Elina Svitolina
- 5,350 points
- 44-15 match record (.746 percentage)
- 4 titles, including the biggest of her career at the WTA Finals, plus Rome, Brisbane, and Dubai.
- Ended the year ranked No.4 despite another season of lackluster results at the Majors.
Recap: 2018 was looking to be a bit of a setback for Svitolina prior to the last week of her season. Coming off a 2017 where she won five titles, this year did not represent any significant progress for the Ukranian. She’s still yet to advance farther than the quarterfinals at a Major. But Svitolina saved her best tennis for the end of the year, when she went 5-0 over the course of eight days to win the WTA Finals. Five top 10 victories to close out 2018 should be exactly the boost she needs to breakthrough at a Major in 2019.
Naomi Osaka
- 5,115 points
- 42-20 match record (.677 percentage)
- 2 titles, including her first Major at the US Open, and her first tour-level title at Indian Wells.
- Reached a career-high ranking of No.4 in October.
Recap: It’s not often that a player’s first WTA title comes at a Premier Mandatory event, but that’s exactly what happened in the case of Osaka at Indian Wells this year. But that was just a sign of much bigger things to come, as Naomi took out Serena Williams in the much-talked about US Open final. Osaka’s victory was thoroughly deserved despite all the commotion on the other side of the net. Naomi followed up her triumph in New York by getting to the final in Tokyo and the semifinals in Beijing. She was understandably drained come her WTA Finals debut, where she went 0-3 in round robin play. However there’s surely much more success to come in the young career of this 21-year-old superstar.
Sloane Stephens
- 5,023 points
- 37-19 match record (.661 winning percentage)
- 1 title, in Miami
- Reached a career-high ranking of No.3 in July.
Recap: Stephens went on an eight-match losing streak following her 2017 US Open title, but finally got back on the winning track in February of this year. It wasn’t soon after that Sloane prevailed at the Premier Mandatory event in Miami. From there, Stephens reached her second Major final at Roland Garros, losing to Halep despite being ahead by a set and a break. Halep would also upend Sloane in the final of the Rogers Cup. In defending her US Open title, Stephens struggled in the hot and humid conditions, losing to Anastasija Sevastova in the quarterfinals. Sloane would up her level at the WTA Finals, going undefeated until again letting a lead slip away in another big final, this time to Elina Svitolina. Having gone 6-0 in her first six tournament finals, Stephens is now 0-3 in her last three. The streaky Stephens will look to end that trend in 2019.
