Tennis News

SINGAPORE – Dominika Cibulkova has climbed to a career-high ranking of World No.5 after stunning Angelique Kerber, 6-3, 6-4, to win the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global.

The Slovakian began the tournament as World No.8 and looked set to make an early exit when she lost her first two round robin matches.

However, after beating Simona Halep to reach the semifinals, she recorded a victory over Svetlana Kuznetsova before upsetting the Australian Open and US Open champion to claim the title.

The win moves her up to fifth, leapfrogging Karolina Pliskova, Garbiñe Muguruza and Madison Keys, who were all eliminated at the round-robin phase.

Had Cibulkova won her first two round-robin matches, she would be just over 100 points behind Simona Halep, who remains as World No.4.

Kerber secured her status as year-end World No.1 thanks to Serena Williams’ withdrawal from the tournament and received her award in Singapore.

Meanwhile, in the doubles rankings, Sania Mirza hangs on to top spot despite her and Martina Hingis’ semifinal exit in Singapore.

STUTTGART, Germany – The first major red clay tournament is about to reach its exciting conclusion with an all-German final to be contested between defending champion Angelique Kerber and Laura Siegemund – so here are 10 Things To Know about the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix final.

Laura Siegemund (GER #71) vs. (2) Angelique Kerber (GER #3)
Head-To-Head: First meeting

1) History has already been made.
Since the tournament moved to Stuttgart from Filderstadt in 2006, there have never been two German women in the final, but with eight of the Top 9 Germans competing at their home tournament, perhaps the odds should have been more in their favor. While Kerber won the title in 2015 and started the season with an Australian Open crown, few tipped Laura Siegemund to come through qualifying and dismantle three Top 10 players (Simona Halep, Roberta Vinci, and Agnieszka Radwanska) without dropping a set.

2) Siegemund is playing career-defining tennis.
Unexpected as it might have ultimately been, there were certainly signs a run like was possible from Siegemund. Unseeded at the Australian Open, she upset former No.1 Jelena Jankovic to reach her first Grand Slam third round; the 28-year-old made a seamless transition to clay back in Charleston, upsetting 2015 finalist Madison Keys en route to the quarterfinals. Through seven matches in Stuttgart, Siegemund has yet to drop a set (14-0).

3) Kerber is close to her Melbourne form…
A brief lull following her Grand Slam triumph led to early losses at the Qatar Total Open and the BNP Paribas Open, but the World No.3 has been largely back at her best since the Miami Open, where she reached the semifinals. A viral illness halted her title defense in the semifinals of the Volvo Car Open, and her 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 win over Petra Kvitova on Saturday took her into her first final since the Australian Open.

4) …but will remain at No.3 on the WTA rankings.
Retiring in Charleston returned the No.2 ranking to Agnieszka Radwanska, who had briefly wrested the spot from Kerber after Indian Wells. Radwanska’s run to the semifinals keeps the No.2 ranking out of reach for now, but with neither defending too many points through Premier tournaments in Madrid and Rome, the race will be on for who will have their own half of the French Open draw across from 21-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams.

5) Kerber takes control of the Road to Singapore standings.
Outside the Top 2 on the 52-week rankings, Kerber continues making strides on the Road to Singapore standings; despite losing the top spot to Victoria Azarenka following the former No.1’s Sunshine Double, Kerber has made up lost ground while the Belarusian led her country to a win over Russia in Fed Cup. With a tour-leading 25 matches, Kerber is looking for her second title of 2016 in four finals after starting the year in back-to-back finals in Sydney and Melbourne.

6) Siegemund is up to a career-high ranking…
Starting the week as the No.8 German, Siegemund has leapfrogged countrywomen Mona Barthel, Julia Goerges, Anna-Lena Friedsam, and Sabine Lisicki to tentatively move into the Top 50 for the first time in her career at No.42. An even bigger leap could be in store should she win the title, but cracking the Top 4 in her country’s ranks has major implications for the upcoming Rio Olympic Games.

7) …and has experience in finals.
This may be her first WTA singles final, but Siegemund has had plenty of success on the ITF Circuit throughout her career, winning a whopping 11 Challenger titles – all on clay – since 2006 (though 10 have come in the last five years). Siegemund also reached four WTA doubles finals in 2015, winning three, with three different partners, and on three different surfaces (the Topshelf Open with Asia Muhammad, the Brasil Tennis Cup with Annika Beck, and the BGL BNP Luxembourg Open with Mona Barthel).

