Text: Daniil Salnikov
In the last week of October, the eight strongest tennis players gathered in Singapore, the Russian leaders in Vienna, and Federer again in Basel.
BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global
Prize fund: $ 7 000 00.
Coating: hard, room.
the date of the: October 22-29.
Time difference with Moscow: +5 hours.
Participants: Simona Halep (1), Garbinier Mugurusa (2), Karolina Plishkova (3), Elina Svitolina (4), Venus Williams (5), Carolina Wozniacki (6), Elena Ostapenko (7), Caroline Garcia (8).
Full list of participants.
The current winner: Dominika Tsibulkova.
In Singapore, the final WTA championship will be played for the 48th time, it is held with the participation of the eight strongest tennis players in the world at the end of the season. For the first time, the tournament was held in 1971, but in 1986 there were already two draws. Competitions constantly changed their location - Houston, Boca Rayton, Los Angeles, New York, Oakland, Munich, Madrid, Doha and Istanbul. Since 2014, the competition of the eight strongest tennis players in the world has been played in Singapore, and the license belongs to him until 2018 inclusive. Since 2019, St. Petersburg has also been competing for the tournament.
The record holder for the number of titles in the final WTA tournament is Martina Navratilova - eight. Steffi Graf and Serena Williams have five victories each, Chris Evert four - and Monica Seles and Kim Clijsters three - each. Of the Russians, the tournament was once submitted to Maria Sharapova (2004), she was also a finalist two more times (2007, 2012), like Vera Zvonareva (2008). After winning in 2014, Serena was twice selected in the top eight, but both times she refused to participate. In the current draw, in the absence of Sharapova, Serena and Azarenka, there is a large rotation of participants. There are three debutants in the tournament at once - Svitolina, Ostapenko and Garcia. Karolina Plishkova, Mugurusa and Halep have played from one to three last draws. Caroline Wozniacki returned after two missed draws. And the 2008 champion and 2009 finalist Venus Williams has not played at all in the last 7 final tournaments. Note also that 7 out of 8 participants of the tournament in Singapore, according to its results, can become the first racket of the world. But this is a topic for a separate conversation.
According to the rules of the competition, at the preliminary stage, according to the results of the draw, the participants were divided into two groups - four tennis players each. Red group - Khalep, Svitolina, Wozniacki, Garcia; White group - Mugurus, Plishkova, V. Williams, Ostapenko. Based on the results of the group round, two of the best athletes will advance to the playoffs, where, starting from the semifinals, the winner will be determined as a result.
Participants of the final WTA-2017 championship:
V. Williams - 4 tournaments, 11 wins / 5 losses, the best result is the title (2008);
Wozniacki - 4, 9/7, final (2010);
Halep - 3, 5/6, final (2014);
Mugurusa - 2, 4/3, semifinals (2015);
Kar. Plishkova - 1, 1/2, group;
Svitolina - debut;
Ostapenko - debut;
Garcia - debut.
Prize fund: € 2 621 850.
Coating: hard, room.
the date of the: October 23-29.
Time difference with Moscow
Participants: Alexander Zverev (4), Dominic Thiem (7), Pablo Carreno-Busta (10), Kevin Anderson (15), Sam Querry (16), John Isner (17), Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (18), Luca Pui ( 22), Karen Khachanov (32), Andrey Rublev (37), Grigor Dimitrov (WC), Ernest Gulbis (WC).
Refused to participate: Milos Raonic (11), Tomas Berdych (19), Gael Monfils (36), Ivo Karlovic (49).
The current winner: Andy Murray.
The Vienna tournament has been played since 1974 at the Winner Stadthalle Arena. This is the home stadium of the Austrian national ice hockey team, in addition, the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 was held here. Since 2009, after the reform of the calendar, the tournament in the Austrian capital belonged to the ATP-250 category. However, in 2015, he exchanged licenses with a higher-status tournament in Valencia - ATR-500. And from the next year, the Spanish tournament ceased to exist altogether. Many famous tennis players won the competitions in Vienna - Goran Ivanishevich, Andre Agassi, Boris Becker, Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Juan Martin del Potro, Andy Murray. The Briton did not come to defend the title because he cannot recover from his injury. Alexander Zverev and Dominik Tim are seeded under the first two numbers. Two Russians, Karen Khachanov and Andrei Rublev, will also play in the competition.
