2015 WTA Elite Trophy

2015 WTA Elite Trophy November 3 – 8 1st 12S/6D Hard / Outdoor / Covered Court Zhuhai, China Hengqin International Tennis Center USA Venus Williams CHN Liang Chen / CHN Wang Yafan The 2015 WTA Elite Trophy was a women's tennis tournament played at the Hengqin International Tennis Center in Zhuhai, China. It was the 1st edition of the singles event and doubles competition. The tournament was contested by twelve singles players and six doubles teams. The event replaced the WTA Tournament of Champions. Tournament Qualifying WTA Elite Trophy is an invitation-only event. Singles qualifying The field will consist of the top eleven players not already qualified for the 2015 WTA Finals, plus either (a) the 12th-player not qualified for 2015 WTA Finals, or (b) a wild card. The final two alternates for the 2015 WTA Finals (Venus Williams and Carla Suárez Navarro) would have been eligible to play in WTA Elite Trophy even if they had participated in the WTA Finals. Women's Tennis Association 2015 WTA OFFICIAL RULEBOOK http://www.wtatennis.com/SEWTATour-Archive/Archive/AboutTheTour/rules2015.pdf IX.B.1.a Doubles qualifying The field will consist of the top four pairs of players not already qualified for the 2015 WTA Finals, plus two wild cards. For each wild card not given out, the next highest pair of players not already qualified for the 2015 WTA Finals shall become a participant. As in the case of the singles field, the final alternate pair for the 2015 WTA Finals (Alla Kudryavtseva/Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova) are eligible to play in WTA Elite Trophy even if they subsequently participate in the WTA Finals. Women's Tennis Association 2015 WTA OFFICIAL RULEBOOK http://www.wtatennis.com/SEWTATour-Archive/Archive/AboutTheTour/rules2015.pdf IX.B.2.a Format The singles event features twelve players in a round robin event, split into four groups of three. Over the first four days of competition, each player meets the other two players in her group, with the winner in each group advancing to the semifinal. The winners of each semifinal meet in the championship match. The six doubles teams will be split into two round robin groups, with the winner of each advancing to the final. Round robin tie-breaking methods The final standings of each group were determined by the first of the following methods that applied: Greatest number of wins. Greatest number of matches played. Head-to-head results In case of a 3-way tie: Percentage of sets won Percentage of games won Prize money and points The total prize money for the Huajin Securities 2015 WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai 2015 WTA Finals was US$2,150,000.http://www.wtatennis.com/SEWTATour-Archive/Archive/AboutTheTour/rules2015.pdf Match Notes StageSinglesDoublesPrize moneyPointsPrize moneyPointsChampionRR1 + $450,000 RR + 460 RR1 + $20,000 Runner-upRR + $150,000 RR + 200 RR1 + $10,000 SemifinalistRR + $15,000 RR Round Robin win per match$92,500 120$5,000 Round Robin loss per match$20,000 40 Participation fee15,000 Alternates$10,000 1 RR means prize money or points won in the round robin round. Qualified players Singles SeedsPlayersPointsTours1USA Venus Williams3,091172ESP Carla Suárez Navarro3,030243CZE Karolína Plíšková2,955254ITA Roberta Vinci2,655245DEN Caroline Wozniacki2,641236ITA Sara Errani 2,525257USA Madison Keys2,495188UKR Elina Svitolina2,410249SRB Jelena Janković2,3452410GER Andrea Petkovic2,1062411RUS Svetlana Kuznetsova1,8471912CHN Zheng Saisai [WC] 78926 thumb|upright|left|Venus Williams had a resurgent 2015. Venus Williams had a resurgent year in 2015. She began the year by winning the ASB