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Serena, Kvitova, Wozniacki win as the fight for the semis gets tricky
SINGAPORE -- Serena Williams rebounded. Maria Sharapova did not. And now the race for No. 1 gets interesting.
A day after taking her worst loss in 16 years at the hands of Simona Halep, Serena kept her title hopes alive at the WTA Finals with a 6-1, 6-1 win over No. 5 Eugenie Bouchard in her final round robin match to finish 2-1 in the Red Group. Now comes the waiting game. The only way Serena does not advance to the semifinals is if Ana Ivanovic beats Simona Halep in straight sets on Friday. Halep, who is 2-0 in the group, secured her spot in the semifinals on Thursday after Bouchard was able to win her first service game and avoid a 6-0, 6-0 loss. Having already qualified out of the group, Halep may conserve her energy against Ivanovic and a straight set loss would mean Serena is out.
Simona Halep hands Serena Williams worst loss since 1998
After getting her game back on track on Thursday, Serena credited a long talk with coach Patrick Mouratoglou after her embarrassing loss for the turnaround. "I was able to feed off this belief," she said. "I know that sounds weird, even though I've won so many titles, I still at some point feel like, 'Oh, gosh. Well, maybe I might not be able to do this or maybe I might not be able to do that.' Especially after a loss. Especially the way I performed yesterday. So I definitely don't think that I would've been able to survive today if it wasn't for Patrick."
Her performance against Bouchard was a statement. The negativity in her body language was gone, replaced instead by purpose. At one point in the second set she fired a 127 mph serve that left the audience gasping in awe. She kept the pressure on Bouchard and the youngster couldn't do enough to push her off the baseline. "Playing against the best in the world today, I got my butt kicked, but I had fun," Bouchard said. "It actually motivates me to try to get better."
Much like Serena, Sharapova's chances of advancing are out of her hands after taking her second straight loss this week. Petra Kvitova snapped her five-match losing streak to the Russian, winning 6-3, 6-2. Sharapova now needs to beat Agnieszka Radwanska in straight sets on Friday and have Caroline Wozniacki defeat Kvitova in straight sets to qualify out of the group. Wozniacki took control of the White Group with another straight set win, this time beating Radwanska 7-5, 6-3. Wozniacki, the lowest seed in the tournament, is now 2-0 and will qualify for the semifinals as long unless Radwanska beats Sharapova in straight sets.
WHITE | KVITOVA IN 2 | KVITOVA IN 3 | WOZNIACKI IN 2 | WOZNIACKI IN 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
SHARAPOVA IN 2 | 1. Kvitova | 1. Kvitova | 1. Wozniacki | 1. Wozniacki |
SHARAPOVA IN 3 | 1. Kvitova | 1. Kvitova | 1. Wozniacki | 1. Wozniacki |
RADWANSKA IN 2 | 1. Radwanska | 1. Radwanska | 1. Wozniacki | 1. Wozniacki |
RADWANSKA IN 3 | 1. Kvitova | 1. Wozniacki | 1. Wozniacki | 1. Wozniacki |
*The order of finish will be determined by games won:
- Ivanovic wins group if she holds Halep to just five games (or six if one set ends 7-5 or 7-6)
- Halep wins group if she wins at least six games (or seven if one set ends 7-5 or 7-6)
After losing a tough three-hour match to Wozniacki on Tuesday, Sharapova continued to struggle to find a good, sustained level of form against Kvitova. She broke early for a 2-0 lead only to see Kvitova find her form and reel off 11 of the next 12 games, including a string of five straight games in both the first and second set. The Russian continued to struggle with her serve this week -- she hit six double-faults and won just 48 percent behind her first serve.
"I didn't feel as sharp as I did in the previous matches against her," Sharapova said. "She served really well. Not fast, but found her spots really well. Found the corners. I think she had a lot of quick points in her service games." If Sharapova can get out of the group and advance to the semifinals she can still finish the year at No. 1 if she wins the title and Serena fails to make the final.
The Red Group is up for grabs as Ivanovic gets a win over Bouchard
Kvitova rebounded from an error-strewn loss to Radwanska to play a clean match by her standards. When Sharapova got her on the run she dug in and played some fine defense, reminiscent of her efforts at Wimbledon. The Czech, who has a chance to finish the season as high as No. 2, credited her decision to take the day off on Wednesday. "I was really disappointed when I lost against Aga. It was a match probably [where] I really didn't know what I'm doing. I was so tired and sick of the tennis for a moment. So I didn't practice [yesterday] at all and I just really relaxed and clean my mind a little bit. I knew that I have a game to beat Maria," she said.
The win was an important one for Kvitova. Since beating Sharapova in the 2011 Wimbledon final to win her first Slam, Kvitova had failed to notch a complete match win. Their rivalry had been developing in the women's game, but Kvitova had lost her edge against Sharapova. Her win today closed Sharapova's lead in their head-to-head to 6-3. Kvitova said she needed it. "It was the third meeting this year, and I finally made it," Kvitova said. "Of course I'm happy for it. The most important match I won it, in the Wimbledon, so that's important, as well."
The History of the WTA Tour championships
1975
The WTA Championships were first sponsored by Virginia Slims, and in 1975, the tournament switched dates from October to April. Evert won her third Virginia Slims Championships title and $40,000 for defeating Martina Navratilova (pictured here).
1976
The round robin format began (two groups of four players, after first round elimination) and Australian Evonne Goolagong won.