Prize fund: € 2 291 860.
Coating: hard, room.
the date of the: October 23-29.
Time difference with Moscow: -1 hour (October 29: -2 hours).
Participants: Roger Federer (2), Marin Cilic (5), David Goffin (12), Roberto Bautista-Agut (13), Jack Sock (21), Juan Martin del Potro (24), Misha Zverev (27), Adrian Mannarino (31).
Refused to participate: Rafael Nadal (1), Nick Quirios (20), Gilles Müller (23).
The current winner: Marin Cilic.
The Swiss Indoor Championships are held in Munich, a suburb of Basel, in the St. Jakobshalle. The unsurpassed record holder here is the local favorite Roger Federer - 7 titles. This year he is seeded number one, because after a trip to Asia, Rafael Nadal decided to withdraw from the competition.
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And here it is again: the final chord of the season will be given from October 22 to 29 in Singapore by the WTA final tournament. As always, the top eight women tennis players are hoping to win the unofficial world championship. The current winner Dominika Tsibulkova has no way to defend her title - she did not qualify for the competition. Also, last year's finalist Angelica Kerber is not among the participants. Below is a brief analysis and an attempt to predict the odds of all eight tennis players in the upcoming competition.
Simona Halep
The newly minted first racket of the world, although she won only one title this year, was also able to make her way to the finals of Roland Garros, Cincinnati and Beijing. Participation in the decisive match in the Chinese capital, by the way, allowed her to become the new leader of the world women's tennis. Otherwise, the 2017 season performed by Khalep cannot be called outstanding. At the Australian and US Opens, she lost in the first round, and at Wimbledon was defeated in the quarterfinals by Johanna Conta. And, nevertheless, she became the first racket in the world!
: 1 (Madrid)
Age: 26 years
Country: Romania
WTA: 3 (2014–2016)
Forecast: Halep has just won the first place in the world report card. In any case, we can predict her participation in the semifinals. At the same time, two competitors look, in our opinion, stronger than her.
Garbinier Mugurus
Garbinier Mugurus has the best season of his career so far. She won the Wimbledon final against former first racket of the world Venus Williams, and also defeated Simone Halep in the decisive match of the tournament in Cincinnati. The Romanian, by the way, only two weeks ago was able to change the Spaniard as the best tennis player in the world. At the moment, going, as they say, head to head, Halep and Mugurusu share only 40 rating points in the WTA table.
Tournaments won in the 2017 season: 2 (Wimbledon and Cincinnati)
Age: 24 years
Country: Spain
Past participation in the final tournamentWTA: 2 (2015–2016)
Forecast: In Cincinnati, Mugurusa beat Plishkova and Halep. The athlete from Spain is rightfully considered one of the favorites of the WTA final tournament after a strong season. Looks like one of the most likely participants in the Singapore finals.
Karolina Plishkova
Plishkova also produces consistently good results this season, which is proven, in particular, by the three tournaments she won this year: in Brisbane, Doha and Eastbourne. However, what she undoubtedly lacked in 2017 was great success at the TBSH. She reached the semi-finals at Roland Garros, in Melbourne and New York - to the quarterfinals, and at Wimbledon she completely failed in the second round. However, after Kerber fell in the world rankings, the Czech immediately after the English Open became the first racket of the world for eight weeks. At the final competition in Singapore, she has a chance to reclaim her lost crown. In her favor will undoubtedly be the fact that hard is her favorite surface.
Tournaments won in the 2017 season: 3 (Brisbane, Doha and Eastbourne)
Age: 25 years
Country: Czech
Past participation in the final tournamentWTA: 1 (2016)
Forecast: At last year's draw, Pliskova dropped out in the group stage, but this year she is clearly capable of more - in her best form, the Czech tennis player is an unconditional candidate for the final.
