Meet the Top 8 who will go for glory at the year-end Barclays ATP World Tour Finals.
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Maria Sharapova knew she had her work cut out for her in the final of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia.
Carla Suárez Navarro was playing the tennis of her life, beating three Top 10 players to make the final.
And the Spaniard had Sharapova on the ropes – she was two games from the victory leading 6-4, 5-5.
But Sharapova lifted her game right when it mattered most, reeling off eight of the next nine games.
At the end of the day the Russian was just too much, running away with it in the third, 4-6, 7-5, 6-1.
Sharapova walked away with the milestone 35th WTA title of her illustrious and historic career.
It was also her third time winning the Internazionali BNL d’Italia – she won it in 2011 and 2012 too.
She has now won 21 of her last 22 matches at the Premier event – the loss came to Ana Ivanovic in 2014.
Earlier, Timea Babos and Kristina Mladenovic beat Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza in the doubles final.
Babos and Mladenovic now have three WTA doubles titles this year, winning in Dubai and Marrakech too.
ZHUHAI, China – Venus Williams outslugged Karolina Pliskova to win her third WTA title of the year at the Huajin Securities WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai and make her long-awaited return to the Top 10.
The final was a hard-fought, hard-hitting affair, with Williams coming out sharper – she raced out to an early 4-1 lead – but Pliskova closing in to 4-all before Williams snuck out the opening set, 7-5.
The second set script was flipped. This time it was Pliskova who had the leads, going up 4-2 and, after Williams got the set back on serve, going up 4-2 in the ensuing tie-break. The Czech even brought up a set point at 6-5 in the breaker, ripping an inside out forehand that barely missed the sideline.
But like she’s done so many times on the biggest stages all around the world, the No.1-seeded Williams lifted her game one last time to finally close out the No.3-seeded Pliskova, rifling back-to-back forehand winners – including a huge passing shot on match point – to finish her off, 7-5, 7-6(6).
“Seven weeks here in Asia and now I feel like it’s my home!” Williams said afterwards. “I’m so excited to win the first trophy in Zhuhai. All the players felt so welcome here and we appreciated all of the enthusiasm. To see every seat filled for every match, that’s all the players and tournament hope for.
“Also congratulations to Karolina. She deserved to win too – I was really lucky to win at the end.”
“Even if I didn’t make it today, it was a great week,” Pliskova said. “Venus played an unbelievable match today. But I’m proud of how I played this week and hopefully we’ll have more matches like this.”
Williams, a seven-time Grand Slam winner and former No.1, has now had her best season in a long time, winning three WTA titles at Auckland, Wuhan and Zhuhai (the first time she’s won three WTA titles in a season since 2008) and 41 matches (the most she’s won in a season since 50 in 2007).
The Huajin Securities WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai is also the 48th WTA title of Williams’ career.
And last but certainly not least, Williams will now make a long-awaited return to the Top 10 on the WTA Rankings, the American’s first time in the game’s upper echelon in more than four and a half years.
“It’s a great thing to be Top 10 now with the level of the game, but I’m still very hungry. I’m ready for more,” Williams said in her presser. “I’ve had so many experiences in tennis that I still expect a lot from myself. So I’m very happy to be moving forward, but I also want to continue, and not stop here.”
Why is Williams’ return to the Top 10 on the WTA Rankings so significant? Here are seven reasons.
3rd title of 2015! ? ? Welcome back to the Top 10 @VenusesWilliams!! #WTAEliteTrophy https://t.co/oa4fuuerNv
— WTA (@WTA) November 8, 2015
An interview with Petra Kvitova after her loss in the final of the BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global.
The WTA stars have been taking part in kids clinic after kids clinic in the Italian capital this week.
Angelique Kerber, one of the hottest players of the clay court season, was among those taking part.
As was fellow left-hander Petra Kvitova, who’s fresh off the Premier Mandatory-level title in Madrid.
Eugenie Bouchard, who found her feet on clay at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia, took part as well.
One of the young girls even outfoxed Bouchard on the mini-tennis court – maybe a future WTA star?
