WTA Finals 2016 Singapore

Since the US Open ended six weeks ago, WTA players have been on the “Asian Swing”, the Road to Singapore. These six weeks of tournaments make up the end of their ten-month season and lead to the WTA Finals Singapore.

Unlike other WTA tournaments, Singapore is not single-elimination, but a round-robin for two groups of four Singles players. Each player plays three matches, and the top two players in each group face off against the other group in two semi-final matches and an eventual championship match.

My WTA US OPEN 2016 - Finals Pick, BRACKET FOUR

BRACKET FOUR

7 R. Vinci – Roberta plays the role of crafty veteran so well. She knows most players want to stand behind the baseline and hit away. I had Vinci losing to Christina McHale because Vinci has played a lot of tennis this past year. In recent outings, it seemed fatigue might have gotten to her. The amount of play has paid off because she has won enough to boost her points to keep her into the Top 10 in the rankings. This, in turn, has helped her avoid a seeded player this far into the tournament.

My WTA US OPEN 2016 - 4th Round Picks, Bracket Four

Bracket	Player	Player	Player	Player
FOUR	C. McHale	21 I. Begu	14 P. Kvitova	2 A. Kerber

C. McHale is ready for that next step. To get there, she likely has to get through 7 R. Vinci and S. Lisicki.

My WTA Wimbledon 2016 Finals Pick

The biggest disappointment was Garbine Muguruza losing in the second round. She lost early in the Mallorca Open but that could be seen as the hangover from her winning the French Open. What she learned in this Wimbledon is that other players see her as their potential “biggest” victory and are bringing their best.

A quick look at the numbers: 5 of the top 8 seeds made it to the Round of 16; only 3 of the next 8 seeds made it. That is where we get the two additional surprises, in addition to the two upsets I picked. Funny enough, the two slots did produce upstarts, just not the ones I picked.  I ended up with a 56% output of picks correctly selected. 

My WTA Wimbledon 2016 - 4th Round Picks

1 S.Williams v. H. Watson, if Heather Watson progresses after facing a tough 1st Round match-up against Annika Beck and potential 2nd Round against 31 Kristina Mladenovic.

13 S. Kuznetsova v. 18 S. Stephens, if Svetlana Kuznetsova gets by Caroline Wozniacki. It's hard to pick Sloane in this potential match-up, not knowing whether she'll be tuned in.

27 C. Vandeweghe has been playing well and this a great opportunity for her. On the other side of the ledger, Alison Riske or 6 Roberta Vinci are the potential opponents.