Elina Svitolina
The Ukrainian qualified for the WTA final tournament for the first time. On the court, she shines, first of all, with her two-handed backhand. Her biggest successes this year are competitions in Dubai, Rome and Toronto. At the same time, she beat Caroline Wozniacki twice in two sets and Simone Halep once in three sets. During the current season, she was already the third racket in the world and can always surprise you. In addition, Svitolina has a chance to lead the world rankings at the end of the year, which, of course, will give her additional motivation.
Tournaments won in the 2017 season: 5 (Taipei, Dubai, Istanbul, Rome and Toronto)
Age: 23 years old
Country: Ukraine
Past participation in the final tournamentWTA: 0
Forecast: Among all the participants, the Ukrainian woman has the most trophies won in the current season. However, she lacks major successes in the majors. Nevertheless, she seems to us to be a semifinalist of the Singapore championship.
Venus Williams
37-year-old "grandmother" of the WTA tour Venus Williams was able to get to the final tournament in Singapore without winning a single trophy in the 2017 season. And yet: at the Australian Open and at Wimbledon, she played in the finals, losing in Melbourne to her younger sister Serena, and in London to Garbinje Mugurus. In total, Williams has only entered 13 competitions this year. Like Roger Federer, almost equal in age, she tries to correctly distribute her forces. Her trump card in Singapore will undoubtedly be her rich experience, which no other competitor possesses.
Tournaments won in the 2017 season: 0
Age: 37 years
Country: USA
Past participation in the final tournamentWTA: 4 (1999, 2002, 2008–2009)
Forecast: Most likely, she will have to leave after the group stage. Williams did not win a single tournament in 2017, and this will likely remain the same in Singapore. However, the very participation in the final championship of the season after an eight-year pause is already a success for the American tennis player.
Caroline Wozniacki
This season, Carolyn Wozniacki has already taken part in 22 tournaments and in this sense is the opposite of Williams, who was "underplayed". However, at the same time, the Danish woman has only one trophy - in Tokyo. Prior to that, Wozniacki had failed six times in the finals and only after that in October she won the decisive match in the capital of Japan. In fact, she shows a fairly stable game in the 2017 season, but she often lacks quite a bit to outplay the top opponents in the most important matches. And at the TBSh, her best achievement in 2017 is reaching the quarterfinals of Roland Garros.
Tournaments won in the 2017 season: 1 (Tokyo)
Age: 27 years
Country: Denmark
Past participation in the final tournamentWTA: 4 (2009–2011 and 2014)
Forecast: Like Williams, she will likely end up in Singapore after the group stage. In most cases, Wozniacki allows her opponents to determine the course of the match, her game lacks weapons with which she could hit top opponents. Therefore, the group stage will be the final destination for the former world number one in the WTA final tournament.
Elena Ostapenko
The Latvian, who is just 20 years old, is making real sensations this year. According to the results of an outstanding season, she was not only able to win Roland Garros, beating Simona Halep in the final, but also became the first tennis player from Latvia to qualify for Singapore. Often, for her, the question arises like this: all or nothing. This was very clearly seen in the decisive match of the French Open, in which, at first, due to numerous unforced errors, she lost 4-6, 0-3, but then swept Halep off the site. So Ostapenko's game is very exciting! Although, of course, she lacks experience and stability.
Tournaments won in the 2017 season: 2 (Roland Garros and Seoul)
Age: 20 years
Country: Latvia
Past participation in the final tournamentWTA: 0
Forecast: The youngest participant in the final tournament will undoubtedly try to annoy the representatives of the elite. But, nevertheless, the lack of experience will most likely play a cruel joke with her in the competition, and she will leave Singapore after the group round.
Caroline Garcia
Caroline Garcia was the last to qualify for the final tournament of the year - this became clear just two weeks ago. She won two tournaments in a row - in Wuhan and then, a week later, in Beijing, and after Conta refused to participate in the Kremlin Cup, the Frenchwoman secured herself a participation in the Singapore competition for the first time. In the decisive match of the Beijing competition, by the way, she managed to win in two sets over the first racket of the world Simona Halep. Until 2017, she also performed very successfully in doubles. This year in Singapore, she can play in her own free manner.
