From Seoul, South Korea, March 2018
The 2017 year-end Top 8, in Singapore: (from left) Garcia, V. Williams, Svitolina, Pliskova,
Ostapenko, Muguruza, Wozniacki, and Halep (front)
The tournament at Indian Wells enters its second week and some of the well-known names of women's tennis are already out of the game,after they were defeated by lower classed players. Let's take a look at them!
First Round: Naomi Osaka - Maria Sharapova 6-4 6-4
Sharapova does not seem to improve her game and reach a better shape after returning from the 15 month meldonium suspension. She was eliminated by Japanese Naomi Osaka, no.44 in the rankings. Sharapova is currently no.41.
<Naomi Osaka, Japan, No 44>
<Maria Sharapova, Russia, No 41>
Second Round: Garbine Muguruza - Sachia Vickery 6-2 5-7 1-6
World No 3 and the last year Wimbledon Champion, Garbine Muguruza started the match strong, and was leading the second set with 3-0. Vickery's sudden improvement of the game let Muguruza with no answer, and here she is leaving the competition too early. This may cost her a lot of points in the general rankings.
<Sachia Vickery, USA, No 100>
<Garbine Muguruza, Spain, No 3>
Third Round: Petra Martic - Jelena Ostapenko 6-3 6-3
Last year's French Open champion and the winner of Seoul Open is not able to confirm what she showed last year, losing matches in the early stages of this season's competitions. Fans are still waiting her to return to the shape that brought her the Roland Garros trophy.
<Jelena Ostapenko, Latvia, No 6>
<Petra Martic, Croatia, No 58>
Third Round: Petra Kvitova - Amanda Anisimova 2-6 4-6
Former Wimbledon champion (2011, 2014), Petra Kvitova started this year winning two important trophies, St Petersburg and Doha Open, thus reaching the 9th position in the WTA rankings. She looked like the most successfull player of 2018 so far, but world No 149 Anisimova was better.
<Amanda Anisimova, USA, No 149>
<Petra Kvitova, Czech Republic, No 9>
Third Round: Venus Williams - Serena Williams 6-3 6-4
It was Serena's first WTA tournament after more than one year of a break. Everybody was expecting her comeback, but she had to play with Venus, who knows her game better than anyone. It was not Serena's day.
<Serena defeated by world no 8, Venus>
Third Round: Carla Suarez Navarro - Elina Svitolina 7-5 6-3
World No 4 Elina Svitolina was coming after winning the Dubai Open, but this time Suarez Navarro played better and stopped Svitolina from earning points in her race to WTA Top 3.
<Carla Suarez Navarro, Spain, No 32>
<Elina Svitolina, Ukraine, No 4>
Top 10 Rankings
Simona Halep and Caroline Wozniacki are in contention for the WTA No. 1 singles ranking at the completion of the third round. In order for Wozniacki to regain the top ranking, she must win the title by defeating a player other than Halep in the final.
The world rankings before we know the winner at Indian Wells:
