BNP PARIBAS WTA FINALS SINGAPORE

[5] Venus Williams (USA) vs. [6] Caroline Wozniacki (DEN)

Williams started the tournament slowly and was completely blown away in her first match by Karolina Pliskova (2-6, 2-6). Things looked bleak for the American; however, as she has done all her career, she showed us her will to win is stronger than her body’s need to quit. She had to battle extremely hard to beat Jelena Ostapenko in her second match, which could have eliminated her from the tournament if she had lost. She won it in three tough sets (7-5, 6-7(3), 7-5).

She was not out of the woods yet, she needed to win her last match in order to make it to the semifinals and that would be another tough opponent for the American. Many remember her heart breaking loss earlier this year in the final at Wimbledon to Garbine Muguruza; however, once again, Williams had that extra something to fall back on and she defeated the Spaniard in two sets. Despite the score (7-5, 6-4), it was not an easy victory. Running on empty, she played an in-form Caroline Garcia and once again the American had to use her years of experience to gain the upper hand. After dropping the first set, she dug deep and fought off numerous break points to gain the victory in three tough sets (6-7(3), 6-2, 6-3).

Williams continues to defy the odds and will contest the final against a familiar rival, Caroline Wozniacki, tomorrow. They know each other well and despite dominating their head-to-head 7:0, Williams will have to bring her “A” game against Wozniacki, who seems to have saved her best tennis for the tournament. Wozniacki had a much easier road to the final. She easily dispatched of Elina Svitolina (6-2, 6-0) and Simona Halep (6-0, 6-2). Her sternest test came from Garcia and she lost that match in three sets (6-0, 3-6, 5-7). To get to the finals, she had to defeat the opponent who had defeated Williams in her first match and Wozniacki had to keep her focus to do so. After a marathon first set tiebreak, she wrapped up the match against Pliskova (7-6(9), 6-3) to get to her second WTA Finals’ final.

What can we expect? Williams will give her all; however, given the physical toll she has endured in her tough battles to get to the final, will she have enough left in the tank to claim the biggest title of her career since 2008? She has not won a title all year; thus it would be awesome if she could end her season with a victory. Yet, Wozniacki will not relinquish the title without a fight and she is definitely the fresher of the two with her easier road to the final. Will experience and history favor the American once again or does Wozniacki finally get her first victory over the American?

SOURCE OF IMAGES:  Bing search (Caroline Wozniacki- photo by Philip Cho) and (Venus). Garcia and Singapore images by serveandrally.