Dominika Cibulkova upsets Kerber to win WTA Finals title
Dominika Cibulkova claimed the biggest victory of her career by beating Angelique Kerber 6-3,6-4, in the WTA Finals title match. The Slovak lost her first two round-robin matches and narrowly made it to the semis, where she beat Kuznetsova to make it to the final. Cibulkova entered the tournament as World No.8 and now rose to the World No.5 ranking.
WTA Finals history
Women's Tennis Association (WTA) Finals as now known, was first played in 1972. WTA Finals are the annual year-end championships competed by the top 8 singles players and top 8 doubles teams. Singles is played in round-robin format, and doubles teams play in a single-elimination draw. Martina Navratilova (8), won most titles of the tournament, followed by Steffi Graf and Serena Williams, five each.
2015 champions
Agnieszka Radwanska and the doubles team of Martina Hingis & Sania Mirza entered the 2016 WTA finals tournament as the defending champions.
2016 tournament details
2016 WTA finals will be held in Singapore from 23-30 October. Singles players - Red Group: Angelique Kerber, Simona Halep, Madison Keys, Dominika Cibulkova; White Group: Agnieszka Radwanska, Karolina Pliskova, Garbine Muguruza, Svetlana Kuznetsova. Doubles Teams - Caroline Garcia/Kristina Mladenovic, Martina Hingis/Sania Mirza, Bethanie Mattek-Sands/Lucie Safarova, Ekaterina Makarova/ Elena Vesnina, Andrea Hlavackova/Lucie Hradecka, Chan Hao-Ching/ Chan Yung-Jan, Timea Babos/Yaroslava Shvedova, Julia Gorges/Karolina Pliskova.
Serena Williams misses the tournament
World No.2 Serena Williams pulled out of the WTA finals owing to her shoulder injury. This opened the opportunity for players outside top 8 to compete in the tournament. As a result, Russia's Svetlana Kuznetsova entered the WTA Finals after winning the Kremlin Cup.
White Group standings
So far, the players from white group have played one match each. Top seed of the group Aga Radwanska was beaten by Kuznetsova in a 3-set thriller - 7-5, 1-6, 7-5. In the second match, Karolina Pliskova defeated the French Open champion Garbine Muguruza 6-2, 6-(7), 7-5. In the next set of matches, Kuznetsova faces Pliskova and Radwanska will play against Muguruza.
WTA Finals : Angie Kerber continues her dominance
World No.1 Angelique Kerber continued her unbeaten run at WTA Finals, beating Simon Halep 6-4, 6-2, in her latest outing. In the other match from Kerber's Red Group, Madison Keys defeated Dominika Cibulkova, to secure her first win. As it stands Kerber leads the group with 2-0 win record. Halep, Keys follow (1-0), with Cibulkova, yet to win a match, at the bottom.
Makarova and Vesnina clinch the Doubles title
Kerber and Cibulkova proceeded to Semis from Red Group, with 3-0, 1-2 record respectively. Kuzentsova and Radwanska, both with 2-1 record, moved to Semis from White Group. In the doubles category, Sania/Hingis were ousted in the Semis by Russian pair Makarova/Vesnina, who then went on to win the finals. They beat Mattek-Sands/Safarova 7-6, 6-3 to claim the WTA Finals Doubles title.
