In Saturday’s semifinals in Singapore, we have four fresh faces looking for their first WTA Finals title. 2017 US Open Champion Sloane Stephens is the only player with a title of this magnitude. For the other three players, this weekend is an opportunity for the biggest tournament win of their careers. Elina Svitolina has been a perennial top 10 player, but never been farther than the quarterfinals of a Major. Karolina Pliskova was a finalist at the 2016 US Open, but hasn’t been to the final of a tournament this significant since. And while Kiki Bertens has taken her career to the next level over the past six months, she only qualified for this tournament after world No.1 Simona Halep withdrew. Now she’s advanced to the semifinals, and is two matches away from the Billie Jean King trophy.
Elina Svitolina vs. Kiki Bertens
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Svitolina has succumb to the pressure of big stages in the past, but she blitzed through her competition in the round robin stage, going 3-0. Now that she’s in the semifinals, can she keep up her form despite the significance of the occasion? She has a tough out on the other side of the net in Bertens, who now has 12 wins over top 10 players since May of this year. One of those wins came against Svitolina, a straight set victory earlier this year on the hard courts of Cincinnati. Their only other meeting was two years ago, also on a hart court in Zhuhai, which Svitolina won in three. This is one match where the “X’s and O’s” likely won’t make as much difference as who better handles the moment. Bertens will be the underdog, and as we’ve seen this week, lower-seeded players have been very successful. With that in mind, I’m going with Kiki to make the finals.
Sloane Stephens vs. Karolina Pliskova
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Stephens won her group, going 3-0 just as Svitolina did, but Pliskova’s the only player that’s been to this stage of the tournament before. Karolina was a semifinalist just last year in Singapore, losing to the eventual champion, Caroline Wozniacki. These players have faced off three times before, and on three different surfaces. Stephens won on the grass of Wimbledon and on a hard court in Beijing, but Pliskova took out Sloane earlier this year on clay in Madrid. No player has performed better this past week than Stephens, so she’ll head onto court with a lot of confidence. Pliskova though will be eager to go at least one step further than she did a year ago in Singapore, and her play has continually improved since adding Rennae Stubbs to her team. But I’m not betting against Sloane, especially in a big match like this. Stephens is not intimidated by the spotlight, and her movement will force more errors off the racquet of Karolina.
