The doubles teams of the year:
Elise Mertens and Aryna Sabalenka:
Elise Mertens and Aryna Sabalenka completed the “Sunshine Double” by winning two back-to-back doubles titles at Indian Wells and Miami. Mertens and Sabalenka beat three of the five top seeds at Indian Wells, including Kristina Mladenovic and Timea Babos in the first round and top seeds Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova in the final. Mertens and Sabalenka repeated their feat by winning the Miami Open two weeks later by beating Victoria Azarenka and Ashleigh Barty in the semifinal and Samantha Stosur and Zhang Shuai in the final.
Mertens and Sabalenka beat Azarenka and Barty 7-5 7-5 to win their first Grand Slam doubles title. The Belgian and Belarusian team also reached the semifinals at Roland Garros and the quarter finals at Wimbledon.
Timea Babos and Kristina Mladenovic
Timea Babos and Kristina Mladenovic became the first team to successfully defend a WTA Finals doubles title in eleven years after their 6-1 6-3 win over Barbora Strycova and Hsieh Su-Wei.
The best team of the year: France wins the Fed Cup
France won the Fed Cup for the third time after downing Australia 3-2 at the RAC Arena in Perth. Kristina Mladenovic won both singles matches beating Alja Tomljanovic 6-1 6-1 and world number 1 Ashleigh Barty 2-6 6-4 7-6 before teaming up with Caroline Garcia in their 6-4 6-3 win over Barty and Samantha Stosur in the decisive doubles match.
The matches of the year:
Osaka beat Kvitova 7-6 (7-2) 5-7 6-4 at the Australian Open final
Naomi Osaka became the world number one player after beating Petra Kvitova 7-6 (7-2) 5-7 6-4 in the Australian Open final at Melbourne Park. The Japanese player held three championship points at 5-3 in the second set on Kvitova’s serve. Kvitova fended off all three break points and held serve. Kvitova broke twice in a four-game winning streak to secure the second set, forcing the match to the third set. Osaka broke serve early in the third set and held on her lead to close out the match. The Japanese player became the first woman to win consecutive Grand Slam singles titles since Serena Williams in 2015.
Kvitova played her first Grand Slam final since she was severely injured during an attack in a home invasion in December 2016.
Osaka beat Andreescu 5-7 6-3 6-4 in Beijing quarter final
Naomi Osaka beat Bianca Andreescu 5-7 6-3 6-4 in the quarter final of the China Open in Beijing in a clash between reigning Grand Slam champions. Osaka stopped Andreescu’s 17-match win streak. Osaka came back a set down and a break down in the decisive set. In the first set Andreescu raced out to a 5-1 lead, before Osaka reeled off four consecutive games to draw level to 5-5. Andreescu won the final two games to clinch the first set 7-5.
Andreescu got the first break in the fourth game of the second set to take a 3-1 lead, but Osaka came back by winning the next five games to take the second set 6-3. Andreescu broke at love to take a 3-1 lead in the third set. Osaka came back to take the 6-4 on her third match point. Osaka ended Andreescu’s 8-0 record against top 10 players. Osaka went on to beat Ashleigh Barty in the final 3-6 6-3 6-2.
