The 2018 WTA Finals, also known by its sponsored name BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore, was a women's
tennis
Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...
tournament held in
Kallang
Kallang is a planning area and residential town located in the Central Region of Singapore.
Development of the town is centered around the Kallang River, the longest river in Singapore. Kallang Planning Area is bounded by Toa Payoh in the ...
,
Singapore
Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...
. It was the 48th edition of the singles event and the 43rd edition of the doubles competition. The tournament was contested by eight singles players and eight doubles teams. This was the final year for Singapore to hold this tournament.
Champions
Singles
*
Elina Svitolina
Elina Mykhailivna Svitolina ( uk, Еліна Михайлівна Світоліна, ; born 12 September 1994) is a Ukrainian professional tennis player. She reached career-high rankings of world No. 3 in singles and 108 in doubles. Svitolina ...
def.
Sloane Stephens
Sloane Stephens (born March 20, 1993) is an American professional tennis player. She achieved a career-best ranking of world No. 3 after Wimbledon in 2018. Stephens was the 2017 US Open champion, and has won seven WTA Tour singles titles in to ...
, 3–6, 6–2, 6–2
Doubles
*
Tímea Babos
Tímea Babos (; born 10 May 1993) is a Hungarian professional tennis player who is a former world No. 1 in doubles.
She is a four-time Grand Slam champion in women's doubles, having won the 2018 and 2020 Australian Opens, as well as the Fre ...
/
Kristina Mladenovic
Kristina "Kiki" Mladenovic (; sr, Кристина "Кики" Младеновић, Kristina "Kiki" Mladenović, ; born 14 May 1993) is a French professional tennis player and a former world No. 1 in doubles.
She is a nine-time Grand Slam c ...
def.
Barbora Krejčíková
Barbora Krejčíková (; born 18 December 1995) is a Czech professional tennis player. She has a career-high singles ranking of world No. 2, achieved on 28 February 2022, and on 22 October 2018, she became world No. 1 in doubles.
Krejčíková ...
/
Kateřina Siniaková
Kateřina Siniaková (; ; born 10 May 1996) is a Czech professional tennis player who is the current world No. 1 in doubles.
She is a six-time Grand Slam champion in doubles, having won the 2018 and 2021 French Opens, 2018 and 2022 Wimbledon ...
, 6–4, 7–5
Tournament
The 2018 WTA Finals took place at the
Singapore Indoor Stadium
The Singapore Indoor Stadium, known exonymously as the Indoor Stadium, is an indoor arena located in Kallang, Singapore. It is within walking distance of the Singapore National Stadium, and collectively form a part of the wider Singapore Spor ...
the week of October 21, 2018, and was the 48th edition of the event. This was the final year in which Singapore hosted the event. The tournament was run by the
Women's Tennis Association
The Women's Tennis Association (WTA) is the principal organizing body of women's professional tennis. It governs the WTA Tour which is the worldwide professional tennis tour for women and was founded to create a better future for women's tenn ...
(WTA) as part of the
2018 WTA Tour
The 2018 WTA Tour was the elite professional tennis circuit organised by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for the 2018 tennis season. The 2018 WTA Tour calendar comprises the Grand Slam tournaments, supervised by the International Tennis ...
. Singapore was the ninth city to host the
WTA Finals since its inauguration in 1972.
Qualifying
In singles, point totals are calculated by combining point totals from sixteen tournaments. Of these sixteen tournaments, a player's results from the four
Grand Slam
Grand Slam most often refers to:
* Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves
Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to:
Games and sports
* Grand slam, winning category te ...
events, the four
Premier Mandatory tournaments, and (for Top 20 players at the end of 2017) the best results from two
Premier 5 tournaments must be included.
In doubles, point totals are calculated by any combination of eleven tournaments throughout the year. Unlike in singles, this combination does not need to include results from the Grand Slams or Premier-level tournaments.
Format
The singles event features eight players in a round robin event, split into two groups of four. Over the first four days of competition, each player meets the other three players in her group, with the top two in each group advancing to the semifinals. The first-placed player in one group meets the second-placed player in the other group, and vice versa. The winners of each semifinal meet in the championship match. The doubles event returns to a single elimination event. The winners of each quarterfinal match will advance to the semifinals and the winners of each semifinal match will advance to the final.
Round robin tie-breaking methods
The final standings were made using these methods:
# Greatest number of wins.
#Greatest number of matches played.
# Head-to-head results if only two players are tied, or if three players are tied then:
::a. If three players each have the same number of wins, a player having played less than all three matches is automatically eliminated and the player advancing to the single elimination competition is the winner of the match-up of the two remaining tied players.
::b. Highest percentage of sets won.
::c. Highest percentage of games won.
Prize money and points
The total prize money for the BNP Paribas 2018 WTA Finals was US$7,000,000.
Qualified players
Singles
On 13 August,
Simona Halep
Simona Halep (; born 27 September 1991) is a Romanian professional tennis player. She has been ranked world No. 1 in singles twice between 2017 and 2019, for a total of 64 weeks, which ranks eleventh in the history of the Women's Tennis Assoc ...
became the first qualifier.
Simona Halep began the year by winning the
Shenzhen Open, defeating
Kateřina Siniaková
Kateřina Siniaková (; ; born 10 May 1996) is a Czech professional tennis player who is the current world No. 1 in doubles.
She is a six-time Grand Slam champion in doubles, having won the 2018 and 2021 French Opens, 2018 and 2022 Wimbledon ...
in the final in three sets. She then competed at the
Australian Open and reached the finals after saving match points in her third round match against
Lauren Davis
Lauren Davis (born October 9, 1993) is an American professional tennis player. Known for her aggressive backhand, speed, and clay-court strength, she won her first title on the WTA Tour at the Auckland Open and reached a career-high singles ra ...
and semifinal match against
Angelique Kerber
Angelique Kerber (; born 18 January 1988) is a German professional tennis player. She has been ranked as high as world No. 1, for a total of 34 weeks, and won three major titles at the 2016 Australian Open, the 2016 US Open, and the 2018 Wi ...
. However, she lost in the final to
Caroline Wozniacki
Caroline Wozniacki (; born 11 July 1990) is a Danish former professional tennis player. She was ranked world No. 1 in singles for a total of 71 weeks, including at the end of 2010 and 2011. She achieved the top ranking for the first time on 11 ...
in three tight sets, also losing the number 1 ranking to Wozniacki. She then lost in the semifinals of her next two events, the
Qatar Open and
BNP Paribas Open to
Garbiñe Muguruza
Garbiñe Muguruza Blanco (; born 8 October 1993) is a Spanish-Venezuelan professional tennis player. She has a career-high singles ranking of world No. 1 by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), and a career-high doubles ranking of world No. ...
and
Naomi Osaka
is a Japanese professional tennis player. She has been ranked world No. 1 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) and is the first Asian player to hold the top ranking in singles. Osaka is a four-time Grand Slam singles champio ...
, respectively. At the
Miami Open, she fell in the third round to
Agnieszka Radwańska
Agnieszka Roma Radwańska (; born 6 March 1989) is a Polish former professional tennis player. She won 20 career singles WTA Tour titles, two doubles titles, and achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 2 on 9 July 2012. Her achiev ...
.
At the start of the clay season, Halep did not have good results, only reaching the quarterfinals at the
Porsche Tennis Grand Prix
The Stuttgart Open, also known by its sponsored name Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, is a women's tennis tournament held in Stuttgart, Germany (until 2005, in Filderstadt, a southern suburb of Stuttgart). Held since 1978, the tournament is the oldest w ...
and the
Mutua Madrid Open
The Madrid Open ( es, Masters de Madrid, link=no), currently sponsored by Mutua Madrileña and known as the Mutua Madrid Open, is a joint men's and women's professional tennis tournament, held in Madrid, during early May. The clay-court event is ...
, with both losses coming in straight sets to
CoCo Vandeweghe
Colleen "CoCo" Vandeweghe ( ) (born Colleen Mullarkey; December 6, 1991) is an American professional tennis player. A former Junior US Open champion and top 10 singles player, she has also won two WTA titles, both at the Rosmalen Grass Court C ...
and
Karolína Plíšková
Karolína Hrdličková (née Plíšková; ; born 21 March 1992) is a Czech professional tennis player. She is a former world No. 1 in singles, reaching the top of the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) rankings on 17 July 2017 and holding the posi ...
, respectively. Halep was able to bounce back at the
Internazionali BNL d'Italia
The Italian Open ( it, Internazionali d'Italia; literally: ''Italy's Internationals''), originally called the Italian International Championships, is a tennis tournament held in Rome, Italy. It is one of the most important clay tennis tournament ...
reaching the final but losing to
Elina Svitolina
Elina Mykhailivna Svitolina ( uk, Еліна Михайлівна Світоліна, ; born 12 September 1994) is a Ukrainian professional tennis player. She reached career-high rankings of world No. 3 in singles and 108 in doubles. Svitolina ...
, winning only four games in the match. At the
French Open, Halep won the biggest title of her career and her first Grand Slam title, defeating reigning US Open champion
Sloane Stephens
Sloane Stephens (born March 20, 1993) is an American professional tennis player. She achieved a career-best ranking of world No. 3 after Wimbledon in 2018. Stephens was the 2017 US Open champion, and has won seven WTA Tour singles titles in to ...
after coming back from a set down. However, Halep did not have much luck at the grass courts of
Wimbledon, losing in the third round to
Hsieh Su-wei
Hsieh Su-wei ( ;''Xiè 謝淑薇Shūwēi'' in Chinese mainland. Taiwanese Mandarin: ; in Standard Mandarin of Chinese mainland. born 4 January 1986) is an inactive Taiwanese professional tennis player. She has won three singles titles and 30 ...
after failing to take advantage of a set lead.
At the American hard court season, Halep started out by reaching back-to-back finals. She won the
Rogers Cup
The Canadian Open (french: Tournoi de tennis du Canada), also known as the Canada Masters, and currently branded as the National Bank Open presented by Rogers for sponsorship reasons, is an annual tennis tournament held in Ontario and Quebec. T ...
by defeating Stephens again in a rematch of the French Open final. However, she lost the final of the
Western & Southern Open to
Kiki Bertens
Kiki Bertens (; born 10 December 1991) is a Dutch former professional tennis player. Her career-high WTA singles ranking was world No. 4, which she reached on 13 May 2019, becoming the highest ranked Dutch female player ever.