Tournaments won in the 2017 season: 2 (Wuhan and Beijing)
Age: 24 years
Country: France
Past participation in the final tournamentWTA: 0
Forecast: Although the fitness curve speaks in favor of Garcia and the Frenchwoman can boast of great success in doubles, the rest of the participants still have more experience. After the last busy weeks on the tour, she may well be lacking in strength, so, most likely, she will not make it past the group stage in Singapore.
GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE FINAL TOURNAMENTWTA
Location: Singapore
Prize fund: US $ 7 million
Coating: hard
Last year's finale: Dominika Tsibulkova – Angelica Kerber 6-3, 6-4
The WTA Finals, the final tournament of the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) with a prize fund of $ 7 million, has started in Singapore. This year, three newcomers are taking part in it, and seven tennis players out of eight have a chance to become the first racket of the world at the end of the year. In two matches in the White Group, Karolina Plishkova left no chance for Venus Williams, and Wimbledon champion Garbinier Mugurus also defeated sensational Roland Garros winner Elena Ostapenko in two games.
The final WTA tournament, which takes place in Singapore for the fourth year in a row, can be considered unique. Firstly, there has never been such a level of competition in the struggle for the first place at the end of the year in this competition. The fact is that theoretically seven tennis players can head the rating at once, and four of them - the current leader of the Romanian Simona Halep, the Spanish Garbinier Mugurusa, the Ukrainian Elina Svitolina and the Czech Karolina Plishkova - are quite real candidates for leadership. For example, Muguruse, in order to bypass Halep, who is ahead of her by only 40 rating points, needs to win just one more match. And Plishkova and Svitolina may well count on a favorable option for themselves.
Secondly, in comparison with last year, more than half - five out of eight tennis players - the composition of the tournament participants has been updated. In addition, there were three newcomers in the Singapore eight at once - Elina Svitolina, Elena Ostapenko from Latvia and Frenchwoman Caroline Garcia.
Thirdly, it has not happened for a long time that the division of tennis players into groups so clearly corresponds to the manner of their play. The White group includes Garbinier Mugurusa, Karolina Plishkova, Venus Williams and Elena Ostapenko, who prefer more power tennis than Simona Halep, Elina Svitolina, Karolina Wozniacki and Caroline Garcia from the Red Group.
The starting day of the WTA Finals did not bring any surprises. First, Plishkova defeated Venus Williams with a score of 6: 2, 6: 2 in just 1 hour 12 minutes. The 37-year-old American, who is taking part in the final tournament for the fifth time, but for the first time in the past eight years, is the oldest participant since 1994. She did not serve very well, making six double faults, and was unable to use her advantage in experience, while the Czech, sometimes unstable, showed a fairly accurate and reliable game for herself.
The second meeting of the day - Mugurus-Ostapenko - turned out to be more interesting. On a relatively slow hard surface for a hall, laid on a wooden cushion in the Singapore Indoor Stadium, the Latvian tennis player, as usual, tried to act as aggressively as possible, but did not succeed. The Spanish won with a score of 6: 3, 6: 4 in 1 hour and 25 minutes and, thus, at the moment, bypassed Halep in the ranking, who in turn will play Garcia on Monday.
