The 2018 WTA Finals, also known by its sponsored name BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore, was a women's tennis tournament held in Kallang, Singapore. It was the 48th edition of the singles event and the 43rd edition of the doubles competition. Eight singles players and eight doubles teams competed in the tournament. The tournament was contested by eight singles players and eight doubles teams. The tournament was the year-end final of the 2018 WTA Tour. This competition was held in Singapore for the last time this year.
Champions
Singles
Elina Svitolina def. Sloane Stephens, 3–6, 6–2, 6–2
Doubles
Tímea Babos / Kristina Mladenovic def. Barbora Krejčíková / Kateřina Siniaková, 6–4, 7–5
Tournament
The 2018 WTA Finals took place at the Singapore Indoor Stadium the week of October 21, 2018, and was the 48th edition of the event. This was the final year in which Singapore hosted the event. The tournament was run by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) as part of the 2018 WTA Tour. Singapore was the ninth city to host the WTA Finals since its inauguration in 1972.
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 2017) 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 were made using these methods:
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 2018 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 Qualifiedinj Simona Halep 6,921 15 13 August1 Angelique Kerber 5,375 18 10 September2 Caroline Wozniacki 5,086 18 4 October 3 Naomi Osaka 4,740 19 2 October4 Petra Kvitová 4,255 20 4 October 5 Sloane Stephens 3,943 19 14 October6 Elina Svitolina 3,850 18 17 October7 Karolína Plíšková 3,840 23 17 October8 Kiki Bertens 3,710 24 18 October
On 13 August, Simona Halep became the first qualifier.
Simona Halep began the year by winning the Shenzhen Open, defeating Kateřina Siniaková in the final in three sets. She then competed at the Australian Open and reached the finals after saving match points in her third round match against Lauren Davis and semifinal match against Angelique Kerber. However, she lost in the final to Caroline Wozniacki in three tight sets, also losing the number 1 ranking to Wozniacki. She then lost in the semifinals of her next two events, the Qatar Open and BNP Paribas Open to Garbiñe Muguruza and Naomi Osaka, respectively. At the Miami Open, she fell in the third round to Agnieszka Radwańska.
At the start of the clay season, Halep did not have good results, only reaching the quarterfinals at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix and the Mutua Madrid Open, with both losses coming in straight sets to CoCo Vandeweghe and Karolína Plíšková, respectively. Halep was able to bounce back at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia reaching the final but losing to Elina Svitolina, winning only four games in the match. At the French Open, Halep won the biggest title of her career and her first Grand Slam title, defeating reigning US Open champion Sloane Stephens after coming back from a set down. However, Halep did not have much luck at the grass courts of Wimbledon, losing in the third round to Hsieh Su-wei after failing to take advantage of a set lead.
At the American hard court season, Halep started out by reaching back-to-back finals. She won the Rogers Cup by defeating Stephens again in a rematch of the French Open final. However, she lost the final of the Western & Southern Open to Kiki Bertens despite having a match point. This loss was a start of a bad stretch for the Romanian as she became the first top seed to lose in the first round of the US Open when she fell to Kaia Kanepi. She then lost her opening round matches at the Wuhan Open and China Open, giving her a four match losing streak coming into the WTA Finals. However, she announced that she would withdraw from the event because of an ongoing back injury. Even though, Halep secured the year-end No. 1 for a second consecutive year.
On 10 September, Angelique Kerber became the second qualifier.
Angelique Kerber began her season at the Hopman Cup to represent Germany with Alexander Zverev but lost in the final to Switzerland. At the Sydney International, Kerber claimed her first title since winning the 2016 US Open defeating local favorite Ashleigh Barty in straight sets. At the Australian Open, Kerber was able to reach the semifinals of a slam for the first time since her US Open triumph but lost to Simona Halep in three sets after failing to convert two match points she had in the final set. She then played in the middle east, where lost in the quarterfinals of the Qatar Total Open losing to then World no. 1 Caroline Wozniacki in three sets and to Elina Svitolina at the Dubai Tennis Championships in the semifinals. She then reached back-to-back quarterfinals at the BNP Paribas Open and Miami Open falling to Daria Kasatkina and Sloane Stephens, respectively.
