The 2018 Korea Open is a women's professional tennis tournament to be played on hard courts. It is be the 15th edition of the tournament, and part of the 2018 WTA Tour. It takes place in Seoul, South Korea between 17 and 23 September 2018.
So happy to have arrived at the Korea Open week! I was there in spite of rain to cheer for the Romanian players, Irina Begu and Raluca Olaru. Begu lost to Sakkari in the quarter-finals, and in the doubles matches Begu and Olaru lost to the Taiwanese pair Hsieh/Hsieh.
The end of the last Grand Slam tournament of the year is at the corner, and yes, as usual, the women's tournament is full of surprises. We will first have a look at what happened to the players in Top 8, and then shortly analyze the semifinals. Below, you can see how the Top 8 looked before the start of US Open. The standings are changing, of course, and at the end of this article you can check a live update of how the rankings are changing exactly.
Now were are these players now in the US Open? Well, they are all out. Let's see in which stages did they leave the tournament. We will start from those who were eliminated early on in the competition.
THE TOP 8 PLAYERS AND HOW THEY LEFT THE US OPEN
Simona Halep (Romania), no 1, out in the 1st Round (128강전)
She is without doubt the most successful player of 2018 so far, that's why she leads the rankings. Halep played 13 tournaments so far ths year, and reached at least quarterfinals in at 10 of them. She played 6 finals, among which she won 3 (Shenzen, Roland Garros, Rogers Cup) and was defeated in other 3 (Australian Open, Rome, Cininnati). So the Romanian managed to play 2 Grand Slam finals, but lost at Wimbledon in the 3rd round and at US Open in the 1st round. She was given as favorite at winning the American Open this year but she had a very strong opponent in Kaia Kanepi, no 44, from Estonia, 2-6 4-6. Halep is the first female player in history to lose in the first round at US Open as number one. That's also something to be proud of, isn't it? Very interesting how things will finish this year for Halep. Can she end the year as number one? If she does, she will become the second player after Serena Williams to finish the season as number one in two consecutive years. Now, that's really something to be proud of! Go, Simona!
Caroline Wozniacki (Denmark), no 2, out in the 2nd Round (64강전)
Caro has not been playing great in the second part of this season, and even her no 2 spot is now in danger. She was defeated by Ukrainean Lesia Tsurenko, current no 36, 4-6 2-6. What is going on with these top players losing so early to lower ranked ones?
Petra Kvitova (Czech Republic), no 5, out in the 3rd Round (32강전)
Kvitova had a great year too, having won some top tournaments. She climbed so much in the rankings, and if she does a good job for the reast of the year, she might end up in the Top 5 of 2018. World no 20, the young hope of Belarus, Aryna Sabalenka, defeated Kvitova in two sets, 7-5 6-1.
Angelique Kerber(Germany), no 4, out in the 3rd Round (32강전)
Kerber reached to this position in the rankings for playing great in all past three Grand Slams of the year. Semifinals at Australian Open, quarterfinals at Roland Garros, and winner at Wimbledon. A former champion in 2016 here at US Open, this time she was defeated by world no 29, Slovkian Dominika Cibulkova, score 6-3 3-6 3-6. Thanks to her performances this year however, she might end up replacing Woniacki as no 2, or who knows, she could even go past Halep and become the year end new number one. Good luck, Angelique!
Caroline Garcia (France), no 6, out in the 3rd Round (32강전)
Garcia started playing a very good tennis since the Asian season last year. She won the Beijing Open and entered Top 8. Her constancy, doubled by some failures of players like Muguruza or Ostapenko who were not able to defend their titles from last year, kept Garcia among the best players in the women's tour. Let's see if she can play her best tennis again, after this US Open is done. Here, she lost to world no 30, Spanish Carla Suarez Navarro, 7-5 4-6 6(4)-7(7).
Elina Svitolina (Ukraine), no 7, out in the 4th Round (16강전)
Svitolina had a good start of the year, she played well in the Middle East in spring, winning the Dubai Open, and playing the final in Qatar, then she won the Italian Open. She practically managed to defend the titles she won last year, thus we can still see her among the top players. Current no 19, Latvian Anastasija Sevastova defended her in 3 sets, 6-3 1-6 6-0.
Sloane Stephens (USA), no 3, out in the quarterfinals (준준결승)
Stephens jumped up in Top 5 after her final at Roland Garros, where she lost to Simona Halep. She had the 2000 points from last year victory here at US Open. Not being able to defend her points, she now sees a fall in the rankings, and this might cost her a lot. If she plays well for the rest of the season, she has a chance of finishing the year in Top 8. I have a feeling that she will. She has played great in the last 4 months or so. Here, she los to Sevastova, 2-6 3-6.
Karolina Pliskova (Czech Republic), no 8, out in the quarterfinals (준준결승)
Another caroline! Tennis loves carolines and the Top 8 loves them even more. I'm giving special cheers to those who can name at least 5 carolines who are currently playing in the women's tournament now :D. Jokes, jokes, but Karolina lost to who else than Serena Williams, score 4-6 3-6. She was pretty constant this year reaching the higher stages in the tournaments she played, and won the title in Sttutgart earlier this year. Her spot inthe Top 8 is in danger though. She is also a player to be with the eyes on during the last part of this season.
