Singapore: Sunday Highlights
Highlights from final action at the 2015 BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global.
Highlights from final action at the 2015 BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global.
Rewind to 1995, and the queen of Open Era women’s tennis, Steffi Graf, reigned at The Championships, Wimbledon.
And she did it again in 1996 – Graf beat Arantxa Sánchez-Vicario for the second straight year in the final.
Martina Hingis won three of the four majors in 1997, and this was one of them – she beat Jana Novotna for it.
Novotna got her revenge in 1998, outfoxing Hingis in the semifinals and then Nathalie Tauziat for the title.
Lindsay Davenport won the 1999 title, beating Graf in what would be the German’s last major before retirement.
And then came the new millennium – and a new Wimbledon dynasty – in 2000, starting with Venus Williams…
… Venus beat Davenport for her first Grand Slam title there in 2000, then Justine Henin for the 2001 title.
Serena Williams beat Venus Williams for the 2002 title, which also pushed her to World No.1 for the first time.
The 2003 final was a repeat of the 2002 final, with Serena beating Venus in another all-Williams championship.
Maria Sharapova had her career breakthrough at Wimbledon in 2004, beating Serena for her first major title.
Venus returned to the winner’s circle in 2005, beating Sharapova and Davenport back-to-back for the title.
In a throwback final between one-handed backhands, Amélie Mauresmo beat Henin in three sets for the 2006 title.
Venus became the lowest-ranked, lowest-seeded Wimbledon champion in 2007, beating Marion Bartoli in the final.
And Venus won an amazing fifth Wimbledon crown in 2008, beating Serena in yet another all-Williams final.
Spoke too soon… Serena beat Venus in the fourth all-Williams Wimbledon final for the 2009 Wimbledon crown.
Venus fell in the quarterfinals in 2010, but Serena went on to win the title, defeating Vera Zvonareva for it.
Petra Kvitova became the first player born in the 1990s, male or female, to win a major at SW19 in 2011.
Serena tied Venus with five Wimbledon titles by winning it in 2012, beating Agnieszka Radwanska in the final.
Marion Bartoli had a fairytale run at Wimbledon in 2013, winning her first major – and retiring weeks later.
Kvitova repeated at Wimbledon in 2014 – she’s still the only ’90s-born player to win a Grand Slam title.
It’s time to vote for October’s WTA Player of the Month!
Have a look at the nominees and cast your vote before Thursday at 11:59pm ET! The winner will be announced Friday, November 13.
October 2015 WTA Player Of The Month Finalists
Agnieszka Radwanska: The former World No.2 returned to the Top 5 after beating a trio of big names to capture her first-ever WTA Finals title at the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global. Looking out of the tournament after losing her first two matches, Radwanska reversed her fortunes by trouncing top seed Simona Halep and took her newfound confidence into the semifinals, where she recovered from a set down to defeat Garbiñe Muguruza in three sets. Down a break in the third set of the final to Petra Kvitova, Radwanska relied on her signature guile to perform one last escape to emerge victorious in Singapore.
Petra Kvitova: Kvitova had a similarly Houdini-esque week in Singapore, reaching the semifinals despite winning only one match in round robin play, but redeeming herself in the semifinals by ousting returning rival Maria Sharapova in straight sets. The 2011 WTA Finals champion narrowly lost to Radwanska, but nonetheless ends her season on a high, finishing in the Top 8 for a fifth straight year.
Garbiñe Muguruza: Muguruza made the most of her opportunities after the US Open, turning around a post-Wimbledon lull – after reaching her first major final – to reach back-to-back finals at the Dongfeng Motor Wuhan Open and the China Open – winning in Beijing to clinch her debut in Singapore. Once there, she went undefeated in round robin play with wins over Kvitova, Angelique Kerber, and Lucie Safarova. Though she lost to eventual champion Radwanska, she still managed to earn a career-high ranking of No.3, where she will finish to cap a breakthrough season.
