From Seoul, South Korea, October 2018

1. TIANJIN OPEN, CHINA

(and a preview of the Race to Singapore)

ABOUT

The 2018 Tianjin Open is a women's professional tennis tournament played on hard courts. It is the 5th edition of the tournament, and part of the 2018 WTA Tour. It takes place at the Tuanbo International Tennis Centre in Tianjin, China between 8 and 14 October 2018. Maria Sharapova was the defending champion but chose to end her 2018 season early due to injury.

POINTS

Winner - 280 / Runner-up - 180 / Semifinalists - 110 / Quarter-finalists - 60 /

Round of 16 - 30 / Round of 32 - 1

SEEDS

FINALISTS

 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-end WTA 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)

***

2017 WINNER: Maria Sharapova (Russia, left) defeated Aryna Sabalenka (Belarus)

2. HONGKONG OPEN, CHINA

ABOUT

The 2018 Hong Kong Tennis Open (also known as the Prudential Hong Kong Tennis Open for sponsorship reasons) is a professional tennistournament played on hard courts. It is the ninth edition of the tournament, and part of the 2018 WTA Tour. It takes place in Victoria Park, Hong Kong, from October 8 to 14.

POINTS

Winner - 280 / Runner-up - 180 / Semifinalists - 110 / Quarter-finalists - 60 /

Round of 16 - 30 / Round of 32 - 1

SEEDS

FINALISTS

 Dayana Yastremska (Ukraine, centre right) defeated Wang Qiang (China) , score 6-2 6-1

 WINNER 

Dayana Yastremska (Ukraine)

***

2017 WINNER: Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (Russia, left) defeated Daria Gavrilova (Australia)

2. LINZ OPEN, AUSTRIA

ABOUT

The 2018 Upper Austria Ladies Linz is a women's tennis tournament played on indoor hard courts. It is the 32nd edition of the Linz Open, and part of the WTA International tournaments-category of the 2018 WTA Tour. It is held at the TipsArena Linz in Linz, Austria, from 8 to 14 October 2018.

POINTS

Winner - 280 / Runner-up - 180 / Semifinalists - 110 / Quarter-finalists - 60

Round of 16 - 30 / Round of 32 - 1

SEEDS

FINALISTS

Camila Giorgi (Italy)  defeated Ekaterina Alexandrova (Russia), score 6-3 6-1

 WINNER 

 Camila Giorgi (Italy)

***

2017 WINNER: Barbora Strycova (Czech Republic) defeated Magdalena Ribarikova (Slovakia)

wtatennis.com

wikipedia.com

washingtonpost.com

From Seoul, South Korea, May 2018

<Semifinal in Rome, Italian Open>

   Last year Simona Halep reached the final in Rome but lost to Elina Svitolina. Her current No position can be maintained if she defends as many of the points as she can. With Caroline Wozniacki, ranked No 2, leaving the competition in the quarter-Simona is able to maintain her position, but a title in Rome would be a great achievement and would consolidate her leadership in the WTA rankings. For now, she is going to maintain the No 1 position untill at least the start of French Open (Roland Garros). This means Simona is also seeded first for the French tournament.

   Halep beat Caroline Garcia in two sets. She did not have to work too much for the victory as Garcia commited error after error. Meanwhile, Sharapova comes after a not so easy win over Jelena Osptapenko in the quarter-finals, so she would be theoreticaly more exhausted. Halep did not play the match in the Round of 15 because her opponent Madison Keys has retired. It will be an interesting match to watch, definitely.

   Simona talked about the semifinal against Sharapova, saying she is expecting a very difficult game and that she has only one thing in mind: to play a good match. "I look forward for a difficult match, of course. It was always difficult against Sharapova, but I know I have a chance, and if I do my game it will be fine. I will try to do everything on court in order to win, but I do not have other expectations. I will enter the court and give my best. This is what I want." 

   She also mentioned she is not thinking about statistics, which favor the Russian with 7 wins to 1 loss. "I feel this match is open, anyone can win. I do not thing about the past confrontations."

The last meeting between Simona and Maria in Beijing. Simona won in two sets, 6-2, 6-2:

The Quarter final against Caroline Garcia, score 6-2, 6-3:

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