Classic defeating Caroline Wozniacki in three sets. She then followed it up by reaching her first slam quarterfinal at the Australian Open since 2010 losing to Madison Keys. She also was able to reach the quarterfinals of the US Open losing to sister Serena. She won her biggest title since Dubai 2010, by claiming the Wuhan Open defeating Garbiñe Muguruza in the finals. She also was the first alternate for the 2015 WTA Finals but was not used. Carla Suárez Navarro had a break through season in 2015, including breaking through the top 10 and reaching a career high of no. 8 in the world. She was able to reach three finals in the year, but losing in all of them. The first coming at the Diamond Games, where she needed to withdraw from the final against Andrea Petkovic with a neck injury. She followed it up with her biggest final to date at the Miami Open but lost to world no. 1 Serena Williams winning just two games. Her third final was at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia where she fell to Maria Sharapova in three sets. Despite strong showings at WTA events, Suárez Navarro struggled at the major events losing in the first round of three of the four slams. She also struggled in the second half of the year, going on an 8 match losing streak from mid-June to late September, and only winning 5 of her last 17 matches going into the 2015 WTA Finals. She also served as an alternate at the WTA Finals but wasn't used. thumb|right|150px|Karolína Plíšková broke into the top 10. Karolína Plíšková had a breakthrough year in 2015, including breaking through the top 10 with a career high of number 7. She reached five finals in 2015, the most finals reached by any player. She began the year by reaching the final of the Apia International Sydney losing to Petra Kvitová. She reached her biggest final to date at the Dubai Tennis Championships but fell to Simona Halep in two tight sets. She took her lone title of 2015 at her home tournament at the Prague Open defeating compatriot Lucie Hradecká in three sets. She reached the finals of Aegon Classic and Bank of the West Classic, both losing to Angelique Kerber in three tight sets. Despite these performances at WTA events, she struggled at majors only surpassing the second round once. thumb|left|150px|Roberta Vinci reached first Grand Slam final. Roberta Vinci had a slow start to the year only winning back-to-back matches twice until she reached the final of Nürnberger Versicherungscup losing to compatriot Karin Knapp in three sets. She wasn't able to carry this momentum following the final up with four first round loses. She reached the quarterfinals of Rogers Cup and followed it up with the biggest upset of the year when she ended Serena Williams dreams of a Grand Slam in New York in the semifinal. In the final she faced her compatriot Flavia Pennetta, who was in her first slam final as well, she went down in straight sets. She followed it up with a semifinal showing at the Wuhan Open losing to Venus Williams. Caroline Wozniacki began the year by the reaching the final of ASB Classic but lost to Venus Williams. She followed it up with a semifinal performance at the Dubai Tennis Championships losing to Simona Halep. She won her lone title of the year at the Malaysian Open defeating Alexandra Dulgheru in three sets. She reached her third final of the year at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix losing in three sets to Angelique Kerber. This is the first year Wozniacki failed to get to the WTA Finals even as an alternate since 2008. She reached the second round of all slams except for a fourth round showing at the Wimbledon Championships. Sara Errani