The fans didn’t just get to hit with the WTA stars, they even got to ask some questions to them…
A few lucky ones got autographs, including this young fan who got Simona Halep’s coveted autograph.
And all of them got a photo to remember. Stay tuned for all the best from Rome here on wtatennis.com!
Doubles duo Abigail Spears and Raquel Kops-Jones got a bit of an adrenaline rush as they tried out zip-lining in this episode of WTA Live Fan Access presented by Xerox.
The WTA stars, including Maria Sharapova, did the traditional pre-tournament press in Rome this week.
Serena Williams, like Sharapova a multiple former champion in Rome, was among those WTA stars.
Simona Halep turned her career around in Rome two years ago – can she go all the way to the title?
Flavia Pennetta made history for Italy in 2009, becoming their first Top 10 player, now first of three.
Caroline Wozniacki and Ana Ivanovic held an impromptu joint pre-tourney press conference on Sunday.
Wozniacki and Ivanovic are both former No.1 players in the world and Dubai Duty Free Ambassadors.
They’ve also both stopped by the Rolex suite this week, meetings VIPs and signing the autograph board.
They’re both former semifinalists in Rome – Wozniacki in 2011, and Ivanovic in 2010 and 2014.
LIMOGES, France/HUA HIN, Thailand – This week wtatennis.com is offering free live streaming from the third and fourth WTA 125K Series tournaments of 2015: the Engie Open de Limoges and the EA Hua Hin 125 Series presented by Singha.
Watch free live streaming from Limoges, France and Hua Hin, Thailand all week right here!
Limoges boats a solid field, featuring top seed and Huajin Securities WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai semifinalist Elina Svitolina; the WTA Rising Star plans to end her season strongly, but will need to get past the likes of No.2 seed Lesia Tsurenko and fellow WTA Rising Stars like No.3 seed and WTA Rising Stars Invitational runner-up Caroline Garcia, No.4 seed Annika Beck, No.6 seed Margarita Gasparyan, and No.8 seed and Generali Ladies Linz finalist, Anna-Lena Friedsam. Former French Open champion Francesca Schiavone will also be present in the bottom half of the draw.
Svitolina openes against hometown favorite Pauline Parmentier, who has tended to play her best tennis at home – reaching the second week of Roland Garros in 2014. Former No.26 Tamira Paszek also looms in Svitolina’s quarter, and has a chance for revenge against rising Romanian Andreea Mitu, who defeated the talented Austrian at a French challenger last week in Nantes.
Hua Hin is another WTA 125K Series event headlined by recent maiden WTA titlist Misaki Doi. The Japanesewoman captured her first WTA trophy at the BGL BNP Paribas Luxembourg Open, and will surely be eager to capitalize on that momentum before the off-season. WTA Rising Stars Naomi Osaka and Zhu Lin are both in Doi’s section of the draw; the two come off Singapore debuts, having participated in the WTA Rising Stars Invitational, which Osaka won over Garcia. Doi’s countrywoman opens against No.8 seed Evgeniya Rodina, while Zhu plays another WTA Rising Star in Patricia Maria Tig, who made her first WTA final in Baku as a qualifier.
On the other half of the draw is No.2 seed and WTA Rising Star Zheng Saisai; can the 2010 Youth Olympic silver medalist win a second WTA 125K Series event – having already won the singles and doubles titles in Dalian – and keep up the form that helped her take a set from eventual champion Venus Williams in Zhuhai? Her quarter features another Singapore starlet in Timea Babos; the No.7 seed made her first BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global in doubles alongside fellow WTA Rising Star, Kristina Mladenovic – who was the winner of the first-ever WTA 125K Series tournament three years ago in Taipei.
Watch them attempt to follow in Mladenovic’s footsteps all week here on wtatennis.com!
The world’s best eight players return to the O2 Arena this week ahead of Sunday’s start of the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London. Infosys ATP Beyond The Numbers looks at the career performances at the season finale of the eight contenders across three key categories: break points saved, second serve points won and return games won.