Venus Williams: Just missing out on a spot in Singapore, the former No.1 nonetheless ended her best season since 2010 in style by winning the inaugural Huajin Securities WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai – returning to the Top 10 in the process. The American survived two tough battles against WTA Rising Stars Madison Keys and Zheng Saisai before hitting her stride against Roberta Vinci in the semifinals. In a tense final against Karolina Pliskova, Williams eased past the Czech WTA Rising Star to reach her highest ranking since 2011.
2015 WTA Player of the Month Winners
September: Flavia Pennetta
August: Belinda Bencic
July: Samantha Stosur
June: Serena Williams
May: Serena Williams
April: Angelique Kerber
March: Serena Williams
February: Simona Halep
January: Serena Williams
How it works:
Four finalists are selected by wtatennis.com
Winner is then determined by a fan vote on wtatennis.com
After spending last year’s tournament on the sidelines, Rafael Nadal is happy to be back at the O2 Arena.
Despite a busy end of the season, Andy Murray is rested and ready to perform in front of his countrymen.
Sania Mirza has Sunday’s doubles shot of the day at the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global.
History was on the line for Serena Williams – three Slams in a row, 20 total, the Aussie-French double…
And Lucie Safarova was hungry for an upset, playing the tennis of her life to make her first major final.
It was their ninth career meeting, and Williams had a big advantage – she was 8-0 against the Czech.
And it looked like that pattern would continue on Court Philippe Chatrier on a sunny Saturday afternoon.
Williams stormed out to a 6-3, 4-1 lead in little over an hour, with points for a 6-3, 5-1 lead.
Safarova, who hadn’t dropped a set in six matches en route to the final, looked very down and out…
But there’s a reason she took out players like Maria Sharapova and Ana Ivanovic earlier in the fortnight.
The No.13 seed came alive down 6-3, 4-1, 40-15, clawing back and taking the second set in a tie-break.
Williams was on the defense – Safarova not only took that middle set, she raced out to 2-0 in the third.
But the No.1 seed turned it around from there, reeling off six games in a row to sneak out the victory.
Williams edged Safarova out in front of an enthralled Court Philippe Chatrier crowd, 6-3, 6-7(2), 6-2.
She had her third straight Slam, her 20th overall Slam and that coveted Australian-French Open double.
She also improved to 9-0 against Safarova, though four of those nine meetings have been three-setters.
Williams will now have a massive 4,421-point lead over Petra Kvitova at the top of the WTA Rankings.
She will also extend her lead over Maria Sharapova and Simona Halep on the Road To Singapore leaderboard.
A former tennis champion became tennis’ greatest champion as the sport moved into the Open Era. Mike Davies, a man who modernized the game – first with the World Championship Tennis league, and later as part of the Association of Tennis Professionals and International Tennis Federation – passed away last Monday at 79 years old.
The Brit modeled his game after some of the best Australian men to play the game, including Ken Rosewall, Roy Emerson, and Fred Stolle. But the Amateur Era in which he first played lacked the modern elements necessary to make tennis a twentieth century sport, so he made a then-controversial decision to turn professional. Before the Open Era began, only amateurs were eligible to play tournaments like Wimbledon and the US Open; Davies was thus barred from the tournaments he would go on to help.
A year after his playing days came to an end, he joined the team that made up the World Championship Tennis, where he worked tirelessly to make tennis TV-friendly as executive director. The yellow ball and 90-second changeovers all come back to Davies, who ushered in a golden era of the game that was bigger and better than any in the tennis world had ever seen before. In 1972, for example, the WCT final – played by Rosewall and Rod Laver – drew in 21 million viewers thanks to his TV contracts.
Davies later worked as the Marketing Director at both the ATP and ITF, reviving the former and tripling revnue at the latter – creating the Grand Slam Committee which holds court over the four major tournaments he’d been unable to play. In 2012, he was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
“Mike was one of the true pioneers of our sport,” said WTA CEO Steve Simon. “His vision and appetite for innovation laid the foundation for the presentation of professional tennis as know it today.
“His passion and commitment will be greatly missed.”
Agnieszka Radwanska has Sunday’s singles shot of the day at the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global.
Celebrate Maria Sharapova’s birthday with a gallery of all of her WTA titles – starting with Tokyo in 2003.
It didn’t take long for her to win WTA title No.2 – she conquered Québec City shortly after winning Tokyo.
