SINGAPORE – 2014 finalist Simona Halep put on an emphatic display to outlast and outsteady American No.6 seed Madison Keys, 6-2, 6-4, to take the early initiative in round robin play at the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global.
Relive all the action, including play-by-play analysis, stats, and quotes from the first match from Singapore!
SINGAPORE – Svetlana Kuznetsova is a woman of many talents. Top 10 tennis player, designer, polyglot, rapper and now hairdresser.
Midway through the final set of her round-robin encounter with Agnieszka Radwanska, Kuznetsova realized something was not quite right: her haircut.
Trailing 2-1, the Russian took out her frustration with scissors, lopping off her ponytail during the changeover. The change had the desired effect, too, inspiring Kuznetsova to break back in the following game and go on to win the match.
Kuznetsova is not the first player to get an impromptu trim in the heat of battle. At last year’s ATP World Tour Finals, Andy Murray famously took a pair of scissors to his unruly mane…
Caroline Garcia downed Petra Kvitova in straight sets to rescue a vital point for France in the second rubber of the Fed Cup final.
An interview with Dominika Cibulkova after her straight-sets defeat to Madison Keys in the round-robin stage of the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global.
Madison Keys takes on Dominika Cibulkova in the round-robin stage of the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global.
Mary Pierce talks at the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global.
Australian qualifier Ashleigh Barty survived a mid-match wobble to knock out the No.3 seed Maria Sakkari 6-4, 0-6, 6-3 at the OEC Taipei WTA Challenger.
The lineup for the last four of the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global was confirmed after two days of thrilling singles action on Thursday and Friday.
Angelique Kerber racked up the most prize money of any WTA player during 2016, and she did so in historic fashion. Find out who else made the prize money leaders list, right here!
As the tennis world headed stateside for the summer, an intriguing sub-plot was developing amidst the hunt for trophies.
Serena Williams had reigned supreme atop the rankings since February 2013, however, she faced an unexpected challenge to due to the rapid emergence of Angelique Kerber. At Wimbledon, Williams kept the upstart in check, yet maintaining the status quo over the summer months proved an altogether sterner test.
Golden Girl Puig
This was by no means the only story of the summer. The Rio Olympics produced a tennis tournament befitting the world’s greatest sporting stage and a gold medalist who made waves far beyond the Copacabana.
Monica Puig went into the Games on the back of a quietly impressive year on tour. What followed, though, must have been beyond her wildest dreams. Playing the tennis of her young career, the Puerto Rican swept into the semifinals – taking out Garbiñe Muguruza for the loss off two games along the way – where she produced a rousing finale to see off Petra Kvitova in three rollercoaster sets.
With the most improbable of victories – no Puerto Rican athlete had ever won Olympic gold – now within reach, Puig would not be denied, powering past Kerber, 6-4, 4-6, 6-1, to create history.
New Queen In Queens
In Cincinnati, Kerber tasted further disappointment, narrowly missing out on claiming the No.1 ranking after losing to an on-song Karolina Pliskova in the final. If this smarted with the German, she hid it well at the US Open, where she cantered through the early rounds to raise the possibility of a final showdown with Serena for all the marbles.
Surprisingly, it was Serena that faltered, failing to make the date when she was outgunned by Pliskova in the semifinals. This ensured Kerber would rise to the summit of the rankings, regardless of the result in the final. The German marked her coronation in fitting fashion, lifting her second Grand Slam with a thrilling 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 victory on Arthur Ashe.
“It’s always tough to play against her,” Kerber afterwards. “I was trying to stay in the moment, be aggressive, I was just trying to enjoy the final. It’s an amazing stadium. It means a lot to me. When I was a kid, I was always dreaming to be the number one player in the world and to win Grand Slams, and today’s the day.”
Elsewhere…
Interspersed between Wimbledon and the start of the North American hardcourt stretch was the chance for success at a couple of tennis’ less celebrated venues. Simona Halep, Viktorija Golubic and Laura Siegemund were among those to grasp the opportunity for silverware, triumphing in Bucharest, Gstaad and Badstad, respectively.
As usual, the US Open build-up began in Stanford, where Johanna Konta took home the trophy after defusing Venus Williams in an entertaining final. Over in Washington DC, Yanina Wickmayer delivered a reminder of her potential, before the WTA headed across the border for an entertaining – and unpredictable – Rogers Cup, eventually won by a resurgent Halep.