Her career-high do ...
despite having a match point. This loss was a start of a bad stretch for the Romanian as she became the first top seed to lose in the first round of the
US Open when she fell to
Kaia Kanepi
Kaia Kanepi (; born 10 June 1985) is an Estonian professional tennis player. She achieved her career-high ranking of world No. 15 on 20 August 2012 and has won four singles titles on the WTA Tour.
Described as a 'resident Grand Slam upset speci ...
. She then lost her opening round matches at the
Wuhan Open
The Wuhan Open (currently sponsored by Dongfeng Motor) is a tennis tournament held in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China and organized for female professional tennis players. It is one of the WTA 1000 tournaments on the WTA Tour and made its debut in t ...
and
China Open, giving her a four match losing streak coming into the
WTA Finals
The WTA Finals (formerly known as the WTA Tour Championships or WTA Championships) is a tournament of the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) played annually at the end of the season. The event is uniquely reserved for players at the top of the WTA ...
. However, she announced that she would withdraw from the event because of an ongoing back injury. Even though, Halep secured the year-end No. 1 for a second consecutive year.
On 10 September,
Angelique Kerber
Angelique Kerber (; born 18 January 1988) is a German professional tennis player. She has been ranked as high as world No. 1, for a total of 34 weeks, and won three major titles at the 2016 Australian Open, the 2016 US Open, and the 2018 Wi ...
became the second qualifier.
Angelique Kerber began her season at the
Hopman Cup
The Hopman Cup is an international eight-team indoor hardcourt tennis tournament that played mixed-gender teams on a country-by-country basis.It was held in Perth, Western Australia each year from 1989 to 2019, before being replaced on the calen ...
to represent Germany with
Alexander Zverev but lost in the final to Switzerland. At the
Sydney International, Kerber claimed her first title since winning the
2016 US Open defeating local favorite
Ashleigh Barty
Ashleigh is the feminine form of the Old English name Ashley, which means "dweller near the ash tree forest". It is most common in the United States and United Kingdom.
Notable people
B
*Ashleigh Ball (born 1983), Canadian voice actress
* Ashle ...
in straight sets. At the Australian Open, Kerber was able to reach the semifinals of a slam for the first time since her US Open triumph but lost to
Simona Halep
Simona Halep (; born 27 September 1991) is a Romanian professional tennis player. She has been ranked world No. 1 in singles twice between 2017 and 2019, for a total of 64 weeks, which ranks eleventh in the history of the Women's Tennis Assoc ...
in three sets after failing to convert two match points she had in the final set. She then played in the middle east, where lost in the quarterfinals of the Qatar Total Open losing to then World no. 1
Caroline Wozniacki
Caroline Wozniacki (; born 11 July 1990) is a Danish former professional tennis player. She was ranked world No. 1 in singles for a total of 71 weeks, including at the end of 2010 and 2011. She achieved the top ranking for the first time on 11 ...
in three sets and to
Elina Svitolina
Elina Mykhailivna Svitolina ( uk, Еліна Михайлівна Світоліна, ; born 12 September 1994) is a Ukrainian professional tennis player. She reached career-high rankings of world No. 3 in singles and 108 in doubles. Svitolina ...
at the
Dubai Tennis Championships
The Dubai Tennis Championships or Dubai Open (also known as the ''Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships'' for sponsorship reasons) (formerly known for sponsorship reasons as the ''Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships'' and the ''Dubai Duty Free Men's ...
in the semifinals. She then reached back-to-back quarterfinals at the BNP Paribas Open and Miami Open falling to
Daria Kasatkina
Daria Sergeyevna Kasatkina (born 7 May 1997) is a Russian professional tennis player. She is currently the Russian No. 1 player in singles. She made her top-ten debut in the WTA rankings towards the end of the 2018 season and has been ranked ...
and
Sloane Stephens
Sloane Stephens (born March 20, 1993) is an American professional tennis player. She achieved a career-best ranking of world No. 3 after Wimbledon in 2018. Stephens was the 2017 US Open champion, and has won seven WTA Tour singles titles in to ...
, respectively.
During the clay court season, Kerber had good results reaching the quarterfinals of Internazionali BNL d'Italia and French Open losing to eventual champions Svitolina and Halep, Respectively. At the grass season, Kerber suffered an upset in the hands of
Alison Riske
Alison Riske-Amritraj (née Riske; born July 3, 1990) is an American professional tennis player. She reached her career-high singles ranking of world No. 18 in November 2019 and won her first WTA Tour title in October 2014 at the Tianjin Open. ...
in the first round of the
Mallorca Open, but she bounced back by reaching the semifinals of
Eastbourne International
The Eastbourne International is a tennis tournament on the WTA Tour and the ATP Tour held at the Devonshire Park Lawn Tennis Club, Eastbourne, United Kingdom. Held since 1974, it is classified as a WTA 500 series on the WTA Tour and an ATP Tour 2 ...
losing to top seed
Caroline Wozniacki
Caroline Wozniacki (; born 11 July 1990) is a Danish former professional tennis player. She was ranked world No. 1 in singles for a total of 71 weeks, including at the end of 2010 and 2011. She achieved the top ranking for the first time on 11 ...
. At Wimbledon, Kerber won her third grand slam title and her first at the event defeating
Serena Williams
Serena Jameka Williams (born September 26, 1981) is an American inactive professional tennis player. Considered among the greatest tennis players of all time, she was ranked world No. 1 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for ...
in the final in straight sets. This means Kerber has won 3 of the 4 slams, only missing the French Open. After her slam triumph, Kerber had poor results winning only 6 of her next 11 matches, losing early in Rogers Cup, Western & Southern Open, US Open, Wuhan Open and China Open, failing to reach a single quarterfinal.
On 2 October,
Naomi Osaka
is a Japanese professional tennis player. She has been ranked world No. 1 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) and is the first Asian player to hold the top ranking in singles. Osaka is a four-time Grand Slam singles champio ...
was announced to be making her debut at the event as the third qualifier.
Naomi Osaka began the year at the
Hobart International
The Hobart International is a women's professional tennis tournament held at the Hobart International Tennis Centre in Hobart, Australia. Held since 1994, it forms a part of the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) Tour and is classed as an Interna ...
with a first round loss to
Yulia Putintseva
Yulia Antonovna Putintseva ( rus, Ю́лия Анто́новна Пути́нцева; , ''puh-TEEN-tseh-vah''; born 7 January 1995) is a Russian-born Kazakhstani professional tennis player. She is a three-time Grand Slam quarterfinalist (twic ...
. At the Australian Open, she made it to the fourth round with wins over 2 top 20 players but fell to
Simona Halep
Simona Halep (; born 27 September 1991) is a Romanian professional tennis player. She has been ranked world No. 1 in singles twice between 2017 and 2019, for a total of 64 weeks, which ranks eleventh in the history of the Women's Tennis Assoc ...
. She suffered early loses at the Qatar Total Open and Dubai Tennis Championships. Osaka made her breakthrough at the BNP Paribas Open, winning her first title in the event defeating
Daria Kasatkina
Daria Sergeyevna Kasatkina (born 7 May 1997) is a Russian professional tennis player. She is currently the Russian No. 1 player in singles. She made her top-ten debut in the WTA rankings towards the end of the 2018 season and has been ranked ...
in the final and defeating top 5 players
Karolína Plíšková
Karolína Hrdličková (née Plíšková; ; born 21 March 1992) is a Czech professional tennis player. She is a former world No. 1 in singles, reaching the top of the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) rankings on 17 July 2017 and holding the posi ...
and Halep along the way. However, she fell to
Elina Svitolina
Elina Mykhailivna Svitolina ( uk, Еліна Михайлівна Світоліна, ; born 12 September 1994) is a Ukrainian professional tennis player. She reached career-high rankings of world No. 3 in singles and 108 in doubles. Svitolina ...
at the second round of the Miami Open after defeating her childhood idol
Serena Williams
Serena Jameka Williams (born September 26, 1981) is an American inactive professional tennis player. Considered among the greatest tennis players of all time, she was ranked world No. 1 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for ...
. Osaka did not have much success during the clay season only winning back-to-back matches at the
Volvo Car Open
The Credit One Charleston Open, formerly known as the Volvo Car Open and the Family Circle Cup, is a WTA Tour-affiliated professional tennis tournament for women, held every year since 1973. It is the oldest professional all-women's tournament in ...
and French Open, reaching the third round losing to
Julia Görges and
Madison Keys
Madison Keys (born February 17, 1995) is an American professional tennis player. She has been ranked as high as world No. 7 by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), a ranking she first achieved in October 2016. Keys has played in one Grand Sla ...
, respectively. During the grass season, Osaka was able to reach the semifinals of
Nottingham Open
The Nottingham Open was originally known as the Nottingham Championships or Nottingham Lawn Tennis Tournament (1887-1967), is a tennis tournament for men and women held in Nottingham, United Kingdom, played on outdoor grass courts at the Nottingh ...
to eventual champion
Ashleigh Barty
Ashleigh is the feminine form of the Old English name Ashley, which means "dweller near the ash tree forest". It is most common in the United States and United Kingdom.
Notable people
B
*Ashleigh Ball (born 1983), Canadian voice actress
* Ashle ...
and the third round of Wimbledon losing to eventual champion
Angelique Kerber
Angelique Kerber (; born 18 January 1988) is a German professional tennis player. She has been ranked as high as world No. 1, for a total of 34 weeks, and won three major titles at the 2016 Australian Open, the 2016 US Open, and the 2018 Wi ...
.
At the US Open Series, prior to the
US Open she suffered a three match losing streak, with her only win coming in the
Citi Open. However at the US Open, Osaka claimed her first grand slam title despite her poor preparation to the tournament. In the
final
Final, Finals or The Final may refer to:
* Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event
** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of con ...
she defeated
Serena Williams
Serena Jameka Williams (born September 26, 1981) is an American inactive professional tennis player. Considered among the greatest tennis players of all time, she was ranked world No. 1 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for ...
in straight sets. Osaka followed this triumph with a final showing at her home event of the
Toray Pan Pacific Open losing to Karolína Plíšková in the final. She then reached the semifinals of the China Open losing to
Anastasija Sevastova
Anastasija Sevastova (born 13 April 1990) is an inactive professional tennis player from Latvia. She reached her career-high singles ranking of world No. 11 in October 2018, after reaching her first Premier Mandatory final at the China Open. She ...
