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2015 WTA Elite Trophy

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2015 WTA Elite Trophy
DateNovember 3 – 8
Edition1st
Draw12S/6D
SurfaceHard / Outdoor / Covered Court
LocationZhuhai, China
VenueHengqin International Tennis Center
Champions
Singles
United States Venus Williams
Doubles
China Liang Chen / China Wang Yafan
WTA Elite Trophy · 2016 →

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

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Qualifying

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WTA Elite Trophy is an invitation-only event.

Singles qualifying

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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.[1]

Doubles qualifying

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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.[2]

Format

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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

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The final standings of each group were determined by the first of the following methods that applied:

  1. Greatest number of wins.
  2. Greatest number of matches played.
  3. Head-to-head results
  4. In case of a 3-way tie:
  • Percentage of sets won
  • Percentage of games won

Prize money and points

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The total prize money for the Huajin Securities 2015 WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai 2015 WTA Finals was US$2,150,000.[3]

Stage Singles Doubles
Prize money Points Prize money Points
Champion RR1 + $450,000 RR + 460 RR1 + $20,000
Runner-up RR + $150,000 RR + 200 RR1 + $10,000
Semifinalist RR + $15,000 RR
Round Robin win per match $92,500 120 $5,000
Round Robin loss per match $20,000 40
Participation fee 15,000
Alternates $10,000
  • 1 RR means prize money or points won in the round robin round.

Qualified players

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Singles

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Seeds Players Points Tours
1 United States Venus Williams 3,091 17
2 Spain Carla Suárez Navarro 3,030 24
3 Czech Republic Karolína Plíšková 2,955 25
4 Italy Roberta Vinci 2,655 24
5 Denmark Caroline Wozniacki 2,641 23
6 Italy Sara Errani 2,525 25
7 United States Madison Keys 2,495 18
8 Ukraine Elina Svitolina 2,410 24
9 Serbia Jelena Janković 2,345 24
10 Germany Andrea Petkovic 2,106 24
11 Russia Svetlana Kuznetsova 1,847 19
12 China Zheng Saisai [WC] 789 26
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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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Seeds Players Points Tours
1 Poland Klaudia Jans-Ignacik / Slovenia Andreja Klepač 1,339 14
2 Spain Anabel Medina Garrigues / Spain Arantxa Parra Santonja 1,751 14
3 Canada Gabriela Dabrowski / Poland Alicja Rosolska 1,415 20
4 China Liang Chen / China Wang Yafan [WC] 963 7
5 Ukraine Lyudmyla Kichenok / Ukraine Nadiia Kichenok 1,235 13
6 China Xu Shilin / China You Xiaodi [WC] 180 1

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

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Below are the head-to-head records as they approached the tournament.

# Player Williams Suárez Navarro Plíšková Vinci Wozniacki Errani Keys Svitolina Janković Petkovic Kuznetsova Zheng Overall YTD
1 United States 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 Spain 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 Czech Republic 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 Italy 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 Denmark 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 Italy 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 United States 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 Ukraine 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 Serbia 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 Germany 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 Russia 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 China 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

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The 2 tables below are part of the tables from Road to Singapore

