Tennis News

MELBOURNE, Australia – Following the Saturday’s Australian Open final, the WTA has unveiled the first Road To Singapore leaderboard, with Angelique Kerber vaulting to the top.

The Road To Singapore is the year-long journey to the WTA’s crown jewel event, the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global, and Kerber, who just won her first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open, has kicked off at No.1. Runner-up Serena Williams is in the No.2 position.

Defending WTA Finals champion Agnieszka Radwanska has launched a great start to her title defense – winning the Shenzhen Open and reaching the semifinal at the Australian Open to round out the top 3 on the Road to Singapore. How has winning the WTA Finals prepared Radwanska for continued success in 2016? Watch the video above to hear from the champion herself.

A pair of familiar faces sit atop the doubles leaderboard; the team of co-No.1s Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis won their third straight major title – along with titles at the Brisbane International and Apia International Sydney – to start the year at No.1. Australian Open finalists Andrea Hlavackova and Lucie Hradecka are No.2.

The Top 8 singles and doubles players on the Road To Singapore Leaderboard will qualify for the $7 million 2016 BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global.

Here’s who else is in the Top 8 of the first Road to Singapore leaderboard:

Dominika Cibulkova’s hopes of qualifying for a debut appearance at the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global came down to the wire. The Slovak needed to win the Generali Ladies Linz to assure herself a spot among the Greatest Eight, and did just that.

“It was really important for me that I won there,” she said in Singapore. “It’s not every day that I’m coming to a tournament and I have to win it to get somewhere, and then I actually won the whole thing.

“It was just a great week for me, and all happened so quickly. In two days I flew here.”

Cibulkova turned around a tough start in the round robin stage to stun 2014 finalist Simona Halep in straight sets, and overcame a 1/16 longshot of qualifying for the semifinals to knock out Svetlana Kuznetsova in the semis before overcoming World No.1 Angelique Kerber in the championship match.

“I cannot find the right word in English, but in the first match I played against Angelique, that gave me confidence that I can beat her,” she said of avenging her round robin loss in the final.

“My game is good enough to beat the World No.1. I was going into this final with these thoughts and I was feeling it from the first point until the last point.”

By beating the Australian Open and US Open champion, Cibulkova assured herself of a career-high ranking and a Top 5 finish for 2016, a place she sees as a launch pad for even greater success.

“Right now I don’t doubt myself anymore. I never doubted myself this year at all. I always had my coach to motivate me, to put the bigger goals for me. That was something I was dealing with; I never saw myself as such a great player, or a consistent player, somebody who could be Top 5.

“My coach said, ‘Domi, you had a great half of the season, but you’re able to have a great second half of the season. You just have to still stay focused and work hard. You can be Top 5 at the end of the year’.

“I really, really believed him for the first time in my life. I believed, ‘Okay, this is something I can do, I want to do.’

“I’m not saying I was coming to this tournament to win it, but when I was so close before the finals, I was convinced that I can beat Angie today.”

That new sense of determination paid off in Singapore, and it certainly helped her earn her the mantle of October’s WTA Player of the Month!

Final Results for October’s WTA Player Of The Month

1. Dominika Cibulkova (55%)
2. Agnieszka Radwanska (33%)
3. Angelique Kerber (12%)

2016 WTA Player of the Month Winners

January: Angelique Kerber
February: Carla Suárez Navarro
March: Victoria Azarenka
April: Angelique Kerber
May: Garbiñe Muguruza
June: Serena Williams
July: Simona Halep
August: Monica Puig
September: Petra Kvitova

How it works:

Finalists are selected by wtatennis.com
Winner is then determined by a fan vote on wtatennis.com 

The third edition of the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global featured first-time champions in singles and doubles, a new year-end singles World No.1 in Angelique Kerber and the crowning of Sania Mirza as the top doubles player of the year. The 2016 Finals also set records off the court thanks to an unprecedented increase in social media engagement.

