The 2014 WTA Finals was a women's tennis tournament in Singapore from October 17 to October 26, 2014, and was the 44th edition of the singles event and the 39th edition of the doubles competition. The tournament was held at the Singapore Indoor Stadium, and contested by eight singles players and eight doubles teams. It was the Championships of 2014 WTA Tour.
Finals
Singles
Serena Williams defeated Simona Halep, 6–3, 6–0.
Doubles
Cara Black / Sania Mirza defeated Hsieh Su-wei / Peng Shuai, 6–1, 6–0.
Exhibition Rising Stars Monica Puig defeated Zheng Saisai, 6–4, 6–3.
Legends Marion Bartoli
Tournament The 2014 WTA Finals happened at the Singapore Indoor Stadium from 17 October to 26 October 2014, and is the 44th edition of the event. The tournament is run by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) as part of the 2014 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. The event will also hold two exhibition tournaments, WTA Rising Stars Invitational and the WTA Legends Event. The inaugural 2014 WTA Rising Stars Invitational will be held during the WTA Finals from October 17–21, 2014. Four singles players age 23 or under were chosen by fan vote from qualifying nominees, two from the Asia-Pacific region and two from the Rest of World region, will participate in Singapore: Zarina Diyas and Zheng Saisai, Asia-Pacific region; Monica Puig and Shelby Rogers, Rest of World region.
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 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.
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 2014 WTA Finals was US$6,500,000.
StageSinglesDoublesPrize moneyPointsPrize moneyPointsChampion RR1 + $1,658,000 RR + 810 $500,000 1500Runner-up RR + $582,000 RR + 360 $250,000 1050 Semifinalist RR + $37,000 RR $125,000 690 First round $75,000 460 Round robin win per match$143,000 160 Round robin per match played$20,000 70 Participation Fee$80,000 Alternates$62,000 1 RR means prize money or points won in the round robin round.
Qualified players
Singles #PlayersPointsTournDate Qualified17,14617 (15)5 September26,680159 September3 5,5971827 September4 5,40319 (18)15 September5 4,523222 October6 4,441202 October7 4,390212 October8 4,045192 October
On 5 September, Serena Williams became the first player to qualify for the Championships.
Following her 2013 season, Serena Williams won her 58th title in Brisbane, defeating the world no.2, Victoria Azarenka, in the final. She injured her back at the Australian Open and lost in the fourth round to Ana Ivanovic in three sets. She returned to competition in Dubai Tennis Championships but lost in the semifinals to Alizé Cornet. She successfully defended her Miami title, after defeating Li Na in the final. She lost in the second round of Charleston to Jana Čepelová and withdrew before her quarterfinals match in Madrid before defending her Rome title, defeating Sara Errani in the final. Coming as the defending champion of the French Open, she lost in the second round to Garbiñe Muguruza 2–6, 2–6, in her most lopsided slam loss in her career.
Following her disappointing loss in Paris, Williams returned to Wimbledon as the top seed. She reached the third round before losing to Cornet in three sets. She appeared sick in her following doubles match. She made a return in Bank of the West Classic where she won the title by defeating Angelique Kerber in the final. The following week, she lost to sister Venus for the first time since 2009 in the semifinals of Rogers Cup. She won her 62nd title the following week in Cincinnati, beating Ivanovic in the final, this marks her third time winning the US Open Series. After her disappointing results in the Major tournaments this year, she made the final of the US Open, where she qualified for the WTA Finals. In the final, she defeated Caroline Wozniacki in straight sets, thus winning her 18th Major singles title, tying the records of Chris Evert and Martina Navratilova.
On 9 September, Maria Sharapova became the second player to qualify for the championships.
After prematurely ending her 2013 season due to an injury, Maria Sharapova began 2014 at the 2014 Brisbane International where she lost to top seed Serena Williams in the semifinals. Then, she travelled to Melbourne to play the Australian Open as the 3rd seed, she managed to reach the 4th round where she lost to Slovak and eventual finalist Dominika Cibulková. In February, Sharapova played the Paris indoors tournament as the top seed, she lost to fellow Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the semifinals. Sharapova kicked off her North American hardcourt season at Indian Wells as the defending champion. However, she was upset by Camila Giorgi in the third round in three sets. At the Sony Open Tennis, Sharapova lost to Serena in the semifinals again. During the clay court season, Sharapova enjoyed major success. She defended her title at Stuttgart defeating Ana Ivanovic in the final in a three-setter and won the Mutua Madrid Open, outplaying Simona Halep in three sets as well. She suffered her only loss on clay in 2014 at Rome when she fell to Ivanovic in the third round but she bounced back at the French Open by collecting her 5th Grand Slam title when she defeated Halep again in a match lasting over 3 hours, the second longest women's Grand Slam final in history. Sharapova suffered a fourth round loss at Wimbledon to Angelique Kerber. Sharapova began her 2014 US Open Series campaign at the Rogers Cup losing to Spaniard Carla Suárez Navarro in the third round. The following week at Western & Southern Open, she reached the semifinals before succumbing to Ivanovic again in three sets. At the US Open, Sharapova, seeded 5th, lost in the fourth round to Caroline Wozniacki. Sharapova won her first hard court title since Indian Wells 2013 at the China Open defeating Petra Kvitová in the final in three set.
