Tennis tournament in Singapore. WTA Finals in Singapore: Introducing the Eight Participants
Current winner: .
In Singapore, the final WTA championship will be played for the 48th time, it is held with the participation of the eight strongest tennis players in the world at the end of the season. For the first time the tournament was held in 1971, but in 1986 there were already two draws. Competitions constantly changed their location - Houston, Boca Rayton, Los Angeles, New York, Oakland, Munich, Madrid, Doha and Istanbul. Since 2014, the competition of the eight strongest tennis players in the world has been played in Singapore, and the license belongs to him until 2018 inclusive. St. Petersburg, among other competitors, also claims to the tournament from 2019.
The record holder for the number of titles in the final WTA tournament is Martina Navratilova - eight. Steffi Graf and Serena Williams have five victories each, Chris Evert has four victories, Monica Seles and Kim Clijsters have three each. Of the Russians, the tournament once submitted to Maria Sharapova (2004), and she was also a finalist two more times (2007, 2012), like Vera Zvonareva (2008). After winning in 2014, Serena was selected to the top eight twice, but both times she refused to participate. In the current draw, in the absence of Sharapova, Serena and Azarenka, there is a large rotation of participants. There are three debutantes in the tournament at once - Svitolina, Ostapenko and Garcia. Karolina Pliskova, Muguruza and Halep have played between one and three of the last draws. Came back after two missed draws Caroline Wozniacki. And the 2008 champion and 2009 finalist Venus Williams has not played at all for the last 7 final tournaments. We also note that 7 out of 8 participants in the tournament in Singapore, according to its results, can become the first racket of the world. But this is a topic for a separate discussion.
According to the rules of the competition, the participants at the preliminary stage, following the results of the draw, were divided into two groups - four tennis players each. Red group - Halep, Svitolina, Wozniacki, Garcia; White group - Muguruza, Pliskova, V. Williams, Ostapenko. According to the results of the group round, the two best athletes go to the playoffs, where, starting from the semi-finals, the winner will be determined as a result.
Participants of the final WTA-2017 championship:
W. Williams - 4 tournaments, 11 wins / 5 losses, best result– title (2008);
Wozniacki - 4, 9/7, final (2010);
Halep - 3, 5/6, final (2014);
Muguruza - 2, 4/3, semi-finals (2015);
Kar.Pliskova - 1, 1/2, group;
Svitolina - debut;
Ostapenko - debut;
Garcia - debut.
Refused to participate Milos Raonic (11), Tomas Berdych (19), Gael Monfils (36), Ivo Karlovic (49).
Current winner: .
The tournament in Vienna has been played since 1974 in the arena "Winner Stadthalle". This home stadium the Austrian national ice hockey team, in addition, the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 was held here. Since 2009, after the reform of the calendar, the tournament in the Austrian capital has been classified as ATP-250. However, in 2015, he exchanged licenses with a higher status tournament in Valencia - ATP-500. And from next year, the Spanish tournament completely ceased to exist. Many famous tennis players won the competition in Vienna - Goran Ivanisevic, Andre Agassi, Boris Becker, Novak Djokovic (1), Nick Kyrgios (20), Gilles Muller (23).
Current winner: Marin Cilic.
The Swiss Indoor Championships are held in Münchenstein, a suburb of Basel, at the St. Jacobshall. The unsurpassed record holder here is local favorite Roger Federer - 7 titles. This year he is seeded at number one, because after a trip to Asia, Rafael Nadal decided to withdraw from the competition.
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Wonderful things are happening in Russian tennis. Moscow and St. Petersburg staged a race: who has more tournaments. The city on the Neva led 2:1, but from next year there will be equality 2:2. Peter has a male 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 receive 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 such generosity of the WTA? Everything is simple. The organizers of the Moscow tournament bought the license from the competition in Bostad (Sweden), which took place in the last week of July. You can’t call this place convenient on the calendar. The new Moscow tournament will be held on clay right before the start of the American series on hard, 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 back to Moscow.
results
WTA Final Tournament - 2017 (Singapore)
Prize fund- 7,000,000 dollars. Hard. Group stage. 3rd round
White group. Ostapenko (Latvia, 7) - Kar. Plishkova (Czech Republic, 3) 6:3, 6:1; W. Williams (USA, 5) - Muguruza (Spain, 2) 7:5, 6:4
Final position: 1. Plishkova (Czech Republic) - 2 wins / 1 loss; 2. W. Williams (USA) - 2/1; 3. Muguruza (Spain) - 1/2; 4. Ostapenko (Latvia) - 1/2
WTA Finals has started in Singapore - the final tournament of the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) with a prize fund of $ 7 million. This year, three newcomers take part in it at once, 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 winner in two games Roland Garros Elena Ostapenko.