Evgeny Fedyakov
WTA rankings
eleven). Simona Halep (Romania) - 5675 points. 2 (2). Garbinier Mugurus (Spain) - 5635.3 (3). Karolina Pliskova (Czech Republic) - 5105.4 (4). Elina Svitolina (Ukraine) - 5000.5 (5). Venus Williams (USA) - 4642.6 (6). Caroline Wozniacki (Denmark) - 4640.7 (7). Elena Ostapenko (Latvia) - 4510.8 (9). Caroline Garcia (France) - 3795.9 (10). Joanna Konta (Great Britain) - 3610.10 (13). Christina Mladenovic (France) - 2885. 11 (8). Svetlana Kuznetsova(Russia) - 2856.12 (14). Coco Vandevey - 2819.13 (15). Sloane Stevens (both - USA) - 2722. 14 (18). Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova(Russia) - 2425.15 (21). Anastasia Sevastova (Latvia) - 2295.16 (16). Madison Keys (USA) - 2213. 17 (20). Elena Vesnina(Russia) - 2195.18 (27). Julia Görges - 2060.19 (11). Angelique Kerber (both - Germany) - 2042.20 (23). Ashley Barty (Australia) - 2031 ... 24 (28). Daria Kasatkina(Russia) - 1950 ... 33 (33). Ekaterina Makarova(Russia) - 1580 ... 54 (67). Natalia Vikhlyantseva(Russia) - 1070 ... 60 (57). Maria Sharapova(Russia) - 1006 ... 73 (74). Ekaterina Alexandrova(Russia) - 830 ... 84 (86). Evgeniya Rodina(Russia) - 752.
In brackets - the position for the previous week.
WTA and ATP tournaments
Final tournament WTA in Singapore. Prize fund - $ 7 million
White group. First tour. Garbinier Mugurus (Spain, 2) -Elena Ostapenko (Latvia, 7) 6: 3, 6: 4. Karolina Pliskova (Czech Republic, 3) -Vinus Williams (USA, 5) 6: 2, 6: 2.
Tournament WTA Kremlin Cup in Moscow. Prize fund - $ 855 thousand
The final. Julia Görges (Germany, 7) - Daria Kasatkina(Russia) 6: 1, 6: 2.
ATP Tournament Kremlin Cup in Moscow. Prize fund - $ 745 thousand
The final. Damir Cumhur (Bosnia and Herzegovina, 6) -Richardas Berankis (Lithuania) 6: 2, 1: 6, 6: 4.
ATP tournament in Stockholm. Prize fund - € 590 thousand
The final. Juan Martin Del Potro (Argentina, 4) -Grigor Dimitrov (Bulgaria, 1) 6: 4, 6: 2.
Singapore, 21.10-27.10.2017 Women (WTA), hard, Final championship, 8 participants.
Announcement
The main competition of the year for women will be Final tournament in Singapore. It is called the final one, although after it the season will continue for another month. But the best tennis players can go on vacation with a clear conscience. So we suggest you take the opportunity to watch the best of the best for the last time in 2017 (and, of course, bet on one of them for a high coefficient, which is not equal to which you will not see during the season).
Results of the first days
The tournament started on Sunday and so far only two fights in the white group have ended. It makes no sense to wait and see who will get ahead, since the tournament is already fleeting. Let's try to predict the winner in advance, especially since the capabilities of all the finalists are well known to us.
Quotes on 22.10.2017
All the coefficients below are set by Marathon BC as of 10/22/2017, 19:00 Moscow time. In the white group, the second meeting has just ended, and the office has not yet had time to put up new quotes.
Rating
Forecast
White group
W. Williams. In the first (yesterday's) match, the American showed complete helplessness against Plishkova. In the aftermath of the 2: 6 2: 6 fiasco, Venus said the courts in Singapore were too slow to perform at her best. But it is believed that the elder Williams plays smart tennis. Her outspoken opponent, who relies heavily on first serve and powerful flat shots as she plays, the slow cover should have been much more in the way. Apparently, the point is not in the coverage, but in the fact that an older American woman does not take out competitions with young elite opponents. Next, Venus will have to go to court against Mugurus and Ostapenko, tennis players are even sharper and more explosive, moving quickly and there are no chances at all.