.
On October 4,
Petra Kvitová
Petra Kvitová, OLY ( , ; born 8 March 1990) is a Czech professional tennis player. Known for her powerful left-handed groundstrokes and variety, Kvitová has won 29 career singles titles, including two major titles at Wimbledon in 2011 and ...
and
Caroline Wozniacki
Caroline Wozniacki (; born 11 July 1990) is a Danish former professional tennis player. She was ranked world No. 1 in singles for a total of 71 weeks, including at the end of 2010 and 2011. She achieved the top ranking for the first time on 11 ...
booked their spots to the WTA Finals.
Petra Kvitová opened her season in
Sydney, losing to qualifier
Camila Giorgi
Camila Giorgi (; born 30 December 1991) is an Italian professional tennis player. She has a career-high singles ranking of world No. 26, achieved on 22 October 2018. She is the current Italian No. 2, after Martina Trevisan.
After winning her fi ...
in the second round. She followed this up with a first-round loss at the
Australian Open to Andrea Petkovic. She found form in
St. Petersburg Ladies' Trophy defeating
Kristina Mladenovic
Kristina "Kiki" Mladenovic (; sr, Кристина "Кики" Младеновић, Kristina "Kiki" Mladenović, ; born 14 May 1993) is a French professional tennis player and a former world No. 1 in doubles.
She is a nine-time Grand Slam c ...
in the final, before winning a second title two weeks later at the
Qatar Total Open with a three-set victory over
Garbiñe Muguruza
Garbiñe Muguruza Blanco (; born 8 October 1993) is a Spanish-Venezuelan professional tennis player. She has a career-high singles ranking of world No. 1 by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), and a career-high doubles ranking of world No. ...
. She was unable to continue this form in BNP Paribas Open and Miami Open, losing in the second round and fourth round to
Amanda Anisimova
Amanda Anisimova ( ; , ; born August 31, 2001) is a Russian-American professional tennis player. She has a career-high WTA ranking of No. 21 in the world, and has been ranked in the top 100 since shortly after turning 17 years old. Anisimova has ...
and
Jeļena Ostapenko
Jeļena Ostapenko (born 8 June 1997), also known as Aļona Ostapenko, is a Latvian professional tennis player. She has career-high WTA rankings of world No. 5 in singles, achieved on 19 March 2018, and world No. 9 in doubles, reached on 22 Augus ...
respectively. Kvitová's clay court season also began slowly, falling in the first round of
Volvo Car Open
The Credit One Charleston Open, formerly known as the Volvo Car Open and the Family Circle Cup, is a WTA Tour-affiliated professional tennis tournament for women, held every year since 1973. It is the oldest professional all-women's tournament in ...
and
Porsche Tennis Grand Prix
The Stuttgart Open, also known by its sponsored name Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, is a women's tennis tournament held in Stuttgart, Germany (until 2005, in Filderstadt, a southern suburb of Stuttgart). Held since 1978, the tournament is the oldest w ...
to
Kristýna Plíšková
Kristýna Plíšková (; born 21 March 1992) is an inactive Czech professional tennis player. Plíšková has won one singles and four doubles titles on the WTA Tour, as well as nine singles and eight doubles titles on the ITF Circuit. On 31 Ju ...
and
Angelique Kerber
Angelique Kerber (; born 18 January 1988) is a German professional tennis player. She has been ranked as high as world No. 1, for a total of 34 weeks, and won three major titles at the 2016 Australian Open, the 2016 US Open, and the 2018 Wi ...
, respectively. However, she quickly turned her form around, winning her third and fourth titles of the year at
J&T Banka Prague Open and Mutua Madrid Open, defeating
Mihaela Buzărnescu
Mihaela Buzărnescu (born 4 May 1988) is a Romanian professional tennis player.
She has a career-high WTA singles ranking of No. 20, achieved on 6 August 2018. Her best doubles ranking of world No. 24, she reached on 22 October 2018. She has ...
and
Kiki Bertens
Kiki Bertens (; born 10 December 1991) is a Dutch former professional tennis player. Her career-high WTA singles ranking was world No. 4, which she reached on 13 May 2019, becoming the highest ranked Dutch female player ever.
Her career-high do ...
in the respective finals. She then lost in the third round of the
French Open to
Anett Kontaveit
Anett Kontaveit (; born 24 December 1995) is an Estonian professional tennis player. She has been ranked as high as world No. 2 by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), which she first achieved on 6 June 2022, making her the highest-ranked Eston ...
.
Kvitová claimed her fifth title of the season on the grass courts of
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...
, defeating
Magdaléna Rybáriková
Magdaléna Rybáriková (; born 4 October 1988) is a retired Slovak tennis player. In her career, she won four singles titles and one doubles title on the WTA Tour. Rybáriková reached the semifinals of the 2017 Wimbledon Championships and br ...
in the final. At
Wimbledon, she lost her first-round match against
Aliaksandra Sasnovich
Aliaksandra Aliaksandraŭna Sasnovich ( be, Аляксандра Аляксандраўна Сасновіч; born 22 March 1994) is a Belarusian tennis player. She has won eleven singles and seven doubles titles on the ITF Circuit. She has rea ...
. Her next two tournaments in Rogers Cup and Western & Southern Open ended in the third round and semi-finals respectively, both at the hands of
Kiki Bertens
Kiki Bertens (; born 10 December 1991) is a Dutch former professional tennis player. Her career-high WTA singles ranking was world No. 4, which she reached on 13 May 2019, becoming the highest ranked Dutch female player ever.
Her career-high do ...
. She made the quarterfinals of the
Connecticut Open, where she retired against
Carla Suárez Navarro
Carla Suárez Navarro (; born 3 September 1988, in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. A former top 10 singles player, she reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 6 on 29 February 2016, and a b ...
. At the US Open, her slam results continue to disappoint as she lost in the third round to
Aryna Sabalenka
Aryna Siarhiejeŭna Sabalenka ( be, Арына Сяргееўна Сабаленка; russian: Арина Сергеевна Соболенко, ''Arina Sergeyevna Sobolenko'', born 5 May 1998) is a Belarusian professional tennis player. She ha ...
. She also lost in the third round of the
Wuhan Open
The Wuhan Open (currently sponsored by Dongfeng Motor) is a tennis tournament held in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China and organized for female professional tennis players. It is one of the WTA 1000 tournaments on the WTA Tour and made its debut in t ...
to
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
Anastasia Sergeyevna "Nastia" Pavlyuchenkova (russian: Анастаси́я "Настя" Серге́евна Павлюче́нкова; born 3 July 1991) is an inactive Russian professional tennis player. A junior prodigy, Pavlyuchenkova won ...
and the first round of the
China Open to
Daria Gavrilova
Daria Saville (née Gavrilova, born 5 March 1994) is an Australian professional tennis player. She represented Russia until 2015, before emigrating to Australia. She competed under her maiden name until her marriage to Luke Saville in 20 ...
.
Caroline Wozniacki began her season at the
ASB Classic losing the final to
Julia Görges. She then went on to win her first Grand Slam title at the
Australian Open. She saved two match points in the second round against
Jana Fett
Jana Fett (; born 2 November 1996) is a Croatian tennis player. On 30 October 2017, Fett reached her best singles ranking of world No. 97, and on 21 May 2018, she reached her best doubles ranking of No. 348. Fett has won six singles and five doub ...
, before going on to defeat
Simona Halep
Simona Halep (; born 27 September 1991) is a Romanian professional tennis player. She has been ranked world No. 1 in singles twice between 2017 and 2019, for a total of 64 weeks, which ranks eleventh in the history of the Women's Tennis Assoc ...
in the final. This win returned Wozniacki to World No. 1 for the first time since 2012. After reaching the quarterfinals of
St. Petersburg Ladies' Trophy losing to
Daria Kasatkina
Daria Sergeyevna Kasatkina (born 7 May 1997) is a Russian professional tennis player. She is currently the Russian No. 1 player in singles. She made her top-ten debut in the WTA rankings towards the end of the 2018 season and has been ranked ...
and the semi-finals in Qatar Total Open losing to
Petra Kvitová
Petra Kvitová, OLY ( , ; born 8 March 1990) is a Czech professional tennis player. Known for her powerful left-handed groundstrokes and variety, Kvitová has won 29 career singles titles, including two major titles at Wimbledon in 2011 and ...
, Wozniacki was unable to progress far in
BNP Paribas Open and
Miami Open, losing in the fourth round and second round to
Daria Kasatkina
Daria Sergeyevna Kasatkina (born 7 May 1997) is a Russian professional tennis player. She is currently the Russian No. 1 player in singles. She made her top-ten debut in the WTA rankings towards the end of the 2018 season and has been ranked ...
and
Monica Puig
Monica Puig Marchán, (born September 27, 1993) is a Puerto Rican former professional tennis player. She is the first Puerto Rican in history to win a gold medal at the Olympics while representing Puerto Rico, having done so in 2016 at th ...
respectively.
Wozniacki had a relatively quiet clay-court swing, suffering quarterfinal losses at the
İstanbul Cup
The İstanbul Cup is a WTA tennis tournament held in Istanbul, Turkey, organised for professional female tennis players. It is classified as an International-level tournament on the WTA Tour. Held annually since May 2005, it was played on outdoo ...
to
Pauline Parmentier
Pauline Parmentier (; born 31 January 1986) is a French former tennis player.
Her career-high WTA singles ranking is world No. 40, which she attained on 21 July 2008. On 30 April 2012, she peaked at world No. 89 on the WTA doubles rankings. Sh ...
and
Italian Open to
Kiki Bertens
Kiki Bertens (; born 10 December 1991) is a Dutch former professional tennis player. Her career-high WTA singles ranking was world No. 4, which she reached on 13 May 2019, becoming the highest ranked Dutch female player ever.