During the clay court season, Kerber had good results reaching the quarterfinals of Internazionali BNL d'Italia and French Open losing to eventual champions Svitolina and Halep, Respectively. At the grass season, Kerber suffered an upset in the hands of Alison Riske in the first round of the Mallorca Open, but she bounced back by reaching the semifinals of Eastbourne International losing to top seed Caroline Wozniacki. At Wimbledon, Kerber won her third grand slam title and her first at the event defeating Serena Williams in the final in straight sets. This means Kerber has won 3 of the 4 slams, only missing the French Open. After her slam triumph, Kerber had poor results winning only 6 of her next 11 matches, losing early in Rogers Cup, Western & Southern Open, US Open, Wuhan Open and China Open, failing to reach a single quarterfinal.
On 2 October, Naomi Osaka was announced to be making her debut at the event as the third qualifier.
Naomi Osaka began the year at the Hobart International with a first round loss to Yulia Putintseva. At the Australian Open, she made it to the fourth round with wins over 2 top 20 players but fell to Simona Halep. She suffered early loses at the Qatar Total Open and Dubai Tennis Championships. Osaka made her breakthrough at the BNP Paribas Open, winning her first title in the event defeating Daria Kasatkina in the final and defeating top 5 players Karolína Plíšková and Halep along the way. However, she fell to Elina Svitolina at the second round of the Miami Open after defeating her childhood idol Serena Williams. Osaka did not have much success during the clay season only winning back-to-back matches at the Volvo Car Open and French Open, reaching the third round losing to Julia Görges and Madison Keys, respectively. During the grass season, Osaka was able to reach the semifinals of Nottingham Open to eventual champion Ashleigh Barty and the third round of Wimbledon losing to eventual champion Angelique Kerber.
At the US Open Series, prior to the US Open she suffered a three match losing streak, with her only win coming in the Citi Open. However at the US Open, Osaka claimed her first grand slam title despite her poor preparation to the tournament. In the final she defeated Serena Williams in straight sets. Osaka followed this triumph with a final showing at her home event of the Toray Pan Pacific Open losing to Karolína Plíšková in the final. She then reached the semifinals of the China Open losing to Anastasija Sevastova.
On October 4, Petra Kvitová and Caroline Wozniacki booked their spots to the WTA Finals.
Petra Kvitová opened her season in Sydney, losing to qualifier Camila Giorgi in the second round. She followed this up with a first-round loss at the Australian Open to Andrea Petkovic. She found form in St. Petersburg Ladies' Trophy defeating Kristina Mladenovic in the final, before winning a second title two weeks later at the Qatar Total Open with a three-set victory over Garbiñe Muguruza. She was unable to continue this form in BNP Paribas Open and Miami Open, losing in the second round and fourth round to Amanda Anisimova and Jeļena Ostapenko respectively. Kvitová's clay court season also began slowly, falling in the first round of Volvo Car Open and Porsche Tennis Grand Prix to Kristýna Plíšková and Angelique Kerber, respectively. However, she quickly turned her form around, winning her third and fourth titles of the year at J&T Banka Prague Open and Mutua Madrid Open, defeating Mihaela Buzărnescu and Kiki Bertens in the respective finals. She then lost in the third round of the French Open to Anett Kontaveit.
Kvitová claimed her fifth title of the season on the grass courts of Birmingham, defeating Magdaléna Rybáriková in the final. At Wimbledon, she lost her first-round match against Aliaksandra Sasnovich. Her next two tournaments in Rogers Cup and Western & Southern Open ended in the third round and semi-finals respectively, both at the hands of Kiki Bertens. She made the quarterfinals of the Connecticut Open, where she retired against Carla Suárez Navarro. At the US Open, her slam results continue to disappoint as she lost in the third round to Aryna Sabalenka. She also lost in the third round of the Wuhan Open to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and the first round of the China Open to Daria Gavrilova.
Caroline Wozniacki began her season at the ASB Classic losing the final to Julia Görges. She then went on to win her first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open. She saved two match points in the second round against Jana Fett, before going on to defeat Simona Halep in the final. This win returned Wozniacki to World No. 1 for the first time since 2012. After reaching the quarterfinals of St. Petersburg Ladies' Trophy losing to Daria Kasatkina and the semi-finals in Qatar Total Open losing to Petra Kvitová, Wozniacki was unable to progress far in BNP Paribas Open and Miami Open, losing in the fourth round and second round to Daria Kasatkina and Monica Puig respectively.