Tennis News

Simona Halep captured her second career Premier Mandatory title at the Mutua Madrid Open; defeating Dominika Cibulkova in straight sets on Saturday, the win not only brought her back into the Top 5 on the WTA rankings, but also helped her rocket up 23 spots on the Road to Singapore leaderboard, entering th Top 8 for the first time in 2016 at No.6.

Runner-up at the 2014 BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global, Halep has qualified for the WTA Finals for the last two years, but a slow start to the season kept her out of the Top 8 despite reaching back-to-back quarterfinals in Indian Wells and Miami. The Romanian was ranked No.29 on the Road to Singapore heading into Madrid, but an impressive week in the Caja Magica reversed her fortunes in emphatic style – leaving her just 119 points behind Carla Suárez Navarro, who rounds out an unchanged Top 5 that also features Australian Open champion Angelique Kerber, Sunshine Double winner Victoria Azarenka, Agnieszka Radwanska, and World No.1 Serena Williams.

Cibulkova also took a big leap up the Road to Singapore leaderboard, finishing the week just behind Halep at No.7 from No.17. Moving up to No.26 on the WTA rankings, Cibulkova has all but guaranteed a seed at the upcoming French Open, where she is a former semifinalist, and aims to make her WTA Finals debut in 2016. Svetlana Kuznetsova completes the Top 8 despite an early round loss to Porsche Tennis Grand Prix finalist Laura Siegemund, who cracked the RTS Top 20 following another solid week in Spain.

Samantha Stosur made the biggest leap of the week following her run to the semifinals; the 2011 US Open champion made back-to-back semifinals at the WTA Finals in 2010 and 2011 and moved up 25 spots to No.13 on the Road to Singapore leaderboard, defeating Suárez Navarro en route.

RTS Ranking Movers

Louisa Chirico: No.110 to No.33 (+77)
Samantha Stosur: No.38 to No.13 (+25)
Simona Halep: No.29 to No.6 (+23)
Dominika Cibulkova: No.17 to No.7 (+10)

Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza held on to the top spot on the Road to Singapore doubles leaderboard, but the reigning WTA Finals champions find their status is under siege by a pair of streaking Frenchwomen in Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic. Garcia and Mladenovic each qualified for Singapore last fall – Garcia with Katarina Srebotnik, Mladenovic with Timea Babos – and won a third straight title and a 13th straight match in Madrid, backing up their Stuttgart win over Hingis and Mirza with a two-set win in Madrid.

Undefeated on clay in 2016, the French Connection surged up to No.2 on the Road to Singapore doubles leaderboard, putting a nearly 700-point gap between themselves and the No.3 team, Chan Hao-Ching and Chan Yung-Jan.

The Chan sisters suffered a quarterfinal loss to Vania King and Alla Kudryavtseva, who saved two match points to reach a second straight WTA semifinal. King and Kudryavtseva have qualified for the WTA Finals a combined three times – King in 2010 and 2011 with Yaroslava Shvedova, Kudryavtseva in 2014 with Anastasia Rodionova – and made the semifinals each time.

Bowing out to Hingis and Mirza in the final four in Madrid, the pair cracked the Top 8 on the Road to Singapore doubles leaderboard, bumping Miami Open champions Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Lucie Safarova.

Another Premier 5 tournament is already underway as the Internazionali BNL d’Italia began on Monday; with nearly all of the Top 8 in both singles and doubles in contention – except Agnieszka Radwanska and Chan Hao-Ching – there is bound to be more major shifts ahead of the second major tournament of the season in Paris.

Click here to see the full Road To Singapore leaderboard standings heading into Rome.

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.

It’s time to crown the 2016 WTA Shot Of The Year. It started with all the WTA Shot Of The Month winners and the fans narrowed it down to the four best, two from each group.

     • Final Group voting opens Tuesday, November 22 and ends Monday, November 28 at 11:59pm ET
     • The 2016 WTA Shot of the Year winner will be announced Tuesday, November 29

Final Group

January: Caroline Wozniacki
March: Agnieszka Radwanska
July: Simona Halep
September: Kirsten Flipkens

Group A Results

1. March: Agnieszka Radwanska (38%)
2. January: Caroline Wozniacki (30%)
3. May: Simona Halep (19%)
4. April: Monica Niculescu (10%)
5. February: Agnieszka Radwanska (4%)

Click here or below to watch Group A shots

Group B Results

1. July: Simona Halep (42%)
2. September: Kirsten Flipkens (27%)
3. June: Agnieszka Radwanska (19%)
4. October: Angelique Kerber (6%)
5. August: Agnieszka Radwanska (6%)

Click here or below to watch Group B shots

How it works:

Each Shot of the Month winner is placed into one of two groups.
The two shots from each group that received the most were placed into a final group.
Winner is then determined by a fan vote on wtatennis.com.