofficial world championship. The current winner, Dominika Cibulkova, does not have the opportunity to defend her title - she did not qualify for the competition. Last year's finalist Angelique Kerber is also not among the participants. Below is a brief analysis and attempt to predict the chances of all eight tennis players at the upcoming competition.
Simona Halep
The newly crowned first racket of the world, although she won only one title this year, was also able to reach the finals of Roland Garros, Cincinnati and Beijing. Participation in the decisive match in the Chinese capital, by the way, allowed her to become the new leader of world women's tennis. Otherwise, Halep’s 2017 season cannot be called outstanding. At the Australian and US Opens she lost in the first round, and at Wimbledon she was defeated in the quarterfinals by Johanna Konta. And, nevertheless, she became the first racket of the world!
: 1 (Madrid)
Age: 26 years old
Country: Romania
WTA: 3 (2014–2016)
Forecast: Halep just won first place in the world rankings. In any case, we can predict her participation in the semi-finals. At the same time, the two competitors look, in our opinion, stronger than her.
Garbiñe Muguruza
Garbine Muguruza is having the best season of his career so far. She won the Wimbledon final against former world No. 1 Venus Williams and also defeated Simona Halep in the tournament decider in Cincinnati. The Romanian, by the way, only two weeks ago was able to replace the Spaniard as the best tennis player on the planet. At the moment, only 40 WTA ranking points separate Halep and Muguruza, who are neck and neck.
Tournaments won in the 2017 season: 2 (Wimbledon and Cincinnati)
Age: 24 years old
Country: Spain
Past participations in the final tournamentWTA: 2 (2015–2016)
Forecast: In Cincinnati, Muguruza beat Pliskova and Halep. The athlete from Spain is rightfully considered one of the favorites of the WTA finals after a strong season. Looks like one of the most likely participants in the Singapore final.
Karolina Pliskova
Pliskova has also produced consistently good results this season, which is proven, in particular, by the three tournaments she won this year: in Brisbane, Doha and Eastbourne. However, what she undoubtedly lacked in 2017 was great success at the TBS. She reached the semifinals of Roland Garros, the quarterfinals in Melbourne and New York, and completely failed in the second round at Wimbledon. However, after Kerber dropped in the world rankings, the Czech became the world number one for eight weeks immediately after the English Open. At the final competition in Singapore, she has a chance to regain her lost crown. The fact that hard is her favorite surface will undoubtedly be in her favor.
Tournaments won in the 2017 season: 3 (Brisbane, Doha and Eastbourne)
Age: 25 years old
Country: Czech Republic
Past participations in the final tournamentWTA: 1 (2016)
Forecast: At last year's tournament, Pliskova was eliminated at the group stage, but this year she is clearly capable of more - in her best form, the Czech tennis player is an unconditional candidate for the final.
Elina Svitolina
The Ukrainian qualified for the WTA finals for the first time. On the court, she shines primarily with her two-handed backhand. Her biggest successes this year are victories at competitions in Dubai, Rome and Toronto. At the same time, she beat Caroline Wozniacki twice in two sets and Simona Halep once in three sets. During the current season, she was already the third racket in the world and can always spring a surprise. In addition, Svitolina has a chance to lead the world rankings at the end of the year, which, of course, will give her additional motivation.
Tournaments won in the 2017 season: 5 (Taipei, Dubai, Istanbul, Rome and Toronto)
Age: 23 years old
Country: Ukraine
Past participations in the final tournamentWTA: 0
Forecast: Among all the participants, the Ukrainian has the most trophies won this season. However, she lacks major success in the majors. Nevertheless, she seems to us to be a semi-finalist of the Singapore championship.
Venus Williams
The 37-year-old “grandmother” of the WTA tour, Venus Williams, was able to get to the final tournament in Singapore without winning a single trophy in the 2017 season. And yet: at the Australian Open and Wimbledon she played in the finals, losing to her younger sister Serena in Melbourne, and to Garbine Muguruza in London. In total, Williams competed in only 13 competitions this year. Like Roger Federer, who is almost equal in age, she tries to distribute her strength wisely. Her trump card in Singapore will certainly be her wealth of experience, which none of her competitors has.
Tournaments won in the 2017 season: 0
Age: 37 years old
Country: USA
Past participations in the final tournamentWTA: 4 (1999, 2002, 2008–2009)
Forecast: Most likely, she will be eliminated after the group stage. Williams didn't win a single tournament in 2017, and that's likely to remain the case in Singapore. However, the very participation in the final championship of the season after an eight-year pause is already a success for the American tennis player.