Singles

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Qualified players

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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 BEI 1 2 1 2 3 4 5 6
Qualified for WTA Elite Trophy
10 Switzerland Timea Bacsinszky R32
130
SF
780
QF
430
R128
10
QF
215
A
0
R64
10
F
650
R16
105
R64
1
W
280
W
280
F
180
QF
60
R64
1
R32
1
3133 17 2
11 United States Venus Williams QF
430
R128
10
R16
240
QF
430
A
0
QF
215
R64
10
R32
10
W
900
R16
105
W
280
SF
185
SF
110
R16
105
R32
60
R64
1
3091 17 2
12 Spain Carla Suárez Navarro R128
10
R32
130
R128
10
R128
10
QF
215
F
650
QF
215
R16
120
F
585
QF
190
F
305
SF
185
R16
105
QF
100
QF
100
QF
100
3030 24 0
13 Czech Republic Karolína Plíšková R32
130
R64
70
R64
70
R128
10
R16
120
QF
215
R32
65
R64
10
F
585
QF
190
F
305
F
305
F
305
W
280
SF
185
SF
110
2955 25 1
14 Switzerland Belinda Bencic R128
10
R64
70
R16
240
R32
130
R16
120
R16
120
R64
10
R32
65
W
900
R16
105
W
470
F
305
F
180
R32
60
R32
60
R16
55
2900 24 2
15 Italy Roberta Vinci R64
70
R128
10
R128
10
F
1300
R64
35
R64
10
R16
120
R16
120
SF
350
QF
190
F
180
R16
80
QF
60
QF
60
R16
30
R16
30
2655 24 0
16 Serbia Ana Ivanovic R128
10
SF
780
R64
70
R128
10
R32
65
R32
65
R16
120
SF
390
QF
190
QF
190
F
305
SF
110
R16
105
R16
105
QF
100
R16
30
2645 19 0
17 Denmark Caroline Wozniacki R64
70
R64
70
R16
240
R64
70
R32
65
R16
120
QF
215
R16
120
SF
350
R32
1
F
305
W
280
SF
185
SF
185
SF
185
F
180
2641 23 1
18 Italy Sara Errani R32
130
QF
430
R64
70
R32
130
R32
65
R16
120
R32
65
QF
215
SF
350
R32
60
W
280
F
180
SF
110
SF
110
SF
110
QF
100
2525 25 1
19 United States Madison Keys SF
780
R32
130
QF
430
R16
240
R32
65
R64
10
R64
10
R16
120
R32
60
R32
60
F
305
QF
60
R32
60
R16
55
R16
55
R16
55
2495 18 0
20 Ukraine Elina Svitolina R32
130
QF
430
R64
70
R32
130
R16
120
R32
65
R32
65
R32
65
SF
350
R16
105
W
280
SF
185
SF
185
SF
110
R32
60
R32
60
2410 24 1
21 Serbia Jelena Janković R128
10
R128
10
R16
240
R128
10
F
650
R64
10
A
0
R64
10
SF
350
R16
105
W
280
W
280
W
160
SF
110
QF
60
QF
60
2345 24 3
22 Belarus Victoria Azarenka R16
240
R32
130
QF
430
QF
430
R32
65
R32
65
R16
120
A
0
QF
190
R16
105
F
305
R16
105
R32
60
R32
30
R32
1
2276 15 0
23 Russia Ekaterina Makarova SF
780
R16
240
R64
70
R16
240
R32
65
R16
120
R64
10
A
0
QF
190
R16
105
SF
110
QF
100
R32
60
R16
55
R16
55
R16
1
2201 17 0
24 Germany Andrea Petkovic R128
10
R32
130
R32
130
R32
130
R64
10
SF
390
R32
65
R16
120
R16
105
R16
105
W
470
SF
185
QF
100
QF
100
R16
55
R64
1
2106 24 1
25 Australia Samantha Stosur R64
70
R32
130
R32
130
R16
240
R32
65
R32
65
R16
120
R32
65
R16
60
R32
30
W
280
W
280
SF
110
SF
110
R16
55
R16
55
1865 24 2
26 Russia Svetlana Kuznetsova R128
10
R64
70
R64
70
R16
240
R128
10
R16
120
F
650
R16
120
R16
60
R64
1
W
470
QF
60
R16
55
R16
55
R16
30
R31
1
1847 19 1

Other entrants

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The following player received a wildcard into the singles draw:

Doubles

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Qualified players

[edit]

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 Titles
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
11  Alla Kudryavtseva (RUS)
 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS)
QF
430
SF
350
SF
350
R16
240
R16
240
SF
185
R32
130
R16
120
R16
120
R16
120
R16
120
2,405 14 0
12  Michaëlla Krajicek (NED)
 Barbora Strýcová (CZE)
SF
780
QF
430
R16
240
R32
130
SF
185
R16
120
R16
105
R16
105
QF
100
R32
10
R32
10
2,325 14 0
13  Chan Yung-jan (TPE)
 Zheng Jie (CHN)
F
1300
F
305
R16
240
SF
185
SF
110
R64
10
R32
1
2,151 7 0
14  Kiki Bertens (NED)
 Johanna Larsson (SWE)
QF
430
W
280
W
280
R16
240
F
180
SF
110
SF
110
SF
110
QF
60
R64
10
R16
1
1,811 11 2
15  Anabel Medina Garrigues (ESP)
 Arantxa Parra Santonja (ESP)
W
470
F
305
R16
240
F
180
R32
130
R16
105
R16
105
R16
105
QF
100
R32
10
R16
1
1,751 14 1
16  Gabriela Dabrowski (CAN)
 Alicja Rosolska (POL)
W
280
R16
240
QF
190
QF
190
SF
185
R16
120
R16
120
QF
60
R64
10
R64
10
R64
10
1,415 20 1
17  Hsieh Su-wei (TPE)
 Flavia Pennetta (ITA)
QF
430
QF
430
QF
215
QF
190
R16
120
R32
10
1,395 6 0
18  Anastasia Rodionova (AUS)
 Arina Rodionova (AUS)
R16
240
QF
215
QF
190
F
180
R32
130
R32
130
SF
110
QF
100
QF
60
R32
10
R32
10
1,375 16 0
19  Klaudia Jans-Ignacik (POL)
 Andreja Klepač (SLO)
QF
430
SF
390
R16
120
R16
120
QF
100
QF
100
SF
57
R64
10
R64
10
R16
1
R16
1
1,339 14 0
20  Sara Errani (ITA)
 Flavia Pennetta (ITA)
SF
780
QF
190
QF
190
R16
120
1,280 4 0
21  Lyudmyla Kichenok (UKR)
 Nadiia Kichenok (UKR)
W
280
R32
130
R16
120
SF
110
SF
110
R16
105
QF
100
W
80
W
80
QF
60
QF
60
1,235 13 1

Other entrants

[edit]

The following pairs received wildcards into the doubles draw:

Champions

[edit]

Singles

[edit]

Doubles

[edit]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Women's Tennis Association. "IX.B.1.a". 2015 WTA OFFICIAL RULEBOOK (PDF).
  2. ^ Women's Tennis Association. "IX.B.2.a". 2015 WTA OFFICIAL RULEBOOK (PDF).
  3. ^ "Match Notes" (PDF).
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