From Seoul, South Korea, November 2018

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페북 ID: @Living Next Level: Between Europe and Korea

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1. WTA Elite Trophy, Zuhai, China

ABOUT

The 2018 WTA Elite Trophy was a women's tennis tournament played at the Hengqin International Tennis Center in Zhuhai, China. It was the 4th edition of the singles event and doubles competition. The tournament was contested by twelve singles players and six doubles teams.

The field consists of the top eleven players not already qualified for the 2018 WTA Finals, plus either (a) the 12th-player not qualified for 2018 WTA Finals, or (b) a wild card. The final two alternates for the 2018 WTA Finals will be eligible to play in WTA Elite Trophy even if they participate in the WTA Finals. Point totals are calculated by combining points obtained from sixteen tournaments. Of these sixteen tournaments, a player's results from the four Grand Slam events, the four Premier Mandatory tournaments, and (for Top 20 players at the end of 2018) the best results from two Premier 5 tournaments must be included.

The singles event features twelve players in a round robin event, split into four groups of three. Over the first four days of competition, each player meets the other two players in her group, with the winner in each group advancing to the semifinal. The winners of each semifinal meet in the championship match. The six doubles teams will be split into two round robin groups, with the winner of each advancing to the final.

POINTS

SEEDS

FINALISTS

Asleigh Barty (Australia, left) defeated Wang Qiang (China, right) in two sets, score 6-3 6-4.

 WINNER 

Asleigh Barty (Australia) 

FINAL HIGHLIGHTS

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2017 WINNER: Julia Gorges (Germany, right) defeated Coco Vandeweghe (USA) in the final

2016 WINNER: Petra Kvitova (Czech Republic, right) defeated Elina Svitolina (Ukraine)

2015 WINNER: Venus Williams (USA) defeated Karolina Pliskova (Czech Republic)

2. L&T Mumbai Open, India

ABOUT

The 2018 L&T Mumbai Open was a professional tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was the 3rd edition of the tournament. It is part of the 2018 WTA 125K series. It took place between 29 October to 3 November 2018 at the Cricket Club of India.

POINTS

Winner - 160 / Runner-up - 95 / Semifinalists - 57 / Quarter-finalists - 29

Round of 16 - 15 / Round of 32 - 1

SEEDS

FINALISTS

Luksika Kumkhum (Thailand) defeated Irina Khromacheva (Russia) in three sets, 1-6 6-3 6-3.

 WINNER 

Luksika Kumkhum (Thailand)

wtatennis.com

wikipedia.com

From Seoul, South Korea, November 2018

안녕 folks and welcome to the summary of the last major tennis event of the year!

Elina Svitolina, the last champion of Singapore

WTA Finals Singapore. It was the last edition played in Singapore. Starting next year, the finals are moving to Shenzen, China. I must say that this tournament was full of great matches, I have never seen so many quality matches concetrated in only one week. My favorite, Kiki Bertens played excellent and managed to get out of the groups. So proud of her!

The 2018 finals featured five major champions and one finalist. The competitors were divided into two groups, representing the colors of the flag of Singapore.  Following there is a table with the final standings of the two groups. Stephens and Svitolina were unbeaten in the group stage, which kind of predicted who will be in the finals. However, it was harder than everybody had thought.

In the semifinals Svitolina met Bertens and she needed 3 sets to be able to defeat the Dutch, and reach her first final at this tournament. Stephens didn't have an easy match either with Pliskova. She lost the first set 0 to 6, and everybody thought she is was out of the competition. But the Roland Garros runner-up showed why she deserves to be among the best of best. She crushed Pliskova in the following two sets, and reached the final of her first Singapore tournament. 

For the first time since the current round robin format was reintroduced in 2003, the first two matches played in each group were all won by the lower-ranked player. It also the first time that the top four seeds were eliminated in the round robin stage (group stage), leaving the fifth to eighth seeds to qualify for the semifinals.

SEEDS 

In paranthesis -  the stage the player left the competition

GROUP STAGE 

SEMIFINALS

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THE FINAL

It was the first WTA final for both players, with Svitolina at her third participation and Stephens at her first. Svitolina lost the first set, but managed to comeback and become the first player of her country who lifts the Billie Jean trophy.

FINAL HIGHLIGHTS (VIDEO) 

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wtatennis.com

wikipedia.com