Caroline Wozniacki
This season, Caroline Wozniacki has already taken part in 22 tournaments and in this sense is the opposite of the “little played” Williams. However, the Dane has only one trophy to her name – in Tokyo. Prior to this, Wozniacki had failed six times in the finals and only after that, in October, she won the decisive match in the capital of Japan. In fact, she shows a fairly stable game in the 2017 season, but she often lacks just a little bit to outplay her top opponents in the most important matches. And at the TBS, her best achievement in 2017 was reaching the quarterfinals of Roland Garros.
Tournaments won in the 2017 season: 1 (Tokyo)
Age: 27 years old
Country: Denmark
Past participations in the final tournamentWTA: 4 (2009–2011 and 2014)
Forecast: Most likely, like Williams, she will finish her performances in Singapore after the group stage. Most of the time, Wozniacki allows her opponents to dictate the match, and her game lacks weapons with which she can hit her top opponents. Therefore, the final station at the final WTA tournament for the former world number one will be the group stage.
Elena Ostapenko
The Latvian, who is only 20 years old, is making a real sensation this year. Following the results of an outstanding season, she was not only able to win Roland Garros, beating Simona Halep in the final, but also became the first tennis player from Latvia to qualify for Singapore. Often for her the question arises like this: all or nothing. This was very clearly visible in the decisive match of the French Open, in which she initially lost 4-6, 0-3 due to numerous unforced errors, but then swept Halep off the court. So Ostapenko’s game is very exciting! Although, of course, she lacks experience and stability.
Tournaments won in the 2017 season: 2 (Roland Garros and Seoul)
Age: 20 years
Country: Latvia
Past participations in the final tournamentWTA: 0
Forecast: The youngest participant in the final tournament will undoubtedly try to annoy the representatives of the elite. But, nevertheless, her lack of experience will most likely play a cruel joke on her at the competition, and she will leave Singapore after the group round.
Caroline Garcia
Caroline Garcia was the last to qualify for the final tournament of the year - this became clear just two weeks ago. She won two tournaments in a row - in Wuhan and then, a week later, in Beijing - and after Konta withdrew from the Kremlin Cup, the Frenchwoman secured her first participation in the Singapore competition. In the decisive match of the Beijing competition, by the way, she managed to win in two sets over the first racket of the world, Simona Halep. Until 2017, she also performed very successfully in doubles. This year in Singapore she can play in her own free style.
Tournaments won in the 2017 season: 2 (Wuhan and Beijing)
Age: 24 years old
Country: France
Past participations in the final tournamentWTA: 0
Forecast: Although the fitness curve speaks in Garcia's favor and the Frenchwoman can boast of great success in doubles, the rest of the participants still have more experience. After the last busy weeks on tour, she may well not have enough strength, so most likely she will not make it past the group stage in Singapore.
GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE FINAL TOURNAMENTWTA
Venue: Singapore
Prize fund: 7 million US dollars
Coating: hard
Last year's final: Dominika Cibulkova–Angelique Kerber 6-3, 6-4
Wonderful things are happening in Russian tennis. Moscow and St. Petersburg staged a race to see who has more tournaments. City on the Neva was leading 2:1, but starting next year it will be 2:2. Peter has a men's St. Petersburg Open and women's Ladies Trophy. Moscow is rightfully proud of the Kremlin Cup, where both men and women play, and now it will also have a separate competition for ladies - the July International tournament on the open clay courts of the Juan Antonio Samaranch National Tennis Center of Russia.
Why the WTA's generosity? It's simple. The organizers of the Moscow tournament bought a license from the competition in Båstad (Sweden), which took place in the last week of July. This place on the calendar cannot be called convenient. The new Moscow tournament will be held on clay right before the start of the American series on hard court, where all the strongest tennis players will probably go. It is unlikely that Maria Sharapova will want to play on the ground before this, but the organizers of the new tournament promise to do everything possible to bring her to Moscow again.
Results
WTA Final Tournament - 2017 (Singapore)
The prize fund is $7,000,000. Hard. Group stage. 3rd round
White group. Ostapenko (Latvia, 7) - Kar. Pliskova (Czech Republic, 3) 6:3, 6:1; V. Williams (USA, 5) - Muguruza (Spain, 2) 7:5, 6:4
Final position: 1. Pliskova (Czech Republic) - 2 wins/1 loss; 2. V. Williams (USA) - 2/1; 3. Muguruza (Spain) - 1/2; 4. Ostapenko (Latvia) - 1/2
Singapore, 10.21-10.27.2017 Women (WTA), hard, Final Championship, 8 participants.
Announcement
The main competition of the year for women will be Final tournament in Singapore. It is called the final one, although after it the season will continue for another month. But the best tennis players will be able to go on vacation with a clear conscience. So we suggest taking the opportunity to watch the best of the best for the last time in 2017 (and, of course, bet on one of them for a high odds that will not be equaled during the season).
Results of the first days
The tournament started on Sunday and so far only two matches in the white group have ended. There is no point in waiting and seeing who will take the lead, since the tournament is already short-lived. Let's try to predict the winner in advance, especially since we are well aware of the capabilities of all the finalists.
Quotes as of 10/22/2017
All odds given below were set by bookmaker Marathon as of October 22, 2017, 19:00 Moscow time. In the white group, the second meeting had just ended, and the office had not yet had time to issue new quotes.
Rating
Forecast
White group
V. Williams. The American showed complete helplessness against Pliskova in the first (yesterday) match. After the 2:6 2:6 fiasco, Venus said that the courts in Singapore were too slow and did not allow her to show her best qualities. But the elder Williams is considered to play smart tennis. For her straightforward opponent, who relies heavily on the first serve and powerful flat shots during the rally, the slow surface would have hampered her much more. Apparently, it’s not a matter of coverage, but the fact that an older American woman can’t compete with young elite opponents. Next, Venus will have to take the court against Muguruza and Ostapenko, tennis players who are even sharper and more explosive, moving quickly and there is no chance at all.
E. Ostapenko. The Latvian also showed that she is not yet competitive at the elite level. She has a resounding success to her credit (title at Roland Garros 2017), but, apart from this conquest, Elena has never demonstrated games at the level of the top ten. So far she has yet to prove that success in Paris is not an accident, that she does not belong to the huge army of girls who were unable to confirm the pattern of a single success with subsequent stable performances (such as Puig, Schiavone, Bartolli, etc.). Lena lacks stability. She started the final hard season with failures, losing in the first round to Toronto and Cincinnati. Moreover, the oppositionists there were frankly weak - Lepchenko and Krunich. This was followed by elimination in the third round at the US OPEN. The Asian series was much more successful for the Latvian: one title in Seoul (however, the rivals there were of the level of Luksiki Kumhun and Nao Hibino) and two semi-finals in Yuhan and Beijing (in the first of them she even managed to beat Muguruza). But all these were competitions that were unimportant for the leaders, who did not want to get injured before the Final and quickly merged. Singapore is a completely different story. The first match here against Muguruza was clearly lost, both in terms of the score and the game. Next Ostapenko will have meetings with Williams and Pliskova. And it will be a huge success for the young Latvian if she manages to take at least one point in the end.
K. Pliskova. The Czech was the least successful of the eight in the second half of the season, so even against Williams, the bookmakers assessed her chances with caution, believing them to be approximately equal. But the defeat of the pensioner immediately elevated Plishkova to second place in the rating list. We are not inclined to overestimate the capabilities of a player who demonstrates primitive tennis and has obvious weaknesses (in particular, she is not fast and resilient enough; Karolina is often enough for only one set). If we evaluate the results shown during the current hard season, we will see a dual picture. On the one hand, Pliskova has an excellent win-loss balance (+14 -6). On the other hand, almost all confrontations with worthy opponents ended sadly for her. In particular, the Czech lost to Kirste, Barty, Kerber, Vandeweghe, Muguruza and Wozniacki. At the same time, consider that there were no victories over elite girls at all (Wozniacki’s rematch, and, perhaps, the triumph in the meeting with Pavlyuchenkova can be classified as memorable successes). Williams' defeat was impressive, but it is unknown what was more important here - her own skill or the opposition's weakness.
G. Muguruza. The Spaniard tore everyone apart at Wimbledon, proving that she had accustomed herself to the idea that she was truly an elite tennis player. It cannot be said that Garbi’s further path was sinless. In Stanford, the Spaniard lost to Keys in the semifinals, in Toronto she was beaten in the third round by Svitolina. Finally, Cincinnati managed to take the title, taking revenge from Keys, and at the same time burying Pliskova, Halep and Kuznetsova. Then there was the fourth round at the US OPEN, where I had to lose to Kvitova, plus the third stage in Toronto (where Muguruza defeated Garcia, but could not resist Wozniacki, suffering a humiliating defeat 0:6 2:6). Finally, the Chinese voyage ended in complete fiasco. Elimination in the third round by Ostapenko and the loss of the mediocre Strykova at the start of Beijing (however, there the matter smacked of an outright surrender of the game, since Garbiñe refused with the score 1:6 0:2). If we evaluate the results in historical order, at first glance they seem to be descending. But in fact, everything can be explained by purposeful preparation for the Final. In Singapore, a convincing revenge had already been taken from Ostapenko, and bookmakers were not slow to elevate the Spaniard to the top of their preferences. We tend to agree with them. At the very least, Garbi must leave the group.