The final WTA tournament, which takes place 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 struggle for the first place at this competition at the end of the year. The fact is that seven tennis players can theoretically lead the rating at once, and four of them - the current leader of the Romanian Simona Halep, Spaniard Garbine Muguruza, Ukrainian Elina Svitolina and Czech Karolina Pliskova - quite realistically claim leadership. For example, Muguruza, in order to get past Halep, who is ahead of her by only 40 rating points, it is enough to win just one match more. Yes, 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, three newcomers appeared in the Singapore eight at once - 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 style of their game. The White Group included Garbiñe Muguruza, Karolina Pliskova, Venus Williams and Elena Ostapenko, who prefer more power tennis compared to Simona Halep, Elina Svitolina, Caroline Wozniacki and Caroline Garcia from the Red Group.
The starting day of the WTA Finals brought no surprises. First, Pliskova defeated Venus Williams in just 1 hour and 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 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 distinguished by stability, 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” in the Singapore Indoor Stadium, the Latvian tennis player, as usual, tried to act as aggressively as possible, but did not succeed. The Spaniard won with a score of 6:3, 6:4 in 1 hour 25 minutes and, thus, on this moment outranked Halep, who will play against Garcia on Monday.
Evgeny Fedyakov
WTA ranking
eleven). Simona Halep (Romania) - 5675 points. 2(2). Garbine 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 Gerges - 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). Natalia Vikhlyantseva(Russia) - 1070… 60 (57). Maria Sharapova(Russia) - 1006… 73 (74). Ekaterina Alexandrova(Russia) - 830… 84(86). Evgenia Rodina(Russia) - 752.
In brackets - the position of the previous week.
WTA and ATP Tournaments
Final WTA Tournament in Singapore. Prize fund - $7 million
White group. First tour. Garbine Muguruza (Spain, 2) - Elena Ostapenko (Latvia, 7) 6:3, 6:4. Karolina Plishkova (Czech Republic, 3) - Venus Williams (USA, 5) 6:2, 6:2.
Tournament WTA Kremlin Cup in Moscow. Prize fund - $855 thousand.
The final. Julia Goerges (Germany, 7) - Daria Kasatkina(Russia) 6:1, 6:2.
Tournament ATP Kremlin Cup in Moscow. Prize fund - $745 thousand.
The final. Damir Dzumhur (Bosnia and Herzegovina, 6) - Richardas Berankis (Lithuania) 6:2, 1:6, 6:4.
ATP tournament in Stockholm. Prize fund - €590 thousand.
The final. Juan Martin Del Potro (Argentina, 4) - Grigor Dimitrov (Bulgaria, 1) 6:4, 6:2.
For the third year in a row, hospitable Singapore hosts the most powerful tennis players in the world who will compete for victory in one of the most prestigious tournaments in world tennis. The final tournament of the year always has its own amazing atmosphere, because there are no random participants and random winners here. And sincere and always active fans in Singapore turned the WTA Finals into a real celebration. Throughout the season, the most powerful tennis players in the world showered compliments towards this competition. And now, with only the top eight left, there is hope that the tournament will once again be exciting.
Although the phrase "all the strongest" regarding the WTA Finals for the second year in a row is not entirely appropriate. Serena Williams again misses the tournament, which she won five times, and once in Singapore itself. After the triumph at Wimbledon, the American has noticeably sat down and, apparently, is resting before a new spurt in 2017. When Williams Jr. is out of shape, her performances on the court turn into a stage drama with a lot of effects and a minimum of tennis. Therefore, her loss in her current state is unlikely to be seriously noticeable.
Red group
This group was led by the first racket of the world Angelique Kerber, and she was accompanied by Romanian Simona Halep, American Madison Keys and Slovak Dominika Cibulkova. In fact, a very even composition of the group, which guarantees many interesting fights. Just look at the personal meetings of the participants. Angelique Kerber, who by status should be the favorite of the group, has a positive "PM" only with Madison Keys. On the other hand, Halep is leading in a personal confrontation with Keys and Kerber, but at the same time he is inferior to Cibulkova. And Dominica herself lost all three meetings of Madison. So there can be many stories.
If the tournament were held in September or August, then this group could be called the Angelique Kerber group. But now Halep looks like her favorite. Simona had a good stable season, where there was no long-awaited breakthrough in the tournament " Grand Slam". But also there were no huge failures during the whole season except for his start. To Beijing Simona just arrived already as a player who qualified for the Final Tournament of the Year. In Singapore, Halep already had a final, this year she has a great chance to at least repeat this result.
Of course, Kerber is having an amazing season, where she was marked by victories in the "majors" in USA and Australia , the final at Wimbledon and the Olympics and incredible stability throughout almost the entire season. However, after a hard-won victory in New York, Angelique ran out of batteries. She is increasingly talking about rest, and the motivation of the 28-year-old tennis player is now much less. As she herself said, she there's nothing more to prove. And the Final Tournament has never been particularly successful for Kerber.