did not begin the year well until she reached the final of the Rio Open defeating Anna Karolína Schmiedlová in the final. At the French Open, Errani was able to reach the quarterfinals for the fourth straight year losing to Serena Williams. She reached her second final of the year at the BRD Bucharest Open, once again facing Anna Karolína Schmiedlová but this time losing. She then reached the semifinal of the Rogers Cup losing to Simona Halep. She then reached the quarterfinals of the China Open losing to Timea Bacsinszky. thumb|right|160px|Madison Keys reached first Grand Slam semifinal. Madison Keys began 2015 well, she was able to upset Petra Kvitová in the third round, then world no. 4 her biggest win to date based on ranking. Keys eventually reached the semifinals for the first time in her career where she lost to world no. 1 Serena Williams in straight sets. She reached her second career final at the Family Circle Cup losing to Angelique Kerber in three sets. At the Wimbledon Championships, she reached the quarterfinals losing to Agnieszka Radwańska in three sets. She also reached the fourth round US Open losing once again to world no. 1 Serena Williams. She also reached a career high of No. 16. thumb|left|160px|Elina Svitolina broke into the top 20. Elina Svitolina had a breakthrough year proving her place as a rising star on tour. She began the year by reaching the semifinal of the Brisbane International losing to Maria Sharapova. Svitolina won the third title of her career at the Grand Prix SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem defeating Tímea Babos in the final. She reached her first slam quarterfinal at the French Open losing to Ana Ivanovic in straight sets. At the Western & Southern Open, Svitolina reached the semifinals by defeating Lucie Šafářová before losing to Serena Williams. She also reached a career high of No. 15. Jelena Janković had inconsistent results in first half of the year except reaching the final of Indian Wells. She, however, rebounded with strong performance at Wimbledon and then went on to reach the semifinals of Cincinnati and won three titles after a strong Asian swing in Nanchang, Guangzhou and Hong Kong. Andrea Petkovic had a strong season despite a certain degree of inconsistency. Highlighted by a title in Antwerp as well as semifinal showings in Miami and Charleston. She also reached the quarterfinals of Doha and Eastbourne. She found consistency at the slams reaching the third round of the last three slams. thumb|right|160px|Svetlana Kuznetsova reached Madrid final. Svetlana Kuznetsova had an inconsistent season finding her form momentarily within the year. Highlighted by winning the title in her home nation in Moscow and reaching the final of Madrid. She also reached the quarterfinals of Guangzhou as well as the fourth round of the US Open, Miami and Beijing. Zheng Saisai heads to Zhuhai after being awarded a wildcard to play in front of her home nation. Her season was highlighted by a win of the WTA 125k title in Dalian and a semifinal performance in Shenzhen as well as quarterfinal showings at Tokyo and Guangzhou. Doubles SeedsPlayersPointsTours1POL Klaudia Jans-Ignacik / SLO Andreja Klepač1,339142ESP Anabel Medina Garrigues / ESP Arantxa Parra Santonja1,751143CAN Gabriela Dabrowski / POL Alicja Rosolska1,415204CHN Liang Chen / CHN Wang Yafan [WC]96375UKR Lyudmyla Kichenok / UKR Nadiia Kichenok1,235136CHN Xu Shilin / CHN You Xiaodi [WC]1801 Klaudia Jans-Ignacik and Andreja Klepač lost in the round of 16 in their first two tournaments in Sydney and Hobart together to Ana Ivanovic and Angelique Kerber and Kiki Bertens and Johanna Larsson respectively. They