Saturday, November 2, 2019

Top seed to face 8th seed in Shenzhen final

 

Poetically speaking, what better outcome could we have from this topsy-turvy WTA Finals event than to have the last two players standing be the highest-ranked and the lowest-ranked seeds? 8th seed and defending champion Elina Svitolina defeated 7th seed Belinda Bencic in the semifinals today when Bencic retired, because of a leg injury, in the third set.

There were eight players and two alternates. Three players--Naomi Osaka, Bianca Andreescu and Belinda Bencic--went out with injuries, and one alternate--Kiki Bertens--retired in her second match because of illness.

In today's second semifinal, top seed Ash Barty defeated 2nd seed Karolina Pliskova 4-2, 6-2, 6-3.

In doubles, 3rd seeds and defending champions Timea Babos and Kiki Mladenovic defeated 7th seeds Sam Stosur and Zhang Shuai 1-6, 6-4, 10-8. In the second match, 2nd seeds Hsieh Su-Wei and Barbora Strycova defeated Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Demi Schuurs 6-1, 6-2.

There is a possibility that all of last year's champions will be this year's champions, adding yet another odd twist to this event.

2 comments:

  1. Babos/Mladenovic could be the first repeat champs since Black/Huber in 2007-08, and Babos could have the first three-peat since Davenport from 1996-98.

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  2. I forgot all about Davenport's WTA Finals feats. The doubles final tomorrow will be great, I think (the singles, too).

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