Desire - this is exactly what Angelique lacks now. In a game with the same Cibulkova, this will be especially significant, since these are two tennis players of the same plan. Dominica, who started the season outside the Top 50, had a great campaign in 2016. She had to make her way through difficult grids, lose a lot of points because of this, but at the end of the season, successful tournaments in Wuhan and Linz brought a well-deserved award to the Slovak - a trip to Singapore. Although Dominika has little experience at this level, Cibulkova's fighting qualities are known throughout the Tour.
As for Madison Keys, she remains a mystery and dark horse groups. Despite the fact that Madison tennis is the exact opposite of the term "constancy", her results in the season this year were very even. In all of 2016, Madison only left the tournament three times before the third round. And this is the decisive factor that helped the American to be in Singapore. But in Linz, where the trip was guaranteed, Keys played with a cold. Add to this the flight, the lack of experience and you get the outsider of the group. Madison will have a great experience getting to know the rhythm of the game at the Final Tournament. She can relax and feel like she is on a tour, because there is no pressure on her. This is a tiny, but still a chance for Madison.
Expected results: 1. Halep 3:0; 2. Cibulkova 2:1; 3. Kerber 1:2 4. Keys 0:3
white group
There is a little more experience in the White Group, more joint victories in big tournaments, but here the situation is looming very interesting. For example, Karolina Pliskova leads in personal meetings with Svetlana Kuznetsova and Garbin Mugurusa. At the same time, Agnieszka Radwańska shamelessly concedes - 0:6. In turn, Agnieszka is minimally inferior to Muguruse, but Sveta is a Pole's nightmare - 4:12. In addition, the form of the participants also varies greatly.
At Agnieszka has a good chance of defending her title, especially given the dynamics of the Polish tennis player's season. After all, it was in the autumn that she won one of the largest tournaments in her career in Beijing. Another thing is that Radwańska last beat a Top 10 player back in March. An additional difficulty for the third racket of the world lies in the fact that she starts the tournament with a match with an uncomfortable Svetlana Kuznetsova, who scored a good move.
Kuznetsova jumped on the bandwagon of the outgoing train, "on the flag" declaring for the tournament "VTB Kremlin Cup", and then won in great style title on it . After the US Open, Svetlana played much more lively, scoring several quality wins. Including, Agnieszka, Venus, Svitolina were beaten, and all the losses were in equal matches. Svetlana had an interesting streak at big competitions, when she lost only to the winners. It all started with Rome and losing to Serena, and ended at the US Open, when Kuznetsova lost to Wozniacki in the second round. Caroline eventually reached the semi-finals. This once again shows how underrated the season Svetlana spends. If she still has the strength for this tournament, then it is quite possible to repeat Agnieszka's feat. A lot depends on the first match.
Garbin Muguruza won three or more matches in WTA competition for the entire 2016 season. At the same time, she only once defeated a tennis player from the Top 10 of the world ranking. In the final month of 2015, Garbin advanced to the semi-finals or higher three times at two Premiere Series tournaments and the Finals. During this period of time, she beat six tennis players from the WTA Top 10 rankings. At the same time, in 2016 Garbinwon the major but not in 2015. And who's to say that last season was better than this one? Muguruza ran out of steam at the end of last year's semi-final here against Agnieszka. Now she is not in danger. Best Win over the past six months, Garbin's asset is Pavlyuchenkova in Cincinnati. Add to that a recent injury and you have a 3-0 contender.
The summer of 2016 completely turned Pliskova's career around. The 24-year-old tennis player with excellent physical data and an outstanding serve looked more and more like a player who was never destined to reach her potential. However, at first, Carolina lit up at grass tournaments, and then shot at tournament in Cincinnati . Although it was a post-Olympic tournament, Caro had an almost perfect week. And already in New York, she showed that it was no accident. If Karolina had been more experienced, then only Agnieszka Radwańska would have been the only member of the White Group without winning the Slams. What are the prospects for Pliskova in this tournament? She can finish it with a set balance of 0:6, or win without giving up a game in her path. Until you see at least a couple of games from this tennis player in a particular tournament, it is incredibly difficult to make predictions about her performance.
Expected Results: 1-3. Kuznetsova 2:1; Radwańska 2:1; Pliskova 2:1; 4. Muguruza 0:3.
If Agnieszka will get out of her group, then she is definitely the main favorite to win. On the other hand, Halep has been going around and around a big win for years. When, if not now? And why shouldn't Svetlana repeat last year's success of Radvanskaya? Or where is the confidence that Kerber will not turn into a machine again? The victory of any tennis player will be both logical and illogical at the same time. That's why this year's WTA Finals will be so exciting to watch.