then reached the quarterfinals at the Australian Open, edging Jelena Janković and Arantxa Parra Santonja, upsetting sixth seed Garbiñe Muguruza and Carla Suárez Navarro and ninth seed Andrea Hlaváčková and Lucie Hradecká along the way before losing to fourteenth seed Chan Yung-jan and Zheng Jie in straight sets. They beat Dominika Cibulková and Kirsten Flipkens to reach the quarterfinals in Antwerp but was beaten in three sets by Barbora Krejčíková and Renata Voráčová and then they lost in straight sets to Anastasia Rodionova and Arina Rodionova in Dubai. They then reached the semifinals in Indian Wells, upsetting fourth seed Hsieh Su-wei and Flavia Pennetta, defeating Svetlana Kuznetsova and Coco Vandeweghe, Sabine Lisicki and Andrea Petkovic along the way before losing to second seed Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina in straight sets. They beat Kiki Bertens and Tatjana Maria to reach the round of 16 in Miami before losing to ninth seed Andrea Hlaváčková and Lucie Hradecká in straight sets. They then beat Oksana Kalashnikova and Kateřina Siniaková in straight sets to reach the quarterfinals in Stuttgart before losing to Arantxa Parra Santonja and Alicja Rosolska in three sets. They lost in the round of 16 to Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Lucie Šafářová, having beaten Gabriela Dabrowski and Alicja Rosolska in the round of 32. They then suffered a five-week drought without a win, losing their first match in Rome, French Open, Eastbourne, Wimbledon to fifth seed Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Lucie Šafářová, Janette Husárová and Paula Kania, fourth seed Caroline Garcia and Katarina Srebotnik, Kimiko Date-Krumm and Francesca Schiavone respectively. Anabel Medina Garrigues / Arantxa Parra Santonja Gabriela Dabrowski / Alicja Rosolska Liang Chen / Wang Yafan Lyudmyla Kichenok / Nadiia Kichenok Xu Shilin / You Xiaodi Player head-to-head Below are the head-to-head records as they approached the tournament. 2015 WTA Elite Trophy – Singles #Player Williams Suárez Navarro Plíšková Vinci Wozniacki Errani Keys Svitolina Janković Petkovic Kuznetsova Zheng OverallYTD 1 USA Venus Williams 3–3 0–0 4–0 7–0 3–1 1–1 1–0 6–7 2–2 4–4 0–0 31–18 37–13 2 ESP Carla Suárez Navarro 3–3 3–2 4–1 1–4 3–7 0–1 1–1 2–5 3–2 3–3 0–0 23–29 40–23 3 CZE Karolína Plíšková 0–0 2–3 0–2 0–3 0–1 0–0 3–0 0–1 1–2 0–0 1–0 7–12 49–24 4 ITA Roberta Vinci 0–4 1–4 2–0 2–3 4–6 2–0 1–1 2–5 1–1 2–3 0–0 16–27 31–24 5 DEN Caroline Wozniacki 0–7 4–1 3–0 3–2 3–1 0–0 0–0 5–5 4–1 6–4 1–0 29–21 39–22 6 ITA Sara Errani 1–3 7–3 1–0 6–4 1–3 1–0 1–0 3–1 3–2 1–6 2–0 27–20 48–26 7 USA Madison Keys 1–1 1–0 0–0 0–2 0–0 0–1 1–0 1–3 0–1 2–0 0–0 6–8 30–17 8 UKR Elina Svitolina 0–1 1–1 0–3 1–1 0–0 0–1 0–1 0–2 1–0 1–0 0–0 4–10 38–23 9 SRB Jelena Janković 7–6 5–2 1–0 5–2 5–5 1–3 3–1 2–0 2–4 8–6 2–1 41–30 43–19 10 GER Andrea Petkovic 2–2 2–3 2–1 1–1 1–4 2–3 1–0 0–1 4–2 4–2 0–0 19–19 31–10 11 RUS Svetlana Kuznetsova 4–4 3–3 0–0 3–2 4–6 6–1 0–2 0–1 6–8 2–4 0–0 28–31 27–18 12 CHN Zheng Saisai 0–0 0–0 0–1 0–0 0–1 0–2 0–0 0–0 1–2 0–0 0–0 1–6 29–25 Road to Elite Trophy The 2 tables below are part of the tables from Road to Singapore Singles Qualified players Players with a  gold  rank cell have qualified. Players with a  brown  rank cell were eligible to play but chose not to participate. Rank Athlete Grand Slam tournament Premier Mandatory Best Premier 5 Best other Total points Tours Titles AUS FRA WIM USO INW MIA MAD BEI12123456 Qualified for WTA Elite Trophy10 SUI Timea BacsinszkyR32130SF780QF430R12810QF215A0R6410F650R16105R641W280W280F180QF60R641R321 3133 17 211 USA Venus