SINGAPORE— The Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) Finals in Singapore has exceeded all expectations. Held for the first time in Singapore, it is estimated that the event has hit six figures, close to 100,000 visitors for the first time in over a decade. The WTA chief executive Stacey Allaster said after the tournament final on Sunday Oct 26 that this edition of the Finals ranks as the best of all time.
Serena Williams joked before the final that her goal against Simona Halep is to win three games. The once again year- end World No. 1 player, Williams lost to the Romanian earlier in the Red Group of the Round Robin with 6:0, 6:2. It was her worst loss in over 16 years. She needed a re-match and she was going to get it just few days later in the Finals.
The WTA Finals were played in a Round Robin style. There were two groups for the top eight players of the world, one Red and the other White. In each group the players played each other and only the best two from each group, with the most wins and points went thought to the semi-finals. From the Red Group Serena Williams found herself playing in the semi-final match against the top White group player, Denmark’s Caroline Wozniaki. World No.3 Halep came also from the Red Group to win against Agnieszka Radwanska with an impressive match win of 6-2, 6-2 in the other semi-final.
It’s been an up and down year for Serena Williams whoresumed training only last Monday having been troubled by a left knee injury which led her to withdraw from the Beijing Open. Nevertheless the 33 year old used experience and composure to come back and win a tough three set match against a strong looking Wozniaki 2-6, 6-3, 7-6(6) showing that we should not write her off and that she still had the chance to win the WTA Finals for the fifth time.
Simona Halep had a great week, only losing to Ana Ivanovic in her group and she entered this final smiling and looking strong. She moved very well throughout the week and the defensive game that worked for her few days earlier when she beat Williams, didn’t quite work in the Final. It was her first WTA Championship Final so perhaps she didn’t quite believe her week could end in a fairy tale, as she didn’t have the same ‘bite’ she had in her other matches. It wasn’t the best match of the tournament for both of the players but Serena Williams’s experience to relax and pick up her game when needed brought her to a straight set victory of 6-3, 6-0. Funnily enough, this was almost the same score that went Halep’s way a few days earlier, but that’s the beauty of tennis… one day you can be on top of the world but the next day, you have to do it all over again. After her win, Serena Williams took home $2 million dollars in prize money.
Doubles
In their last match together, Cara Black of Zimbabwe and Sania Mirza of India had an easy final win and took the doubles title at the WTA Finals with a 6-1, 6-0 win over defending champions Peng Shuai and Hsieh Su-Wei on Sunday.For Black, it was the third time she had won the doubles crown at the WTA Finals, while for Mirza it was her first victory at the season-ending championship. Next year Mirza is expected to be partnered with Hsieh Suavei, the Taiwanese player she beat in the final.
Vlatka Jovanović is an ex-professional WTA ranked tennis player and an independent broadcaster journalist.
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