E. Ostapenko. The Latvian woman also showed that she is not yet competitive at the elite level. She has a resounding success (the title for Roland Garros-2017), but, in addition to this conquest, Elena has never shown games of the top ten level. While she has yet to prove that success in Paris is not an accident, that she does not belong to a huge army of girls who have not been able to confirm the pattern of their only success with subsequent stable performances (such as Puig, Schiavone, Bartolli, etc.). Lena lacks stability. She started her final hard season with flops, losing in the first round to Toronto and Cincinnati. Moreover, the oppositionists there were frankly weak - Lepchenko and Krunich. This was followed by a departure in the third circle to JUS OPEN. The Asian series was much more successful for the Latvian: one title in Seoul (however, rivals there were at the level of Luxiki Kumhun and Nao Khibino) and two semifinals in Juhan and Beijing (in the first of them they even managed to beat Mugurusu). But all these were competitions, unimportant for the leaders, who did not want to get injured before the Final and quickly merged. Singapore is a completely different song. The first fight here against Mugurusa was clearly lost both in terms of score and game. Further, Ostapenko will meet with Williams and Plishkova. And for the young Latvian it will be a huge success if in the end they manage to take at least one point.
K. Plishkova. The Czech woman was the least successful of the eight spent the second half of the season, so even against Williams, the bookmakers evaluated her chances with caution, assuming they were approximately equal. But the defeat of the pensioner immediately brought Plishkova to the second line of the rating list. We are not inclined to overestimate the possibilities, demonstrating primitive tennis and having obvious weaknesses (in particular, she is not fast enough and hardy enough, often Carolina is enough for only one set). If we evaluate the results shown during the current hard season, we will see a dual picture. On the one hand, Plishkova has an excellent balance of wins and losses (+14 -6). On the other hand, almost all confrontations with worthy opponents ended sadly for her. In particular, the Czech lost to Kirste, Barty, Kerber, Vandeweghe, Mugurus and Wozniacki. At the same time, consider that there were no victories over elite girls at all (Wozniacki's revenge, and even, perhaps, the triumph in the meeting with Pavlyuchenkova can be classified as memorable successes). The defeat of Williams impressed, but it is not known what was more here - her own skill or the weakness of the oppositionist.
G. Mugurus. The Spanish woman tore everyone at Wimbledon, proving that she had trained herself to think that she was truly an elite tennis player. It cannot be said that Garbi's further path was sinless. At Stanford, the Spaniard lost to Keyes in the semifinals, while in Toronto she was beaten in the third round by Svitolina. Finally, In Cincinnati, they managed to take the title, taking revenge from the Keys, and at the same time burying Plishkova, Khalep and Kuznetsova. Then there was the fourth round at YUS OPEN, where Kvitova had to give way, plus the third stage in Toronto (where Mugurus defeated Garcia, but could not resist Wozniacki, having suffered a humiliating defeat 0: 6 2: 6). Finally, the Chinese voyage ended in complete fiasco. Departure in the third circle from Ostapenko and drain at the start of Bading by the mediocre Strykova (however, there it smelled like a frank surrender of the game, since Garbinier refused with the score 1: 6 0: 2). When the results are measured in historical order, at first glance, they appear to be descending. But in fact, everything can be explained by purposeful preparation for the Final. In Singapore, a convincing revenge has already been taken from Ostapenko, and bookmakers were quick to raise the Spaniard to the top of their preferences. We tend to agree with them. At least Garbi must leave the group.
Red group
K. Wozniacki. The Danish woman has spent a brilliant season, coming close to the best examples of herself. But even so, she could not rise above the sixth line in the classification. It is not surprising that in the next fight against Svitolina, the Danish beauty is placed as an outsider, offering a quote of 2.41 (versus 1.65 for her opponent). If we take purely technical results (+14 -6), everything looks relatively good. In Tokyo, they even managed to win the title, leaving Tsibulkova and Mugurusu with a nose. But in general, there are more defeats from elite rivals than victories. Of the successes in meetings with strong girls, besides those already mentioned, one can only note the victory over Plishkova in Toronto in early August. At the same time, Karo was inferior to Svitolina, the same Plishkova, Makarova, Kvitova and even Sakkari (the Danish refused to fight Cabrera at the extreme competition in Hong Kong). Once in the group of death, it is unlikely that Wozniacki can count on getting out of it.
