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.
The 2018 WTA Finalsis a women'stennistournament held inKallang, Singapore. It is the 48th edition of the singles event and the 43rd edition of the doubles competition.The tournament is contested by eight singles players and eight doubles teams. This is also the final year for Singapore to hold this tournament.
FORMAT AND POINTS
The eight qualified players are divided into two groups, the red group and the white group. According to the points won in the groups, the players in each group will be ranked from 1 to 4. Players ranked on the first two positions will go into the semifinals. First place from one group will play second place from the other group and viceversa.
The point system of this tournament is a bit complicated, but I'll try to explain it here.
For every match lost in the group stage +125 points
For every match won in the group stage +250 points
For semifinals +0 points (no points)
For runner-up + 330 points (added to those won in the group stage)
For the champion +750 points (added to those won in the group stage)
PARTICIPANTS AND DATES OF QUALIFICATION
Simona Halep was the first to qualify to the tournament, but unfortunately her lower back injury forced her to withdraw. Her place was taken by the world No 9, Kiki Bertens. I hope Kiki will have a good tournament! An feel very sorry for Simona. She got in top 8 for the first time in 2014, and she never missed the WTA Finals qualification. It is a shame she cannot play now, in spite of being the year-end number one.
Now here is a picture of last year's participants. Below it, a picture with this year's participants. 4 of the players who qualified last year, managed to stay in top 8 and qualify this year, too. They are Halep, Wozniacki, Svitolina and Pliskova.
2017 Singapore Finals Participants: Garcia, Williams, Svitolina, Pliskova, Ostapenko, Muguruza, Wozniacki, Halep. If you want to read the story of last year's tournemant go here.
Kiki Bertens and Karolina Pliskova are fighting for a place in the Singapore Finals. See a live ranking of the players at the end of this post. Unfortunately Simona Halep announced that she is withdrawing from the Kremlin Cup, as her lower back issues continue to bother her.
FINALISTS
Daria Kasatkina(Russia) defeated Ons Jabeur (Tunisia), score 2-6, 7(7)-6(3), 6-4. She lost the first set and when she was almost losing the second one too, with Jabeur leading 4 to 1, her coach came on court and told her that she has to go, serve and if it has to lose, to lose like a champion. Coaching was effective, Daria came back and pushed the set in tiebreak. And then, she played extraoridarily in the third set, with the fans on her side, cheering at every point. Jabeur's leg injury may have helped, but in the end Daria ended it like a champon. Congratulations!
WINNER
Daria Kasatkina (Russia)
FINAL HIGHLIGHTS
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2017 WINNER: Julia Gorges (Germany, left) defeated Daria Kasatkina (Russia)
Only the first 8 players go to the Singapore Finals. So far, Simona Halep, Angelique Kerber, Caroline Wozniacki, Naomi Osaka, Petra Kvitova are qualified, and the WTA website announces Sloane Stephens has qualified too. Among Elina Svitolina, Karolina Pliskova and Kiki Bertens, who do you think will miss the qualification? Personally I like a lot all these players, but I have only seen Bertens on court, I saw her amazing game in Seoul, so I really hope she can make it! Good luck!
The 2018 Tianjin Openis a women's professionaltennistournament played onhard courts. It is the 5th edition of the tournament, and part of the2018 WTA Tour. Ittakes place at theTuanbo International Tennis CentreinTianjin,Chinabetween 8 and 14 October 2018. Maria Sharapova was the defending champion but chose to end her 2018 season early due to injury.
French Caroline Garcia defeated Czech Karolina Pliskova, score 7(9)-6(7) 6-3
Second-seeded Caroline Garcia won her first tournament of the
year with a 7-6 (7), 6-3 win over top-seeded Karolina Pliskova in the Tianjin
Open on Sunday. It was the 16th-ranked Garcia’s first title since she won
back-to-back trophies at the Wuhan and Beijing tournaments in Asia just over a
year ago. The Frenchwoman’s two titles at the end of last season earned her a
spot into the year-endWTA Finals in Singapore. This year, the victory in
Tianjin is not enough to put Garcia into a second consecutive year-end final
appearance.
Pliskova’s failure to take the title also kept her from
confirming a berth in the WTA Finals. Currently in eighth place in the race to
Singapore, the Czech will have to wait out the results from next week’s
tournaments in Luxembourg and Moscow to see if she qualifies for one of the
three remaining spots. Pliskova is scheduled to play in Moscow. American Sloane
Stephens, Ukrainian Elena Svitolina and Dutchwoman Kiki Bertens are the other
remaining contenders for Singapore.
Garcia was down 1-5 in the first set tiebreaker before she
rebounded. She saved a set point for Pliskova at 5-6 to go on to win the
hour-long first set. In the second set, Garcia raced to a 5-0 lead, and first
served for the match at 5-1, but had to wait for her victory to come three
games later. She secured the title with her sixth ace of the match.
WINNER
Caroline Garcia (France)
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2017 WINNER: Maria Sharapova (Russia, left) defeated Aryna Sabalenka (Belarus)
2. HONGKONG OPEN, CHINA
ABOUT
The 2018Hong Kong Tennis Open(also known as thePrudential Hong Kong Tennis Openfor sponsorship reasons) is a professionaltennistournament played onhard courts. It is the ninth edition of the tournament, and part of the2018 WTA Tour. It takes place inVictoria Park,Hong Kong, from October 8 to 14.
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.
1. Hana Cupid Japan Women's Open, Hiroshima, Japan
ABOUT
The 2018 Japan Women's Open is a women'stennistournament played onoutdoor hard courts. It is the tenth edition of theJapan Women's Open, and part of theWTA International tournamentsof the2018 WTA Tour. It is held at the Regional Park Tennis Stadium inHiroshima, Japan, from September 10 through September 16, 2018. This is the first year that the tournament is held in Hiroshima.
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.