On 15 September, Simona Halep was announced as the third qualifier for the Championships.
Simona Halep enjoyed a breakthrough in 2013 where she won her first six WTA titles. She kicked off the 2014 season at the 2014 Brisbane International, she fell to Madison Keys in round 1. At the 2014 Australian Open, she reached her first Grand Slam quarterfinal but lost to Dominika Cibulková. She then won the biggest title of her career at the 2014 Qatar Total Open in Doha when she defeated Angelique Kerber in the final. She then reached the semifinals at Indian Wells, losing to Agnieszka Radwańska. She reached the final at the 2014 Mutua Madrid Open where she lost to Maria Sharapova in three sets. She bounced back at the 2014 French Open where she reached the final, her first grand slam final. She faced Sharapova and lost once again in tough three sets. At the 2014 Wimbledon Championships, she reached the semifinals, where she lost to Eugenie Bouchard in straight sets. Playing in front of her home crowd, Halep was impressive when she defeated 2nd seed Roberta Vinci in the final of the inaugural BRD Bucharest Open. After reaching her career high ranking of number 2, she played the Western & Southern Open but once again lost to Sharapova in the quarterfinals. At the 2014 US Open, Simona was one of the heavy favourites to make it to the final. She won her first two matches over Danielle Collins and Jana Čepelová but fell to a resurging Mirjana Lučić-Baroni in the third round.
On 27 September, Petra Kvitová was announced as the fourth qualifier after winning the inaugural Wuhan Open.
Petra Kvitová had a resurgence after a disappointing 2013 and early 2014. She started the season at the Hopman Cup, playing with Radek Štěpánek where they fell in the group stage. After making the semifinals in Sydney, she experienced a huge upset against Luksika Kumkhum in the first round of the Australian Open. She then made the quarterfinals in Doha, the fourth round in Indian Wells and the quarterfinals in Miami. During the clay court season, Kvitová lost to Simona Halep in the semifinals of Madrid and then fell in her opener in Rome. At the French Open, Kvitová lost a tight three-setter against Svetlana Kuznetsova in the third round. Kvitová then won her second Grand Slam title at Wimbledon, where she defeated Eugenie Bouchard in the final in 55 minutes with the loss of just three games, making it one of the most lopsided Grand Slam finals in history. After a couple of early losses in Montreal and Cincinnati, she picked up her second title of the year in New Haven but was then handed an upset by Serbian youngster Aleksandra Krunić in the third round of the US Open. Kvitová bounced back with a strong performance during the Asian swing, winning the inaugural Wuhan Open where she beat Bouchard in the final, and then finishing runner-up to Maria Sharapova at the China Open.
On 2 October, the last four remaining spots were filled by Eugenie Bouchard, Agnieszka Radwańska, Ana Ivanovic and Caroline Wozniacki. All four players qualified after Angelique Kerber and Ekaterina Makarova exit in their respective third round matches at the China Open and Li Na's retirement from tennis.
Eugenie Bouchard made a breakthrough in 2014 entering the top 10 for the first time. At the first slam of the year at the Australian Open, she got to the second week for the first time and further reaching the semifinals losing to eventual champion Li Na, being the first Canadian since 1984 to reach the semifinals of a slam. She then won her first WTA title at the Nürnberger Versicherungscup defeating Karolína Plíšková in the final. She followed it up with her second slam semifinal at the French Open losing to eventual champion Maria Sharapova. At Wimbledon, Bouchard did even better reaching her first slam final defeating Simona Halep in the semifinals but losing to Petra Kvitová in less than an hour in one of the most lopsided slam finals in history. Bouchard loss back-to-back opening matches at the Rogers Cup and Western & Southern Open in three sets. She suffered her first loss in the year before the semifinals of a slam at the US Open at the fourth round to Ekaterina Makarova. At the Asian swing she reached her first Premier 5 final at the inaugural Wuhan Open, once again losing to Kvitová.