The Roar
The Roar

Advertisement

2014 WTA finals: Preview and draw (Part I)

Roar Guru
18th October, 2014
Advertisement
Serena Williams will take on Elina Svitolina in the French Open fourth round. (AP Photo/Mike Groll)
Roar Guru
18th October, 2014
0

After a season where we have seen four exceptional Grand Slam champions, first-time winners and numerous surprises, the world’s top eight women have converged onto Singapore to contest the final major trophy up for grabs in 2014 – the WTA Finals.

After three years in Istanbul, the tournament has shifted to Singapore for the next three years. It has previously been held in many other cities including Los Angeles, Madrid and Doha.

Serena Williams is the two-time defending champion and will be going for her third consecutive title (and fifth overall) to cap off another season of consistency, with Maria Sharapova and Petra Kvitova, the two other Grand Slam champions in 2014 to qualify, expected to seriously up the challenge to the world number one.

The draw for the tournament has been released and the eight women have been split into two groups – Red and White. The Red Group will be previewed in detail here, while White Group will be previewed in Part II.

Red Group
Serena Williams, Simona Halep, Eugenie Bouchard and Ana Ivanovic

Serena Williams (1)
Eighth appearance
Best result: Won (2001, 2009, 2012, 2013)
Titles won in 2014: Brisbane, Miami, Rome, Stanford, Cincinnati, US Open

Grand Slam results this year
Australian Open: Fourth round
French Open: Second round
Wimbledon: Third round
US Open: Champion

Head-to-head:
3-0 versus Halep
1-0 versus Bouchard
7-1 versus Ivanovic

Advertisement

Simona Halep (4)
First apperance
Best result: N/A
Titles won in 2014: Doha, Bucharest

Grand Slam results this year
Australian Open: Quarter-finals
French Open: Runner-up
Wimbledon: Semi-finals
US Open: Third round

Head-to-head:
0-3 versus S Williams
1-1 versus Bouchard
1-1 versus Ivanovic

Eugenie Bouchard (5)
First appearance
Best result: N/A
Title won in 2014: Nurenberger

Grand Slam results this year
Australian Open: Semi-finals
French Open: Semi-finals
Wimbledon: Runner-up
US Open: Fourth round

Head-to-head:
0-1 versus S Williams
1-1 versus Halep
2-0 versus Ivanovic

Ana Ivanovic (7)
Third appearance (first since 2008)
Best result: Semi-finals (2007)
Titles won in 2014: Auckland, Monterrey, Birmingham, Tokyo

Advertisement

Grand Slam results this year
Australian Open: Quarter-finals
French Open: Third round
Wimbledon: Third round
US Open: Second round

Head-to-head:
1-7 versus S Williams
1-1 versus Halep
0-2 versus Bouchard

Preview
Two of the most consistent performers on the WTA Tour this year, Serena Williams (six titles) and Ana Ivanovic (57 match wins), are grouped with the two only WTA Finals debutants in Simona Halep and Eugenie Bouchard.

Williams may have not replicated the dominant season she enjoyed last year; with the exception of her successful US Open title defence, her results at the other three Grand Slam tournaments were surprisingly poor, including a second round exit at Roland Garros and a fourth round dismissal by Ana Ivanovic in Melbourne.

Still, her six titles this year is the most by any woman in 2014, and it’s her who will be favoured to move through to the semi-finals. Against her three opponents combined, she has suffered just the one solitary defeat, that being the aforementioned loss to Ivanovic at the Australian Open nine months ago.

It was that victory by the Serb, and her first title since November 2011 in Auckland two weeks earlier, which laid the foundations for a consistent season which saw her pick up four titles and reach the quarter-finals in Melbourne, where a hip injury hindered her in a three-set loss to Canada’s Eugenie Bouchard.

Her 57 match wins this year is the most by any woman in 2014 and regardless of how she fares in her first appearance at the WTA Finals in six years, this year will better 2007 as being her most successful season since turning pro in 2003.

Advertisement

Simona Halep has picked up where she left off from her breakthrough season of last year, climbing up to number two in the world rankings and reaching her first Grand Slam final at the French Open, where she lost to Maria Sharapova in the tournament’s first three-set final since 2001.

Among her two titles this year included her biggest career title in Doha, where she defeated Angelique Kerber to win her seventh career title, and the inaugural Bucharest Open, where she defeated Roberta Vinci in straight sets in the final.

And last but not least, Eugenie Bouchard continued to impress in 2014, after starting 2013 ranked 144th in the world and finishing it ranked 32nd, the Canadian broke into the top ten after reaching her first Grand Slam final at Wimbledon.

Among her season highlights included reaching the semi-finals at the Australian Open, where the experience of eventual champion Li Na proved to be the difference, and at the French Open, where she pushed Maria Sharapova hard before succumbing in three sets.

These came on either side of her winning her first career title in Nuremberg. In addition she also reached the final at the inaugural Wuhan Open, where she fell to Petra Kvitova, who also defeated her in straight sets in the Wimbledon final.

While Serena Williams will be favoured to move through to the semi-finals, whoever else advances past the round-robin remains unpredictable. Ana Ivanovic is the second-most experienced player in the Red Group, so you would think that she would also make it to the final four. However, her negative record against the other three collectively could weigh against her.

In an eerie twist, each player in the Red Group withdrew from their last tournaments before the WTA Finals: Williams and Halep, who were the top two seeds in Beijing, both withdrew at the quarter-final stage, while Bouchard and Ivanovic, who were the top two seeds in Linz, both withdrew after winning their opening-round matches.

Advertisement

That’s the Red Group previewed. The White Group will be previewed in Part II.

close