Break Points Saved
Over 13 appearances at the tournament, Roger Federer has saved almost two-thirds (64 percent) of all break points he has faced to top the list. Stan Wawrinka has played only two Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, but he comes in second on 63.3 percent. Tomas Berdych (62 percent) and Novak Djokovic (60 percent) round out the four players with a 60-percent-or-better clip.
| Player | % | |
| 1. | Roger Federer | 64.0 |
| 2. | Stan Wawrinka | 63.3 |
| 3. | Tomas Berdych | 62.0 |
| 4. | Novak Djokovic | 60.0 |
| 5. | Rafael Nadal | 59.2 |
| 6. | Kei Nishikori | 58.0 |
| 7. | Andy Murray | 56.9 |
| 8. | David Ferrer | 52.7 |
Second Serve Points Won
Federer also has the best record on second-serve points won. The six-time Barclays ATP World Tour Finals champion has clinched 55 percent of second-serve points. Three players are neck and neck for second, with Djokovic (54 percent), marginally better in this department than the two Spaniards, Rafael Nadal (53.7 percent) and David Ferrer (53.4 percent). Wawrinka is the other player among this year’s field who has won more than half his second-serve points at the finale, with 52 percent.
| Player | % | |
| 1. | Roger Federer | 55.0 |
| 2. | Novak Djokovic | 54.0 |
| 3. | Rafael Nadal | 53.7 |
| 4. | David Ferrer | 53.4 |
| 5. | Stan Wawrinka | 52.0 |
| 6. | Andy Murray | 48.7 |
| 7. | Tomas Berdych | 45.9 |
| 8. | Kei Nishikori | 39.5 |
Return Games Won
On the receiving end, it is again Federer who tops the table, claiming 27.4 percent of return games, with Djokovic again narrowly holding down the second-best percentage on return games won at 25.6 percent. Wawrinka and Kei Nishikori are close behind, tied on 25 percent, rounding out the four players who win more than a quarter of their return games.
| Player | % | |
| 1. | Roger Federer | 27.4 |
| 2. | Novak Djokovic | 25.6 |
| 3. | Stan Wawrinka | 25.0 |
| 3. | Kei Nishikori | 25.0 |
| 5. | David Ferrer | 24.7 |
| 6. | Andy Murray | 22.6 |
| 7. | Rafael Nadal | 20.4 |
| 8. | Tomas Berdych | 14.1 |
– With statistical assistance from Graham Edgar
Dig deeper at Inofsys ATP Scores & Stats
Fans of the WTA have had a number of golden opportunities to interact with their sheroes in Madrid.
The Mutua Madrid Open has been holding a number of fan experiences with the stars of women’s tennis.
Angelique Kerber, Charleston and Stuttgart champion, met her fans at an autograph session for Adecco.
Agnieszka Radwanska is another one of the WTA stars who have met their many fans at autograph sessions.
The Pole, who stormed into the last 16 of the Premier Mandatory event on Monday, took photos as well.
She’s one of the most popular players on the tour – she’s won WTA Fan Favorite Player four years running.
But you can also get autographs on the practice courts, as Andrea Hlavackova demonstrated this weekend.
The fans have had chances to hit with the stars of the WTA and ATP World Tour on the practice courts.
Garbiñe Muguruza, Spain’s No.2 player after Carla Suárez Navarro, hit with a few lucky young fans.
The WTA Rising Star broke into the Top 20 after a breakout 2014 season and looks to be going up and up.
Martina Hingis, a former World No.1 in both singles and doubles, also hit with some lucky young fans.
She came out of retirement in 2013 to play doubles again, and is currently on a roll with Sania Mirza.
She and Mirza won their first three tournaments together and are the No.1 seeds in the Spanish capital.
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova posed for a picture with two very happy fans after hitting with them.
There’s been a lot of activity at the Selfie Corner, too – Sam Stosur is among those who’ve stopped by.
WTA players have been posing with the loyal fans in Madrid – this FedFan was also a big Stosur fan.
Stosur feels very at home on clay – she snapped Kerber’s perfect 11-0 start to the clay court season here.
And then, one of the most charismatic players on the tour – Andrea Petkovic – met her many, many fans.
The German, who reached her first major semifinal at Roland Garros a year ago, was essentially swarmed.
Where’s Petko? Stay tuned to wtatennis.com for all of the latest from on and off the court in Madrid!