THE SEMIFINALS AT US OPEN 2018
1. Serena Williams (no 17, USA) vs Anastasija Sevastova (no 19, Latvia)
The two players never met before, this is their first match together. Sevastova defeated 2 big names on her road to the semifinals, Svitolina and Stephens, the latter being the last year 's champion. Serena eliminated Pliskova, Kanepi and Venus Williams among others. Even if the American had a slower start this season after her year off, she began playing better this past summer, reaching the Wimbledon final, which she lost against Angelique Kerber.
2. Madison Keys (no 14, USA) vs Naomi Osaka (no 20, Japan)
Keys was the runner up last year, and she is doing a great work defending her points. She will meet Osaka Naomi, the surprise of 2018. She won Indian Wells in spring, but after that she did not play that well. However, we see her again now, far in a Grand Slam, the best result of her career. Keys and Osaka met 3 times before, and each time the American has won.
The2018 US Openis the 138th edition oftennis'US Openand the fourth and finalGrand Slamevent of the year. It is held on outdoorhard courtsat theUSTA Billie Jean King National Tennis CenterinNew York City. This is the last Grand Slam to have 32 seeds with the format reverting to 16 seeds in 2019. The US Open is the only Grand Slam tournament that employs tiebreakers in every set of a singles match. For the other three Grand Slam events, a match that reaches 6-6 in the last possible set (the third for women and the fifth for men) continues until a player takes a two-game lead. As with the US Open, those events use tiebreakers to decide the other sets. The US Open also is the only Grand Slam tournament with 16 qualifiers (instead of 12) in the women's singles draw.
Mihaela Buzarnescuhas been playing great in 2018 and also lost some finals. This is the first singles WTA title in her career, a career which is close to the end. When she received the trofee at the end of the match she told Sakkari to enjoy her tennis career as she is young and has a lot of possible tournaments to win from now on. 'As for me, maybe I can play two more years and then I have to tep down.' Mihaela was never able to show and grow her true talent due to numerous injuries in the past, which makes this trofee even more special. Her fellow Romanian, world no 1 Simona Halep posted a congratulatory message on her twitter 'I am so happy for you, Miki! Welcome to WTA Top 20'. Mihaela's dream was to enter Top 20 one day, and that happened here, in California.
2017 WINNER: Madison Keys (USA) [Bank of the West Classic]
World number two Caroline Wozniacki beat Aryna Sabalenka 7-5 7(7)-6(5) to lift the Eatbourne title for the second time in her career. She won the same title in 2009.
The French Open, also calledRoland-Garros, is a majortennistournamentheld over two weeks between late May and early June at theStade Roland-GarrosinParis, France. The venue is named after the French aviatorRoland Garros. It is the premierclay courttennis championship event in the world and the second of four annualGrand Slamtournaments,the other three being theAustralian Open,Wimbledonand theUS Open. The French Open is currently the only Grand Slam event held on clay, and it is the zenith of the spring clay court season. Because of the seven rounds needed for a championship, the slow-playing surface and the best-of-five-set men's singles matches (without atiebreakin the final set), the event is widely considered to be the most physically demanding tennis tournament in the world.
Ten-time French Open winner, Rafael Nadal, is the defending champion in the Men's Singles. Jeļena Ostapenko was the defending champion in the Women's Singles but lost in the first round to Kateryna Kozlova.
Male (left) and female (right)'s trophies
THE SEEDS:
The players who already left the competion at he date this post was published are the ones highlighted with pink. Last year's champion, Jelena Ostapenko, lost in the first round and lost her points, which will put hr out of the WTA Top 10. 2017 runner-up Simona Halep is sill in the competition and being the current No 1 is also considered the favorite in the race to win the trophy.
Petra Kvitova (Czech Republic) vs. Kiki Bertens (Netherlands)
Score: 7(8)-6(6), 4-6, 6-3
This year's draw and results were full of surprises with big names leaving the competition early. Muguruza lost to Kasatkina in the last 16, Svitolina lost to Suarez Navarro in the round of 32 and in my opinion, the player of the tournament was Kiki Bertens. She was coming after a clay title at Charleston (USA) at Volvo Car Open. Bertens is one of the best players on clay in the women's circuit. And she showedgreat performances here at Madrid. She eliminated such players as seed 15 Anastasia Sevastova (round of 32), seed 2 Caroline Wozniacki (round of 16), Maria Sharapova who looked like she was ready for a comeback (quarter-final), seed 7 Caroline Garcia (semi-final) and lost the final eventually.
If Bertens was the player of the tournament, Petra Kvitova looks like she is the player of the year so far. She won the trophy in St. Petersurg, then two weeks later won again in Doha, and won the Czech Open just the week before Madrid. Fans were expecting her to be exhausted in Madrid but she got the title after two years of reign of Simona Halep. It is the thrird time she wins the title in Madrid, a first time record of this competition. She also won in 2015 and 2011. Halep left the competition in the quarter finals, losing to Karolina Pliskova.
