WTA Finals Draw: Can Agnieszka Radwanska successfully defend her title?

Last year, Agnieszka Radwanska made her way to her maiden WTA Finals title pretty much as an underdog. She resurrected herself after a 1-2 record in the group stage to produce a stunning effort in the semi-finals and the final against Garbine Muguruza and Petra Kvitova respectively en route to the crown.

How is the defense of her prestigious season-ending championships title shaping up with eight of the year’s best players all vying for it? Let us have an in-depth look:

White Group: A group of opportunity for Radwanska

The White Group

Agnieszka RadwanskaKarolina Pliskova Garbine MuguruzaJohanna Konta or Svetlana Kuznetsova

One year after the colossal win at Singapore, the Pole comes to the scene of her biggest triumph, riding high on confidence with the Premier Mandatory title at Beijing in the fall season to show for. As the second seed at the year-ender in the absence of the five-time champion Serena Williams, she finds herself heading the White Group, stacked with two power-hitters – Garbine Muguruza and Karolina Pliskova – with the identity of the eighth seed still unknown.

Should that be a cause of concern for the 2012 Wimbledon runner-up? Perhaps not.

For, this is an opportunity that Radwanska would like to grab with both hands. As most of her peers have started to get fatigued, the Pole has looked fresh and highly motivated in the last few weeks.

Post-US Open, she has won 12 matches that is quite a high number compared to how the other competitors in her group have fared.

World No. 5 Karolina Pliskova, who had a fiery run to the US Open final following her upset of Serena, mellowed out and had hardly done anything of significance since then. She managed just three wins in the fall and her record against the Pole is a lopsided 0-6 too – clearly, the Czech has a lot to worry.

Garbine Muguruza is in the same boat as the US Open runner-up as well. All the promise that the Spaniard showed by winning the French Open, amounted to nothing. Her performances have been dismal and she won just 12 more matches for the rest of the year since her Paris breakthrough. Her record against Radwanska is a competitive 4-3 but she did lose their last meeting right here in Singapore.

To add to her woes, Muguruza has to share her group with Pliskova, who is one player the Spaniard would have seriously liked to avoid. The French Open champion has lost to the Czech the last three times and her last and only victory over the Czech came way back in 2013.

If Muguruza falters yet again, things could look even rosier for the defending champion. The only groupmate that Radwanska needs to be wary of is Svetlana Kuznetsova. The latter has a whopping 11-4 head-to-head record over the Pole and she came back from match point down to beat the World No. 3 in their most recent showdown at Wuhan.

But then the Russian’s spot at the year-ender is not guaranteed yet. Even if the 31-year-old does succeed in winning at the currently ongoing Kremlin Cup and clinches the last available berth, she will come to the season finale with hardly anything left in the tank.

The eighth seed is supposed to play Radwanska on Monday and that could be a welcome news for the Pole if it is an exhausted Kuznetsova. Even if the two-time Major champion fails to qualify and the British No. 1 Johanna Konta takes that final spot, that should also augur well for the 2015 winner. Konta recently faced off with the Pole in the Beijing final and lost to her in straight sets.

Under the circumstances, Radwanska looks the most probable player to qualify from this group for the semi-finals. Pliskova has a winning record over both Kuznetsova and Konta and if she plays to her potential, the Finals debutante can be the second player to emerge from this group.

It has been a sensational year for Angelique Kerber

Red Group: Kerber has questions to answer

The Red Group

Angelique KerberSimona HalepMadison KeysDominika Cibulkova

It has been a sensational year for Angelique Kerber. Two Grand Slam titles, the WTA year-end No. 1 ranking, the WTA Player of the Year award – the list of accolades for the German in 2016 is endless.

But can she end it on a high? The 28-year-old has lots of questions to answer and those questions will be asked by her groupmates – Simona Halep, Madison Keys and Dominika Cibulkova.

It is to be remembered that after rising to the pinnacle, Kerber has not looked like the player who had her most productive period of the season from Wimbledon to the end of the US Open. The southpaw reaped the rewards of her improved self-belief in that stretch and added the title at Flushing Meadows, the Olympic silver apart from reaching the finals at Wimbledon and Cincinnati. It was when she truly established herself as the world’s best player.

However, since the US Open, she has not been able to replicate those results and could only grab five match wins. Those erratic performances honestly do not bode well ahead of an event where the crème de la crème will be in action.

Kerber’s battle with Halep, especially, will be one to watch. The Romanian is ahead only marginally in this rivalry, 4-3 but it is the lefty who has won three of their four showdowns this year. The result of this match could become pivotal for deciding who progresses into the knock-out stages.

The only relatively hassle-free match that Kerber can have is the one against Keys. The German leads this head-to-head record 5-1 which includes two straight-sets wins this year. While Keys is making her debut, this is Kerber’s fourth appearance at the finale and that can also lend an edge to the German in this clash.

The one match that is tough to predict and will become crucial for Kerber is her encounter with Cibulkova. The two are locked at 4-4 in their lifetime meetings and they did not cross paths this year which makes it even more difficult to envisage a scoreline. How the reinvented Kerber will perform against Cibulkova could become a key factor for both players. It must also be noted that the Slovakian has come to her maiden WTA Finals on the back of winning the title at Linz and can definitely turn the tables on the World No. 1.

In spite of all the above possible dangers, one thing can do Kerber a major favour. All through the year, the German has displayed a remarkable ability to step up in the most important tournaments. Self-admittedly, she has learnt to cope with pressure much better now and that was evident countless times in 2016.

That surely can come in handy for the top seed as she aims to progress out of the round-robin stage for the first time in her career.

Cibulkova too has the tools to make it a memorable debut. She has a slender edge over the 2015 runner-up Halep whom she leads 4-3 and has won both their hardcourt meetings. The Slovak, who had her most consistent season in 2016, was on a roll after the US Open, grabbing the Linz title and reaching the Wuhan final and, in the process, amassed 11 wins – the best in her group. There is no doubt that her confidence is sky-high and she could use it very well to become the second player to move out of the group.

Knock-out stages

There is a decent chance of an encore of two match-ups that caught the attention of the tennis world this year – Kerber vs Pliskova and Radwanska vs Cibulkova.

Radwanska did lose three consecutive matches to Cibulkova this year in their four 2016 meetings and a fifth face-off too could be anything but smooth. But it is the Pole who should be considered the favourite in the last two hurdles here simply because of her sizzling form in the fall combined with her experience of winning this tournament.