The 2016 WTA Tour is at its twilight as the Wuhan Open will be coming to an end shortly which will be followed by a couple more tournaments before the WTA Finals in Singapore. Only the top eight-ranked players before the 24th of October will be participating in the tournament and the minimum number of points needed to make the Championship cut is 4275.
So far, Angelique Kerber, Serena Williams and Simona Halep have qualified for the Finals at Singapore with Halep booking her place just yesterday after defeating Madison Keys in the quarter-finals of the Wuhan Open. Halep’s qualification for the finals means that there are five more spots left and there are quite a number of players who are still in contention for a place in the WTA Finals.
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Let’s take a look at five players who can qualify for the WTA Finals at Singapore.
#5 Madison Keys
After showing a few promising signs in 2015, Madison Keys has been putting up a number of consistent performances this year. Keys did not have the best of starts to her year as she was heading into the Australian injury carrying an injury. Despite this, she managed to reach the fourth round where she was beaten by Zhang Shuai.
Prior to the French Open, Keys beat the likes of Petra Kvitova and Garbine Muguruza to reach the final of the Italian Open at Rome where she was eventually beaten by Serena Williams
After a fourth round performance at the French Open, Keys won the Aegon Classic in Birmingham which helped her move to the top 10 for the first time in her career. After another fourth round performance at a Grand Slam (Wimbledon), Keys reached the final of the Rogers Cup where she was beaten by Simona Halep.
She followed this with a fourth-place finish at the Rio Olympics where she was beaten by eventual silver medalist Angelique Kerber before being defeated by Petra Kvitova in the bronze medal playoff. She later reached the fourth round of the US Open and most recently reached the quarter-finals of the Wuhan Open where she lost to eventual semifinalist Simona Halep.
Currently ranked eighth, there is not much to separate Keys and ninth-ranked Carla Suarez Navarro. With 3147 points, Keys will be looking to put up a strong performance at the China Open and given her current form, there is a good chance she might be able to qualify for her maiden year-end championships.
#4 Dominika Cibulkova
Following an Achilles surgery in 2015, the 2014 Australian Open runner-up has been putting up a couple of consistent performances lately. After a semi-final showing at the Hobart International, Cibulkova flopped at the Australian Open, being eliminated in the first round. She later won her first WTA title, winning the Katowice Open and later reached the final of the Mutua Madrid Open where she lost to Simona Halep.
After losing in the third round of the French Open, Cibulkova won her maiden grass-court title, winning the Eastbourne International before stunning fourth seed Agnieszka Radwanska to reach her first Wimbledon quarter-final where she lost to Elena Vesnina.
Her performance at Wimbledon was followed by subdued showings at the US Open and the Toray Pan Pacific Open, Cibulkova put up a brilliant performance at the Wuhan Open where she beat the likes of Karolina Pliskova and Svetlana Kuznetsova to set up a final encounter with two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova.
Cibulkova is currently ranked seventh and has 3445 points in her bag. If she can produce another few consistent performances in the forthcoming tournaments then she could most likely be heading to Singapore for the WTA Finals.
#3 Garbine Muguruza
The young Spaniard came into prominence by reaching the Wimbledon final last year which helped her enter the top 10 for the very first time in her career. However, Muguruza did not have the best of starts to 2016 as she had to retire in her opening match of the Brisbane International due to plantar fasciitis which was followed by a disappointing third-round exit at the Australian Open. Muguruza had a couple of inconsistent performances before reaching the semi-finals of the Italian Open.
She followed this with a French Open triumph by defeating reigning champion Serena Williams in the final in straight sets, thus becoming the first Spanish female Grand Slam champion since Arantxa Sanchez Vicario’s third French Open title in 1998. As a result, she achieved a career-best world ranking of No.2.However, she disappointed at Wimbledon, losing in the second round to qualifier Jana Cepelova and had another disappointing outing at the Rio Olympics where she was beaten by eventual gold medalist Monica Puig in the third round. Prior to the US Open, she had a good showing at the Cincinnati Masters where she reached the semi-finals.
However, the US Open went horribly for the 23-year old as she was beaten in the second round of a Grand Slam for a second successive time. Following the US Open, Muguruza reached the quarter-finals of the Toray Pan Pacific Open before being defeated in the second round of the Wuhan Open by former World No.1 Jelena Jankovic.
Based on this year’s WTA tour performances, Muguruza is ranked sixth and has 3568 points in her kitty, which means she only needs to get another 707 points to qualify for Singapore. However, Muguruza will have to improve a lot on her game if she is to reach the WTA finals as she hasn’t been very consistent in the past few months.
#2 Agnieszka Radwanska
The reigning WTA finals champion has been in decent form lately and has produced a couple of consistent performances in the early phases of the year before her recent run of inconsistent performances. Aga began the year by winning the Shenzen Open which was followed by a second Australian Open semi-final where she lost to eventual runner-up Serena Williams.
The Pole’s good form continued as she reached consecutive semi-finals at Doha and Indian Wells which helped her rise back to World No.2. After a few disappointing performances at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix and the Madrid Open, Radwanska exited the French Open in the fourth round.Radwanska did not have a very good start to her grass court season as she lost in her opening match of the Birmingham Classic to Coco Vandeweghe. After reaching the quarter-finals of Eastbourne International, Radwanska reached the fourth round of the Wimbledon where she was surprisingly defeated by Dominika Cibulkova.
After a string of disappointing performances at the Rogers Cup, Rio Olympics, Radwanska reached the quarter-finals of the Cincinnati Masters where she was beaten by Simona Halep before winning the Connecticut Open by defeating Elina Svitolina in the final.
After losing to Croatian teen Ana Konjuh in the fourth round of the US Open, Radwanska made it to the semi-finals of the Toray Pan Pacific Open where she lost to eventual winner Carolina Wozniacki. This was followed by a quarter-final appearance at the Wuhan open where she was beaten by Svetlana Kuznetsova despite winning the first set.
Radwanska has 3985 points in her bag and is on track to qualify for the WTA finals in Singapore. However, she would have to put up a few convincing performances in the tournaments that are to follow to completely assure her place in Singapore.
#1 Karolina Pliskova
The Czech had her breakthrough in 2014 and made her top-10 debut in 2015. Pliskova made a decent start to 2016 by reaching the quarter-finals of the Apia International in Sydney which was followed by a second consecutive third round exit at the Australian Open and at the hands of the same opponent, Ekaterina Makarova.
After a roller-coaster performance following the Australian Open and during the clay-court season, Pliskova won her first title of the year at the Aegon Open by defeating American Alison Riske in the final.After exiting Wimbledon in the second round, Pliskova reached the round of 16 at the Rogers Cup where she was beaten in straight sets by eventual winner Simona Halep. Pliskova then won her first WTA Premier 5 title by winning the Cincinnati Masters, beating Angelique Kerber in the final which subsequently denied her an opportunity of taking the No. 1 ranking.
Pliskova’s best moment in 2016 came at the US Open where she beat both the Williams sisters; Venus in the round of 16 and Serena in the semi-finals to set up a rematch of the Cincinnati Masters final against Angelique Kerber. Kerber avenged her previous defeat by beating Pliskova in three sets.
Following the US Open, Pliskova had a disappointing outing at the Toray Pan Pacific Open where she was beaten in the second round by Olympic gold medalist Monica Puig. This was followed by a third round exit at the hands of Dominika Cibulkova at the Wuhan Open.
Based on her performance this year, Pliskova has 3985 points and is ranked fourth. Given her current form, Pliskova could well be the fourth player to book her place in the WTA Finals at Singapore.