Dominika Cibulkova’s unexpected run to the final on her tournament debut was experienced by more fans than ever. Compared to the 2015 tournament, Facebook video views were up 571%, engagement on WTA-operated social media platforms increased by 247% and wtatennis.com referrals from social media improved by 167%.

The upsurge in engagement was driven by a ‘social first’ content strategy featuring on and off-court action, humorous player videos, match reporting, opinion editorials, innovative design and behind the scenes video on Facebook Live, Instagram Stories and Snapchat. The best-performing content pieces included the moment Cibulkova won title, a Facebook Live fan Q&A with Indian superstar Mirza, Svetlana Kuznetsova’s on-court haircut and live coverage of the iconic photoshoot, draw and gala dinner.

The increase in exposure was not just limited to web platforms with the 2016 Finals yielding a 4% increase in global TV household reach compared to 2015, thanks to increased exposure in Russia, Germany and Austria.

In addition to Cibulkova’s upset victory over Kerber, Olympic gold medalists Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina broke Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Lucie Safarova’s 18-match winning streak to lift the Martina Navratilova WTA Finals Doubles Trophy. Mirza finished as year-end World No.1 doubles player for a second consecutive season. Mirza has held the No.1 ranking for 83 consecutive weeks.

Melissa Pine, Vice-President of WTA Asia-Pacific and Tournament Director of the WTA Finals, said, “The Road to Singapore this year has been yet another exciting race to the finish line and the tennis action at the WTA Finals has truly reflected the top quality level of play among the greatest eight of 2016. We are thrilled with how the fans in Singapore and around the world have warmly embraced the event as well as shown their enthusiasm for women’s tennis.”

On Saturday a sellout crowd packed into the Rod Laver Arena to watch Angelique Kerber end Germany’s near 17-year wait for a Grand Slam champion. However, the attendance and Germany’s title tally weren’t the only noteworthy numbers from a fascinating month Down Under…

2,360 – Kerber leaves Australia sitting pretty atop the Road To Singapore leaderboard with 2,360 points. Last year, she didn’t pass this mark until the start of August.

1,698 – In January, a total of 1,698 aces were served in 276 main draw matches.

694 – Kerber spent 694 minutes on court en route to her Australian Open triumph.

194 – The number of minutes needed by Heather Watson to defeat Monica Niculescu in the second round of the Hobart International, making it the longest match of the season. Honorable mentions go to Yulia Putintseva and Caroline Wozniacki for their three hour, 12 minute effort at the Australian Open.

139 – Zhang Shuai started the year ranked No.139 but has since has risen 74 spots – the biggest jump of any player currently in the Top 100.

125 – The speed in miles per hour of the fastest serve at the Australian Open, unleashed by Serena Williams.

80.1 – Serena’s 120mph-plus deliveries helped her win 80.1% of the points on her first serve in January.

74 – Perhaps unsurprisingly, Serena had more racquets restrung than any other main draw player at the Australian Open, sending 74 to the stringer’s room.

54 – Maria Sharapova (five matches) and Serena Williams (seven matches) have each hit a WTA-leading 54 aces.

45 – Monica Puig has been the most upwardly mobile of any player currently ranked in the Top 50, rising 45 places (from No.92 to 47).

34 – Based on the rankings from February 2, 2016, there are currently 34 nations represented in the Top 100, led by the USA (12), Germany (10) and Russia (8).

13 – Kerber has played a WTA-leading 13 matches (12-1); her only loss came in the Brisbane final against former world No.1 Victoria Azarenka.

3 – Kerber also leads the way in the fledgling Road To Singapore leaderboard. Three of the Top 8 on the leaderboard following the 2015 Australian Open went on to compete in the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global.

0 – Number of times Serena had lost a third set in a Grand Slam final going into her meeting with Kerber.

27-year-old Zhang Shuai had to win three matches just to qualify for the 2016 Australian Open. A player who had never won a Grand Slam main draw match in 14 previous attempts, Zhang drew the highest-ranked opponent possible in No.2 seed Simona Halep. What Zhang saw as an ending became a new beginning.