Her career-high do ...
as well as a third round loss in Mutua Madrid Open to
Anett Kontaveit
Anett Kontaveit (; born 24 December 1995) is an Estonian professional tennis player. She has been ranked as high as world No. 2 by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), which she first achieved on 6 June 2022, making her the highest-ranked Eston ...
. At the
French Open, she fell in the fourth round, losing to
Daria Kasatkina
Daria Sergeyevna Kasatkina (born 7 May 1997) is a Russian professional tennis player. She is currently the Russian No. 1 player in singles. She made her top-ten debut in the WTA rankings towards the end of the 2018 season and has been ranked ...
for the third time on the season. Wozniacki won her second title of the year in
Eastbourne International
The Eastbourne International is a tennis tournament on the WTA Tour and the ATP Tour held at the Devonshire Park Lawn Tennis Club, Eastbourne, United Kingdom. Held since 1974, it is classified as a WTA 500 series on the WTA Tour and an ATP Tour 2 ...
, defeating
Aryna Sabalenka
Aryna Siarhiejeŭna Sabalenka ( be, Арына Сяргееўна Сабаленка; russian: Арина Сергеевна Соболенко, ''Arina Sergeyevna Sobolenko'', born 5 May 1998) is a Belarusian professional tennis player. She ha ...
in the final. She was unable to find the same success at
Wimbledon, suffering a second-round loss to
Ekaterina Makarova
Ekaterina Valeryevna Makarova ( rus, Екатери́на Вале́рьевна Мака́рова; ; born 7 June 1988) is a Russian former professional tennis player who was ranked world No. 1 in doubles, and world No. 8 in singles.
She ...
.
Opening round losses in Rogers Cup to Sabalenka and Western & Southern Open to Bertens were followed by an early exit at the
US Open, falling to
Lesia Tsurenko
Lesia Viktorivna Tsurenko ( uk, Леся Вікторівна Цуренко; born 30 May 1989) is a Ukrainian tennis player. Tsurenko has won four singles titles on the WTA Tour, as well as six singles and eight doubles tournaments on the IT ...
in the second round in straight sets. The poor results continued for Wozniacki in
Toray Pan Pacific Open and
Wuhan Open
The Wuhan Open (currently sponsored by Dongfeng Motor) is a tennis tournament held in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China and organized for female professional tennis players. It is one of the WTA 1000 tournaments on the WTA Tour and made its debut in t ...
, where she lost in the second round at both tournaments to
Camila Giorgi
Camila Giorgi (; born 30 December 1991) is an Italian professional tennis player. She has a career-high singles ranking of world No. 26, achieved on 22 October 2018. She is the current Italian No. 2, after Martina Trevisan.
After winning her fi ...
and Puig. However, she turned her form around in
Beijing
}
Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...
, where she defeated
Anastasija Sevastova
Anastasija Sevastova (born 13 April 1990) is an inactive professional tennis player from Latvia. She reached her career-high singles ranking of world No. 11 in October 2018, after reaching her first Premier Mandatory final at the China Open. She ...
in the final, claiming her first Premier Mandatory title in over seven years, doing so without dropping a set all tournament.
On 14 October,
Sloane Stephens
Sloane Stephens (born March 20, 1993) is an American professional tennis player. She achieved a career-best ranking of world No. 3 after Wimbledon in 2018. Stephens was the 2017 US Open champion, and has won seven WTA Tour singles titles in to ...
was announced to be making her debut at the event as the sixth qualifier.
Sloane Stephens was unable to find her form in the opening season, losing both first rounds of
Sydney International and Australian Open to
Camila Giorgi
Camila Giorgi (; born 30 December 1991) is an Italian professional tennis player. She has a career-high singles ranking of world No. 26, achieved on 22 October 2018. She is the current Italian No. 2, after Martina Trevisan.
After winning her fi ...
and
Zhang Shuai
Zhang Shuai (; ; born 21 January 1989) is a Chinese professional tennis player.
She is a two-time Grand Slam champion in women's doubles, having won the 2019 Australian Open and the 2021 US Open, both alongside Samantha Stosur. Zhang als ...
. After reaching the quarterfinals of the
Abierto Mexicano Telcel
The Mexican Open (currently sponsored by Telcel and HSBC and called the Abierto Mexicano Telcel presented by HSBC) is a men's professional tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts, and usually held annually in late February at the Arena GN ...
losing to
Stefanie Vögele
Stefanie Vögele (born 10 March 1990) is a former professional Swiss tennis player. She achieved a career-high singles ranking of world No. 42 on 11 November 2013. Her highest WTA ranking in doubles is 100, which she reached on 5 January 2015. O ...
and third round of the
BNP Paribas Open losing to
Daria Kasatkina
Daria Sergeyevna Kasatkina (born 7 May 1997) is a Russian professional tennis player. She is currently the Russian No. 1 player in singles. She made her top-ten debut in the WTA rankings towards the end of the 2018 season and has been ranked ...
. She bounced back by winning her first
Mandatory
Mandate most often refers to:
* League of Nations mandates, quasi-colonial territories established under Article 22 of the Covenant of the League of Nations, 28 June 1919
* Mandate (politics), the power granted by an electorate
Mandate may also ...
title at
Miami Open by defeating
Jeļena Ostapenko
Jeļena Ostapenko (born 8 June 1997), also known as Aļona Ostapenko, is a Latvian professional tennis player. She has career-high WTA rankings of world No. 5 in singles, achieved on 19 March 2018, and world No. 9 in doubles, reached on 22 Augus ...
in straight sets. With her performance, she also made her top ten debut. It turned out that Stephens' clay court was inconsistent. She won both her
Fed Cup
The Billie Jean King Cup (or the BJK Cup) is the premier international team competition in women's tennis, launched as the Federation Cup in 1963 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the International Tennis Federation (ITF). The name was chan ...
matches against France, defeating
Kristina Mladenovic
Kristina "Kiki" Mladenovic (; sr, Кристина "Кики" Младеновић, Kristina "Kiki" Mladenović, ; born 14 May 1993) is a French professional tennis player and a former world No. 1 in doubles.
She is a nine-time Grand Slam c ...
and
Pauline Parmentier
Pauline Parmentier (; born 31 January 1986) is a French former tennis player.
Her career-high WTA singles ranking is world No. 40, which she attained on 21 July 2008. On 30 April 2012, she peaked at world No. 89 on the WTA doubles rankings. Sh ...
. However she compiled a 4-4 record prior to the French Open, suffering an opening round losses at
Porsche Tennis Grand Prix
The Stuttgart Open, also known by its sponsored name Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, is a women's tennis tournament held in Stuttgart, Germany (until 2005, in Filderstadt, a southern suburb of Stuttgart). Held since 1978, the tournament is the oldest w ...
and
Nürnberg to
CoCo Vandeweghe
Colleen "CoCo" Vandeweghe ( ) (born Colleen Mullarkey; December 6, 1991) is an American professional tennis player. A former Junior US Open champion and top 10 singles player, she has also won two WTA titles, both at the Rosmalen Grass Court C ...
and
Yulia Putintseva
Yulia Antonovna Putintseva ( rus, Ю́лия Анто́новна Пути́нцева; , ''puh-TEEN-tseh-vah''; born 7 January 1995) is a Russian-born Kazakhstani professional tennis player. She is a three-time Grand Slam quarterfinalist (twic ...
and third round losses at Mutua Madrid Open and
Italian Open to
Karolína Plíšková
Karolína Hrdličková (née Plíšková; ; born 21 March 1992) is a Czech professional tennis player. She is a former world No. 1 in singles, reaching the top of the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) rankings on 17 July 2017 and holding the posi ...
and
Caroline Garcia
Caroline Garcia (, born 16 October 1993) is a French professional tennis player. She has been ranked in the top 5 in both singles at world No. 4 and in doubles at world No. 2. Garcia is the 2022 WTA Finals singles champion.
She is also a two- ...
. However, she made it to the final at the
French Open, where she lost to the World No. 1
Simona Halep
Simona Halep (; born 27 September 1991) is a Romanian professional tennis player. She has been ranked world No. 1 in singles twice between 2017 and 2019, for a total of 64 weeks, which ranks eleventh in the history of the Women's Tennis Assoc ...
in three sets.
Stephens did not carry any momentum into the grass-court season, losing at
Wimbledon to
Donna Vekić
Donna Vekić (; born 28 June 1996) is a Croatian professional tennis player and businesswoman. She has won three singles titles on the WTA Tour – at the 2014 Malaysian Open, at the 2017 Nottingham Open, and the 2021 Courmayeur Ladies Open. ...
in the first round in her only event. Nonetheless, she moved up to career-high No. 3 after the tournament. During the
US Open Series
The US Open Series is the name given by the United States Tennis Association (USTA) to a series of North American professional tennis tournaments leading up to and including the US Open. It is part of the "North American hard court season". Emira ...
, she started with a second round loss to
Andrea Petkovic
Andrea Petkovic (, ; born 9 September 1987) is a German former professional tennis player. Born in Tuzla, SFR Yugoslavia, to Serbian father Zoran and Bosniak mother Amira, she moved to Germany at six months old and turned professional in 2006 a ...
at the
Citi Open. She bounced back by reaching the final of the
Rogers Cup
The Canadian Open (french: Tournoi de tennis du Canada), also known as the Canada Masters, and currently branded as the National Bank Open presented by Rogers for sponsorship reasons, is an annual tennis tournament held in Ontario and Quebec. T ...
in a rematch of the French Open but lost to Halep ounce again. At the third round of the
Western & Southern Open she lost to
Elise Mertens
Elise Mertens (; born 17 November 1995) is a Belgian professional tennis player. She is a former world No. 1 in doubles.
Mertens is a three-time Grand Slam champion in doubles, having won the 2019 US Open and 2021 Australian Open partnering ...
. At the rematch of last years quarterfinal of the US Open against
Anastasija Sevastova
Anastasija Sevastova (born 13 April 1990) is an inactive professional tennis player from Latvia. She reached her career-high singles ranking of world No. 11 in October 2018, after reaching her first Premier Mandatory final at the China Open. She ...
