It’s time for the World Tour Finals in Singapore, and the top eight ranked WTA players - or the Elite 8, as they are known, will compete with one another for the prestigious Finals title. No. 3 Agnieszka Radwanska is the title defender in Singapore, but a number of other players have also been in form – and so we are likely to see a strong playing field this time around.
The eight players have been divided into two groups of four each. The round robin format means that each player in a given group will play the other three once, with the top two players from each team qualifying for the semi-finals.
Read more: WTA Finals singles draws and how they work
Here are 5 matches that you should not miss
Madison Keys vs Dominika Cibulkova – Team Red
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One has been described as the ‘Next Serena Williams’ – by Serena Williams herself. The other has been in roaring form lately, hitting the top 10 this year for a career-highest ranking of World No. 8.
Madison Keys, who is the only other American player in the top 10, has been something of a revelation in 2016. Although she has been better on pacier courts – especially hardcourt surfaces, Keys had a standout clay-court season, making her first ever clay final at the Internazional BNL D’Italia – where she eventually endured a straight sets loss to Serena Williams.
A title win at the Birmingham Classic – on grass – not only won Keys the second title of her career, but also propelled her to the Top 10 for the first time.
Keys also made a second WTA Premier 5 final this year – the highest on the WTA circuit – losing eventually to Romanian ace Simona Halep – who also beat her in the opening match at Singapore this year.
Cibulkova, who made her debut nearly a decade ago but saw a dip in form, has made a resurgence in 2016 – one strong enough to make a Top 10 return. After fair to strong performances to kick off her WTA season, Cibulkova won her debut WTA title of 2016 in Katowice, Poland, and soon made the finals of the Madrid Open where she tumbled to Simona Halep.
2016 also marked Cibulkova’s debut grass title at the Eastbourne International, where she beat Karolina Pliskova for the trophy – notable given Pliskova has been having a particularly strong season also.
Her repeated finals finishes this year, including one at Wuhan in the singles, saw Cibulkova hit No. 8.
This promises to be an interesting match despite Madison Keys leading the pair’s head-to-head record 3-0. Although the Slovak has never beaten her American rival in the past, Cibulkova’s form has been on a significant upswing – while Keys, for her strong season, has been quite patchy. That could even out the playing field between the two to give us an interesting match here.
Cibulkova nearly gave No. 1 Angelique Kerber a scare here, so she’s definitely up for the challenge.
Prediction: Cibulkova to win in three sets
Angelique Kerber vs Simona Halep
World No. 1 vs World No 2 will be a contest most will want to watch. Both players have had consistent performances where it has mattered the most, and remained largely injury free all year.
But 2016 could best be described as the Year of Kerber. The German, who has repeatedly put in strong performances where it mattered most, made the finals of three of the year’s four Grand Slams, winning two titles to deservedly ascend to World No. 1. At 29, Kerber also became the oldest player to ascend to that ranking for the first time – although she is far from the oldest women’s No. 1.
Serious followers of Kerber may have noted that the German was building up to this feat from 2015, when she achieved the feat of having won at least one title on every surface; she won four WTA titles that year.
Her Australian Open win shot her to World No. 2, a ranking that dropped for a while afterwards as a result of a few injury withdrawals and losses. Successfully defending a number of titles on the WTA tour, Kerber managed to pull out the stops for a silver medal at the Olympic Games as well, cementing her place as an in-form performer this year.
Kerber has not had much luck following her ascent to No. 1, but with Serena Williams’ withdrawal from the WTA Finals, cemented her own place as the 2016 year-end No. 1. In her opening match here at the WTA Finals, the German was taken to three sets by Dominika Cibulkova despite having led the pair’s head-to-head record – perhaps as much an indication of Kerber’s form as it is Cibulkova’s.
Halep, fresh off her own straight sets win to Madison Keys, had a good 2015 season but a stuttering 2016. The Romanian has seen a number of shock upsets this year at several tournaments, losing to qualifiers and unseeded players she would likely not be expected to lose to.
Despite that downswing, Halep did win the title in Madrid – her first of the year, and picked up her performances in the Asian leg of the WTA Tour with a semi-final finish in Wuhan – qualifying her for Singapore.