S. Khalep. As the Romanian herself put it the other day, she will have to be hard, because she will have to run a lot (in the company of such strong opponents). In the summer, Simone resorted to the help of a psychologist and this had a beneficial effect on the results. Previously, Halep could not take a single serious title, losing at a decisive moment. For example, at Roland Garros, she was an obvious favorite against Ostapenko, but as a result she showed complete helplessness and a lack of understanding of how to act against this particular opponent. After working with a psychologist, the Romanian woman reached the first ranking line, but this did not help her learn how to win decisive confrontations. In particular, in recent months, Simona twice found herself in the finals, but each time the title floated away from their hands. In Cincinnati she was destroyed by Mugurus 1: 6 0: 6, and recently in Beijing she was beaten by Garcia 4: 6 6: 7. Between these two relatively successful competitions, there were departures in the first circles at YUS OPEN (0: 3 from Sharapova) and Yukhan (1: 6 2: 6 from Kasatkina). The reason lies on the surface - Simona prefers clay courts, and on hard (especially fast American and Chinese) she feels uncomfortable. We believe that in the company with Garcia, Svitolina and Wozniacki, the Romanian is left to fight only for the third place. The first fight against the Frenchwoman is scheduled for today, 10/23/2017 at 14:30 Moscow time and she will give Halep the moment of truth. Bookmakers consider Simona to be a favorite, offering to play her for 1.65, but all experts who managed to express their opinion unanimously insist that Garcia should become the winner here.
K. Garcia. The Frenchwoman was the best in the final part of the season. Two victories in a row at the extreme competitions (In Beijing and Johan), where Khalep, Kvitova, Svitolina, Kerber, Tsibulkova, Barty were defeated, testify to the excellent form that Karolina gained. It was only the week before last that she withdrew from the tournament, and last week she was refused in the Wild Card by the organizers of the Kremlin Cup. Thus, the Frenchwoman could well lose her excellent shape in two weeks of downtime. Let's not forget that in the initial part of the hard season, Garcia performed quite average, in none of the four competitions, without progressing beyond the third round. So, although some experts were quick to list her as the main favorites of the group, Caroline has yet to prove that she can take titles for which the strongest opponents fight seriously (winning not only in the provincial Chinese cities).
E. Svitolina. In early October, the Ukrainian woman climbed to a record third line in the rating, in the end she slowed down a little, due to the fact that in Hong Kong she refused to go to the second round fight and missed a fair amount of rating points(as a result, Pavlyuchenkova became a triumphant there). In general, after the JUS OPEN, the Ukrainian held only one full-fledged tournament. In Beijing, she reached the third circle, defeating Zhu Lin, Ashley Barty and Elena Vesnina. At the same time, the duel with Garcia again clearly outlined the main weakness of the Ukrainian woman - the inability to take out decisive fights, in which the opponent desperately resists and does not want to concede. Svitolina must definitely work with a psychologist, otherwise the most talented young tennis player (Elina is 23 years old) runs the risk of never winning anything serious, like Halep, Radwanski or Wozniacki. In general, the hard season was good for Svitolina (+12 -5), especially its very start, when the title was won in Toronto (moreover, Mugurus, Wozniacki, Halep, Kasatkina, Williams were beaten). But after that, Elina practically had no serious opponents, and when they did meet, the Ukrainian suffered defeats. There are doubts that now she is in perfect shape, but we still dare to put her in the first position in the group.
Conclusion
In our opinion, in the semifinals from the white subgroup Plishkov and Mugurus(everything is quite transparent here, rivals are clearly inferior to them in class). As for the red subgroup, here the forces of the whole quartet are approximately equal and it is rather difficult to predict the semi-finalists. We still give preference to the best player of the last month Garcia and the most talented of the audienceSvitolina. If everything goes as predicted, then Svitolina-Plishkova and Mugurusa-Garcia will meet at ½. However, the girls from the red subgroup in any combination look stronger (even if Wozniacki and Halep make their way to the semifinals), so they will compete for the main cup among themselves.
Final forecast: in the final battle, Garcia will be opposed by Svitolina, and here again the Ukrainian should be stronger. She has long been among the elite tennis players, and the Final, unlike even the Grand Slam, never win random faces or upstarts who have shone at a couple of tournaments in a season.