, Stephens failed to defend her title and lost in the quarterfinals. After losing in the first round in both the Toray Pan Pacific Open and Wuhan Open, Stephens presented a third round performance at the
China Open losing to
Dominika Cibulková
Dominika Cibulková (; born 6 May 1989) is a Slovak former professional tennis player. She is the 2016 WTA Finals champion, becoming the fourth player (after Serena Williams in 2001, Maria Sharapova in 2004 and Petra Kvitová in 2011) to win ...
. She then received a wildcard at the Kremlin Cup but fell in the second round to
Ons Jabeur
Ons Jabeur ( ar, أُنْس جَابِر, ʾUns Jābir, ; born 28 August 1994) is a Tunisian professional tennis player. She has a career high Women's Tennis Association (WTA) ranking of world No. 2 achieved on 27 June 2022. Jabeur is the curr ...
after receiving a bye.
On 17 October,
Elina Svitolina
Elina Mykhailivna Svitolina ( uk, Еліна Михайлівна Світоліна, ; born 12 September 1994) is a Ukrainian professional tennis player. She reached career-high rankings of world No. 3 in singles and 108 in doubles. Svitolina ...
and
Karolína Plíšková
Karolína Hrdličková (née Plíšková; ; born 21 March 1992) is a Czech professional tennis player. She is a former world No. 1 in singles, reaching the top of the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) rankings on 17 July 2017 and holding the posi ...
became the last qualifiers.
Elina Svitolina had an excellent start to the year, claiming the
Brisbane International
The Brisbane International established in 2009 is a professional tennis tournament played on outdoor hardcourts in Brisbane, Queensland in Australia. It is a WTA Premier tournament of the WTA Tour and was part of the ATP World Tour 250 seri ...
title, defeating Belarusian
Aliaksandra Sasnovich
Aliaksandra Aliaksandraŭna Sasnovich ( be, Аляксандра Аляксандраўна Сасновіч; born 22 March 1994) is a Belarusian tennis player. She has won eleven singles and seven doubles titles on the ITF Circuit. She has rea ...
in the final for the loss of just three games. Her good form continued until the Australian Open quarterfinals, where she was upset by
Elise Mertens
Elise Mertens (; born 17 November 1995) is a Belgian professional tennis player. She is a former world No. 1 in doubles.
Mertens is a three-time Grand Slam champion in doubles, having won the 2019 US Open and 2021 Australian Open partnering ...
. A third round loss to eventual champion
Petra Kvitová
Petra Kvitová, OLY ( , ; born 8 March 1990) is a Czech professional tennis player. Known for her powerful left-handed groundstrokes and variety, Kvitová has won 29 career singles titles, including two major titles at Wimbledon in 2011 and ...
in
Doha
Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor, it is home to most of the count ...
was quickly followed by a successful defence of her title in
Dubai
Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics of ...
. Her momentum stuttered at the first Premier Mandatory events of the season, losing to
Carla Suárez Navarro
Carla Suárez Navarro (; born 3 September 1988, in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria) is a Spanish former professional tennis player. A former top 10 singles player, she reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 6 on 29 February 2016, and a b ...
in the third round of Indian Wells and
Jeļena Ostapenko
Jeļena Ostapenko (born 8 June 1997), also known as Aļona Ostapenko, is a Latvian professional tennis player. She has career-high WTA rankings of world No. 5 in singles, achieved on 19 March 2018, and world No. 9 in doubles, reached on 22 Augus ...
in the quarterfinals of Miami. Her clay court season began with a defeat to
Caroline Garcia
Caroline Garcia (, born 16 October 1993) is a French professional tennis player. She has been ranked in the top 5 in both singles at world No. 4 and in doubles at world No. 2. Garcia is the 2022 WTA Finals singles champion.
She is also a two- ...
in the quarterfinals of
Stuttgart, and a second defeat of the year to Suárez Navarro in the second round of Madrid. This was followed by her third title of the year, and second consecutive in Rome, brushing aside World Number 1
Simona Halep
Simona Halep (; born 27 September 1991) is a Romanian professional tennis player. She has been ranked world No. 1 in singles twice between 2017 and 2019, for a total of 64 weeks, which ranks eleventh in the history of the Women's Tennis Assoc ...
in the final. At the French Open, however, despite her momentum she suffered a surprise defeat at the hands of
Mihaela Buzărnescu
Mihaela Buzărnescu (born 4 May 1988) is a Romanian professional tennis player.
She has a career-high WTA singles ranking of No. 20, achieved on 6 August 2018. Her best doubles ranking of world No. 24, she reached on 22 October 2018. She has ...
in the third round.
Svitolina's transition onto grass courts proved to be a stumbling block for her campaign, once again losing to Buzărnescu in the quarterfinals of
Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...
, followed by a loss to
Tatjana Maria
Tatjana Maria (née Malek; born 8 August 1987) is a German professional tennis player. In November 2017, she reached her best singles ranking of world No. 46, and in June 2016, she peaked at No. 54 in the doubles rankings.
She has won two singles ...
in the first round of Wimbledon. She did, however, regain some momentum entering the US Open Series, reaching the semifinals of the Rogers Cup, where she was the defending champion, losing to
Sloane Stephens
Sloane Stephens (born March 20, 1993) is an American professional tennis player. She achieved a career-best ranking of world No. 3 after Wimbledon in 2018. Stephens was the 2017 US Open champion, and has won seven WTA Tour singles titles in to ...
, and subsequently the quarterfinals in Cincinnati, losing there to eventual champion
Kiki Bertens
Kiki Bertens (; born 10 December 1991) is a Dutch former professional tennis player. Her career-high WTA singles ranking was world No. 4, which she reached on 13 May 2019, becoming the highest ranked Dutch female player ever.
Her career-high do ...
. She rounded out her 2018 Grand Slam campaign with a second successive round of 16 appearance at the US Open, losing to
Anastasija Sevastova
Anastasija Sevastova (born 13 April 1990) is an inactive professional tennis player from Latvia. She reached her career-high singles ranking of world No. 11 in October 2018, after reaching her first Premier Mandatory final at the China Open. She ...
in three sets. A disappointing Asian swing ensued for Svitolina, as she lost back-to-back opening round matches in Wuhan, to eventual champion
Aryna Sabalenka
Aryna Siarhiejeŭna Sabalenka ( be, Арына Сяргееўна Сабаленка; russian: Арина Сергеевна Соболенко, ''Arina Sergeyevna Sobolenko'', born 5 May 1998) is a Belarusian professional tennis player. She ha ...
, and Beijing to
Aleksandra Krunić
Aleksandra Krunić ( sr-Cyrl, Александра Крунић; born 15 March 1993) is a Serbian professional tennis player. She has won one singles title and six doubles titles on the WTA Tour along with one singles title on WTA 125 tournament ...
. A quarterfinal defeat to
Wang Qiang in
Hong Kong
Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...
meant that qualification for Singapore depended on the performances of her competitors in Moscow.
Karolína Plíšková began her year at the Brisbane International reaching the semifinals, losing to
Elina Svitolina
Elina Mykhailivna Svitolina ( uk, Еліна Михайлівна Світоліна, ; born 12 September 1994) is a Ukrainian professional tennis player. She reached career-high rankings of world No. 3 in singles and 108 in doubles. Svitolina ...
. At the first slam of the year, Pliskova was able to replicate her performance the previous year by reaching the quarterfinals before losing to
Simona Halep
Simona Halep (; born 27 September 1991) is a Romanian professional tennis player. She has been ranked world No. 1 in singles twice between 2017 and 2019, for a total of 64 weeks, which ranks eleventh in the history of the Women's Tennis Assoc ...
. At the Middle East, Pliskova received an upset loss to
Catherine Bellis
Catherine Cartan "CiCi" Bellis (born April 8, 1999) is an American former tennis player. In early 2018, she was the second youngest player in the top 100 of the WTA rankings. Bellis has a career-high of 35, which she achieved in August 2017. She ...
in the third round of the Qatar Total Open and fell to
Angelique Kerber
Angelique Kerber (; born 18 January 1988) is a German professional tennis player. She has been ranked as high as world No. 1, for a total of 34 weeks, and won three major titles at the 2016 Australian Open, the 2016 US Open, and the 2018 Wi ...
in the quarterfinals of the Dubai Tennis Championships. At the back-to-back Mandatory events of BNP Paribas Open and Miami Open, she was able to reached the quarterfinals losing to
Naomi Osaka
is a Japanese professional tennis player. She has been ranked world No. 1 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) and is the first Asian player to hold the top ranking in singles. Osaka is a four-time Grand Slam singles champio ...
and
Victoria Azarenka
Victória Fyódarauna Azárenka ( be, Вікторыя Фёдараўна Азаранка; Russian: Виктория Фёдоровна Азаренко; born 31 July 1989) is a Belarusian professional tennis player. Azarenka is a former w ...
, respectively. Pliskova was able to win her first title of the year at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix defeating
Coco Vandeweghe
Colleen "CoCo" Vandeweghe ( ) (born Colleen Mullarkey; December 6, 1991) is an American professional tennis player. A former Junior US Open champion and top 10 singles player, she has also won two WTA titles, both at the Rosmalen Grass Court C ...
in the final. At the Mutua Madrid Open, she was able to continue her good run, but eventually fell to
Petra Kvitova
Petra ( ar, ٱلْبَتْرَاء, Al-Batrāʾ; grc, Πέτρα, "Rock", Nabataean: ), originally known to its inhabitants as Raqmu or Raqēmō, is an historic and archaeological city in southern Jordan. It is adjacent to the mountain of Jab ...
in the semifinals. At the Italian Open, Pliskova suffered a controversial loss to
Maria Sakkari
Maria Sakkari ( gr, Μαρία Σάκκαρη, ; born 25 July 1995) is a Greek professional tennis player. She has been ranked as high as world No. 3 by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), which she first achieved on 21 March 2022, making her ...
in her opening round match. At the clay slam of the French Open, Pliskova failed to replicate her success the previous year, falling in two quick sets to
Maria Sharapova
Maria Yuryevna Sharapova ( , ; rus, Мари́я Ю́рьевна Шара́пова, p=mɐˈrʲijə ʂɐˈrapəvə, a=Maria_sharapova.ogg; born 19 April 1987) is a Russian former world No. 1 tennis player. She competed on the WTA Tour from 2 ...
.
