The 2013 Garanti Koza WTA Tournament of Champions was a singles-only tennis tournament that was played on indoor hard courts. The tournament was sponsored by Turkish construction firm Garanti Koza (the first year of a two-year deal). It was the fifth edition of the tournament and was part of the 2013 WTA Tour. The 2013 edition was the second to be held in Sofia at the Arena Armeec. The tournament was played between 29 October and 3 November 2013. Nadia Petrova was the defending champion, but she did not qualify this year, nor did she receive a wildcard into the event.
Tournament The 2013 Garanti Koza WTA Tournament of Champions was the fifth edition of the event and the second to take place in Sofia. The tournament is run by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) and is part of the 2013 WTA Tour. It is the season ending championships for players who have won one of the WTA International tournaments but have not qualified for the WTA Championships. The Tournament consisted of a singles draw of eight players (including two Wild Cards, if applicable) in a round robin format determined by the WTA.
Format The singles event featured eight players in a round robin event, split into two groups of four. Over the first four days of competition, each player met the other three players in their group, with the top two in each group advancing to the semifinals. The first-placed player in one group met the second-placed player in the other group, and vice versa. The winners of each semifinal met in the championship match.
Round robin tie-breaking methods The final standings of each group shall be determined by the first of the following methods that apply: Greatest number of wins Greatest number of matches played; or 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; or b Highest percentage of sets won; or c Highest percentage of games won
Prize money and points The total prize money for the 2013 Garanti Koza WTA Tournament of Champions was 750,000 United States dollars. StageSinglesPoints 1Champion RR2 + 190,000 RR2 + 195Runner-up RR2 + 65,000 RR2 + 75Semifinalist RR2 + 10,000 RR2Round Robin (3 wins) 80,000 180Round Robin (2 wins) 65,000 145Round Robin (1 win) 50,000 110Round Robin (0 wins) 35,000 75Alternate 7,5003 0 1 for every match played in the round robin a player gets 25 points automatically, and for each round robin win they get 35 additional points 2 RR means Prize money or Points won in the Round Robin Round. 3 Alternates receive $7,500 in prize money, even if they do not participate.
Qualifying The six highest-ranked players who have captured at least one International tournament during the year and who are not participating in singles at the year-end WTA Championships in Istanbul or the finals of the Fed Cup will automatically qualify for the event, plus two wildcards.
2013 WTA International tournaments champions
Player Nationality Tournament/s Won Agnieszka Radwańska Auckland Seoul Li Na Shenzhen Elena Vesnina Hobart Maria Kirilenko Pattaya Jelena Janković Bogotá Marina Erakovic Memphis Sara Errani Acapulco Karolína Plíšková Kuala Lumpur Monica Niculescu Florianópolis Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova Monterrey Oeiras Roberta Vinci Katowice Palermo Francesca Schiavone Marrakesh Alizé Cornet Strasbourg Simona Halep Nürnberg 's-Hertogenbosch Budapest Daniela Hantuchová Birmingham Yvonne Meusburger Bad Gastein Serena Williams Båstad Elina Svitolina Baku Magdaléna Rybáriková Washington D.C. Bojana Jovanovski Tashkent Lucie Šafářová Quebec City Zhang Shuai Guangzhou Samantha Stosur Osaka Angelique Kerber Linz Caroline Wozniacki Luxembourg
Qualifiers WTA singles rankings (21 October 2013)Sd Player Rk Won Caroline Wozniacki* 10 Luxembourg Roberta Vinci* 13 Katowice Palermo 1 Simona Halep 14 Nürnberg 's-Hertogenbosch Budapest 2 Ana Ivanovic 16 Wildcard 3 Maria Kirilenko 18 Pattaya City 4 Samantha Stosur 19 Osaka 5 Elena Vesnina 25 Hobart 6 26 Monterrey Oeiras 7 Alizé Cornet 27 Strasbourg 8 Tsvetana Pironkova 118 Wildcard Alt Elina Svitolina 40 Baku
Caroline Wozniacki Wozniacki qualified with victory in the final international series event of the season in Luxembourg. The Dane decided, although she would be the number one seed, not to compete and instead only focus her attentions on being an alternate at the WTA Championships.
Roberta Vinci Vinci qualified by winning two international series tournaments, in Katowice and Palermo, respectively, but decided to compete in the Fed Cup final instead.
Simona Halep Halep is having a breakthrough year, entering the top 15 and winning her first title after previously losing three finals between 2010 and 2012. The Romanian won an impressive number of five titles in the year. The first was on the Nürnberger Versicherungscup defeating German Andrea Petkovic 6–3, 6–3, which gave her entry to the event. The following week she claimed the title on the grass courts of the Topshelf Open defeating Kirsten Flipkens 6–4, 6–2. Halep claimed her third title at the Budapest Grand Prix defeating Austrian Yvonne Meusburger in three sets 6–3, 6–7(7–9), 6–1. She won her biggest title so far at the New Haven Open at Yale her first Premier title defeating Petra Kvitová 6–2, 6–2. Halep also reached the semifinals Internazionali BNL d'Italia as a qualifier, but lost to world no. 1 Serena Williams. She also lost to Serena Williams at the quarterfinals of the Western & Southern Open, again in straight sets. On 20 October 2013, just before the Garanti Koza in Sofia, she won her fifth title of the year and the second Premier, beating Samantha Stosur 7–6 6–2 at the Kremlin Cup in Moscow. Simona Halep is making her debut at the event.
