Angelique Kerber vs Simona Halep
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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