WilliamsQF430R12810R16240QF430A0QF215R6410R3210W900R16105W280SF185SF110R16105R3260R641 3091 17 212 ESP Carla Suárez NavarroR12810R32130R12810R12810QF215F650QF215R16120F585QF190F305SF185R16105QF100QF100QF100 3030 24 013 CZE Karolína PlíškováR32130R6470R6470R12810R16120QF215R3265R6410F585QF190F305F305F305W280SF185SF110 2955 25 114 SUI Belinda BencicR12810R6470R16240R32130R16120R16120R6410R3265W900R16105W470F305F180R3260R3260R1655 2900 24 215 ITA Roberta VinciR6470R12810R12810F1300R6435R6410R16120R16120SF350QF190F180R1680QF60QF60R1630R1630 2655 24 016 SRB Ana IvanovicR12810SF780R6470R12810R3265R3265R16120SF390QF190QF190F305SF110R16105R16105QF100R1630 2645 19 017DEN Caroline WozniackiR6470R6470R16240R6470R3265R16120QF215R16120SF350R321F305W280SF185SF185SF185F180 2641 23 118 ITA Sara ErraniR32130QF430R6470R32130R3265R16120R3265QF215SF350R3260W280F180SF110SF110SF110QF100 2525 25 119 USA Madison KeysSF780R32130QF430R16240R3265R6410R6410R16120R3260R3260F305QF60R3260R1655R1655R1655 2495 18 020 UKR Elina SvitolinaR32130QF430R6470R32130R16120R3265R3265R3265SF350R16105W280SF185SF185SF110R3260R3260 2410 24 121 SRB Jelena JankovićR12810R12810R16240R12810F650R6410A0R6410SF350R16105W280W280W160SF110QF60QF60 2345 24 322 BLR Victoria AzarenkaR16240R32130QF430QF430R3265R3265R16120A0QF190R16105F305R16105R3260R3230R321 2276 15 023 RUS Ekaterina MakarovaSF780R16240R6470R16240R3265R16120R6410A0QF190R16105SF110QF100R3260R1655R1655R161 2201 17 024 GER Andrea PetkovicR12810R32130R32130R32130R6410SF390R3265R16120R16105R16105W470SF185QF100QF100R1655R641 2106 24 125 AUS Samantha StosurR6470R32130R32130R16240R3265R3265R16120R3265R1660R3230W280W280SF110SF110R1655R1655 1865 24 226 RUS Svetlana KuznetsovaR12810R6470R6470R16240R12810R16120F650R16120R1660R641W470QF60R1655R1655R1630R311 1847 19 1 Other entrants The following player received a wildcard into the singles draw: CHN Zheng Saisai Doubles Qualified players Pairs with a  gold  rank cell have qualified. Pairs with a  brown  rank cell were eligible to play but chose not to participate. Rank Athlete Points Total points Tours Titles123456789101111Alla Kudryavtseva RUS Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova RUSQF430SF350SF350R16240R16240SF185R32130R16120R16120R16120R161202,40514012Michaëlla Krajicek NED Barbora Strýcová CZESF780QF430R16240R32130SF185R16120R16105R16105QF100R3210R32102,32514013Chan Yung-jan TPE Zheng Jie CHNF1300F305R16240SF185SF110R6410R3212,1517014Kiki Bertens NED Johanna Larsson SWEQF430W280W280R16240F180SF110SF110SF110QF60R6410R1611,81111215Anabel Medina Garrigues ESP Arantxa Parra Santonja ESPW470F305R16240F180R32130R16105R16105R16105QF100R3210R1611,75114116Gabriela Dabrowski CAN Alicja Rosolska POLW280R16240QF190QF190SF185R16120R16120QF60R6410R6410R64101,41520117Hsieh Su-wei TPE Flavia Pennetta ITAQF430QF430QF215QF190R16120R32101,3956018Anastasia Rodionova AUS Arina Rodionova AUSR16240QF215QF190F180R32130R32130SF110QF100QF60R3210R32101,37516019Klaudia Jans-Ignacik POL Andreja Klepač SLOQF430SF390R16120R16120QF100QF100SF57R6410R6410R161R1611,33914020Sara Errani ITA Flavia Pennetta ITASF780QF190QF190R161201,2804021Lyudmyla Kichenok UKR Nadiia Kichenok UKRW280R32130R16120SF110SF110R16105QF100W80W80QF60QF601,235131 Other entrants The following pairs received wildcards into the doubles draw: CHN Liang Chen / CHN Wang Yafan CHN Xu Shilin / CHN You Xiaodi Champions Singles 2015 WTA Elite Trophy – Singles USA Venus Williams def. CZE Karolína Plíšková 7–5, 7–6(8–6) Doubles 2015 WTA Elite Trophy – Doubles CHN Liang Chen/ CHN Wang Yafan def. ESP Anabel Medina Garrigues / ESP Arantxa Parra Santonja, 6–4, 6–3 References External links Official website Order of Play 2015 Category:2015 WTA Tour WTA Elite Trophy