Ana Ivanovic Ivanovic was one of the wildcard recipients. Ivanovic reached the semifinals of the Mutua Madrid Open a Premier Mandatory event, losing to Maria Sharapova 4–6, 3–6. She also reached the semifinals of the Southern California Open losing to Victoria Azarenka 0–6, 6–4, 3–6. She reached her first final of the year at the Generali Ladies Linz losing to German Angelique Kerber 4–6, 6–7(6–8). At the slams, Ivanovic reached the fourth round of the Australian Open and French Open, losing to Agnieszka Radwańska 2–6, 4–6 on both occasions. Ivanovic lost to Eugenie Bouchard in the second round of Wimbledon 3–6, 3–6. At the final slam of the year, at the US Open, she lost in the fourth round to Victoria Azarenka 6–4, 3–6, 4–6. She is making her third appearance to the event, having won the event twice.
Maria Kirilenko Kirilenko's first half of 2013 saw her with good results and broke through the top 10, while her second saw her struggle with a knee injury. Kirilenko last year's wildcard received entry into the event after winning the PTT Pattaya Open defeating Sabine Lisicki 5–7, 6–1, 7–6(7–1). Kirilenko was able to reach the semifinals of the BNP Paribas Open losing to compatriot Maria Sharapova 4–6, 3–6. At the slams, Kirilenko reached her first French Open quarterfinal and her third slam quarterfinals losing to Victoria Azarenka 6–7(7–9), 2–6. She also reached the fourth round of the Australian Open losing to Serena Williams 2–6, 0–6, third round of the US Open losing to Simona Halep 1–6, 0–6, and was upset in the first round of Wimbledon losing to Laura Robson 3–6, 4–6. She is making her second appearance at the event.
Samantha Stosur Stosur had a dip in 2013, falling out of the top 10 for the first time since 2010 and finishing outside the top 10 for the first time since 2009. At the slams, Stosur failed to get past the fourth round of a slam in a year since 2008. She lost in the third rounds of French Open, to Jelena Janković 6–3, 3–6, 4–6, and Wimbledon, to eventual runner-up Sabine Lisicki 6–4, 2–6, 1–6. She also lost in the second round to Zheng Jie 4–6, 6–1, 5–7 at the Australian Open and first round of US Open to American qualifier Victoria Duval 7–5, 4–6, 4–6. After poor results in the beginning of the year, Stosur showed good form by reaching back-to-back quarterfinals in Qatar and Dubai. However, after withdrawing from her quarterfinal match against Angelique Kerber at the BNP Paribas due to a calf-injury, Stosur showed poor form throughout the year until shocking Victoria Azarenka in the final of the Southern California Open. She won her second title of the year at HP Open defeating Eugenie Bouchard 3–6, 7–5, 6–2 to receive entry into the Tournament of Champions. She is making her 2nd appearance in the event.
Elena Vesnina Vesnina made her breakthrough year in 2013. She won her first title after six former runners-up at the Moorilla Hobart International, defeating German Mona Barthel in the final 6–3, 6–4. This also gave Vesnina entry into the tournament of champions. She then won her second title at the Aegon International a Premier event defeating Jamie Hampton 6–2, 6–1. At the slam, the Russian reached the fourth round of the Australian Open and the first round of the French Open losing to Victoria Azarenka in both occasions 1–6, 1–6, and 1–6, 4–6, respectively. The Russian then fell in the second rounds of Wimbledon and US Open to Sabine Lisicki 3–6, 1–6 and Karin Knapp 1–6, 4–6, respectively. She also won French Open with Ekaterina Makarova. She opted to play at the Tournament of Champions rather than the Fed Cup final. She is making her debut to the event.
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova Pavlyuchenkova is the third Russian to play at the event. Pavlyuchenkova won two international events in clay to gain entry into the event, the first coming at the Monterrey Open defeating Angelique Kerber 4–6, 6–2, 6–4 and the second at the Portugal Open defeating Carla Suárez Navarro 7–5, 6–2. The Russian also reached two other finals but lost, the first being at the Premier event of the Brisbane International losing to Serena Williams 2–6, 1–6 and the second at the KDB Korea Open losing to Agnieszka Radwańska, 7–6(8–6), 3–6, 4–6. The Russian didn't fare well at the slams, her best performance reaching the third round of the US Open losing to Radwańska 4–6, 6–7(7–9). She then fell in the second round of the French Open to Petra Cetkovská 5–7, 6–2, 4–6, and the first rounds of the Australian Open and Wimbledon to Lesia Tsurenko 5–7, 6–3, 5–7 and Tsvetana Pironkova 0–6, 1–6.
Alizé Cornet Cornet had a resurgence this season - re-entering the top 30, and winning her third WTA career title. Cornet qualified for Sofia by winning her maiden tournament of the year at the Internationaux de Strasbourg, defeating Czech Lucie Hradecká 7–6(7–4), 6–0. At the slams, the Frenchwoman lost in the second round of the Australian Open to Venus Williams 3–6, 3–6. She then reached the third round of Wimbledon losing to Flavia Pennetta 6–0, 6–7(7–9), 2–6. She also fell to Victoria Azarenka in the third rounds of the French Open 6–4, 3–6, 1–6, and US Open 7–6(2–7), 3–6, 2–6. She is making her debut to the event.
Tsvetana Pironkova Pironkova is one of the wild card recipients, being a native of Bulgaria. She reached two quarterfinals in the year at the Topshelf Open and at 2013 Moorilla Hobart International. However, she was able to reach the fourth round of Wimbledon before losing to world no. 4 Agnieszka Radwańska 6–4, 3–6, 3–6. In the other slams, Pironkova didn't fare well falling in the first rounds of the Australian Open to Romina Oprandi 6–4, 5–7, 2–6, French Open to Eugenie Bouchard 1–6, 6–7(7–9), and US Open to Alison Riske 3–6, 3–6.
Groupings