During the grass season, Pliskova once again lost to
Magdaléna Rybáriková
Magdaléna Rybáriková (; born 4 October 1988) is a retired Slovak tennis player. In her career, she won four singles titles and one doubles title on the WTA Tour. Rybáriková reached the semifinals of the 2017 Wimbledon Championships and br ...
in the opening round of Birmingham Classic. Pliskova was more fortunate at the Eastbourne International reaching the quarterfinals losing to
Aryna Sabalenka
Aryna Siarhiejeŭna Sabalenka ( be, Арына Сяргееўна Сабаленка; russian: Арина Сергеевна Соболенко, ''Arina Sergeyevna Sobolenko'', born 5 May 1998) is a Belarusian professional tennis player. She ha ...
. At Wimbledon, Pliskova was able to reach the fourth round, thus breaking her streak of 5-consecutive second round exits, but fell to
Kiki Bertens
Kiki Bertens (; born 10 December 1991) is a Dutch former professional tennis player. Her career-high WTA singles ranking was world No. 4, which she reached on 13 May 2019, becoming the highest ranked Dutch female player ever.
Her career-high do ...
. Her results at the US Open Series were disappointing, losing in the second rounds of Rogers Cup and Western & Southern Open to Bertens and Sabalenka, respectively. She then fell to
Ekaterina Makarova
Ekaterina Valeryevna Makarova ( rus, Екатери́на Вале́рьевна Мака́рова; ; born 7 June 1988) is a Russian former professional tennis player who was ranked world No. 1 in doubles, and world No. 8 in singles.
She ...
in her opening round at the Connecticut Open. However, despite this results, she was able to reach the quarterfinals of the US Open without dropping a set but lost to
Serena Williams
Serena Jameka Williams (born September 26, 1981) is an American inactive professional tennis player. Considered among the greatest tennis players of all time, she was ranked world No. 1 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for ...
. She claimed her second title of the year at the Toray Pan Pacific Open defeating US Open champion and local hero
Naomi Osaka
is a Japanese professional tennis player. She has been ranked world No. 1 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) and is the first Asian player to hold the top ranking in singles. Osaka is a four-time Grand Slam singles champio ...
in the final. However, she suffered back-to-back loses to
Wang Qiang in the second round of Wuhan Open and third round of China Open. At the
Tianjin Open
The Tianjin Open is an International-level WTA tennis
Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket th ...
, she was able to reach the final but lost to
Caroline Garcia
Caroline Garcia (, born 16 October 1993) is a French professional tennis player. She has been ranked in the top 5 in both singles at world No. 4 and in doubles at world No. 2. Garcia is the 2022 WTA Finals singles champion.
She is also a two- ...
. In her last regular event of the year, the
2018 Kremlin Cup
The 2018 Kremlin Cup (also known as the 2018 VTB Kremlin Cup for sponsorship reasons) was a tennis tournament played on indoor hard courts. It was the 29th edition of the Kremlin Cup for the men and the 23rd edition for the women. The tournamen ...
, she lost to
Vera Zvonareva
Vera Igorevna Zvonareva ( rus, Вера Игоревна Звонарёва, p=ˈvʲɛrə ˈiɡərʲɪvnə zvənɐˈrʲɵvə, a=Vera zvonareva.ogg; born 7 September 1984) is a Russian professional tennis player. She was introduced to tennis at ...
in the second round.
On 18 October,
Kiki Bertens
Kiki Bertens (; born 10 December 1991) is a Dutch former professional tennis player. Her career-high WTA singles ranking was world No. 4, which she reached on 13 May 2019, becoming the highest ranked Dutch female player ever.
Her career-high do ...
secured the final spot after
Simona Halep
Simona Halep (; born 27 September 1991) is a Romanian professional tennis player. She has been ranked world No. 1 in singles twice between 2017 and 2019, for a total of 64 weeks, which ranks eleventh in the history of the Women's Tennis Assoc ...
withdrew.
Kiki Bertens opened the year with a first round loss at the Brisbane International to
Ana Konjuh. She followed this up by reaching the second round of the Sydney International, where she lost to the top seed
Garbiñe Muguruza
Garbiñe Muguruza Blanco (; born 8 October 1993) is a Spanish-Venezuelan professional tennis player. She has a career-high singles ranking of world No. 1 by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), and a career-high doubles ranking of world No. ...
. At the Australian Open, Bertens fell to world No. 2 and eventual winner, Caroline Wozniacki in the third round. She then had a poor run, losing in her opening matches at St. Petersburg Ladies' Trophy, Dubai Tennis Championships and BNP Paribas Open, losing to
Vera Zvonareva
Vera Igorevna Zvonareva ( rus, Вера Игоревна Звонарёва, p=ˈvʲɛrə ˈiɡərʲɪvnə zvənɐˈrʲɵvə, a=Vera zvonareva.ogg; born 7 September 1984) is a Russian professional tennis player. She was introduced to tennis at ...
,
Wang Qiang and
Serena Williams
Serena Jameka Williams (born September 26, 1981) is an American inactive professional tennis player. Considered among the greatest tennis players of all time, she was ranked world No. 1 in singles by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for ...
, respectively. She eventually won a match and broke her 4 match losing streak at the Miami Open but fell in the third round to
Venus Williams
Venus Ebony Starr Williams (born June 17, 1980) is an American professional tennis player. A former world No. 1 in both singles and doubles, Williams has won seven Grand Slam singles titles, five at Wimbledon and two at the US Open. She is ...
. She bounced back by winning her first Premier title defeating
Julia Görges in straight sets in the final of the Volvo Car Open. At the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, she fell in the first round to eventual champion
Karolína Plíšková
Karolína Hrdličková (née Plíšková; ; born 21 March 1992) is a Czech professional tennis player. She is a former world No. 1 in singles, reaching the top of the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) rankings on 17 July 2017 and holding the posi ...
. However, at the
Madrid Open There are three sporting events known as the Madrid Open:
* Madrid Open (golf)
The Madrid Open was an annual men's golf tournament which was held in and around the Spanish capital Madrid from 1968 to 2007, apart from a seven-year gap from 1994 to ...
she reached her first Premier Mandatory final but fell to
Petra Kvitova
Petra ( ar, ٱلْبَتْرَاء, Al-Batrāʾ; grc, Πέτρα, "Rock", Nabataean: ), originally known to its inhabitants as Raqmu or Raqēmō, is an historic and archaeological city in southern Jordan. It is adjacent to the mountain of Jab ...
. Despite this, she was upset by
Maria Sakkari
Maria Sakkari ( gr, Μαρία Σάκκαρη, ; born 25 July 1995) is a Greek professional tennis player. She has been ranked as high as world No. 3 by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA), which she first achieved on 21 March 2022, making her ...
in the first round of the Italian Open. She tried to pick up form at the Nürnberger Versicherungscup but lost to
Kirsten Flipkens
Kirsten "Flipper" Flipkens (; born 10 January 1986) is a Belgian professional tennis player. She has a career-high ranking of No. 13 by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA). Flipkens has won one singles title on the WTA Tour, winning the 2012 T ...
in the quarterfinals. At the French Open, Bertens fell to
Angelique Kerber
Angelique Kerber (; born 18 January 1988) is a German professional tennis player. She has been ranked as high as world No. 1, for a total of 34 weeks, and won three major titles at the 2016 Australian Open, the 2016 US Open, and the 2018 Wi ...
in two tight tie-break sets in the third round.
During the grass season, Bertens' preparation for Wimbledon was not ideal with back-to-back loses in the second round of the
Rosmalen Grass Court Championships
The Rosmalen Grass Court Championships, branded by its sponsored name as the Libéma Open since 2018, (formerly known as the Continental Grass Court Championships, Heineken Trophy, Ordina Open, UNICEF Open, Topshelf Open and RICOH Open), is a pro ...
and opening match at the Eastbourne International, losing to Flipkens and
Mihaela Buzărnescu
Mihaela Buzărnescu (born 4 May 1988) is a Romanian professional tennis player.
She has a career-high WTA singles ranking of No. 20, achieved on 6 August 2018. Her best doubles ranking of world No. 24, she reached on 22 October 2018. She has ...
, respectively. Despite this, Bertens impressed at Wimbledon reaching the quarterfinals, where she lost to Julia Görges, but achieved a career best at Wimbledon so far by reaching the last eight. During the US Open Series, Bertens reached the quarterfinals of the Rogers Cup before losing to 15th seed
Ashleigh Barty
Ashleigh is the feminine form of the Old English name Ashley, which means "dweller near the ash tree forest". It is most common in the United States and United Kingdom.
Notable people
B
*Ashleigh Ball (born 1983), Canadian voice actress
* Ashle ...
. The following week, she won the biggest title of her career at the Western & Southern Open defeating
Simona Halep
Simona Halep (; born 27 September 1991) is a Romanian professional tennis player. She has been ranked world No. 1 in singles twice between 2017 and 2019, for a total of 64 weeks, which ranks eleventh in the history of the Women's Tennis Assoc ...
in the final after saving match points in the second set. However, her US Open ended in disappointment when she lost in the third round to
Markéta Vondroušová
Markéta Šimková (née Vondroušová; ; born 28 June 1999) is a Czech professional tennis player. She has a career-high ranking of world No. 14 by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA). Vondroušová finished runner-up at the 2019 French Open, ...
in a third set tie-break. She then claimed her third title of the year at the
Korea Open defeating
Ajla Tomljanović
Ajla Tomljanović ( ; ; born 7 May 1993) is an Australian professional tennis player. She has won four singles and three doubles titles on the ITF Circuit. On 31 October 2022, she reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 33. On 5 Janu ...
in the final. However, she suffered early loses at the second round of the Wuhan Open and third round of the China Open to
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova
Anastasia Sergeyevna "Nastia" Pavlyuchenkova (russian: Анастаси́я "Настя" Серге́евна Павлюче́нкова; born 3 July 1991) is an inactive Russian professional tennis player. A junior prodigy, Pavlyuchenkova won ...
and
Kateřina Siniaková
Kateřina Siniaková (; ; born 10 May 1996) is a Czech professional tennis player who is the current world No. 1 in doubles.