Sharapova defeated Tatiana Golovin in the Birmingham final in 2004 – the third-youngest WTA final ever.
And then, probably her most famous title – Sharapova took Wimbledon by storm just a few weeks later.
Sharapova came alive in the fall for the second straight year, beginning with a title run in Seoul…
![... and another one shortly afterwards at Tokyo [Japan Open], beating Mashona Washington in the final.](https://www.wtatennis.com/javaImages/60/d2/0,,12781~12767840,00.jpg "... and another one shortly afterwards at Tokyo [Japan Open], beating Mashona Washington in the final.")
… and another one shortly afterwards at Tokyo [Japan Open], beating Mashona Washington in the final.
She then battled back from 4-0 down in the third set to beat Serena Williams in the WTA Finals final.
![Sharapova captured three WTA titles in 2005, beginning with the Premier-level Tokyo [Pan Pacific] crown.](https://www.wtatennis.com/javaImages/64/d2/0,,12781~12767844,00.jpg "Sharapova captured three WTA titles in 2005, beginning with the Premier-level Tokyo [Pan Pacific] crown.")
Sharapova captured three WTA titles in 2005, beginning with the Premier-level Tokyo [Pan Pacific] crown.
She then followed it up with another Premier-level title a few weeks later, prevailing over in Doha, Qatar.
Sharapova’s 10th WTA title came at Birmingham in 2005, beating fellow future World No.1 Jelena Jankovic.
Five more WTA titles followed for Sharapova in 2006, beginning with her first career Indian Wells crown.
The Russian then kicked her summer hardcourt season into high gear with a title run in San Diego.
And she peaked at just the right time – Sharapova won her second Grand Slam title at the US Open.
But she wasn’t done for 2006 – she took the fall indoor season by storm too, first conquering Zürich…
… and then capturing her 15th WTA title in Linz, just before the season-ending WTA Finals in Los Angeles.
Though she finished the year in the Top 5, Sharapova brought in only one WTA title in 2007, at San Diego.
She began 2008 with a bang Down Under though, winning her third Grand Slam title at the Aussie Open.
And she then kept her winning streak alive in Doha – her second time winning that Premier-level event.
In April, Sharapova defeated Dominika Cibulkova at Amelia Island for her maiden WTA clay court title.
![It took a while after shoulder surgery, but Sharapova won her 20th WTA title at Tokyo [Pan Pacific] in 2009.](https://www.wtatennis.com/javaImages/7e/d2/0,,12781~12767870,00.jpg "It took a while after shoulder surgery, but Sharapova won her 20th WTA title at Tokyo [Pan Pacific] in 2009.")
It took a while after shoulder surgery, but Sharapova won her 20th WTA title at Tokyo [Pan Pacific] in 2009.
She got back to title-winning regularity with two International-level titles in 2010, starting with Memphis…
And then Strasbourg – the second WTA clay court title of her career after conquering Amelia Island in 2008.
She got back to the Premier-level winner’s circle in 2011, beginning on the slow clay courts of Rome.
And then a dramatic victory against Jankovic brought her another Premier-level title over in Cincinnati.
Sharapova’s domination of the 2012 clay court season brought her three WTA titles – first, Stuttgart.
And then her first successful WTA title defense in five years in Rome, edging Li Na in a nail-biting final.
Sharapova then became the second active player to complete a Career Grand Slam at Roland Garros.
Sharapova’s 2013 season brought her two Premier-level titles, beginning with Indian Wells in March…
And then another triumph on the clay of Stuttgart, beating Chinese trailblazer Li in the final.
Sharapova won four WTA titles in 2014, beginning with her milestone 30th career WTA title in Stuttgart.
She then continued her domination of the clay court season with a Premier Mandatory triumph in Madrid.
And she wrapped it up at the big one, capturing her second French Open – and fifth overall major title.
Sharapova won her fourth WTA title of 2014 at another Premier Mandatory-level tournament – Beijing.
The Russian megastar kicked off her 2015 campaign with the 34th WTA title of her career at Brisbane.
She captured her milestone 35th WTA title at the 2015 edition of her beloved Internazionali BNL d’Italia.