2017 WTA Finals

The 2017 WTA Finals was a women's tennis tournament held in Kallang, Singapore. It was the 47th edition of the singles event and the 42nd edition of the doubles competition. The tournament was contested by eight singles players and eight doubles teams. The tournament was contested by eight singles players and eight doubles teams. The tournament was the year-end final of the 2017 WTA Tour. It was the final professional tournament for top-ranked doubles player and former top-ranked singles player Martina Hingis. Sixth-seeded Caroline Wozniacki won the singles title.

Finals

Singles

Caroline Wozniacki defeated Venus Williams, 6–4, 6–4

Doubles

Tímea Babos / Andrea Hlaváčková defeated Kiki Bertens / Johanna Larsson, 4–6, 6–4, [10–5]

Tournament

The 2017 WTA Finals took place at the Singapore Indoor Stadium the week of October 23, 2017, and was the 47th edition of the event. The tournament was run by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) as part of the 2017 WTA Tour. Singapore is now the ninth city to host the WTA Finals since its inauguration in 1972 and will host the event for at least five years.

Qualifying In singles, point totals are calculated by combining point totals from sixteen tournaments. Of these sixteen tournaments, a player's results from the four Grand Slam events, the four Premier Mandatory tournaments, and (for Top 20 players at the end of 2016) the best results from two Premier 5 tournaments must be included. In doubles, point totals are calculated by any combination of eleven tournaments throughout the year. Unlike in singles, this combination does not need to include results from the Grand Slams or Premier-level tournaments.

Format The singles event features eight players in a round robin event, split into two groups of four. Over the first four days of competition, each player meets the other three players in her group, with the top two in each group advancing to the semifinals. The first-placed player in one group meets the second-placed player in the other group, and vice versa. The winners of each semifinal meet in the championship match. The doubles event returns to a single elimination event. The winners of each quarterfinal match will advance to the semifinals and the winners of each semifinal match will advance to the final.

Round robin tie-breaking methods The final standings of each group were determined by the first of the following methods that applied: Greatest number of wins. Greatest number of matches played. Head-to-head results if only two players are tied, or if three players are tied then: a. If three players each have the same number of wins, a player having played less than all three matches is automatically eliminated and the player advancing to the single elimination competition is the winner of the match-up of the two remaining tied players. b. Highest percentage of sets won. c. Highest percentage of games won.

Prize money and points The total prize money for the BNP Paribas 2017 WTA Finals was US$7,000,000.

SinglesStagePrize moneyPointsChampion RR1 + $1,750,000 RR + 750Runner-up RR + $590,000 RR + 330 Semifinalist RR + $40,000 RR Round robin win per match +$153,000 +250 Round robin loss per match +125Participation Fee3 matches = $151,0002 matches = $130,0001 match = $110,000 Alternates2 matches = $109,0001 match = $89,0000 matches = $68,000

DoublesStagePrize moneyPointsChampions $500,000 1500Runners-up $260,000 1080Semifinalists $157,500 750Quarterfinalists $81,250 375

Qualified players

Singles #PlayersPointsTournDate Qualified1 5,675 17 26 September2 5,635 20 11 September3 5,105 19 26 September4 5,000 17 26 September5 4,642 14 26 September6 4,640 21 30 September7 4,510 20 4 October8 3,795 23 12 October

On 11 September, Garbiñe Muguruza became the first qualifier.

Garbiñe Muguruza began her season in Brisbane, where she retired in the semifinals. She recovered from this injury to reach the quarterfinals at the Australian Open, losing to CoCo Vandeweghe in straight sets. She had early exits in the Middle East before making the quarterfinals in Indian Wells and the fourth round in Miami, falling to Karolína Plíšková and retiring against Caroline Wozniacki respectively.

Muguruza's clay court season started slowly, losing her opening matches in Stuttgart and Madrid. She found form in Rome, reaching the semifinals, but failed to defend her French Open crown, ousted in the fourth round by Kristina Mladenovic. Muguruza opened her grass court season in Birmingham where she lost to Ashleigh Barty in the semifinals. She followed this up with a first round loss in Eastbourne to Barbora Strýcová, only managing to win one game. However, this slump was short-lived as her next tournament was a success, defeating Venus Williams in the final at Wimbledon, capturing her second major.

Muguruza kept up the good form on the American hard courts, making the semifinals in Stanford and the quarterfinals in Toronto. She then claimed her second title of the year, comprehensively beating Simona Halep in the final of Cincinnati, the last of three top-10 victories that week. However, she was unable to continue this string of deep runs, falling to Petra Kvitová in the fourth round of the US Open. Despite the relatively early exit, at the completion of this tournament, Muguruza took over the spot of World No.1 for the first time in her career.

Muguruza opened her Asian hard-court swing in Tokyo, losing in the semifinals to Caroline Wozniacki. The following week in Wuhan, she fell to Jeļena Ostapenko in the quarterfinals. Her last tournament before the WTA Finals was in Beijing where she retired in the first round, marking her fourth retirement this season.