The pair have played each other four times this year – with the German winning on three occasions, including en route to her finals finish at Wimbledon. Although it may seem slanted in favour of Kerber, it is Halep who historically leads their head-to-head finishes with 4 wins of the pair’s seven matches against each other.
Halep is yet to take a straight sets win over Kerber, however, so this may be slanted in favour of the German.
Prediction: Angelique Kerber to win in three sets
Svetlana Kuznetsova vs Agnieszka Radwanska
Radwanska, the defending champion here, is in her sixth consecutive WTA Finals. The Polish ace won her 18th WTA Title this year and after a 2014 lull, has steadily climbed back up the rankings over 2015 and 2016; that said, she has started off with strong performances in a number of tournaments this year, but then fizzled out in latter rounds.
To add to this, Radwanska has also seen a number of injury withdrawals – for different injuries – over the course of this season, including her wrist and knee, something she will want to be careful about going into the finals.
That said, she is by far the more consistent player this year despite Kuznetsova’s resurgence in the 2016 season, and has not had the significant period of low form that the Russian has experienced. Kuznetsova’s performances have also been patchy, while Radwanska has consistently made it through to the latter rounds of tournaments.
Despite this, Kuznetsova runs away with the lead in the pair’s head-to-head record, leading Radwanska 12-3. Their most recent match, at the Wuhan Open, saw Kuznetsova oust Radwanska in the quarter-finals – with the Pole putting up a spirited fight despite her loss.
That said, Kuznetsova’s topspin heavy serve could outfox Radwanska, whose skills lie more with placement than power. The champion here will also hold the psychological advantage of defending her title, so that will add an interesting component to the mix.
Prediction: Kuznetsova to win in three sets
Agnieszka Radwanska vs Garbine Muguruza
The Pole may have by far more WTA titles, but it is Muguruza who, among the two, has won a Grand Slam title. The Spanish 22-year-old hit the big time late last year, this year taking a straight sets win over Serena Williams on the clay courts of Roland Garros this year to win her first – and so far only Grand Slam title.
Following her win, many pipped Muguruza to be a ‘future No. 1’, among them former top-ranked player Chris Evert; Muguruza’s French Open victory had been ever more notable courtesy the fact that she had begun 2016 on a low note.
However, the Spanish ace’s season has seemed to dip since. A few strong finishes on the Tour this year helped Muguruza cement her place in the WTA Finals, but she has so far been unable to replicate the form that won her the French Open title.
Defending champion Radwanska and Muguruza are longtime rivals – and it is the younger Muguruza who leads the pair’s 7 match record 4-3. Interestingly their most recent meeting was at the semi-finals of the tournament last year – with Muguruza putting up a solid fight despite losing.
Radwanska has described Muguruza as having ‘explosive power’ in her serves – while Radwanska herself is not known for power but for agility and strategy, earning her the nickname ‘The Ninja’.
Muguruza has not been in significant form of late, so it remains to be seen whether the Spaniard can bring out some power-hitting against Radwanska.
Prediction: Radwanska to win in three sets
Karolina Pliskova vs Svetlana Kuznetsova
Kuznetsova, an old hand on the WTA circuit, has been powering past some of today’s most powerful opponents to become one of them. Pliskova, meanwhile, made the finals of the US Open whilst achieving a special feat in women’s tennis – defeating two former No. 1 players – Venus and Serena Williams – en route to making the finals at the US Open, her first Grand Slam final.
2016 has perhaps been Pliskova’s best year yet in terms of ranking; hitting No. 6 in the singles, she is at No. 12 in the women’s doubles; she lost out crucially, however, in the finals of the US Open despite leading a set and being up a break in the second. She has choked at crucial times, perhaps also characteristic of the powerful Kuznetsova, who has also been flaky in her form.
Each player is fresh off big wins – Kuznetsova with the title at the Kremlin Cup, Pliskova with her stellar US Open performance.
Both players have an aggressive style of play, which will be interesting to watch.
Interestingly, it is the less-experienced Pliskova who beat Kuznetsova in the pair’s only meeting, which was at the quarter-finals of the Cincinnati Masters or the Western and Southern Open this year.
Prediction: Kuznetsova to win in three sets