She is a six-time Grand Slam champion in doubles, having won the 2018 and 2021 French Opens, 2018 and 2022 Wimbledon ...
respectively. Her poor results continued with back-to-back losses at the
Upper Austria Ladies Linz second round and Kremlin Cup first round to
Margarita Gasparyan
Margarita Melikovna Betova (née Gasparyan; rus, Маргари́та Ме́ликовна Гаспаря́н, , mərɡɐˈrʲitə ɡəspɐˈrʲan, Ru-Margarita Gasparyan.ogg, hy, Մարգարիտա Մելիքի Գասպարյան; born 1 Sept ...
and
Aliaksandra Sasnovich
Aliaksandra Aliaksandraŭna Sasnovich ( be, Аляксандра Аляксандраўна Сасновіч; born 22 March 1994) is a Belarusian tennis player. She has won eleven singles and seven doubles titles on the ITF Circuit. She has rea ...
, respectively.
Doubles
On August 9, the team of
Barbora Krejčíková
Barbora Krejčíková (; born 18 December 1995) is a Czech professional tennis player. She has a career-high singles ranking of world No. 2, achieved on 28 February 2022, and on 22 October 2018, she became world No. 1 in doubles.
Krejčíková ...
and
Kateřina Siniaková
Kateřina Siniaková (; ; born 10 May 1996) is a Czech professional tennis player who is the current world No. 1 in doubles.
She is a six-time Grand Slam champion in doubles, having won the 2018 and 2021 French Opens, 2018 and 2022 Wimbledon ...
qualified for the first time to the event.
Barbora Krejčíková & Kateřina Siniaková began the year with a final showing at the Shenzhen Open losing to the Romanian team of
Begu/
Halep in a match tiebreak. Their next final came at the Miami Open but once again fell but this time to the team of
Barty
Barty is a surname and, as a given name, a diminutive or short name of Bartholomew or other names, including Barton.
__NOTOC__
Notable people with the name include:
Given name
* Barton "Barty" Smith (born 1952), American football player
Surnam ...
/
Vandeweghe in two quick sets. At the French Open, despite only winning one clay match during the lead up events, they were able to claim their first grand slam title defeating the Japanese duo of
Hozumi/
Ninomiya in straight sets. They followed up this victory by winning their second slam at Wimbledon defeating the team of
Melichar/
Peschke in three sets winning the final set in a bagel. This win comes five years after their girls doubles win at the same event. After having a poor lead up to the US Open winning only a match, they were able to reach the semifinals, however their grand slam streak was ended by Barty & Vandeweghe in two tight sets. The team is making their debut into the event.
On August 20, the pairing of
Tímea Babos
Tímea Babos (; born 10 May 1993) is a Hungarian professional tennis player who is a former world No. 1 in doubles.
She is a four-time Grand Slam champion in women's doubles, having won the 2018 and 2020 Australian Opens, as well as the Fre ...
and
Kristina Mladenovic
Kristina "Kiki" Mladenovic (; sr, Кристина "Кики" Младеновић, Kristina "Kiki" Mladenović, ; born 14 May 1993) is a French professional tennis player and a former world No. 1 in doubles.
She is a nine-time Grand Slam c ...
was announced as the second qualifier.
Tímea Babos & Kristina Mladenovic began their 2018 campaign by winning the Australian Open defeating the Russian pairing of
Makarova/
Vesnina in straight sets. They did not reach another final until the clay season at the Mutua Madrid Open facing once again Makarova/Vesnina but this time they end up losing in a match tiebreak. At the French Open they lost to the unseeded Japanese team of Hozumi/Ninomiya in the quarterfinals. However, they bounced back by claiming their second title at the Birmingham Classic defeating
Mertens/
Schuurs in the final. At Wimbledon, they suffered another upset at the quarterfinals falling to the unseeded pair
Rosolska/
Spears. During their US Open lead up events, they racked a record of two wins and two losses. However, they bounced back at the US Open by reaching the final but lost to Barty/Vandeweghe in three sets including two tiebreaks in the final two sets. Babos also reached the final of the Mixed Doubles at the Australian Open pairing with
Rohan Bopanna
Rohan Bopanna ( ; born 4 March 1980) is an Indian professional tennis player. His singles career-high ranking was world No. 213 in 2007 and his career-high ranking in doubles was world No. 3 on 22 July 2013. He has been a member of the Indian ...
, but lost to
Dabrowski/
Pavić.
On the September 29, the teams of
Andrea Sestini Hlaváčková
Andrea Sestini Hlaváčková (née Hlaváčková; ; born 10 August 1986) is a Czech retired professional tennis player.
She is a three-time Grand Slam champion in doubles, having won the 2011 French Open and 2013 US Open in women's doubles alo ...
/
Barbora Strýcová
Barbora Strýcová (; born 28 March 1986), formerly known as Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová, is a Czech former professional tennis player who was ranked world No. 1 in doubles.
She won her first Grand Slam title at the 2019 Wimbledon Champion ...
and
Elise Mertens
Elise Mertens (; born 17 November 1995) is a Belgian professional tennis player. She is a former world No. 1 in doubles.
Mertens is a three-time Grand Slam champion in doubles, having won the 2019 US Open and 2021 Australian Open partnering ...
/
Demi Schuurs
Demi Schuurs (born 1 August 1993) is a professional Dutch tennis player who has specialized in doubles.
She has won 15 doubles titles on the WTA Tour, as well as one singles title and 20 doubles titles on the ITF Circuit. In February 2015, she ...
occupied the next two slots into the event.
Andrea Sestini Hlaváčková & Barbora Strýcová did not start playing together until the Miami Open, where they lost their first match. However, they were able to make an impact as a team at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia, when they reached the final but lost to the team of Barty/Schuurs. They followed that up with semifinal showing at the French Open falling to eventual champions
Krejčíková/
Siniaková. Their grass season was uneventful failing to win a match on the lead up tournaments to Wimbledon and falling in the third round of Wimbledon to
Mattek-Sands/
Šafářová. They struggled in the Premier 5 events of the US Open Series but bounced back with their first title of the year at the
Connecticut Open defeating
Hsieh/
Siegemund in the final. At the US Open, they suffered a third round upset to Barty/Vandeweghe. However they were able to bounce back by reaching three back-to-back finals losing the first two at the Toray Pan Pacific Open to Hozumi/Ninomiya and at the Wuhan Open to Mertens/Schuurs. However, they claimed their second title of the year at the China Open defeating Dabrowski/
Xu in a match tiebreak. Strýcová also won the title at the Miami Open pairing with
Hsieh Su-wei
Hsieh Su-wei ( ;''Xiè 謝淑薇Shūwēi'' in Chinese mainland. Taiwanese Mandarin: ; in Standard Mandarin of Chinese mainland. born 4 January 1986) is an inactive Taiwanese professional tennis player. She has won three singles titles and 30 ...
defeating Makarova/Vesnina and Sestini Hlaváčková reached the final of Sydney International with
Latisha Chan
Latisha Chan (born 17 August 1989), formerly known by her Chinese name Chan Yung-jan (; ), is a Taiwanese tennis player who is a former world No. 1 in doubles. She has won 33 career titles in doubles, including a Grand Slam title at the 2017 ...
losing to Dabrowski/Xu.
Elise Mertens and Demi Schuurs began the year by winning the
Hobart International
The Hobart International is a women's professional tennis tournament held at the Hobart International Tennis Centre in Hobart, Australia. Held since 1994, it forms a part of the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) Tour and is classed as an Interna ...
defeating
Kichenok/
Ninomiya in straight sets. They failed to win back-to-back matches until the Miami Open when they reached the semifinals losing to Krejčíková/ Siniaková. After failing to win a match during the clay season, they followed it up by winning the
Rosmalen Grass Court Championships
The Rosmalen Grass Court Championships, branded by its sponsored name as the Libéma Open since 2018, (formerly known as the Continental Grass Court Championships, Heineken Trophy, Ordina Open, UNICEF Open, Topshelf Open and RICOH Open), is a pro ...
defeating
Bertens/
Flipkens and the final of the Birmingham Classic losing to
Babos Babos () is a Hungarian surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Adam Babos (born 1992), Hungarian artistic gymnast
* Ágnes Babos (born 1944), former Hungarian handball player
* Gábor Babos (born 1974), former Hungarian footballer
...
/
Mladenovic. Their next final came at the hard courts of the
Western & Southern Open but lost to the team of
Hradecká/Makarova. They won their third and biggest title of the year at the Wuhan Open defeating the Czech team of
Sestini Hlaváčková/
Strýcová. Mertens also won the
Ladies Open Lugano teaming up with compatriot
Kirsten Flipkens
Kirsten "Flipper" Flipkens (; born 10 January 1986) is a Belgian professional tennis player. She has a career-high ranking of No. 13 by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA). Flipkens has won one singles title on the WTA Tour, winning the 2012 T ...
defeating Belorussian team of
Lapko/
Sabalenka. While Schuurs on the other hand had a perfect record playing with Australian
Ashleigh Barty
Ashleigh is the feminine form of the Old English name Ashley, which means "dweller near the ash tree forest". It is most common in the United States and United Kingdom.
Notable people
B
*Ashleigh Ball (born 1983), Canadian voice actress
* Ashle ...
winning the Premier 5 events of Internazionali BNL d'Italia defeating Sestini Hlaváčková/Strýcová and the Rogers Cup defeating Makarova/
Chan. Schuurs also won the
Brisbane International
The Brisbane International established in 2009 is a professional tennis tournament played on outdoor hardcourts in Brisbane, Queensland in Australia. It is a WTA Premier tournament of the WTA Tour and was part of the ATP World Tour 250 seri ...
with
Kiki Bertens
Kiki Bertens (; born 10 December 1991) is a Dutch former professional tennis player. Her career-high WTA singles ranking was world No. 4, which she reached on 13 May 2019, becoming the highest ranked Dutch female player ever.
Her career-high do ...
and the
Nürnberger Versicherungscup
The Nuremberg Cup was a women's professional tennis tournament held in Nuremberg, Germany. Held from 2013 until 2019, this 250-level tournament was played on outdoor clay courts.