On 26 September, Simona Halep, Karolína Plíšková, Elina Svitolina and Venus Williams became the second, third, fourth and fifth qualifiers.

Simona Halep comes into the WTA finals as the current World No.1 after a rather consistent year. Despite this, she began her year quite poorly, only managing three wins in her first four tournaments. A second-round loss in Shenzhen was followed up by a straight sets defeat in her opening match at the Australian Open to Shelby Rogers. She then retired in the quarterfinals of St. Petersburg before Kristina Mladenovic beat her in the third round in Indian Wells. She then reached the quarterfinals in Miami, losing to Johanna Konta.

Halep began to put in impressive results in the clay court season, starting with a semifinal showing in Stuttgart. She followed this up with her first title of the season in Madrid, winning in three sets over Kristina Mladenovic. She made another final the following week in Rome, but failed to overcome Elina Svitolina. She continued her string of reaching finals, this time at the French Open. However, she was again unsuccessful in taking home the trophy, losing to Jeļena Ostapenko.

Halep's first tournament on grass was in Eastbourne, which ended with a loss to Caroline Wozniacki in the quarterfinals. She also lost at the quarterfinal stage at Wimbledon, at the hands of Johanna Konta. After a retirement on the hard courts of Washington, Halep's results on this surface began to pick up. Reaching the semifinals of Toronto and the final of Cincinnati, losing to Elina Svitolina and Garbiñe Muguruza respectively. However, she drew Maria Sharapova in the first round of the US Open and suffered a three-set loss. She then lost her opening match in Wuhan. The following week, she reached the final in Beijing, losing to Caroline Garcia. Despite the loss, due to beating Jeļena Ostapenko in the semifinals, Halep became World No.1 for the first time.

Karolína Plíšková began her season with a strong showing in Brisbane, winning the title by defeating Alizé Cornet in the final. She followed this up with a quarterfinal showing at the Australian Open, losing in three sets to Mirjana Lučić-Baroni. Plíšková very quickly got back on the winner's board, claiming the title in Doha with a win over Caroline Wozniacki in the final. However, the following week she lost her opening match in Dubai. She had consistent results in Indian Wells and Miami, losing in the semifinals of both tournaments to Svetlana Kuznetsova and Caroline Wozniacki respectively.

Plíšková got off on the wrong foot in the clay court season, exiting early in Stuttgart, Prague and Madrid. She did manage to find some form at the following tournaments, with a quarterfinal finish in Rome and a semifinal finish at the French Open. She looked back on top of her game when the grass court swing came around, winning the title in Eastbourne over Caroline Wozniacki. However, it quickly came to an end with a shock loss to Magdaléna Rybáriková in the second round of Wimbledon. Despite the early exit, Plíšková earned the position of World No.1 for the first time in her career.

Next up for Plíšková were the American hard courts, where she had strong results. Losses to Caroline Wozniacki in the quarterfinals of Toronto and the semifinals of Cincinnati to Garbiñe Muguruza preceded the US Open where she fell in the quarterfinals to CoCo Vandeweghe. She then entered Tokyo and Wuhan, reaching the quarterfinals at both tournaments before losing to Angelique Kerber and Ashleigh Barty respectively. This was followed by a third-round loss in Beijing.

Elina Svitolina had an impressive year, putting together the best season of her career which included a tour-leading five titles. She opened her season in Brisbane with a semifinal loss to eventual champion Karolína Plíšková. At the Australian Open, she fell in three sets to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the third round. Her next two tournaments ended with a trophy, defeating Peng Shuai in the final of Taipei, before coming away victorious in Dubai against Caroline Wozniacki. However, her next three tournaments were not as successful, retiring in the second round in Kuala Lumpur and suffering early exits in Indian Wells and Miami.

Svitolina began her clay court swing in Istanbul where she claimed the title, defeating Elise Mertens in the final. After a first round exit in Madrid, she rebounded to win another title, this time against Simona Halep in Rome. However, the next time she met the Romanian she did not have the same success, losing in the quarterfinals of the French Open despite having a match point in the second set. Svitolina struggled on the grass court of Birmingham, falling in the second round. This was followed up by a fourth-round loss to Jeļena Ostapenko at Wimbledon.

Getting back on hard courts, Svitolina wasted no time picking up another title, defeating Caroline Wozniacki in the final of Toronto. She couldn't find the same form in Cincinnati, falling in the third round. At the US Open, she reached the fourth round before losing to eventual finalist Madison Keys. A quarterfinal loss to Caroline Garcia in Beijing followed, and in her most recent tournament in Hong Kong, she withdrew before her second-round match.

Venus Williams had quite a resurgent season. After withdrawing from her second-round match in Auckland, she made it all the way to the final of the Australian Open, her first major final in eight years. However, she lost to sister Serena in the final. Her next tournament ended quickly, losing her opening match in St. Petersburg to eventual winner Kristina Mladenovic. Williams returned to form for the Sunshine swing, falling to Elena Vesnina in Indian Wells and Johanna Konta in Miami, both of whom went on to claim the title.