The 2018 WTA Elite Trophy was a women's tennis tournament played at the Hengqin International Tennis Center in Zhuhai, China. It was the 4th edition of the singles event and doubles competition. The tournament was contested by twelve singles players and six doubles teams.
Tournament Qualifying WTA Elite Trophy is an invitation-only event.
Singles qualifying The field consists of the top eleven players not already qualified for the 2018 WTA Finals, plus either (a) the 12th-player not qualified for 2018 WTA Finals, or (b) a wild card. The final two alternates for the 2018 WTA Finals will be eligible to play in the WTA Elite Trophy even if they participate in the WTA Finals. Point totals are calculated by combining points obtained 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 2018) the best results from two Premier 5 tournaments must be included.
Doubles qualifying Two teams composed of players that did not compete in the WTA Finals singles (except Finals Alternates) or doubles competitions, using the players’ combined doubles rankings as of the Monday after the final regular-season Tournament of the current Tour Year to determine the order of acceptance; and up to two teams composed of players that did not compete in the WTA Finals singles (except Finals Alternates) or doubles competitions and that include at least one Elite Trophy Singles Qualified Player or Elite Trophy Alternate, using the higher of the players’ combined singles or doubles rankings as of the Monday after the final regular-season Tournament of the current Tour Year to determine the order of acceptance. Plus two wild cards. For each wild card not given out, the next highest pair of players shall become a participant.
Format The singles event features twelve players in a round robin event, split into four groups of three. Over the first four days of competition, each player meets the other two players in her group, with the winner in each group advancing to the semifinal. The winners of each semifinal meet in the championship match. The six doubles teams will be split into two round robin groups, with the winner of each advancing 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. In case of a 2-way tie: Head-to-head results In case of a 3-way tie: Percentage of sets won Head-to-head results Percentage of games won Head-to-head results Finals Rankings
Global Ambassador 22 times majors winner, Steffi Graf was to be the event's global ambassador for the third consecutive year.
Prize money and points The total prize money for the 2018 WTA Elite Trophy Zhuhai was US$2,349,363 .
StageSinglesDoubles2Prize moneyPointsPrize moneyChampion RR1 + $500,000 RR + 460 RR1 + $21,509 Runner-up RR + $150,000 RR + 200 RR1 + $11,000 Semifinalist lossRR + $14,727 RR Round robin win per match120 +$5,400 Round robin loss per match40 Round robin first place +$155,000 Round robin second place +$80,000 Participation Fee$45,00016,500Alternates$10,000
1 RR means prize money or points won in the round robin. 2 Doubles does not award ranking points
Qualified players
Singles SeedsPlayersPointsTours1 Daria Kasatkina3,315252 Anastasija Sevastova3,185223 Aryna Sabalenka3,145264 Elise Mertens3,065225 Julia Görges2,995236 Madison Keys 2,817157 Garbiñe Muguruza2,725228 Caroline Garcia2,600229 Ashleigh Barty2,4202010 Anett Kontaveit2,3752311 Wang Qiang2,1152212/WC Zhang Shuai 1,37027
Daria Kasatkina had a breakthrough year, making it to the top 10 for the first time. Kasatkina did not begin the year well, picking up her first win of the year at the Australian Open but fell in the second round to Magda Linette. She bounced back by reaching the semifinals of the St. Petersburg Ladies' Trophy, losing to Kristina Mladenovic. She reached her first final of the year at the Dubai Tennis Championships but lost to Elina Svitolina. She then followed it up by reaching the biggest final of her career at the BNP Paribas Open, a Premier Mandatory event, but fell to Naomi Osaka. Her clay court season was average, reaching the quarterfinals of the Mutua Madrid Open, losing to eventual champion Petra Kvitová and reaching her first slam quarterfinal at the French Open but fell to Sloane Stephens. She backed up that slam performance, with a quarterfinal showing at the Wimbledon, losing to Angelique Kerber. Following that performance, Kasatkina was not able to maintain her form, failing to win back-to-back matches until the Asian swing, including a second round loss at the US Open to Aliaksandra Sasnovich. However, she ended the year by winning her first title of the year at the Kremlin Cup, defeating qualifier Ons Jabeur.
Anastasija Sevastova began the year well by reaching the semifinals of the Brisbane International, losing to Aliaksandra Sasnovich. Sevastova failed to make any impact in the rest of the hard court season, including a second round to Maria Sharapova at the Australian Open. She did not reach her next semifinal until the Volvo Car Open, losing to Julia Görges. She then had disappointing results once again, including a first-round loss at the French Open to Mariana Duque Mariño. Being the defending champion at the Mallorca Open, she reached the final but lost to German Tatjana Maria. Despite this, she lost in the first round of Wimbledon to Camila Giorgi. She bounced back by winning her first title of the year at the Bucharest Open, defeating Petra Martić in straight sets in the final. She had relative success in his event preparing for the US Open. At the US Open, she reached her first slam semifinal after wins over Elina Svitolina and defending champion Sloane Stephens, but fell in the semifinals to Serena Williams. At the Asian swing, she reached her biggest final to date at the Premier Mandatory event of the China Open but lost to Caroline Wozniacki in straight sets.