8) Kerber has hustled, Siegemund has flowed.
Through their main draw wins, Kerber has managed to spend 13 more more minutes on the court despite having a first round bye and the fact that Siegemund played an extra match. Siegemund’s most competitive set came in the first round against Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who surged ahead in the second set before the veteran closed out the Russian, 6-0, 7-5.

9) Kerber on clay.
The French Open is the only Grand Slam tournament where Kerber is yet to reach at least the semifinals, making one quarterfinal in 2012. Her first career clay court titles came back-to-back last spring, when she captured the Volvo Car Open and Porsche Tennis Grand Prix. Kerber has never won a title on outdoor red clay, reaching only one final (Bogota, 2010).

10) Money, money money.
The winner of the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix title is set to take home 104,477 euros (or about 117,259 USD). Siegemund has already made just under a third of her career prize money in 2016 alone, while Kerber leads the season Prize Money rankings with 3,006,134 USD.

ZHUHAI, China – Roberta Vinci was dressed all in black after her last match at the Huajin Securities WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai. She looked fondly on a second straight Top 20 season and was in no mood to mourn what she once said would be her last year on tour.

“It was a good year, for sure,” she told WTA Insider Wednesday night. “I had a great last year, and a lot of points to defend this year.

“The tour is always tough and the players are always getting stronger. You always have to stay in good body and mind. Playing every single tournament is tough, but I’m so proud of myself for this year.

“I’m a little bit tired, of course, because it was a long season. I’m sad about today, but happy that I finished this year.”

The lingering question was whether she had finished for good. The answer was more up in the air.

“Right now, I’m finished with this season and I want to go home. I’ll be taking two weeks off for sure, without tennis or anything. Then I’ll decide, if I’m still motivated, if I still want to continue at this level, and if I want to keep working. I don’t know if I want to, or if I’m just tired right now.

“If I want to stay on tour, I’ll have to work a lot. But I don’t know.”

Vinci first rang the retirement bell last November, announcing her intention to finish her career in 2016. She walked the statement back slightly after winning her 10th career title – the biggest of her career at the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy – and becoming the oldest woman to make her Top 10 debut. Any decision the Italian veteran does make, she insists, will be final.

“I don’t want to say, ‘Yes, I’m continuing,’ and then in one week, I stop, or say, ‘No, I’m retired,’ and then after a week, you see a video of me practicing.”

Taking a less decisive tact is the famously flamboyant Francesca Schiavone. Vinci’s compatriot has started a web series asking Facebook fans whether she should continue her career, or perhaps follow a new path, all with her signature flair.

“It’s nice for the fans, but I won’t be putting out any videos because I want to decide my future! But Francesca is Francesca; it’s so funny.”

While she waits to make a decision, Vinci won’t regret confessing her initial intent to retire, feeling it helped her better appreciate the tour on which she’s played nearly two decades, and those who’ve watched her play.

“For me, it’s nice because they want to know my future. If I say I’m going to retire and someone is sad, it feels good because it means they really love me and my tennis.

“It’s normal for the fans and the journalists to want to know. Soon, I will let you know what is in my future.”

The immediate future sees the former World No.7 at home with friends and family, looking back on a pressure-filled season centered around defending the 1300 points she earned at last year’s US Open, when she ended then-No.1 Serena Williams’ Calendar Year Grand Slam bid to reach the final.

“I had a lot of pressure, especially at the US Open. In my mind, I was saying that this year will be tough. I didn’t know if I could even stay Top 50. Now, I’m in the Top 20, so my coach is happy and also I’m really happy about that.”

From shouting “60 points!” after her first round win, she made it all the way back into the second week for the fourth time in five years, falling to eventual champion Angelique Kerber.

“I was injured but I played amazing tennis; I won great matches there. I felt something special in New York; I’m always playing good there, be it final or quarterfinal. It’s an incredible tournament for me.”

Vinci described the year’s final major tournament in the present tense, just as she outlined the simple – yet life-changing – decision that stands in front of her.

“If it’s yes, then yes. If it’s no, then no.”

All photos courtesy of WTA Elite Trophy.