WTA Finals Singapore 2014–2018: 5 Glorious Years, 5 Great Champions
With the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) announcing the 2019 WTA Finals to be played at Shenzhen, China from 17 October to 3 November, it’s time to bid goodbye to Singapore and look back at the five glorious years of WTA Finals in the nation.
These five years have remarkably produced five different Champions. This is not a surprise though, since the WTA tour is much more open compared to the ATP tour which is dominated by the big three. It’s also interesting to note that at the time of lifting the WTA Finals title, four of these five champions had never won a Grand Slam tournament.
An interesting piece of trivia from these last five years is that four of them were placed in the “Red group”. In fact, for four consecutive years from 2014 to 2017, that was the case – a sequence that was broken this year by 2018 Champion Elina Svitolina who was placed in the “White group”.
Four of these Champions come from Europe and one from the USA. Here is a look at the five Champions of WTA Finals Singapore, from 2014 to 2018.
2014: Serena Williams (U.S.A)
Serena Williams came to Singapore as the defending Champion and the top seed. She was placed in the “Red group” along with Simona Halep, Eugenie Bouchard and Ana Ivanovic.
She finished second in her group, after she shockingly lost to Halep in a one-sided encounter in which she could manage a grand total of just 2 games! However, she defeated both Bouchard and Ivanovic in straight sets to qualify for the Semi-Finals. There she met Caroline Wozniacki whom she beat in a tense three-setter – 2-6, 6-3, 7-6.
In the final, she avenged her earlier defeat to Halep by turning the tables on her. This time, it was Halep who was at the receiving end, managing to win a total of only 3 games!