World number one Ash Barty has been handed the ‘group of death’ at the WTA Finals this year as Elina Svitolina looks to defend her title.
The Roland Garros champion ended the year at the top of the ‘Porsche Race To Shenzhen’ rankings and leads the Red Group this year.
Ahead of her campaign, the 22 year-old explained her pride of claiming top spot in the Race Rankings, “It was already an honour to qualify for the WTA Finals, but to also finish the Porsche Race to Shenzhen on top is an achievement I’m incredibly proud of,” Barty claimed.
“This is a special tournament for myself and my team and I’ll be fighting hard to finish the WTA season with the Shenzhen title.”
After a great year Barty will look to end it by winning the season-ending finale in Shenzhen as well as leading Australia to Fed Cup glory against France.
However Barty has been given the worst possible draw for this week’s season climax as she is joined by Australian Open champion Naomi Osaka, finalist Petra Kvitová and US Open semi-finalist Belinda Bencic.
All three players posses great power to outgun Barty and reach the semi-finals in what should be a competitive field this week.
The draw is also not good news for Osaka, who has been beaten three times by Belinda Bencic in 2019, having lost to her in Indian Wells, Madrid and the US Open.
Meanwhile in the Purple Group, tour leader for titles Karolina Pliskova leads the group having won titles in Brisbane, Rome, Eastbourne and Zhengzhou.
Joining Pliskova is Wimbledon and US Open champions, Simona Halep and Bianca Andreescu with defending champion Elina Svitolina completing the group.
Halep and Andreescu will meet for the first time in their careers in an intriguing match while Pliskova and Svitolina will meet for the ninth time.
Here are some interesting stats heading into the season-finale as the Red Group begin on Sunday with the Purple Group beginning on Monday:
- Petra Kvitova will play the WTA Finals for the 7th time in her career having won it back in 2011.
- Only Naomi Osaka, Sofia Kenin, Anastasija Sevastova and Julia Goerges have beaten Bianca Andreescu in a completed match this season.
- No player has defended the WTA Finals crown since Serena Williams did it in 2014.
- Simona Halep became the first Romanian to win Wimbledon when she beat Serena Williams in July.
- Karolina Pliskova has hit the most aces in 2019 with 474.
- Ash Barty became the first Australian in 43 years to be world number one in June this year.