1976
Australia Evonne Goolagong Cowney on the cover of SI during the Finals at LA Memorial Sports Arena.
1977
The tournament moves to Madison Square Garden and Chris Evert takes home the title.
1983
Evert at the Virginia Slims Championships at Madison Square Garden. Navratilova took home the title that year.
1992
No. 1 seed Monica Seles beats Navratilova 7-5, 6-3, 6-1 to win her third year-end title.
1992
Martina Navratilova was sad.
1995
Steffi Graf beat Anke Huber in five-sets (yes, the final was best-of-five for a few years) to win her fourth title.
1996
Gabriela Sabatini retired from the game at the 1996 WTA Finals.
1996
Kimiko Date Krumm also retired at the 1996 tournament. She would return to the tour years later and still plays at 43-years-old.
1999
Steffi Graf hung up her racket at the 1999 tournament and received...a gift.
1999
Lindsay Davenport and Martina Hingis met in the final for the second straight year and once again Davenport prevailed.
2000
Martina Hingis won her ninth title of the year, defeating Monica Seles in three sets.
2001
The Finals said goodbye to Madison Square Garden after a 22-year run and relocated to Munich, Germany.
2001
Serena Williams, making her tournament debut, wins the title after Lindsay Davenport withdraws before the final with a knee injury.
2001
An unhappy Davenport talks to reporters after withdrawing due to a knee injury she sustained in her previous match.
2002
Kim Clijsters stuns No. 1 Serena Williams, who had won three majors that year, to win her first WTA Finals title.
2002
The tournament moved back to America after a one-year stint in Munich, settling in Los Angeles.
2003
The WTA Finals has always served as a reunion of the game's legends.
2003
Clijsters and Hingis hanging out at the beach.
2003
Ever the stalwart, Martina Navratilova played doubles with Svetlana Kuznetsova
2003
Kim Clijsters beat Amelie Mauresmo in the final and won $1 million, the largest prize purse ever at a women's only sporting event at the time.
2004
The WTA Finals were sponsored by Porsche...
2004
...That's the only reason why this photo makes sense.
2004
17-year-old Maria Sharapova made her debut after winning Wimbledon that year.
2004
Sharapova went on to win her only WTA Finals title, beating Serena in three sets after trailing 0-4 in the third. She has not beaten Serena since.
2005
Amelie Mauresmo beats Mary Pierce in the first all-French final.
2006
Justine Henin wins her first WTA Finals title and finishes the year No. 1.
2007
In one of the most memorable finals every played at the event, Justine Henin beats Maria Sharapova 5-7, 7-5, 6-3.
2008
The tournament moves to Doha, Qatar for three years.
2008
The always combustible Vera Zvonareva made the final, but lost to Venus Williams 6-7 (5), 6-0, 6-2.
2008
It was Venus Williams' first year-end title.
2009
Serena and Venus Williams qualified for the event in both singles and doubles.
2009
But not in ping pong.
2009
Caroline Wozniacki came down with leg cramps.
2009
And in the first all-Williams final of the tournament, Serena came out on top.
2010
he event returned to Doha for the third and final time with a $4.55 million prize and No. 1 seed Caroline Wozniacki and No. 3 seed Kim Clijsters reached the final. Clijsters came out on top.
2010
Elena Dementieva stunned everyone by announcing her retirement.
2010
No one was prepared.
2010
Kim Clijsters would win her last WTA Final title.
2011
The tournament moves to Istanbul, Turkey for three years.
2011
In her tournament debut, Petra Kvitova wins the title without dropping a set and finishes the season at No. 2.
2012
For the first time in WTA history, eight different countries were represented at the Finals.
2012
73,072 fans came out to Sinan Erdem Arena for the tournament, the largest attendance since 2000.
2012
Serena Williams extended her win-streak at the event to 10 straight matches en route to the title.
2013
The final staging in Istanbul.
2013
Serena Williams won her fourth WTA Finals title, beating Li Na in three sets in the final.
Whether Kvitova can hold her form to beat Wozniacki is a tougher question. The two have split their eight meetings but this is their first match in over a year. Wozniacki won their last match at the 2013 Western & Southern Open 3-6, 6-2, 6-3. "I know that she improved a lot," Kvitova said. "She's not only running and pushing the balls back, but I think she's playing a little bit more aggressive than she did before."
Serena will have to sit back and watch on Friday to see whether she'll be playing in Saturday's semifinals. She joked that she may even go the Mariah Carey concert that is happening at the Singapore Sports Hub in the evening. "If I don't qualify, I'll be sad, I guess, but wasn't my year," she said. "I'm not going to fall out and die. At least I won my last match, and get ready like I been saying since Cincinnati, for next year. I feel like 2015 is going to be a better year for me. I believe that and I'm ready for that."
Here's the schedule for Friday:
[2] Maria Sharapova vs [6] Agnieszka Radwanska
[3] Petra Kvitova vs [8] Caroline Wozniacki
Not Before 7:30 pm
[4] SimonaHalep vs [7] Ana Ivanovic
Contributor, SI.com Nguyen is a freelance writer for SI.com, providing full coverage of professional tennis both on and off the court. Her content has become a must-read for fans and insiders to stay up-to-date with a sport that rarely rests. She has appeared on radio and TV talk shows all over the world and is one of the co-hosts of No Challenges Remaining, a weekly podcast available on iTunes. Nguyen graduated from the University of California, Irvine in 1999 and received a law degree from the University of California, Davis in 2002. She lives in the Bay Area.