Tournament history
The Nuremberg Open was a defunct men's tenni ...
with
Katarina Srebotnik
Katarina Srebotnik (born 12 March 1981) is a Slovenian retired professional tennis player. She reached her career-high singles ranking of world No. 20 on 7 August 2006. On 4 July 2011, she reached No. 1 of the WTA doubles rankings, holding this ...
defeating
Klepač/
Martínez Sánchez and
Flipkens/
Larsson.
On October 4, following the withdrawal of
Ekaterina Makarova
Ekaterina Valeryevna Makarova ( rus, Екатери́на Вале́рьевна Мака́рова; ; born 7 June 1988) is a Russian former professional tennis player who was ranked world No. 1 in doubles, and world No. 8 in singles.
She ...
&
Elena Vesnina
Elena Sergeyevna Vesnina (born 1 August 1986) is a Russian former professional tennis player and a former world No. 1 in doubles.
She is a four-time Grand Slam champion, having won the 2013 French Open, 2014 US Open, and 2017 Wimbledon Cha ...
from the event, the final four slots were occupied by the teams of
Gabriela Dabrowski
Gabriela "Gaby" Dabrowski (; pl, Dąbrowska, ; born April 1, 1992) is a Canadian professional tennis player. She reached her best singles ranking of world No. 164 by the WTA on November 3, 2014 and her highest doubles ranking of world No. 4 on ...
/
Xu Yifan
Xu Yifan (; ; born 8 August 1988) is a professional tennis player from China. She reached a career-high ranking of No. 148 in singles, on 13 July 2015. Since October 2018, she has specialized playing in doubles. On 13 January 2020, she peaked ...
,
Nicole Melichar
Nicole Melichar-Martinez (née Melichar; cz, Nicole Melicharová, ) is an American tennis player who specializes in doubles.
She has won twelve doubles titles on the WTA Tour and one WTA 125 doubles title as well as two singles and seven double ...
/
Květa Peschke
Květoslava Peschke (née Hrdličková; born 9 July 1975) is a Czech retired professional tennis player who was ranked world No. 1 in doubles.
She reached a career-high singles ranking of No. 26 in November 2005, winning one WTA singles title ...
,
Andreja Klepač
Andreja Klepač (born 13 March 1986) is a professional Slovenian tennis player. On 14 July 2008, Klepač reached her career-high singles rankings of world No. 99. On 11 April 2022, she peaked at No. 11 in the WTA doubles rankings.
Career
She ha ...
/
María José Martínez Sánchez
María José Martínez Sánchez (; born 12 August 1982) is a Spanish retired professional tennis player. In singles, she has won five WTA singles titles, her biggest being a Premier 5 title at the 2010 Italian Open where she defeated two form ...
and
Ashleigh Barty
Ashleigh is the feminine form of the Old English name Ashley, which means "dweller near the ash tree forest". It is most common in the United States and United Kingdom.
Notable people
B
*Ashleigh Ball (born 1983), Canadian voice actress
* Ashle ...
/
CoCo Vandeweghe
Colleen "CoCo" Vandeweghe ( ) (born Colleen Mullarkey; December 6, 1991) is an American professional tennis player. A former Junior US Open champion and top 10 singles player, she has also won two WTA titles, both at the Rosmalen Grass Court C ...
.
Gabriela Dabrowski & Xu Yifan won their first title of the year at the Sydney International defeating Chan/Sestini Hlaváčková in straight sets. They followed that up with semifinal showing at the Australian Open but lost to Makarova/Vesnina. They did not reach another semifinal until BNP Paribas Open when they lost to
Hsieh/Strýcová. Their clay court season was not so good having a 3-4 result in it. However, they were able to bounce back at the
Eastbourne International
The Eastbourne International is a tennis tournament on the WTA Tour and the ATP Tour held at the Devonshire Park Lawn Tennis Club, Eastbourne, United Kingdom. Held since 1974, it is classified as a WTA 500 series on the WTA Tour and an ATP Tour 2 ...
winning the title over the Romanian pairing of
Begu/
Buzărnescu and reaching the semifinal of Wimbledon losing to runner-ups
Melichar/
Peschke in three tight sets. Their next final came at the China Open when they lost to Czech duo of Sestini Hlaváčková/Strýcová. Dabrowski also won the title at the Qatar Total Open with
Jeļena Ostapenko
Jeļena Ostapenko (born 8 June 1997), also known as Aļona Ostapenko, is a Latvian professional tennis player. She has career-high WTA rankings of world No. 5 in singles, achieved on 19 March 2018, and world No. 9 in doubles, reached on 22 Augus ...
defeating Klepač/Martínez Sánchez. She also had success in the Mixed Doubles reaching the finals twice teaming up with
Mate Pavić
Mate Pavić (; born 4 July 1993) is a Croatian professional tennis player who is a former world No. 1 in doubles.
He is a five-time Grand Slam champion, having won three titles in men's doubles: the 2018 Australian Open with Oliver Marach, th ...
defeating
Babos Babos () is a Hungarian surname. Notable people with the surname include:
* Adam Babos (born 1992), Hungarian artistic gymnast
* Ágnes Babos (born 1944), former Hungarian handball player
* Gábor Babos (born 1974), former Hungarian footballer
...
/
Bopanna at the Australian Open and losing to
Chan/
Dodig at the French Open.
Nicole Melichar & Květa Peschke did not start to have an impact this year until they reached back-to-back finals at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix losing to
Atawo/
Grönefeld and of the
J&T Banka Prague Open defeating Buzărnescu/
Marozava. Their next real breakthrough came at Wimbledon reaching the finals but came short against Krejčíková/Siniaková losing the third and final set in a bagel. They then reach the semifinal of the Rogers Cup but lost to Barty/Schuurs. They then reached back to back quarterfinals of the Wuhan Open and China Open. Peschke also won the title at the
Silicon Valley Classic
The Silicon Valley Classic, sponsored by Mubadala Investment Company, is a week-long tennis tournament on the WTA Tour held on the campus of San Jose State University in San Jose, California, United States. Started in 1971, the tournament is the ol ...
teaming up with Latisha Chan defeating
Kichenok/
Kichenok. Melichar also won the Mixed doubles of Wimbledon with
Alexander Peya defeating
Murray/
Azarenka in the final.
Andreja Klepač & María José Martínez Sánchez did not have a great start of the year with early round exits. It wasn't until the Qatar Total Open when they reached their first final but lost to Dabrowski/
Ostapenko in straight sets. Even with that result they struggled before they reached the final of the Volvo Car Open but again end up losing this time to
Kudryavtseva/
Srebotnik. They then reached the semifinal of the Mutua Madrid Open losing to Makarova/Vesnina. They captured their first title of the year at the
Mallorca Open defeating Czechs
Šafářová/
Štefková. Their next best result came at the Rogers cup with a semifinal loss to Chan/Makarova.
Ashleigh Barty & CoCo Vandeweghe did not play a lot of tournaments throughout the year only playing seven tournaments together but they ended up winning two big titles the Miami Open defeating Krejčíková/ Siniaková in the final and their first grand slam title as a pair and as individual when they captured the US Open defeating Babos/Mladenovic in the final. Barty also paired with
Demi Schuurs
Demi Schuurs (born 1 August 1993) is a professional Dutch tennis player who has specialized in doubles.
She has won 15 doubles titles on the WTA Tour, as well as one singles title and 20 doubles titles on the ITF Circuit. In February 2015, she ...
and had a perfect record playing together winning the Premier 5 events of Internazionali BNL d'Italia defeating Sestini Hlaváčková/Strýcová and the Rogers Cup defeating Makarova/Chan.
''Ekaterina Makarova & Elena Vesnina'' would have qualified for the event but had to withdraw due to Vesnina's pregnancy. The team only played together up to the Mutua Madrid Open where they won the title defeating Babos/Mladenovic in the final. They also reached two other finals but ended up losing, at the Australian Open to Babos/Mladenovic and at the BNP Paribas Open to Hsieh/Strýcová. Makarova also reached back-to-back week finals at the Rogers Cup teaming up with
Latisha Chan
Latisha Chan (born 17 August 1989), formerly known by her Chinese name Chan Yung-jan (; ), is a Taiwanese tennis player who is a former world No. 1 in doubles. She has won 33 career titles in doubles, including a Grand Slam title at the 2017 ...
but lost to Barty/Schuurs and the Western & Southern Open won the title with
Lucie Hradecká
Lucie Hradecká (; born 21 May 1985) is a Czech former professional tennis player. A three-time Grand Slam doubles champion and 26-time WTA Tour doubles titlist, she reached her career-high doubles ranking of world No. 4 in October 2012. She was ...
, defeating Mertens/Schuurs in the final.
Groupings
Singles
The 2018 finals featured five major champions and one finalist. The competitors were divided into two groups, representing the colors of the
flag of Singapore.
Red group:
White group:
Day-by-day summaries
Day 1 (21 October)
Day 2 (22 October)
Day 3 (23 October)
Day 4 (24 October)
Day 5 (25 October)
Day 6 (26 October)
Day 7 (27 October)
Day 8 (28 October)
Points breakdown
Singles
Updated as of 20 October 2018.
* Players in gold qualified for the WTA Finals.
* Player in brown qualified but withdrew.
Doubles
* Teams in gold qualified for WTA Finals.
* Team in brown qualified but withdrew.
Player head-to-head
Singles
Doubles
See also
*
2018 WTA Tour
The 2018 WTA Tour was the elite professional tennis circuit organised by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) for the 2018 tennis season. The 2018 WTA Tour calendar comprises the Grand Slam tournaments, supervised by the International Tennis ...
*
2018 WTA Elite Trophy
*
2018 ATP Finals
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:WTA Finals 2018
2018 in Singaporean sport
*Finals
2018 WTA Finals
The 2018 WTA Finals, also known by its sponsored name BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore, was a women's tennis tournament held in Kallang, Singapore. It was the 48th edition of the singles event and the 43rd edition of the doubles competition. The ...
WTA Finals
The WTA Finals (formerly known as the WTA Tour Championships or WTA Championships) is a tournament of the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) played annually at the end of the season. The event is uniquely reserved for players at the top of the WTA ...
2018 WTA Finals
The 2018 WTA Finals, also known by its sponsored name BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore, was a women's tennis tournament held in Kallang, Singapore. It was the 48th edition of the singles event and the 43rd edition of the doubles competition. The ...
2018
File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the Unit ...