Tennis News

SINGAPORE – Angelique Kerber will cap off the best season of her career with yet another accolade after clinching the 2016 WTA Year-End World No.1 Singles Ranking, presented by Dubai Duty Free.

For only the 12^th time since the computer rankings were introduced in November 1975, the WTA will have a new name finishing the year at the top. Kerber joins Steffi Graf as the only other German to finish the year at No.1; Graf held the year-end No.1 ranking a WTA-record eight times, most recently in 1996.

“It is a great honor and achievement to finish the year as the No.1 player in the world,” Kerber said. “This is one of the things I’ve always been dreaming of – to become No.1. I have worked extremely hard to become the best player I can be and this is a reflection of that effort and the wonderful year I have had.”

This accomplishment is the latest in what has been a breakout year for Kerber, who began the season by defeating Serena Williams to win her maiden Grand Slam title at the Australian Open, and followed up by advancing to the Wimbledon final, capturing a silver medal in singles at the Rio Olympics, and winning the US Open. Kerber also leads the WTA for most main draw match wins this season, at 59-16.

The German’s rise to WTA World No.1 snapped Williams’ record-tying streak of 186 consecutive weeks at the top when Kerber took over the ranking on September 12, 2016 after winning the US Open.

“Being No.1, of course now everybody will try to beat me and have nothing to lose,” Kerber said after her victory in New York. “I will try to take this challenge, because it will be a little bit new situation for me. But at the end, I was always practicing and working hard to be No.1. Now I can also take the next step and try to stay as long as I can there.”

The Year-End No.1 trophy will be presented to Kerber by a representative of Dubai Duty Free at the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global, where the German will be the No.1 seed in her fourth appearance at the year-end finale.

Here’s the full list of players to have held the WTA Year-End No.1 Ranking:
8 – Steffi Graf (1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996)
7 – Martina Navratilova (1978, 1979, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986)
5 – Chris Evert (1975, 1976, 1977, 1980, 1981)
5 – Serena Williams (2002, 2009, 2013, 2014, 2015)
4 – Lindsay Davenport (1998, 2001, 2004, 2005)
3 – Justine Henin (2003, 2006, 2007)
3 – Martina Hingis (1997, 1999, 2000)
2 – Monica Seles (1991, 1992)
2 – Caroline Wozniacki (2010, 2011)
1 – Angelique Kerber (2016)
1 – Victoria Azarenka (2012)
1 – Jelena Jankovic (2008)

SINGAPORE – Karolina Pliskova is set to make her tournament debut on Monday, when she faces Roland Garros champion Garbiñe Muguruza in her opening match at the at the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global. Pliskova will be pulling double duty in Singapore, having qualified in both singles, where she’s been drawn into the White Group, and doubles with her partner Julia Goerges.

While playing both events in the past may have been physically taxing, Pliskova is less concerned this year. The doubles competition has moved from a round-robin event to a single elimination draw which begins on Thursday.

“I’m used to playing singles and doubles so I’m not really worried about this,” the No.4 seed told reporters at All-Access Hour on Saturday. “I just take it match by match. I am starting singles on Monday, and this year it’s a little bit different than last year, so there is a draw of the doubles, not a group. It can be different – can be potentially be only one match in doubles. It’s starting on Thursday, so I have those few first days only singles. So I think it’s definitely better.

“But I’m ready for anything. I’m ready to play two matches in a day.”

The US Open finalist secured her spot in Singapore at the China Open and comes into Singapore well-rested.

“I was tired a little bit in Asia because when I came back from [the] States I didn’t have much time to practice and rest and prepare for the tournaments as I did for the ones in States,” she said. “Now I just took a few days off. I skipped those tournaments in Linz and Moscow, so I prepared for this last few weeks of tennis. There is Fed Cup for me after, and now I feel ready. I’m able to do anything to play [my] best tennis. I know it’s [the] last two or three weeks of tennis in this season for me, so I will try to do my best.”

Media day and selfie with @TheRealPatCash pic.twitter.com/e5XGBvS15H

— Karolina Pliskova (@KaPliskova) October 22, 2016

Pliskova’s late season surge on the US hardcourts set up her Singapore debut, having won the title at the Western & Southern Open and making her first major final at the US Open, beating both Venus and Serena Williams en route. Prior to New York the 24-year-old had never progressed past the third round of a Slam and it was her second-round loss to Misaki Doi that seemed to light a fire under her.

“At Wimbledon, I was really feeling well. I think I had a pretty good draw as well to make it even far and just didn’t make it,” Pliskova said when asked to recall her toughest loss of the season. “I didn’t play good tennis there. Yeah, lost in second round with the opponent I beat the week before. I think [that] was the worst week for me.

“I don’t feel any pressure [in Singapore]. I would say there is pressure during all the year on all the players, but this is the best tournament that you can play, so I don’t feel pressure. There are other girls which are in front of me, so I would say I’m not the favorite for winning this one. I will just do my best [tp] win every match and do anything what I can to go out of the group.

“I have a very tough group: Aga, defending champion, so it’s not going to be easy. I’m just going to enjoy. It’s not happening every year that you’re going to get here. [I’m] just going to enjoy the chance that I have to play here.”

Looking ahead to her showdown with Muguruza, Pliskova has reasons to be confident. She leads the head-to-head 3-1 and has won their last three matches, all on hard courts (Muguruza’s sole win came at the French Open in 2013).

“She’s a player [whose game I like]. She has a similar game as me. It’s possible to lose to her, and to win as well if you play good tennis. I’m really confident about the match and just on the positive from the last meeting what we had in Cincinnati. I was playing really good tennis there. For me it’s still the same. I have to serve well and play fast so she doesn’t have time to dictate the game. She has to be the one who’s running and not me.”

SINGAPORE – Karolina Pliskova marked a memorable debut at the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global by defeating Garbiñe Muguruza from match point down on Monday.

Watch live action from Singapore on WTA Live powered by TennisTV!

A couple of hours on from Svetlana Kuznetsova’s back-from-the-brink victory over Agnieszka Radwanska, Pliskova produced an even more unlikely turnaround to triumph, 6-2, 6-7(4), 7-5.

“Inside I’m still in shock that I won this one. Inside I still believed that I could win, but she was playing so well in the second and third sets,” Pliskova told BT Sport after stepping off the court. “There’s always a chance in tennis until it’s done, so I’m really happy with the win today.”

No.4 seed Pliskova was quick out of the blocks, dropping only seven points on serve en route to the first set. When she then broke at the start of the second, a comfortable victory looked on the cards. However, Muguruza, making her second appearance at the Finals, made a better fist of the second set, drawing level before recovering from 3-0 down to take a scrappy tie-break.

With confidence now coursing through her game, Muguruza surged 4-0 ahead in the decider. Try as she might, though, the Spaniard could not find the knockout blow, dropping serve in a 15-minute sixth game to leave the window ajar for a comeback.

At 5-2 she arrived at match point, only to snatch at a routine volley. The mistake proved costly as Pliskova found a second wind, rattling off 15 of the last 19 points to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.

Karolina Pliskova hit some major aces today! See how she stacks up to the rest of the #WTAFinals field! @WTA @WTAFinalsSG #ace #wtatennis pic.twitter.com/xe4G7gXbYi

— SAP Sports (@SAPSports) October 24, 2016

Despite being broken five times, Pliskova still struck 14 aces in her two and a half hours on court, taking her annual tally to 522. This number is nearly 200 more than her nearest competitor on tour, Serena Williams (324), or at the WTA Finals, Madison Keys (277).  

Pliskova will next play on Wednesday, taking on fellow comeback queen Kuznetsova.