“The last few months my ranking was down to No.200, so it was very tough. I was feeling very sad every day. I almost retired.

“But so many people helped me: my coach, my parents, my team, also the national team. My sponsor, too, always tried to help me, and give me more motivation.”

Zhang blasted past Halep for one of the biggest wins of her career – after upsetting then World No.1 Dinara Safina at the China Open in 2009 – and won three more matches to reach her first Grand Slam quarterfinal, losing a close match to Johanna Konta. 

“In my heart I’m feel like I already win the tournament because I won seven match. Yeah, it doesn’t matter if I won or lost today. I’ll just keep going.”

Final Results for January’s WTA Breakthrough Performance Of The Month

1. Zhang Shuai (44%)
2. Johanna Konta (31%)
3. Daria Gavrilova (17%)
4. Daria Kasatkina (6%)
5. Samantha Crawford (2%)

How it works:

Finalists are selected by wtatennis.com
Winner is then determined by a fan vote on wtatennis.com

Angelique Kerber’s stunning maiden Grand Slam victory in Melbourne set the tone for a rollercoaster 2016 WTA season, but she wasn’t the only name to make her mark Down Under as Victoria Azarenka, Monica Puig and Svetlana Kuznetsova highlighted the first few weeks of WTA action during the Australian Swing.

The Rise of Angelique Kerber

Following a career-best season in 2015 – where she picked up four titles and finished the year at No.10 – Angelique Kerber stayed on course in Australia, but even she had no idea what was to come.

After being blown off the court by an inspired Victoria Azarenka in the final of the Brisbane International and being forced to withdraw from the Apia International Sydney in the second round due to a gastrointestinal illness, the German went straight to Melbourne for the first Grand Slam of the year.

Kerber, who’d she’d previously never advanced past the fourth round of the Australian Open – saved match point in her first match against Misaki Doi and went on to put together a clinical run to the final, where she locked horns with Serena Williams.

She stunned the tennis world by defeating the then-World No.1 in a thrilling three sets and lifting her maiden Grand Slam title, ending a 17-year major title drought for German tennis and cementing her place at the top.  

Vika’s Red-Hot Australian Summer

Australia has been Victoria Azarenka’s home away from home for several years, but this time it was in Brisbane, not Melbourne, where the two-time Australian Open champion made her mark.

Starting the year ranked No.22, Azarenka tore through the draw at the Brisbane International without dropping a set. In fact, the Belarusian lost just 17 games en route to the first title of the year, a feat which still stands as the fewest games lost in winning a WTA title in 2016.

She went on to reach the quarterfinals at the Australian Open, her best result there since 2014, and picked up another two titles before succumbing to injuries – a back injury in Madrid, a right knee injury during the French Open – and finally putting an end to her season following the announcement of her pregnancy.

Puig and Kuznetsova Foreshadow 2016 Brilliance

In Sydney, a pair of surprising names who reached the final at the second Premier-level event of the year.

Puerto Rican qualifier Monica Puig, then ranked No.94, reached the second WTA final of her career after posting wins over a trio of Top 30 players, Anna Karolina Schmiedlova, Samantha Stosur and Belinda Bencic (via retirement). She faced Svetlana Kuznetsova, who’d just pulled off her biggest win since 2009 over No.2-ranked Simona Halep in the semifinals.

Even though Kuznetsova went on to drop just two games in her dominant victory over Puig, the pair’s surprise run to the Sydney final served as a preview for what was in store for Puig and Kuznetsova later in the season.

Elsewhere, Agnieszka Radwanska continued where she left off at the 2015 WTA Finals, returning to the home of her best tennis in Asia and picking up a title at the International-level Shenzhen Open. Sloane Stephens also took home the ASB Classic in Auckland and Alizé Cornet won in the Hobart International.

– Photos courtesy of Getty Images