#1 Karolina Pliskova
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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.