Aryna Sabalenka had a breakthrough year, starting well by reaching the quarterfinals of the Shenzhen Open and Hobart International but losing to Simona Halep and Lesia Tsurenko, respectively. However, at the Australian Open, she lost in the first round to Ashleigh Barty. She did not make any considerable result until the Ladies Open Lugano, where she reached the final but ended up losing to Belgian Elise Mertens. However, she did not pick up any main draw win in the rest of the clay season, including losing in the first round of the French Open to Kiki Bertens. She then reached her first Premier final at the grass courts of the Eastbourne International, losing to top seed Caroline Wozniacki. Her slam woes continued, though, losing in the first round for the third time, this time at Wimbledon and to Mihaela Buzărnescu. At the Western & Southern Open, she made an impressive run, reaching the semifinal before losing to world no. 1 Halep. She followed it up by claiming her first career title at the Connecticut Open, defeating Carla Suárez Navarro in the final, breaking into the top 20 with the win. She ended her slam failures, when she reached her first slam fourth round at the US Open, losing to Naomi Osaka. She then won the biggest title of her career so far at the Wuhan Open, defeating Estonion Anett Kontaveit in the final.
Elise Mertens began the year perfectly by defending her title at the Hobart International, defeating Mihaela Buzărnescu in the final. She carried this good form at the Australian Open, when she defeated 4th seed Elina Svitolina in the quarterfinals to reach her first slam semifinals. In the semifinals, she lost in two close sets to Caroline Wozniacki. However, she failed to win back-to-back matches up until the clay season. She began the clay season excellently by winning 13 matches in a row, including the Ladies Open Lugano, defeating Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka in the final, winning her two Fed Cup matches and winning the title at the Grand Prix SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem, defeating Ajla Tomljanović. Her streak was ended by Simona Halep in the second round of the Mutua Madrid Open. At the French Open, she reached the fourth round but once again lost to Halep. At Wimbledon, she made the third round where she fell to Dominika Cibulková. At the US Open Series events, she reached the quarterfinals of both the Rogers Cup and Western & Southern Open, losing to Elina Svitolina and Petra Kvitová, respectively. At the US Open, she yet again improved from her performance from the previous year by reaching the fourth round, losing to Sloane Stephens.
Julia Görges continued her winning streak from the end of the season by winning the ASB Classic, defeating Caroline Wozniacki in the final. However, her 15-match winning streak was snapped when she was upset by Alizé Cornet in the second round of the Australian Open. However, she bounced back by reaching the semifinals of the St. Petersburg Ladies' Trophy, losing to Petra Kvitová. She reached her second final of the year at the Volvo Car Open but lost to Dutch player Kiki Bertens. The rest of her clay season was uneventful, failing to get past the third round of any event, including a third round loss to Serena Williams at the French Open. At Wimbledon, she reached her first-ever slam semifinals after defeating Kiki Bertens, but lost to Serena once again. She did not do anything special following this milestone until a semifinal showing at the Connecticut Open, losing to Aryna Sabalenka. At the US Open, she suffered a second round exit to Ekaterina Makarova. In the last regular event of the year, Görges claimed her second title of the year at the BGL Luxembourg Open, defeating Belinda Bencic in the final.
Madison Keys' season was injury-plagued as she did not do well outside of the slams and she also did not reach a single final in the year. At the Australian Open, she reached the quarterfinals without dropping a set but fell convincingly to Angelique Kerber. She then went into the French Open with only one semifinal in-between the two slams when she reached the semifinals of the Volvo Car Open, losing to Kiki Bertens. However, despite this, she reached her first French Open semifinals again without dropping a set but fell to Sloane Stephens in straight sets. At Wimbledon, she had an upsetting loss to Evgeniya Rodina in the third round in three tight sets. Being a defending finalist at the US Open, Keys did quite well by reaching the semifinals but lost to Naomi Osaka.
Garbiñe Muguruza entered 2018 as the 2nd ranked player but had a disappointing start of the season, including a second-round loss at the Australian Open to Hsieh Su-wei. Muguruza did well in the Middle East, when she reached her first final of the year at the Qatar Total Open but lost to Petra Kvitová, and the semifinals of the Dubai Tennis Championships, losing to Daria Kasatkina. She then claimed her first title of the year at the Monterrey Open, defeating Tímea Babos in three sets in the final. She did not perform too well in her next events up until the French Open, losing to Simona Halep in the semifinals. She entered Wimbledon as the defending champion but suffered an upset loss in the second round to Belgian Alison Van Uytvanck. The rest of her event delivered disappointing results including, a second-round exit at the US Open to Czech qualifier Karolina Muchova. However, she was able to reach the semifinals of the Hong Kong Tennis Open, losing to Wang Qiang.