Red group
K. Wozniacki. The Dane had a brilliant season, getting closer to the best examples of herself. But even so, she could not rise above sixth place in the classification. It is not surprising that in the next match against Svitolina, the Danish beauty is considered an outsider, offering a quote of 2.41 (versus 1.65 for her opponent). If we take purely technical results (+14 -6), everything looks relatively good. In Tokyo, they even managed to win the title, leaving Cibulkova and Muguruza with their noses. But in general, there are more defeats from elite opponents than victories. Among the successes in meetings with strong girls, in addition to those already mentioned, one can only note the victory over Pliskova in Toronto at the beginning of August. At the same time, Caro was inferior to Svitolina, the same Pliskova, Makarova, Kvitova and even Sakkari (the Dane refused to fight Cabrera at the last competition in Hong Kong). Once in the group of death, Wozniacki can hardly count on leaving it.
S. Halep. As the Romanian herself put it the other day, it will be difficult because she will have to run a lot (in the company of such strong opponents). In the summer, Simone resorted to the help of a psychologist and this had a positive effect on the results. Previously, Halep could not take a single serious title, losing at the decisive moment. For example, at Roland Garros she was a clear favorite against Ostapenko, but as a result she showed complete helplessness and lack of understanding of how to act against this particular opponent. After working with a psychologist, the Romanian took first place in the ratings, but this did not help her learn to win decisive confrontations. In particular, in recent months, Simone has twice reached the finals, but each time the title has slipped away from them. In Cincinnati she was destroyed by Muguruza 1:6 0:6, and recently in Beijing she was beaten by Garcia 4:6 6:7. Between these two relatively successful competitions there were eliminations in the first rounds at US OPEN (0:3 from Sharapova) and Yukhana (1:6 2:6 from Kasatkina). The reason lies on the surface - Simone prefers clay courts, and feels out of place on hard courts (especially fast American and Chinese ones). We believe that in a company with Garcia, Svitolina and Wozniacki, the Romanian can only fight for third place. The first fight against the Frenchwoman is scheduled today, October 23, 2017 at 14:30 Moscow time, and it will become the moment of truth for Halep. Bookmakers consider Simone a favorite, offering to win her for 1.65, but all the experts who managed to express their opinions unanimously insist that Garcia should be the winner here.
K. Garcia. The Frenchwoman had the best performance in the final part of the season. Two victories in a row at the last competitions (in Beijing and Johan), where Halep, Kvitova, Svitolina, Kerber, Cibulkova, Barty were defeated, testify to the excellent form that Carolina has gained. Only the week before last she withdrew from the tournament, and last week she was denied a Wild Card by the organizers of the Kremlin Cup. Thus, the Frenchwoman could well have lost her excellent form in two weeks of inactivity. Let's not forget that in the initial part of the hard season, Garcia performed rather averagely, in none of the four competitions, not advancing beyond the third round. So, although some experts rushed to write her down as the main favorite of the group, Carolina has yet to prove that she can take titles for which the strongest opponents are seriously fighting (to win not only in provincial Chinese cities).
E. Svitolina. At the beginning of October, the Ukrainian climbed to a record third place in the rankings, but in the end she dropped a little due to the fact that in Hong Kong she refused to enter the second round match and missed a fair amount of ranking points(in the end, Pavlyuchenkova became the triumphant there). In general, after the US OPEN, the Ukrainian played only one full-fledged tournament. In Beijing, she reached the third round, defeating Zhu Lin, Ashleigh Barty and Elena Vesnina. At the same time, the fight with Garcia again clearly outlined the main weakness of the Ukrainian - the inability to take out decisive fights in which the opponent desperately resists and does not want to concede. Svitolina definitely needs to work with a psychologist, otherwise the most talented of the young tennis players (Elina is 23 years old) risks never winning anything serious, like Halep, Radwanski or Wozniacki. In general, the hard season went well for Svitolina (+12 -5), especially the very start, when the title was won in Toronto (and Muguruza, Wozniacki, Halep, Kasatkina, Williams were beaten). But after that, Elina had practically no serious opponents, and when they did meet, the Ukrainian suffered defeats. There are doubts that she is in perfect shape now, but we still risk putting her in first position in the group.
Conclusion
In our opinion, they will make it to the semifinals from the white subgroup Pliskova and Muguruza(everything is quite transparent here, their rivals are clearly inferior to them in class). As for the red subgroup, the strength of the entire quartet is approximately equal and it is quite difficult to predict the semi-finalists. We still give preference to the best player of the last month Garcia and the most talented of those gatheredSvitolina. If everything works out as predicted, then Svitolina-Pliskova and Muguruza-Garcia will meet in the half. However, the girls from the red subgroup look stronger in any combination (even if Wozniacki and Halep make it to the semifinals), so they will play for the main cup among themselves.
Final forecast: in the final fight, Garcia will face Svitolina, and here again the Ukrainian should be stronger. She has long been among the elite tennis players, and the Finals, unlike even the Grand Slams, are never won by random individuals or upstarts who shine at a couple of tournaments during the season.